The phone was found near the front bench during a routine security sweep on Wednesday morning, before the session began. Security officials believe the device was planted to broadcast explicit audio as part of a prank, but the incident is being treated as a significant breach of parliamentary security.
A parliamentary source revealed that there was no CCTV footage showing who placed the device and warned of potential security risks. “It looks like it was just a prank, but it could have been much worse,” the source said. “We do not know how it got there, and we have to consider all possibilities.”
The discovery came on a day when hundreds of security staff at the Houses of Parliament were on strike over pay and conditions, forcing visitors to be banned from the estate. This suggests the phone may have been planted earlier in the week.
The incident has drawn comparisons with a similar episode during a live BBC broadcast of Match of the Day in 2023, when sexually explicit sounds were played in the studio before a football match between Wolves and Liverpool. A mobile phone was later found taped to the back of the set, and a YouTube prankster claimed responsibility.
Parliamentary authorities have confirmed that this latest event represents one of the most serious security breaches in recent years. Previous incidents include semi-naked climate change protesters disrupting a Brexit debate in 2019 and disability campaigners clashing with police inside the Commons in 2015.
Officials have not yet identified who planted the device, but investigations are ongoing.
