The man at the centre of the Marks & Spencer whistleblower case has claimed that the retailer carries out intense surveillance of staff, causing a “culture of fear”.

The claim came from Tony Goode, who was revealed yesterday as the man who tipped off the media about a change in M&S’s redundancy terms. Goode was sacked last week following a disciplinary hearing.

Goode is battling to have the decision overruled, backed by the GMB union, which alleges that details of Goode’s calls from his personal mobile phone had been given to reporters. It also criticised M&S for the heavy use of CCTV cameras at its head office.

M&S has rubbished his allegations and hit back at the GMB for its public flaunting of the case.

In a statement, M&S said: “We are astonished by the actions and allegations that the GMB has made about the dismissal of one of our employees. Despite claims that it plans to appeal on behalf of the individual, the GMB seems more concerned about conducting the case through the media to gain publicity for its own ends.”