MPs recall turbulent times on picket lines

Mar 3 2009 by Dave Black, The Journal

FORMER pitman Ronnie Campbell was arrested twice during the Miners’ Strike – but said that was not something to be ashamed of.

As chairman of the NUM branch at Bates Colliery in Blyth at the time, his policy was to lead from the front in the desperate fight to protect pits and jobs.

And his union activities took him to picket lines in Lancashire, Nottingham and Scotland, often plotting back-road routes to avoid police blockades.

Mr Campbell, now the Labour MP for Blyth Valley, was first arrested when he claims he and fellow pickets came under a sudden assault by a police SPG unit at Brenkley drift mine near Newcastle. He was grabbed and shoved inside a van after trying to pull the police commander off a striking miner. He spent the night locked up before being taken to court the next morning, where he was fined £100 for breach of the peace.