Labour MPs attack Norman Tebbit over Miners' Strike

Mar 6 2009 by William Green, The Journal

LABOUR MPs yesterday attacked Norman Tebbit over the 1984 miners’ strike after he expressed regret for damage caused but blamed the NUM.

A fresh row over the dispute erupted after Lord Tebbit, Trade and Industry Secretary at the time, told The Journal the strike had to be beaten because it was designed to bring down Margaret Thatcher.

He attacked the NUM and its former president Arthur Scargill, saying: “I think there was great damage caused and that was regrettable, but it was damage that Scargill caused.”

Lord Tebbit also insisted the Thatcher Government’s intention was to bring as much prosperity to the North East as possible and persuaded car maker Nissan to the region.

But Labour MPs yesterday accused him and the Conservatives of wrecking havoc on the region that would never be forgotten.

Tyne Bridge MP David Clelland said: “I don’t think Scargill covered himself in glory but they on the other hand, there was a definite abuse of power by Margaret Thatcher and Tebbit at the time.

“They used the force of the police as a political weapon against communities up and down the country, not just in the North East of England. These communities will never forgive them for it,” he said. Former miner Dave Anderson, who represents Blaydon, said: “Instead of expressing regret 25 years later, if he had been prepared to negotiate a reasonable agreement, we might not have been where we are now.”

Today’s NUM president has also hit back at Lord Tebbit’s claims, saying the 1984 strike was the Tory Government’s fault as it saw miners as the “enemy within”.

Miners’ leader Ian Lavery, from Ashington, Northumberland, said: “That is certainly Thatcherite rhetoric, which I have heard a million times up and down the country in the last 25 years, word for word.”

Pitmen home

LEE Hall’s hit play The Pitmen Painters is heading home to Newcastle for a run at the Theatre Royal.

The award-winner, currently enjoying sell-out success at the National Theatre in London, will return to the region from September 29 until October 3 during a nine-week national tour.

It’s the second time, after dark comedy Cooking With Elvis, that a play by Newcastle-born Hall has debuted at Live Theatre on the quayside and ended up at the Theatre Royal following a stint in the capital.

The Pitmen Painters, based on the true story of the Ashington Group of miners who won fame in the art world in the 1930s, has proved another winner for the writer of Billy Elliot, the film-turned-stage musical now running in London’s West End and on Broadway in New York.

News of the return came as the Theatre Royal announced its new summer and autumn season which also includes An Inspector Call, a production by Stephen Daldry who directed the film of Billy Elliot as well as The Reader which won Kate Winslet a Best Actress Oscar.

For full season details and tickets visit www.theatreroyal.co.uk of call 0844 811-2121.