Editing GCHQ (section)

====Surveillance of parliamentarians====
In 2015 there was a complaint by [[Green Party of England and Wales|Green Party]] MP [[Caroline Lucas]] that British intelligence services, including GCHQ, had been spying on MPs allegedly "in defiance of laws prohibiting it."<ref>{{cite news|title=British intelligence service spying on MPs in defiance of laws prohibiting it|url=https://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/politics/british-intelligence-service-spying-on-mps-in-defiance-of-laws-prohibiting-it-10411996.html|access-date=31 December 2016|work=The Independent|date=23 July 2015|archive-date=1 January 2017|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170101005409/http://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/politics/british-intelligence-service-spying-on-mps-in-defiance-of-laws-prohibiting-it-10411996.html|url-status=live}}</ref>

Then-[[Home Secretary]], [[Theresa May]], had told Parliament in 2014 that:
{{blockquote|Obviously, the [[Wilson Doctrine]] applies to parliamentarians. It does not absolutely exclude the use of these powers against parliamentarians, but it sets certain requirements for those powers to be used in relation to a parliamentarian. It is not the case that parliamentarians are excluded and nobody else in the country is, but there is a certain set of rules and protocols that have to be met if there is a requirement to use any of these powers against a parliamentarian.<ref>{{cite web|title=Daily Hansard – Debate, 15 July 2014 : Column 697|url=https://publications.parliament.uk/pa/cm201415/cmhansrd/cm140715/debtext/140715-0002.htm#14071547001384|publisher=[[Parliament of the United Kingdom]]|access-date=31 December 2016|date=15 July 2014|archive-date=25 October 2016|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20161025201820/http://www.publications.parliament.uk/pa/cm201415/cmhansrd/cm140715/debtext/140715-0002.htm#14071547001384|url-status=live}}</ref>}}

The [[Investigatory Powers Tribunal]] investigated the complaint, and ruled that contrary to the allegation, there was no law that gave the communications of Parliament any special protection.<ref name=HuffPo>{{cite news|url=http://www.huffingtonpost.co.uk/2015/10/14/gchq-can-monitor-communic_n_8292390.html|title=GCHQ Can Monitor Communications Of MPs And Peers Rules Tribunal|newspaper=Huffington Post|author=Thomas Tamblyn|date=14 October 2015|access-date=24 January 2018|archive-date=25 January 2018|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180125015857/http://www.huffingtonpost.co.uk/2015/10/14/gchq-can-monitor-communic_n_8292390.html|url-status=live}}</ref> The Wilson Doctrine merely acts as a [[political convention]].<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.ipt-uk.com/docs/Caroline_Lucas_JUDGMENT.pdf |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160317124014/http://www.ipt-uk.com/docs/Caroline_Lucas_JUDGMENT.pdf |archive-date=2016-03-17 |url-status=live|title=Approved Judgment|publisher=Investigatory Powers Tribunal|access-date=24 January 2018}}</ref>