A panel of senior judges has been asked to consider allegations that Blair directed a secret squad of Met detectives to run a dirty tricks campaign to undermine ethnic officers.
The complaint has been made by the National Black Police Association (NBPA), which has more than 10,000 members and was created by the Home Office to salvage the police’s reputation among ethnic minorities during the Stephen Lawrence inquiry.
It claims the Met used a corruption inquiry into a leading Muslim policeman to monitor a series of legally and politically sensitive conversations between the NBPA’s leading members.
“We say this intelligence gathering was unlawful and done to eavesdrop on our legitimate business,” the association’s complaint says.
The allegations will put further pressure on Blair, who is awaiting the results of a probe into complaints that he misled the public over the controversial shooting of Jean Charles de Menezes.
Advertisement
A senior NBPA source has likened the authorised tapping operation to the covert targeting of the US civil rights movement by FBI boss J Edgar Hoover 40 years ago.
Earlier this year Blair was forced to apologise to Lord Goldsmith, the attorney general, and three officials in charge of the Menezes probe after it emerged he had secretly tape-recorded his private telephone conversations with them.
The latest allegations are being studied by the Investigatory Powers Tribunal, a watchdog of senior judicial figures who adjudicate complaints about misuse of surveillance techniques by the police and intelligence services.
Documents seen by The Sunday Times show the tribunal already considers the police operation raises serious legal issues which require a rare “public hearing” at the High Court. The NBPA wants Blair to be called as a witness.
The complaint centres on a covert inquiry by the Met’s anti-corruption squad — codenamed Operation Helios — which targeted Ali Dizaei, an Iranian-born officer who is the NBPA’s legal adviser.
Advertisement
Dizaei, 44, then a superintendent, was placed under surveillance after the Met received a series of unfounded allegations against him. Between 1999 and 2003 more than 3,500 of Dizaei’s calls were tapped.
Many of these calls should have remained confidential because they concerned legal discussions. The Met was forced to admit six “legally privileged” calls were circulated within Operation Helios. The NBPA suspect it is more.
At the time Blair was the deputy commissioner and had direct responsibility for the anti-corruption squad.
A Met spokesman said: “We are aware that the tribunal is examining concerns arising out of Operation Helios. We are co-operating fully.”