British spies not up to slick Bond image

LONDON, Feb. 20 (UPI) -- An official says Britain's spy agencies are making an unacceptable number of blunders.

Swinton Thomas, the outgoing Interception of Communications commissioner, said dozens of mistakes -- including tapping the wrong telephone numbers -- have occurred over the past 15 months, The Telegraph reported.

He said, however, that the agencies have been working "under extreme pressure" and that any wrongly gathered material was destroyed.

In the report to Parliament, Thomas urged the Prime Minister to allow wiretapping of MPs' phones for the first time in more than 40 years, the newspaper said.

Thomas said the Wilson Doctrine, which forbids eavesdropping on parliamentarians, placed MPs and peers above the law.