They believed that such blanket surveillance would breach the so - called «Wilson Doctrine» implemented by Harold Wilson and subsequently upheld by successive prime ministers, including David Cameron. (politics.co.uk)
In part, this is because successive prime ministers, governments and many public intellectuals have shied away from tackling the mood of British exceptionalism and superiority, much of which is based on a false understanding of the British Empire. (blog.politics.ox.ac.uk)
In fact, Rupert Murdoch has had a pretty poor deal out of successive prime ministers since Margaret Thatcher allowed him to buy The Times and the Sunday Times. (totalpolitics.com)