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London: Justice Secretary Jack Straw told MPs in parliament on Monday a commissioner's bugging inquiry will take up to two weeks.
Straw's statement follows claims counter-terrorism officers secretly recorded discussions between Tooting MP Sadiq Khan and a constituent he was visiting in jail.
The decision was allegedly taken by a Thames Valley Police officer.
Sir Christopher Rose is to head an inquiry into the allegations.
Straw said the former Court of Appeal judge, now the chief surveillance commissioner, would seek to establish under whose authority any bugging was carried out.
He said Sir Christopher had pledged to do his best to complete his task within two weeks and would report back the results to the prime minister, home secretary and Straw.
"This is the first time I can recall such an allegation being made," Straw told MPs.
But shadow home secretary David Davis asked if it was known in advance the MP would be bugged and if so, "was an explicit decision made not to switch off the recording equipment".
Media reports at the weekend said Khan, a former human rights lawyer, was bugged twice while meeting the constituent, who was in prison awaiting deportation to the United States to face terrorism charges.
An electronic listening device was hidden in a table at Woodhill prison in Milton Keynes and picked up conversations between the two in 2005 and 2006 about the latest developments in the US extradition request, the Sunday Times reported.
Police have been forbidden to eavesdrop on politicians since a bugging scandal involving Labour Prime Minister Harold Wilson's government 40 years ago.
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