[6]However the pledge was qualified in two respects, as the Interception of Communications Commissioner made clear in his 2005–06 Annual Report:[7] But if there was any development of a kind which required a change in the general policy, I would, at such moment as seemed compatible with the security of the country, on my own initiative make a statement to the House about it.
[8] Subsequent prime ministers have regularly confirmed that the ban remains in place, but in January 2006 the Interception of Communications Commissioner, The Rt Hon.
Sir Swinton Thomas, asked the government to reconsider the implications of the doctrine on the regulatory framework established under the Regulation of Investigatory Powers Act 2000.
However, in March 2006 – in a written ministerial statement – Tony Blair said that following a period of fresh consultation, he had decided the 'Wilson doctrine' would remain in place.
[12] Further questions about the validity of the doctrine arose in November 2008 after the home and parliamentary offices of Damian Green MP were searched by the Metropolitan Police.
[14] Following the global surveillance disclosures by Edward Snowden, three parliamentarians took a case in 2015 to the Investigatory Powers Tribunal (IPT) that the Wilson Doctrine was being broken.