British intelligence agency MI5 had an office at BBC headquarters in London that was used to vet all journalists, a snooping tribunal has been told.

The claim is made in a submission to the Investigatory Powers Tribunal by veteran Belfast based journalist Chris Moore.

“When I joined the BBC in 1979 I soon became the National Union of Journalists (NUJ) shop steward in BBC Northern Ireland and while attending national pay talks at Broadcasting House in London in the 1980s NUJ members based in London pointed out a small office in Broadcasting House which they told me was the MI5 office where an MI5 officer vetted every single journalistic job applicant, me included,” he wrote.