Miners' strike 25 years on: Norman Tebbit has regrets, but blames Scargill

Mar 5 2009 by William Green, The Journal

NORMAN Tebbit yesterday said he regretted the damage caused to the North East by the miners’ strike but blamed Arthur Scargill and the NUM.

Lord Tebbit, Margaret Thatcher’s right-hand man during the strike, launched into a fresh war of words with the former NUM president, referred to only as Scargill, in an interview with The Journal.

Trade and Industry Secretary in the 1980s Lord Tebbit insists the unrest had to be beaten and while expressing sorrow for “great damage” caused, pins the blame on Scargill.

“He was so eager to bring down the Thatcher Government to prove he was as big a boy as the miners of 74 when they brought Heath down and as big as the local authority workers when they brought Callaghan down. He focused on that.

“He knew he didn’t have the support of his own union, which is why he didn’t have a national ballot although it was called a national strike. He never had the full support of the miners,” said Lord Tebbit.

He added: “I think there was great damage caused and that was regrettable, but it was damage that Scargill caused.”

And the strike had to be resisted because it was designed to bring down Margaret Thatcher, according to Lord Tebbit.