The BBC worked directly with the British Security Service MI5 to politically vet job candidates to ensure those with left-wing views did not get offered jobs within the Corporation – a practice that the BBC and MI5 introduced to directly prevent a left-wing British government, a startling new report has revealed.

The staggering new information also reveals that the BBC’s policy of barring left-wing journalists continued into the 1990s, and that the Corporation’s Chiefs intentionally lied about the BBC using such methods to Official Employment tribunals.

In an article published today entitled ‘The vetting files: How the BBC kept out ‘subversives’’, the BBC write that:

“For decades the BBC denied that job applicants were subject to political vetting by MI5. But in fact vetting began in the early days of the BBC and continued until the 1990s…

“As early as 1933 a BBC executive, Col Alan Dawnay, had begun holding meetings to exchange information with the head of MI5, Sir Vernon Kell, at Dawnay’s flat in Eaton Terrace, Chelsea…

“These informal arrangements became formal two years later, with an agreement between the two organisations that all new staff should be vetted except “personnel such as charwomen”. The fear was that “evilly disposed” engineers might sabotage the network at a critical time, or that conspirators might discredit the BBC so that “the way could be made clear for a left-wing government”.

And so routine vetting began. From the start, the BBC undertook not to reveal the role of the Security Service (MI5), or the fact of vetting itself. On one level this made sense, bearing in mind that the very existence of the Secret Service remained a secret until the 1989 Security Service Act.”

The stunning article then goes on to reveal how the BBC rejected any candidate found to have even tenuous links to political organisations such as the Socialist Workers Party or Militant Tendency – even clarifying that “A banned applicant did not need to be a member of these organisations – association was enough.“



After vetting applicants, the BBC and MI5 made one of three assessments of a candidate:

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Category A stated that: “The Security Service advises that the candidate should not be employed in a post offering direct opportunity to influence broadcast material for a subversive purpose.“

Candidates who were placed in “Category B” were said to be “advised” against employment “unless it is decided that other considerations are overriding”.



Whilst placing a candidate in Category C meant that the information found during vetting was not worrying enough to “necessarily debar” them from becoming employed, but the BBC “may prefer to make other arrangements” if the post offered “exceptional opportunity” for subversive activity.

Furthermore, if BBC Chiefs became suspicious of the activities of any employee, or when employees applied for a promotion that required extra political vetting, they would mark their personnel file with an “image resembling a Christmas tree“.

The Christmas Tree symbol was known as a “Standing Reminder”, and ensured that such candidates were “Not to be promoted or transferred (or placed on continuous contract) without reference to [Director of Personnel].”

The BBC article goes on to admit that they also ‘secretly removed‘ the Standing Reminder from an employee’s file if they went to an Official Employment Tribunal, and that an agreement was in place to lie to any employment tribunal by pretending that the symbol was simply related to “routine procedures” such as “Next of Kin, Pension etc”.

Despite officially claiming to have since ceased such political vetting of potential employees (except for those who would be involved in wartime broadcasting and those with access to secret government information) the staggering new information shows exactly how worried BBC Chiefs were about their employees holding even mildly anti-Establishment views.

And, given the BBC’s obvious ability to maintain closely guarded secrets, it would be incredibly naive to believe that such political scrutiny was not being still given to a large proportion of high-level BBC journalists to ensure they were ‘on message’ and would not divert from the BBC’s true agenda.

After all, the BBC is, and always has been, a propaganda arm of the rich and powerful in Britain – and it would be entirely foolish to believe that anything substantive has really changed at the top of the Corporation.

The BBC’s aim is not to report the truth – and it never will be. The sole purpose of the BBC – exactly like the Kremlin-backed Russia Today Propaganda outlet – is to report the news from a perspective that will best ensure those who currently hold the majority of wealth and power in Britain continue to hold it.

The BBC’s entire operation is based around ensuring that people who seek real progressive change – those who want to redistribute wealth and power away from the few, and into the hands of ordinary people – are systematically undermined, ridiculed and discriminated against.



Fascinating story on how the BBC worked with MI5 for decades to stop people with left-wing views becoming employees https://t.co/GY7qB4uXUm — Liam O'Hare (@Liam_O_Hare) April 22, 2018