See Reel News coverage of the historic attempt to bring a self-confessed blacklister to justice.
The Blacklist Support Group has attempted to serve a Citizens Arrest Warrant on Callum McAlpine, first ever chair of covert and illegal blacklister the Consulting Association.
The attempted arrest on Friday 21 February – the fifth anniversary of the raid on the Consulting Association by the Information Commissioner’s Office – took place at the Sir Robert McAlpine Ltd London offices. Callum McAlpine admitted to a parliamentary select committee this was the venue for the first and subsequent Consulting Association meetings.
Blacklist Support Group members combed the corridors in an attempt to serve the notice. McAlpine staff claimed Callum McAlpine was not in the building. No senior figure from the company emerged to meet with the activists, who were attempting to enforce the law.
No director or senior manager has faced charges for what is a patent legal and human rights offence. Over a similar period, phone hacking of celebrities has led to a series of prosecutions, some of which are ongoing.
While the celebrity victims of phone hacking certainly suffered a criminal breach of privacy, blacklisted workers endured this and were denied work as a result. The consequences of the blacklist were usually devastating and sometime fatal.