HISTORIC STRUGGLE: Campaigners against the GCHQ trade union ban received standing ovations at the PCS annual conference today.

Brian Johnson, one of the 14 employees who were sacked for refusing to renounce their union membership after the ban was imposed in 1984, told delegates: “You now have another fight on your hands with these minimum service contracts business and it’s up to you in the future to see that battle is won.”

Trade unionists in January held a “protect the right to strike” march and rally through Cheltenham on the 40th anniversary of the ban, which was not lifted until 1997.