In an article entitled ‘The vetting files: How the BBC kept out ‘subversives’’ the BBC confessed:
“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”.
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