On (1), the Secretary of State is not a civil servant, that term means a government minister. The point is that the interception should have been authorised by someone who is not part of the government. I don't know who they think that should be - ideally it would be a judge, but often in the UK this stuff can be authorised by a senior police officer, etc. It might end up being the Investigatory Powers Commissioner, who is basically a rubber stamp:

https://wiki.openrightsgroup.org/wiki/Investigatory_Powers_C...