Council of Civil Service Unions v Minister for the Civil Service (GCHQ) is a British intelligence agency that provides signals intelligence to the British government and armed forces. Prior to 1983 its existence was not acknowledged, despite the fact that it openly recruited graduates. Following a spy scandal in 1983, the organisation became known to the public, and the government of Margaret Thatcher decided a year later that employees would not be allowed to join a trade union for national security reasons. The Minister for the Civil Service is a position held "ex officio" by the Prime Minister. This was done through an Order in Council, an exercise of the Royal
Council of Civil Service Unions v Minister for the Civil Service Minister for the Civil Service. Lord Diplock said the following: Lord Roskill said the following. The courts have traditionally been unwilling to subject prerogative powers to judicial review. Judges were only willing to state whether powers existed or not, not whether they had been used appropriately. They therefore applied only the first of the Wednesbury tests; whether the use was illegal. Constitutional scholars such as William Blackstone would have considered this appropriate. The GCHQ case, therefore, was highly important; it held that the application of judicial review would be dependent on the nature of the government's powers, not their source.