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THATCHER AND THE GCHQ TRADE UNION BAN 431
issued without discussion or process. Glidwell dedded that the
oral instruction had no standing, and moreover, that the GCHQ
workers were entitled to consultation before such a dramatic
change in their work practices took place. By contrast, the government
case rested heavily on reference to the 1982 Civil Service
Order in Coundl, an instrument which harked back to Royal
Prerogative. This, the government argued, gave it the power to
do pretty much whatever it liked without consulting Parliament.
Glidwell was unimpressed, observing dryly that this was 'an
unusual way to legislate'. On 16 July he overturned the ban,
reading out a judgement of no fewer than sixty-four pages which,
as he put it, 'raised matters of considerable constitutional importance'.55
The government had antidpated Glidwell's judgement,
since the previous day Geoffrey Howe had flown to GCHQ by
helicopter for an emergency conference with Peter Marychurch. 56
In the wake of this, John Adye, the Prindpal Establishment
Officer, warned staff that, pending a hearing on appeal, the position
of GCHQ management would not change. 57 Nevertheless,
a hundred GCHQ employees now merrily skipped back and
rejoined their unions, despite having spent their £1,000
'Thatcher payment' in the department stores of Cheltenham.
Their euphoria did not last long. Glidwell's judgement was overturned
in the Court of Appeal, where the government case
focused determinedly on national security. The case then went
to the House of Lords, where the five Law Lords, including Lord
Scarman, all accepted that national security was paramount,
something of a tradition amongst senior British judges. The Law
Lords complained about the government's use of outdated
statutes, and muttered about 'the clanking of the medieval
chains of the ghosts of the past'.58 Nevertheless, they found in
favour of the government in one of the most important legal
judgements of the late twentieth century. 59
GCHQ now proceeded at leisure. It waited until 1986 before
taking any action against the remaining union members, moving
first against the 'rejoiners' who had scampered back to their
unions. One of the problems for offidals was Geoffrey Howe's