Thousands of surveillance reports compiled by undercover police officers who infiltrated political campaign groups were routinely passed to MI5, according to documents obtained by the spycops inquiry. The reports, which detailed the personal and political activities of mainly leftwing protesters, helped the Security Service build extensive files on individuals engaged in democratic protests.
The collaboration between covert police units and MI5 spanned from the late 1960s to the 1990s, at the height of Cold War paranoia. The surveillance reports logged intimate details about campaigners, including marriages, sexuality, holiday plans, and bank accounts, as well as information about their children, some as young as 13. MI5 retained these reports in its files.
MI5 used the information to vet people applying for government posts, screening out those deemed a security risk. A senior MI5 official told the inquiry it was 'highly likely that some (possibly most)' of the requested data was used for this purpose. The undercover officers' reports were described by MI5 as 'valuable' and 'very significant'.
The inquiry, led by retired judge Sir John Mitting, is examining the use of undercover police officers to spy on political groups between 1968 and 2010. The close cooperation between police and MI5 is a key focus of the investigation.
