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107-684: For a period, GCHQ chose to also apply the same principle to members of the devolved legislatures, but in July 2015 it emerged that the application of the principle to members of the European Parliament and devolved legislatures had been ended. In October 2015, the Investigatory Powers Tribunal ruled that the doctrine had no legal force. In November 2015, the Prime Minister made a statement clarifying how

214-537: A KGB mole within it, created considerable media interest. In 1984, GCHQ was the centre of a political row when, in the wake of strikes which affected Sigint collection, the Conservative government of Margaret Thatcher prohibited its employees from belonging to a trade union, asserting that membership of a union was in conflict with national security . The government offered £1,000 to each employee who agreed to give up their right to union membership. Following

321-493: A fusion of powers , which means that the prime minister exercises functions in both the executive and the legislature . This also means that accountability between the branches is limited, as it is difficult to check on oneself. The prime minister normally (but not necessarily) leads the largest party in the House of Commons and they usually have some power over their own party due to that role. The status and executive powers of

428-446: A FOX media segment. The US government formally apologised for the unfounded allegations and promised they would not be repeated. British intelligence did gather information relating to Russian contacts made by Trump's campaign team in the run-up to his election, which were passed on to US intelligence agencies. On 31 October 2018, GCHQ joined Instagram . GCHQ personnel are recognised annually by King Charles III (formerly

535-556: A US court order before disclosing data. However the head of the UK technology industry group techUK rejected these claims, stating that they understood the issues but that disclosure obligations "must be based upon a clear and transparent legal framework and effective oversight rather than, as suggested, a deal between the industry and government". In 2015, documents obtained by The Intercept from US National Security Agency whistleblower Edward Snowden revealed that GCHQ had carried out

642-637: A bill passed by the Commons is restricted by conventions and the Parliament Acts . In extremis, as members of the Lords are appointed by the sovereign on the advice of the PM, the PM could appoint, or threaten to appoint, enough peers to the House of Lords who will support the legislation to force the Lords to pass it. The prime minister appoints officials known as the "Government Whips ", who negotiate for

749-584: A conference slideshow presented by the GCHQ. Soon after becoming Director of GCHQ in 2014, Robert Hannigan wrote an article in the Financial Times on the topic of internet surveillance , stating that "however much [large US technology companies] may dislike it, they have become the command and control networks of choice for terrorists and criminals" and that GCHQ and its sister agencies "cannot tackle these challenges at scale without greater support from

856-404: A conurbation or a key target on UK territory. The prime minister is also responsible for authorising the use of UK nuclear weapons, including the preparation of four letters of last resort . They also appoint deputies for both of these purposes. The prime minister normally has significant power to change the law through passing primary legislation , as the PM is, by definition, able to command

963-646: A face-to-face conversation, even if it was bugged, it may not have been a literal breach of the Wilson Doctrine. An inquiry was launched by Justice Secretary Jack Straw . Further questions about the validity of the doctrine arose in November 2008 after the home and parliamentary offices of Damian Green MP were searched by the Metropolitan Police. Other questions in the Lords asked whether communications which had been stored were protected by

1070-500: A government with a healthy majority can on occasion find itself unable to pass legislation. For example, on 9 November 2005, Tony Blair 's Government was defeated over plans which would have allowed police to detain terror suspects for up to 90 days without charge, and on 31 January 2006, was defeated over certain aspects of proposals to outlaw religious hatred. On other occasions, the Government alters its proposals to avoid defeat in

1177-501: A group of 14 former GCHQ employees, who had been dismissed after refusing to give up their union membership, were offered re-employment, which three of them accepted. The legal case Council of Civil Service Unions v Minister for the Civil Service is significant beyond the dispute, and even beyond trade union law, in that it held for the first time that the royal prerogative is generally subject to judicial review , although

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1284-465: A majority in the House of Commons . Therefore, the PM can normally gain House of Commons support for their desired legislation (and House of Commons rejection of any undesirable legislation) - Government defeats in the House of Commons are unusual . Primary legislation must also be passed by the House of Lords , and while Government defeats in the Lords are more frequent, the power of the Lords to reject

1391-454: A mass-surveillance operation, codenamed KARMA POLICE , since about 2008. The operation swept up the IP address of Internet users visiting websites, and was established with no public scrutiny or oversight. KARMA POLICE is a powerful spying tool in conjunction with other GCHQ programs because IP addresses could be cross-referenced with other data. The goal of the program, according to the documents,

1498-589: A maximum of seven years since the Septennial Act 1716 ). The FTPA removed this power from both the monarch and the PM, giving the circumstances in which a General Election can be held, and states "Parliament cannot otherwise be dissolved". (Though this could be overridden by passing a separate Act, such as the Early Parliamentary General Election Act 2019 .) The Dissolution and Calling of Parliament Act 2022 repealed

1605-637: A new Parliament "is determined by a proclamation issued by the Sovereign, on the advice of the Prime Minister." Under House of Commons Standing Order 13, the prime minister can ask the speaker to recall Parliament while it is on recess, who then decides. For example, in August 2013, David Cameron asked the Speaker to recall Parliament to discuss the Syrian civil war , and the use of chemical weapons by

1712-465: A peacetime codebreaking agency should be created, a task which was given to the Director of Naval Intelligence , Hugh Sinclair . Sinclair merged staff from NID25 and MI1b into the new organisation, which initially consisted of around 25–30 officers and a similar number of clerical staff. It was titled the "Government Code and Cypher School" (GC&CS), a cover-name which was chosen by Victor Forbes of

1819-472: A result of the cuts. The cuts had been mostly reversed by 2000 in the wake of threats from violent non-state actors , and risks from increased terrorism, organised crime and illegal access to nuclear, chemical and biological weapons. David Omand became the Director of GCHQ in 1996, and greatly restructured the agency in the face of new and changing targets and rapid technological change. Omand introduced

1926-465: Is an intelligence and security organisation responsible for providing signals intelligence (SIGINT) and information assurance (IA) to the government and armed forces of the United Kingdom . Primarily based at " The Doughnut " in the suburbs of Cheltenham , GCHQ is the responsibility of the country's Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs (Foreign Secretary), but it

2033-471: Is co-located with GCHQ for administrative purposes. In 2013, GCHQ received considerable media attention when the former National Security Agency contractor Edward Snowden revealed that the agency was in the process of collecting all online and telephone data in the UK via the Tempora programme. Snowden's revelations began a spate of ongoing disclosures of global surveillance . The Guardian newspaper

2140-624: Is difficult for Parliament to debate matters, and extremely difficult for Parliament to pass legislation, against the Government's (and PM's) will. King's Consent is required before certain types of bill can be debated by Parliament. The prime minister can advise the Monarch to withhold his consent, thus preventing Parliament debating the bill. For example, prime minister Harold Wilson used this power in 1964 and 1969 to prevent Parliament debating bills about peerages and Zimbabwean independence. The Intelligence Services Act 1994 , which established

2247-432: Is free to, at any time, create government departments, merge them, rename them, transfer responsibilities between them, and abolish them. The prime minister of the day has held the office of Minister for the Civil Service since that office was created in 1968. As such the PM has the powers over His Majesty's Civil Service held by that position. These powers may be delegated by the prime minister to others. This power

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2354-680: Is given by the prime minister, on behalf of the Crown. Decisions on military action are taken within the Cabinet with advice. The Defence Council has power of command over members of the armed forces. However, in 2011, the government of the United Kingdom acknowledged that a constitutional convention had developed whereby the House of Commons should have an opportunity to debate the matter before troops are committed. It said that it proposed to observe that convention except when there

2461-624: Is led by the Director of GCHQ, Anne Keast-Butler , and a Corporate Board, made up of executive and non-executive directors. Reporting to the Corporate Board are: During the First World War, the British Army and Royal Navy had separate signals intelligence agencies, MI1b and NID25 (initially known as Room 40) respectively. In 1919, the Cabinet's Secret Service Committee, chaired by Lord Curzon , recommended that

2568-609: Is no longer just " first among equals " in HM Government; although theoretically the Cabinet might still outvote the prime minister, in practice the prime minister progressively entrenches their position by retaining only personal supporters in the Cabinet. In occasional reshuffles, the prime minister can sideline and simply drop from Cabinet the Members who have fallen out of favour; they remain Privy Counsellors, but

2675-740: Is not a part of the Foreign Office and its director ranks as a Permanent Secretary . GCHQ was originally established after the First World War as the Government Code and Cypher School ( GC&CS ) and was known under that name until 1946. During the Second World War it was located at Bletchley Park , where it was responsible for breaking the German Enigma codes . There are two main components of GCHQ,

2782-503: Is responsible for producing and enforcing the Ministerial Code . The prime minister formally kisses the hands of the sovereign, whose royal prerogative powers are thereafter exercised solely on the advice of the prime minister and His Majesty's Government ("HMG"). The prime minister has weekly audiences with the sovereign, whose rights are constitutionally limited by convention: "to warn, to encourage, and to be consulted";

2889-811: Is rooted in the prerogative. The prime minister sets the Government's policy agenda and priorities, and generally co-ordinates the policies and activities of the Cabinet and Government departments, acting as the main public "face" of His Majesty's Government. The prime minister is ultimately responsible for all policy and decisions. The prime minister can overrule the policy decisions of individual ministers. Boris Johnson reportedly overruled home secretary Priti Patel on closing UK borders, Tony Blair overruled Scottish secretary Donald Dewar on devolving abortion powers to Scotland, Gordon Brown overruled chancellor Alistair Darling on VAT rates, and Margaret Thatcher overruled home secretary Leon Brittan on parole for Ian Brady and Myra Hindley . Some policy decisions are made by

2996-732: Is that GCHQ and its US equivalent, the National Security Agency (NSA), share technologies, infrastructure and information. GCHQ ran many signals intelligence (SIGINT) monitoring stations abroad. During the early Cold War , the remnants of the British Empire provided a global network of ground stations which were a major contribution to the UKUSA Agreement; the US regarded RAF Little Sai Wan in Hong Kong as

3103-417: Is under review. The Constitutional Reform and Governance Act 2010 states that a special adviser to a minister in the UK government can only be appointed if the appointment has been approved by the prime minister. Similarly, the Ministerial Code says that while Cabinet Ministers and Ministers of State may appoint Parliamentary Private Secretaries , all appointments require the prior written approval of

3210-584: The British Army for GCHQ. In March 2010, GCHQ was criticised by the Intelligence and Security Committee for problems with its IT security practices and failing to meet its targets for work targeted against cyber attacks. As revealed by Edward Snowden in The Guardian , GCHQ spied on foreign politicians visiting the 2009 G-20 London Summit by eavesdropping phonecalls and emails and monitoring their computers, and in some cases even ongoing after

3317-771: The Cabinet . The prime minister chairs the Cabinet, decides its membership, and when and where meetings take place. Other important policy decisions are made by the Cabinet Committees . The prime minister is free to decide the Cabinet Committees' structure, membership, chairmanship, and terms of reference. A number of Cabinet Committees are chaired by the PM. The prime minister is the minister responsible for national security , and matters affecting MI5 , MI6 and GCHQ collectively, though other ministers may authorise individual operations. The PM chairs

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3424-533: The Church of England , but the prime minister's discretion is limited by the existence of the Crown Nominations Commission . The appointment of senior judges, while constitutionally still on the advice of the prime minister, is now made on the basis of recommendations from independent bodies. Peerages, knighthoods, and most other honours are bestowed by the sovereign only on the advice of

3531-609: The Communications-Electronic Security Department (CESD). In October 1969, CESD was merged into GCHQ and becoming Communications-Electronic Security Group ( CESG ). In 1977 CESG relocated from Eastcote to Cheltenham. CESG continued as the UK National Technical Authority for information assurance , including cryptography . CESG did not manufacture security equipment, but worked with industry to ensure

3638-528: The Foreign Office . Alastair Denniston , who had been a member of NID25, was appointed as its operational head. It was initially under the control of the Admiralty and located in Watergate House, Adelphi, London. Its public function was "to advise as to the security of codes and cyphers used by all Government departments and to assist in their provision", but also had a secret directive to "study

3745-518: The Intelligence and Security Committee of Parliament (ISC), gave the PM the power to appoint the members of the ISC. The Justice and Security Act 2013 reduced this instead to a power to nominate the nine members of the ISC, and these nominees are then voted upon and appointed by Parliament. This is different to the Select Committees , whose members are elected. Under the 1994 Act, the PM had

3852-640: The Investigatory Powers Commissioner and other Judicial Commissioners, who oversee use of the IPA. The PM can require the Commissioner to make a report to him at any time, and the PM can exclude from publication any part of the Commissioner's reports if the PM decides it meets certain criteria. The PM appoints the chair of each of the public sector pay Review Bodies , and decides whether to implement their recommendations. For

3959-627: The National Security Council , and appoints the National Security Adviser . Some Government policy decisions are of such significance that the ultimate decision of how to proceed is made by the prime minister rather than the relevant minister. For example: The prime minister might have their own policy agenda which they drive to implement. For example: The prime minister has "almost complete discretion over how to organise government departments ". The PM

4066-766: The Police Remuneration Review Body , this power of appointment is provided by the Anti-social Behaviour, Crime and Policing Act 2014 . The prime minister is leader of their political party . In recent decades the prime minister has been either the Leader of the Conservative Party (UK) or Leader of the Labour Party (UK) . As such the PM has the powers over their party given to the leader by their party's rules at

4173-636: The RSA algorithm had been developed (equivalent to Cocks's system) and by 1997 was extremely well established. Powers of the prime minister of the United Kingdom The powers of the prime minister of the United Kingdom come from several sources of the UK constitution , including both statute and constitutional convention , but not one single authoritative document. They have been described as "...problematic to outline definitively." The UK has

4280-733: The Suez War led to the eviction of GCHQ from several of its best foreign SIGINT collection sites, including the new Perkar, Ceylon site and RAF Habbaniya , Iraq. The staff largely moved to tented encampments on military bases in Cyprus, which later became the Sovereign Base Area . During the Cuban Missile Crisis , GCHQ Scarborough intercepted radio communications from Soviet ships reporting their positions and used that to establish where they were heading. A copy of

4387-536: The ranking order of all ministers. The prime minister holds powers of patronage which means that at any time, they may obtain the appointment, dismissal or nominal resignation of any other minister. The prime minister may implement a cabinet reshuffle ; one famous example was the Night of the Long Knives in 1962. The prime minister may resign, either purely personally or with the whole government. A prime minister

Wilson Doctrine - Misplaced Pages Continue

4494-468: The "Government continues to apply the doctrine in the twenty first century." The Investigatory Powers Act 2016 requires that warrants to intercept the communications of MPs and other Parliamentarians must also gain the authorisation of the Prime Minister . Following a spate of scandals involving alleged telephone bugging of MPs, Prime Minister Harold Wilson gave a pledge to MPs that their phones would not be tapped: With my right hon. Friends, I reviewed

4601-606: The 1920s, GC&CS was successfully reading Soviet Union diplomatic cyphers. However, in May 1927, during a row over clandestine Soviet support for the General Strike and the distribution of subversive propaganda, Prime Minister Stanley Baldwin made details from the decrypts public. During the Second World War, GC&CS was based largely at Bletchley Park , in present-day Milton Keynes , working on understanding

4708-900: The Army and RAF codebreakers went to the Wireless Experimental Centre in Delhi, India. The Navy codebreakers in FECB went to Colombo , Ceylon, then to Kilindini , near Mombasa , Kenya. GC&CS was renamed the Government Communications Headquarters (GCHQ) in June 1946. The organisation was at first based in Eastcote in northwest London, then in 1951 moved to the outskirts of Cheltenham , setting up two sites at Oakley and Benhall . One of

4815-515: The British prime minister means that the incumbent is consistently ranked as one of the most powerful democratically elected leaders in the world. Between 2011 and 2014, the Political and Constitutional Reform Select Committee conducted an inquiry into the "role and powers of the Prime Minister". In their report, they wrote: When Lord Hennessy gave evidence to us, he commented: "the role of

4922-465: The Commons, as Blair's Government did in February 2006 over education reforms. Ministers, including the prime minister and other ministers over whom the prime minister has the power of appointment and dismissal, are given the power to create and change certain laws (secondary legislation) by parent Acts of Parliament (primary legislation). After a general election , the date of the first meeting of

5029-592: The Composite Signals Organisation (CSO), which is responsible for gathering information, and the National Cyber Security Centre (NCSC), which is responsible for securing the UK's own communications. The Joint Technical Language Service (JTLS) is a small department and cross-government resource responsible for mainly technical language support and translation and interpreting services across government departments. It

5136-454: The FTPA and restored the prime minister's power to call a general election at a time of their choosing. Formerly, a prime minister whose government lost a Commons vote would be regarded as fatally weakened, and the whole government would resign, usually precipitating a general election. In modern practice, when the Government party has an absolute majority in the House, only loss of supply and

5243-558: The German Enigma machine and Lorenz ciphers . In 1940, GC&CS was working on the diplomatic codes and ciphers of 26 countries, tackling over 150 diplomatic cryptosystems. Senior staff included Alastair Denniston , Oliver Strachey , Dilly Knox , John Tiltman , Edward Travis , Ernst Fetterlein , Josh Cooper , Donald Michie , Alan Turing , Gordon Welchman , Joan Clarke , Max Newman , William Tutte , I. J. (Jack) Good , Peter Calvocoressi and Hugh Foss . The 1943 British–US Communication Intelligence Agreement, BRUSA , connected

5350-648: The Home Secretary said in Parliament that the protection of MPs communications from being intercepted still applies but does not extend to a blanket ban on surveillance. The Investigatory Powers Act 2016 does not codify the Wilson Doctrine, in that it does not forbid the interception of communications of MPs. However, it does codify the prime minister's power to maintain or reverse this ban, and adds an extra hurdle to cross before this interception can happen, in that section 26 provides that warrants to intercept

5457-420: The Hong Kong stations operations were moved to Australian Defence Satellite Communications Station in Geraldton in Western Australia . Operations that used GCHQ's intelligence-gathering capabilities in the 1990s included the monitoring of communications of Iraqi soldiers in the Gulf War , of dissident republican terrorists and the Real IRA , of the various factions involved in the Yugoslav Wars , and of

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5564-434: The House of Lords ruled in favour of the Crown in this instance. The Intelligence Services Act 1994 formalised the activities of the intelligence agencies for the first time, defining their purpose, and the British Parliament's Intelligence and Security Committee was given a remit to examine the expenditure, administration and policy of the three intelligence agencies. The objectives of GCHQ were defined as working as "in

5671-502: The ISC. The PM has the right to see any ISC report before it is laid before Parliament, and can require the ISC to exclude any matter from any of its reports if the PM considers that the matter would be prejudicial to the continued discharge of the functions of the intelligence services. From 1966, the Wilson Doctrine meant the telephones of Parliamentarians could not be tapped unless the prime minister chose to reverse this policy. Subsequent prime ministers have regularly confirmed that

5778-584: The PM include: When commissioned by the sovereign, a new prime minister's first requisite is to "form a Government " —to create a cabinet of ministers that has the support of the House of Commons, of which they are expected to be a member. The prime minister nominates all other cabinet members to the sovereign for appointment (who then, if they are not already, names them Privy Counsellors ) and ministers, and although consulting senior ministers on their junior ministers, without any Parliamentary or other control or process over these powers. The prime minister decides

5885-523: The Prime Minister is like the British constitution as a whole—you think you are getting close and it disappears into the mists." With the role itself difficult to define, it is not surprising that the powers of the person who fulfils the role are similarly problematic to outline definitively. Most powers exercised by the Prime Minister are not defined in statute and cannot be found in one place. In his book The Prime Minister: The office and its holders since 1945 , Lord Hennessy stated: "Arguments have raged around

5992-411: The Prince of Wales) at the Prince of Wales's Intelligence Community Awards at St James's Palace or Clarence House alongside members of the Security Service (MI5), and Secret Intelligence Service (MI6). Awards and citations are given to teams within the agencies as well as individuals. As well as a mission to gather intelligence, GCHQ has for a long time had a corresponding mission to assist in

6099-405: The Queen to prorogue Parliament "was outside the powers of the Prime Minister". Until the passing of the Fixed-term Parliaments Act 2011 (FTPA), the power to dissolve Parliament and call a General Election also belonged to the monarch, in practice exercised when the PM asked the monarch to do so (with a legal maximum of five years between Elections since the Parliament Act 1911 , before that

6206-428: The Security Service and SIS (MI5 and MI6). In December 1994 the businessman Roger Hurn was commissioned to begin a review of GCHQ, which was concluded in March 1995. Hurn's report recommended a cut of £100  million in GCHQ's budget; such a large reduction had not been suffered by any British intelligence agency since the end of World War II. The J Division of GCHQ, which had collected SIGINT on Russia, disappeared as

6313-442: The Syrian government. The power to close Parliament between sessions ( prorogation ) is a royal prerogative , that is, it belongs to the monarch. However, in practice the monarch exercises this power at the request of the prime minister. (Formally it is exercised on the advice of the Privy Council . ) Though the prorogation of Parliament by PM Johnson in 2019 was overturned by the Supreme Court, which ruled that his advice to

6420-456: The act. However, in March 2006 – in a written ministerial statement – Tony Blair said that following a period of fresh consultation, he had decided the 'Wilson doctrine' would remain in place. In February 2007, Sir Swinton again called for the ban to be removed, saying: It is fundamental to the constitution of this country that no one is above the law or is seen to be above the law. But in this instance, MPs and peers are anything but equal with

6527-442: The availability of suitable products and services, while GCHQ itself funded research into such areas, for example to the Centre for Quantum Computation at Oxford University and the Heilbronn Institute for Mathematical Research at the University of Bristol . In the 21st century, CESG ran a number of assurance schemes such as CHECK, CLAS , Commercial Product Assurance (CPA) and CESG Assisted Products Service (CAPS). In 1970

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6634-426: The ban remains in place, but in January 2006 the Interception of Communications Commissioner , The Rt Hon. Sir Swinton Thomas , asked the government to reconsider the implications of the doctrine on the regulatory framework established under the Regulation of Investigatory Powers Act 2000 . Prime Minister Tony Blair confirmed he would be considering whether or not the ban should be lifted, in order to comply with

6741-467: The ban remains in place. The Investigatory Powers Act 2016 codifies the prime minister's power over the interception of Parliamentarians' communications, as it requires that a warrant authorising the interception of communications of Parliamentarians (or members of devolved legislatures) may only be issued with the approval of the prime minister. The prime minister makes all the most senior Crown appointments, and most others are made by ministers over whom

6848-402: The breakdown of talks and the failure to negotiate a no-strike agreement, a number of mass national one-day strikes were held to protest against this decision, believed by some to be the first step to wider bans on trade unions. Appeals to British courts and the European Commission of Human Rights were unsuccessful. An appeal to the International Labour Organization resulted in a decision that

6955-452: The communications of MPs and other Parliamentarians must also gain the authorisation of the Prime Minister (as well as the relevant Secretary of State and a Judicial Commissioner as for all other IPA warrants). It extends to the devolved legislatures as well as UK members of the European Parliament. This provision came into force on 31 May 2018. Government Communications Headquarters Government Communications Headquarters ( GCHQ )

7062-693: The concept for public-key encryption ( public key infrastructure ) was developed and proven by GCHQ's James H. Ellis . Ellis lacked the number theory skills required to build a workable system. In 1974 GCHQ mathematician Clifford Cocks had developed a workable public key cryptography algorithm and a workable PKI system. Cocks's system was not available in the public domain until it was declassified in 1997. By 1997 broader public key cryptography commercial technologies had been independently developed and had become well established, in areas such as email security , digital signatures , and TLS (a fundamental TCP/IP security component) etc. Most notably in 1977

7169-431: The concept of "Sinews" (or "SIGINT New Systems") which allowed more flexible working methods, avoiding overlaps in work by creating fourteen domains, each with a well-defined working scope. The tenure of Omand also saw the construction of a modern new headquarters, intended to consolidate the two old sites at Oakley and Benhall into a single, more open-plan work environment. Located on a 176-acre site in Benhall, it would be

7276-413: The criminal Kenneth Noye . In the mid-1990s GCHQ began to assist in the investigation of cybercrime . At the end of 2003, GCHQ moved in to its new building. Built on a circular plan around a large central courtyard, it quickly became known as the Doughnut . At the time, it was one of the largest public-sector building projects in Europe, with an estimated cost of £337 million. The new building, which

7383-401: The express vote "that this House has no confidence in Her Majesty's Government" are treated as having this effect; dissenters on a minor issue within the majority party are unlikely to force an election with the probable loss of their seats and salaries. House of Commons Standing Order 14 states that government business has precedence (that is, priority) on every day it sits. Therefore, most of

7490-421: The extent of the sovereign's ability to influence the nature of the prime ministerial advice is unknown, but presumably varies depending upon the personal relationship between the sovereign and the prime minister of the day. As, by constitutional convention, the monarch acts on ministerial advice in all but exceptional cases, it is effectively ministers who exercise the royal prerogative . And it is, in reality,

7597-403: The government's actions were in violation of Freedom of Association and Protection of the Right to Organise Convention . A no-strike agreement was eventually negotiated and the ban lifted by the incoming Labour government in 1997, with the Government Communications Group of the Public and Commercial Services Union (PCS) being formed to represent interested employees at all grades. In 2000,

7704-564: The handling of this issue was becoming essential to their credibility as an organisation. The Internet had become a "cyber commons", with its dominance creating a "second age of Sigint". GCHQ transformed itself accordingly, including greatly expanded Public Relations and Legal departments, and adopting public education in cyber security as an important part of its remit. In February 2014, The Guardian , based on documents provided by Snowden, revealed that GCHQ had indiscriminately collected 1.8 million private Yahoo webcam images from users across

7811-501: The intelligence agencies should "investigate whether all the functions that GCHQ carries out today are still necessary." In late 1993 civil servant Michael Quinlan advised a deep review of the work of GCHQ following the conclusion of his "Review of Intelligence Requirements and Resources", which had imposed a 3% cut on the agency. The Chief Secretary to the Treasury , Jonathan Aitken , subsequently held face to face discussions with

7918-460: The intelligence agency directors to assess further savings in the wake of Quinlan's review. Aldrich (2010) suggests that Sir John Adye , the then Director of GCHQ performed badly in meetings with Aitken, leading Aitken to conclude that GCHQ was "suffering from out-of-date methods of management and out-of-date methods for assessing priorities". GCHQ's budget was £850 million in 1993, (£2.19 billion as of 2023) compared to £125 million for

8025-558: The interests of national security, with particular reference to the defence and foreign policies of His Majesty's government; in the interests of the economic wellbeing of the United Kingdom; and in support of the prevention and the detection of serious crime". During the introduction of the Intelligence Agency Act in late 1993, the former Prime Minister Jim Callaghan had described GCHQ as a "full-blown bureaucracy", adding that future bodies created to provide oversight of

8132-634: The largest building constructed for secret intelligence operations outside the United States. Operations at GCHQ's Chung Hom Kok listening station in Hong Kong ended in 1994. GCHQ's Hong Kong operations were extremely important to their relationship with the NSA, who contributed investment and equipment to the station. In anticipation of the transfer of Hong Kong to the Chinese government in 1997,

8239-701: The major reasons for selecting Cheltenham was that the town had been the location of the headquarters of the United States Army Services of Supply for the European Theater during the War, which built up a telecommunications infrastructure in the region to carry out its logistics tasks. Following the Second World War , US and British intelligence have shared information as part of the UKUSA Agreement . The principal aspect of this

8346-413: The methods of cypher communications used by foreign powers". GC&CS officially formed on 1 November 1919, and produced its first decrypt prior to that date, on 19 October. Before the Second World War, GC&CS was a relatively small department. By 1922, the main focus of GC&CS was on diplomatic traffic, with "no service traffic ever worth circulating" and so, at the initiative of Lord Curzon, it

8453-541: The most valuable of these. The monitoring stations were largely run by inexpensive National Service recruits, but when this ended in the early 1960s, the increased cost of civilian employees caused budgetary problems. In 1965 a Foreign Office review found that 11,500 staff were involved in SIGINT collection (8,000 GCHQ staff and 3,500 military personnel), exceeding the size of the Diplomatic Service . Reaction to

8560-754: The organisation at Eastcote later that year. From 1952 to 1954, the intelligence mission of GCHQ relocated to Cheltenham; the Security section remained at Eastcote, and in March 1954 became a separate, independent organisation: the London Communications Security Agency (LCSA), which in 1958 was renamed to the London Communications-Electronic Security Agency (LCESA). In April 1965, GPO and MOD units merged with LCESA to become

8667-482: The power to appoint the chair, but since the 2013 Act, the chair is now chosen by the ISC members. In 2020, PM Boris Johnson's preference for chair was Chris Grayling, but the ISC members elected Julian Lewis. The PM has the power to agree a MOU with the ISC that sets out what other Government activities the ISC may oversee that are not covered in the Act. The PM is able to control what operational matters are considered by

8774-490: The powers of the British Prime Minister for nearly 300 years." Without a clear definition of the role of prime minister, the powers associated with the office have been able to evolve and accumulate, unhindered by statute, over hundreds of years... There is no single authoritative source for what the role involves and the powers the prime minister can exercise. Documents describing the role and powers of

8881-525: The practice when we came to office and decided on balance – and the arguments were very fine – that the balance should be tipped the other way and that I should give this instruction that there was to be no tapping of the telephones of members of Parliament. That was our decision and that is our policy. However the pledge was qualified in two respects, as the Interception of Communications Commissioner made clear in his 2005–06 Annual Report: But if there

8988-430: The prime minister decides which of them are summoned to meetings. The Ministerial and other Maternity Allowances Act 2021 provides for the prime minister to grant certain office holders six months' maternity leave at full pay. In the case of ministers, the prime minister may designate that person a 'Minister on Leave', which comes with the salary of that person's previous office for up to six months. The prime minister

9095-414: The prime minister has the power of appointment and dismissal. Privy Counsellors , Ambassadors and High Commissioners , senior civil servants, senior military officers, members of important committees and commissions, and other officials are selected, and in most cases may be removed, by the prime minister. The prime minister also formally advises the sovereign on the appointment of archbishops and bishops of

9202-428: The prime minister who appoints, accepts the resignations of and dismisses ministers. Rodney Brazier has said: Of greatest political importance is the Prime Minister's personal authority, which stems from his ability to use, or to advise the Sovereign to use, certain prerogatives. If this country has prime ministerial government, it is based on the Prime Minister's personal authority which, although political in effect,

9309-479: The prime minister. The Head of the Armed Forces is the monarch. However, Hennessy says that "war is an intensely prime ministerial activity." The decision to deploy the armed forces overseas rests with the prime minister or the Cabinet, through the exercise of the royal prerogative. Constitutional convention requires that, in the event of a commitment of the armed forces to military action, authorisation

9416-520: The prime minister. Restraints imposed by the Commons grow weaker when the Government's party enjoys a large majority in that House, or among the electorate. In most circumstances, however, the prime minister can secure the Commons' support for almost any bill by internal party negotiations, with little regard to the Opposition MPs. The domination of Parliament by the government of the day has been called an " Elective dictatorship ". However, even

9523-713: The prime minister. The only important British honours over which the prime minister does not have control are the Order of the Garter , the Order of the Thistle , the Order of Merit , the Royal Victorian Chain , the Royal Victorian Order , and the Order of St John , which are all within the "personal gift" of the sovereign. The Investigatory Powers Act 2016 (IPA) gives the PM the power to appoint

9630-399: The private sector", arguing that most internet users "would be comfortable with a better and more sustainable relationship between the [intelligence] agencies and the tech companies". Since the 2013 global surveillance disclosures , large US technology companies have improved security and become less co-operative with foreign intelligence agencies, including those of the UK, generally requiring

9737-531: The protection of the British government's own communications. When the Government Code and Cypher School (GC&CS) was created in 1919, its overt task was providing security advice. GC&CS's Security section was located in Mansfield College, Oxford during the Second World War. In April 1946, GC&CS became GCHQ, and the now GCHQ Security section moved from Oxford to join the rest of

9844-490: The report was sent directly to the White House Situation Room, providing initial indications of Soviet intentions with regards the US naval blockade of Cuba. Duncan Campbell and Mark Hosenball revealed the existence of GCHQ in 1976 in an article for Time Out ; as a result, Hosenball was deported from the UK. GCHQ had a very low profile in the media until 1983 when the trial of Geoffrey Prime ,

9951-492: The rest of the citizens of this country and are above the law. In September 2007 Prime Minister Gordon Brown reaffirmed the doctrine as "The Wilson Doctrine applies to all forms of interception that are subject to authorisation by Secretary of State warrant." In February 2008 it was reported that Sadiq Khan had been bugged whilst talking to a constituent in Woodhill Prison . However, since this appeared to have been

10058-403: The run-up to the 2003 Iraq war . GCHQ gains its intelligence by monitoring a wide variety of communications and other electronic signals. For this, a number of stations have been established in the UK and overseas. The listening stations are at Cheltenham itself, Bude , Scarborough , Ascension Island , and with the United States at Menwith Hill . Ayios Nikolaos Station in Cyprus is run by

10165-577: The same doctrine. Following the global surveillance disclosures by Edward Snowden , three parliamentarians took a case in 2015 to the Investigatory Powers Tribunal (IPT) that the Wilson Doctrine was being broken. GCHQ 's QC argued that the Wilson Doctrine "does not have force in law and cannot impose legal restraints on the agencies", so the doctrine only has a political effect, and that excluding politicians from mass surveillance wasn't feasible. The IPT ruled in favour of GCHQ in October 2015. Subsequently,

10272-849: The signal intercept networks of the GC&;CS and the US National Security Agency (NSA). Equipment used to break enemy codes included the Colossus computer . Colossus consisted of ten networked computers. An outstation in the Far East, the Far East Combined Bureau , was set up in Hong Kong in 1935 and moved to Singapore in 1939. Subsequently, with the Japanese advance down the Malay Peninsula,

10379-478: The summit via keyloggers that had been installed during the summit. According to Edward Snowden, at that time GCHQ had two principal umbrella programs for collecting communications: GCHQ has also had access to the US internet monitoring programme PRISM from at least as far back as June 2010. PRISM is said to give the National Security Agency and FBI easy access to the systems of nine of

10486-493: The support of MPs and to discipline dissenters. Party discipline is strong since electors generally vote for individuals on the basis of their party affiliation. Members of Parliament may be expelled from their party for failing to support the Government on important issues, and although this will not mean they must resign as MPs, it will usually make re-election difficult. Members of Parliament who hold ministerial office or political privileges can expect removal for failing to support

10593-477: The time the PM can control what is debated in the House of Commons, and when. Even with non-Government business, although the PM does not control the topics raised, the Government controls "when the time allotted to the Opposition or backbench business is scheduled—meaning that they can simply choose to delay scheduling this time if they think something politically embarrassing might be debated." This means it

10700-513: The world's top internet companies, including Google, Facebook, Microsoft, Apple, Yahoo, and Skype. From 2013, GCHQ realised that public attitudes to Sigint had changed and its former unquestioned secrecy was no longer appropriate or acceptable. The growing use of the Internet, together with its inherent insecurities, meant that the communications traffic of private citizens were becoming inextricably mixed with those of their targets and openness in

10807-593: The world. In the same month NBC and The Intercept , based on documents released by Snowden, revealed the Joint Threat Research Intelligence Group and the Computer Network Exploitation units within GCHQ. Their mission was cyber operations based on "dirty tricks" to shut down enemy communications, discredit, and plant misinformation on enemies. These operations were 5% of all GCHQ operations according to

10914-444: Was "either (a) a web browsing profile for every visible user on the internet, or (b) a user profile for every visible website on the internet." In 2015, GCHQ admitted for the first time in court that it conducts computer hacking. In 2017, US Press Secretary Sean Spicer made allegations that GCHQ had conducted surveillance on US President Donald Trump . These unfounded claims were based on statements made during an opinion piece in

11021-453: Was an emergency and such action would not be appropriate. Similarly, declarations of war by Great Britain and the United Kingdom are through the exercise of the royal prerogative by ministers, and led by the prime minister. The prime minister is responsible for the decision to shoot down a hijacked aircraft or an unidentified civil aircraft which responds neither to radio contact nor the signals of RAF interceptor jets, before it reaches

11128-466: Was any development of a kind which required a change in the general policy, I would, at such moment as seemed compatible with the security of the country, on my own initiative make a statement to the House about it. This meant that the Prime Minister could reverse the doctrine in the interests of national security, and that he did not need to reveal such to the House of Commons until he chose to do so. Subsequent prime ministers have regularly confirmed that

11235-409: Was designed by Gensler and constructed by Carillion , became the base for all of GCHQ's Cheltenham operations. The public spotlight fell on GCHQ in late 2003 and early 2004 following the sacking of Katharine Gun after she leaked to The Observer a confidential email from agents at the United States' National Security Agency addressed to GCHQ officers about the wiretapping of UN delegates in

11342-602: Was forced to destroy computer hard drives with the files Snowden had given them because of the threats of a lawsuit under the Official Secrets Act. In June 2014, The Register reported that the information the government sought to suppress by destroying the hard drives related to the location of a "beyond top secret" GCHQ internet monitoring base in Seeb , Oman, and the close involvement of BT and Cable & Wireless in intercepting internet communications. GCHQ

11449-515: Was transferred from the Admiralty to the Foreign Office . GC&CS came under the supervision of Hugh Sinclair , who by 1923 was both the Chief of SIS and Director of GC&CS. In 1925, both organisations were co-located on different floors of Broadway Buildings, opposite St. James's Park . Messages decrypted by GC&CS were distributed in blue-jacketed files that became known as "BJs". In

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