Review : GCHQ De-Unionisation 1984
| Date | 01 June 1993 |
| Published date | 01 June 1993 |
| Author | Michael Herman |
| DOI | 10.1177/095207679300800207 |
| Subject Matter | Articles |
74
REVIEW
GCHQ
De-Unionisation
1984
Michael
Herman,
Nuffield
College,
Oxford
(1)
Hugh
Lanning
and
Richard
Norton-Taylor,
A
Conflict
of Loyalties:
GCHQ
1984-
1991
(Cheltenham:
New
Clarion
Press,
1991),
ISBN
1-873797-00-1.
No
one
needs
to
be
reminded
of
the
decision
of
25
January
1984
to
ban
national
trades
unions
at
GCHQ,
the
signals
intelligence
(Sigint)
centre
at
Cheltenham.
It
has
become
an
entrenched
part
of
British
political
and
trade
union
mythology;
the
sight
of
First
Division
civil
servants
marching
with
the
NUM
in
the
annual
Cheltenham
trade
union
rally
sums
up
its
lasting
effects.
Re-unionisation
is
well-
established
Opposition
policy
and
will
happen
sometime;
national
unions
were
all
set to
offer
attractive
packages
of
cut-price
membership
after
a
Labour
victory
in
1992.
The
fact
that
Cheltenham
is
a
marginal
seat
now
gives
the
situation
an
extra
spin.
Politics
apart,
the
affair
has
a
bearing
on
a
raft
of
contemporary
issues -
trade
union
structures;
patterns
of
public
sector
management;
control
of
intelligence
agencies;
judicial
review;
the
place
of
’national
security’
in
law
and
constitutional
practice.
In
all
these
contexts
a
proper
account
of
the
affair
is
badly
needed.
This
short
and
readable
book -
well
produced
as
the
first
venture
of
a
Cheltenham-based
workers’
co-operative -
might
seem
to
provide
it,
but
the
authors’
backgrounds
give
fair
warning
that
it
is
no
dispassionate
study.
Lanning
as
a
full-time
trades
union
official
was
(and
is)
deeply
involved
in
the
action
against
the
union
ban;
Norton-Taylor
of
The
Guardian
is
a
former
Freedom
of
Information
Journalist
of
the
Year,
and
long-term
thorn
in
the
,side
of
the
intelligence
establishment.
They
have
produced
a
campaigning
account
of
a
campaign.
Indeed,
with
their
penchant
for
military
chapter
titles
like
’the
battle’
and
’the
war’,
it
reads
rather
like
an
old-style
military
history
of
one
of
the
less
successful
episodes
of
Empire.
Our
soldiers
die
heroically
for
Queen
and
Country
against
overwhelming
odds.
But
the cruel
and
treacherous
fuzzy-wuzzies
on
the
other
side
remain
shadowy
creatures.
One
hardly
gets
to
understand
why
they
attacked -
and
won.
’
One-sided
campaign
history
of
this
sort
is
still
useful,
and
the
account
here
of
union
reactions
and
tactics
has
the
virtues
of
first-hand
recollection.
The
most
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