Hague on trial

The need for an impenetrable cloak of secrecy to surround the work of GCHQ, and M15’s counter-terrorism team, means that the Foreign Secretary cannot answer direct questions about whether British officials have received material through the secret Prism scheme.

As Mr Hague implied, the key is the definition of the word “secret” – not known or seen or not meant to be known or seen by others – if Britain’s liberty is to be protected from terrorists and extremists like those who slaughtered Drummer Lee Rigby outside Woolwich barracks.

Yet what was revealing about the Richmond MP’s BBC interview yesterday, ahead of today’s Parliamentary inquisition, is the amount of time that the Foreign Secretary – and Home Secretary Theresa May for that matter – spend studying requests from GCHQ and others to monitor those dangerous individuals suspected of posing a grave risk to this country’s national security.

Mr Hague was emphatic. “We take out duties very seriously,” explained the Foreign Secretary before explaining the level of scrutiny that he faces and how such matters cannot be delegated to junior ministers.

He also made another profound point. The law-abiding British public had “nothing to fear” from the work of GCHQ. Mr Hague is right. For the very people accusing Ministers of jeopardising individual freedoms are likely to be the first to complain if the security services fail to act on internet intelligence – and that this leads to a preventable terrorist atrocity from being committed.