[9][11], A few months later, the president of the Yorkshire NUM died unexpectedly, and Scargill won the election for his replacement; the two posts were then combined and he held them until 1981. His first point was that he is not an accountant (I got that wrong) but an engineer by training and that he has worked in the airline industry all his life. [49], After stepping down from leadership of the NUM, Scargill became active in the UK's Stalin Society[50] saying that the "ideas of Marx, Engels, Lenin and Stalin explain the real world". After the miners' strike in 1984, there were accusations that Arthur Scargill had misappropriated National Union of Mineworkers funds and that money which sh. He lives a normal sort of a life. Scargill must be very proud that his campaigning had the convictions downgraded to manslaughter and both men released from prison in November 1989. . Scargill was often accompanied by his then wife Anne Harper to speak at picket lines and to media appearances; Harper was simultaneously involved in founding and leading the National Women Against Pit Closures movement. Scargill joined the organization in 1955, and within some months, he was able to become a member of the organization`s executive board. Photograph: Christopher Thomond for the Guardian, Chris Kitchen, general secretary of the NUM, at the union's headquarters in Barnsley. I suggest to this Conference that we have coal mines with us but they did something about this problem: they closed them down. I'm working on article about the 30th anniversary of the strike, I say. This service is provided on News Group Newspapers' Limited's Standard Terms and Conditions in accordance with our Privacy & Cookie Policy. He felt that the Labour Party had betrayed the basic principles of the party`s constitution. [31] In addition, it was alleged that he had taken 1,000,000 of cash donated by the Soviet Union for the Welsh miners and placed it in a Dublin bank account for the "International Miners' Organisation", where it stayed until a year after the strike had finished. You couldnt make this up. It was all or nothing. And he's done very well out of it.". Scargills trickery and hypocrisy coupled with the startling revelation that Labours Shadow minister for preventing violence Sarah Champion was arrested and put in a police cell accused of assault after a violent row with her husband back in 2007 and you can see Socialisms mantra is simple: Do as I say not as I do. ARTHUR SCARGILL has two faces. Campbell, Adrian, and Malcolm Warner. In the 1981 election for NUM president, Scargill secured around 70% of the vote. Scargill had condemned the killing at the time. Want to bookmark your favourite articles and stories to read or reference later? The flat on the 25th floor had previously been rented to him as a perk of his job as leader of the National Union of Mineworkers (NUM). [53], Scargill still occasionally gives interviews and makes appearances. [6] In 1970, he was elected a member of the regional committee of the Co-operative Retail Services in Barnsley and a delegate to its national conference. Prince Albert of Monaco is the first Euro monarch to confirm he and his wife Keep calm and carry on! So they shouldn't think they've scared me. With the promise of at least 5 in cash, its sign reads thus: "We buy your unwanted clothes, shoes, socks, belts, handbags, paired footwear.". Many of the details are too complex and arcane to comprehensively explain, let alone understand, though some of what has emerged from all this tussling has been manna from heaven to those sections of the press who would have their readers believe that Scargill's reputation is beyond repair. There's more to this new Arthur Scargill chic than mere fashion nostalgia. He had no means of calling a strike in Yorkshire.[27]. We now have a situation where the government and the establishment have a funeral on their hands which they wish they didnt have. "They asked me to relay that to him. Despite years of bitter battling with the Tories as they closed practically every mine in the early eighties, the bizarre u-turn by for the former union leader has been welcomed by the Conservatives. He had also refused to speak to the media, after Margaret Thatcher`s death in 2013, though he was offered a sum of 16,000. To be paid 400,000-a-year to eat cake for an hour makes it the least onerous and most highly paid TV job with the exception of football pundit. ', Mr Scargill replied simply: Scargill Alive!. Arthur Scargill joins rail picket line in Sheffield Former NUM leader says he feels duty-bound to offer his support to striking workers, and has choice words for Starmer and Johnson Arthur. Angry Stefni Logan revealed that her father James had dated his estranged wife Heather while romancing Dr Margaret Scargill. "We're going backwards, aren't we?" The following year, he also became a member of the Labour Party. He felt the need to fight for changes in the capitalist society, and vowed that he would work towards making the world more equitable. Scargill recalled how after becoming a miner, the poor working conditions and "people who should never have been working, having to work to live on that first day I promised myself I would try one day to get things changed". He understood the plight of the workers, and chose to stay and remain a self-appointed representative of the workers. He injured himself acouple of years ago playing penalty shoot-out with his grandkids. The couple plan to marry later this year. I think if it had been made public before then there'd have been a huge outcry. "I shall never, ever forgive the police for doing that to me," she says. Scargill, along with veteran left-wing Labour MP Tony Benn, campaigned to free strikers Russell Shankland and Dean Hancock from prison. But one name is missing: that of Scargill's ex-husband, who will forever be synonymous with the events of 1984 and 85, but has seemingly resolved to sit through the anniversary in silence. At the top, surrounded by sunbeams, is the single word "socialism": the destination that, some would say, decisively disappeared from view midway through the 1980s. Lady Thatchers victories over Mr Scargill in the miners strike and Argentine dictator General Galtieri in the Falklands war were hailed by her supporters as the two key moments of her premiership when they paid tribute in Parliament on Wednesday. After his return to Britain, he joined the Campaign for Nuclear Disarmament. Harper married Arthur Scargill, who was also an elected member of the Trade Union branch committee at Woolley Colliery, at Gawber Parish Church on 16 September 1961. As the militant leader of the miners, Arthur Scargill fought Margaret Thatcher's government in the 1980s. [60][61], London Assembly elections (entire London city), "Scargill" redirects here. What would have become of our democracy had they succeeded?. It just said: 'Thatcher dead.' [18], Miners were split between those who supported the strike and those who opposed it (see Union of Democratic Mineworkers). Scargill opposed civilian nuclear power and, during the first Wilson ministry, became highly critical of the government's energy policy. Mr Scargill first came to prominence in the early 1970s, when he was involved in a mass picket at the Saltley Gate coking plant in Birmingham. "Analysing the British miners' strike of 19845.". Scargill decided to turn his attention to politics. "The gentleman was not for turning.". It is only after I leave the NUM's HQ for the last time that one striking fact hits home. The staff at headquarters issued a press statement in January 1983 to deny this and to list twelve grievances against Scargill's treatment of his staff. [14], Scargill was a very vocal opponent of Thatcher's Conservative government, frequently appearing on television to attack it. Of all the people I can think of Scargill, is the least deserving of tenants. ", ITN, he claims, offered Scargill 7,000 for a five-minute interview. "He's estranged from his ex-wife. And Stefni warned Margaret's parents that Mr Logan is a "sly, deceitful toe-rag''. [51] Scargill criticised Poland's Solidarity calling it an "anti-socialist organisation which desires the overthrow of a socialist state", which Scargill saw as deformed but reformable. That's what I believe". Hero of the working classes, Arthur Scargill, has joined the Conservative Party after they allowed the opening of a new coal mine in Cumbria. Another column reader, Sandra from Pinner, North West London, was quoted 767 to renew her car insurance by Direct Line. To inquire about a licence to reproduce material, visit our Syndication site. TOY shop in Bromsgrove, Worcs Hoyti Toyti, Beauty salon in Catterick, North Yorks Saving Face, Wool shop in Redcar, North Yorks Wool N Knit Be Nice, Chippie in Bedminster, Bristol Smileys Plaice, Seen on a lorry Cant Move Heaven But Can Move Earth, Mac computer repair shop in Penzance, Cornwall Apple Crumble, On the side of a van in Cam, Gloucs Copse And Loggers. Herein, she says, lies a direct link to what she did three decades ago. It's too soon to say.". In 1973, Scargill was elected to the full-time post of compensation agent in the Yorkshire NUM. "[40] Scargill complained to the Advertising Standards Authority who criticised the advertisement as "highly distasteful". Arthur Scargill, the son and grandson of coal miners, was born in Worsborough, South Yorkshire, in 1938. Staff members suddenly taken ill, or with long-standing medical appointments, require his personal consent to be absent from the office. We've got food banks now, but they're doing clothing banks for children and babies as well.". "Well, you've knocked on my door," he says. They brought down Jim Callaghans Government. More than 100 migrants suffer freezing temperatures to get to UK while French coastguard pluck another 45 Bad news, men 'winter penis' might be real after all, doctors say. In time he and his family moved to a more comfortable, modern home in the town where he grew up. "If you've got a young lad at school and he's being bullied, and he comes out of school at the end of the day and the bully is waiting for him, to give him a good hiding the bully may be bigger than him, but he has a choice. Does she think she ever will talk about him? Scargill won widespread applause for his response to the disaster at Lofthouse Colliery in Outwood, West Yorkshire, at which he accompanied the rescue teams underground and was on site for six days with the relatives of the seven deceased. So I sent an email, and the 7,000 was rejected. In 1961, Scargill was elected a member of the Woolley NUM Branch Committee. Arthur Scargill's net worth estimate is $100,000 - $1M. The power is amazing. Simon Cole, the Chief Constable of Leicestershire has followed the West Midlands Chief Constable and said he would consider Muslim officers wishes to wear burkas. "I am writing a book, but he'snot mentioned in it. He wouldn't say another word. Arthur Scargill soon got a response from a representative of The Daily Worker, who persuaded him to join the Young Communist League of Britain. He also had an important role in the `Battle of Saltley Gate, that closed Birmingham`s Saltley coke depot. A former Labour Party member, Scargill is now leader of the Socialist Labour Party (SLP), founded by him in 1996. Arthur Scargill was born in England, United Kingdom on Tuesday, January 11, 1938 (Silent Generation). This was the verdict of the rather strange former Bake Off star Ruby Tandoh on Paul Hollywoods decision to go with the show when it moves from the BBC1 to C4. Had he done the humble thing and walked away with what he were entitled to, his reputation would still be intact.". In 2016 it was reported that the grandfather of two was living in a three-bedroom detached country house in Yorkshire owned by his. If reports are true that British women volunteers are flocking to the Calais Jungle specifically to have sex with migrants, expect the camp to grow from the current 10,000 to the size of Africa in no time at all. For other uses, see, Early political and trade union activities. His father was also a loyal member of the Communist Party. The strike started in Yorkshire, and he was not present at the delegate Council meeting in Barnsley. [21] Many politicians, including the then Labour leader Neil Kinnock, believed Scargill had made a huge mistake in calling the strike in the summer rather than in the winter. . I have since received an email from Alex Cruz, the chief executive and chairman of BA, apologising for my experience. He stepped down from leadership of the NUM at the end of July 2002, to become the honorary president. He may still lose. of the other candidates claimed that they were given very little time to prepare. He reaches for his phone and shows me what he received. One of the main planks of his platform was to give more power to union conferences than to executive meetings, on the grounds that the former were more democratic. She queried it and as a loyalty bonus they reduced to 655. . The doors to Parliament open to show Scargill's wife and daughter. "He doesn't live lavishly, although he does like a glass of red wine. The one who very secretly tried for two decades to buy a council flat in Londons fashionable Barbican so he could pocket a fortune. It's always those lower down who are suffering. I think we should be told. That house sits on the edge of Worsbrough, close to the pit village where Scargill was born. Start your Independent Premium subscription today. offers Cook. [32] The documentary suggests that the claims against Scargill were untrue. Cabinet papers released earlier this year proved that when, at the start of the strike, Scargill claimed that there were secret plans to shut around 70 pits in the face of endless official denials, he was unquestionably correct. Let them eat cake! Arthur Scargill's name is on the list of union officials that adorns one wall, but that is it: among the banners, memorabilia and countless images of the strike, he is nowhere to be seen. The miners` strike of 1974 eventually brought down the Conservative government of Edward Heath. SMS: Ken Capstick, treasurer of the Socialist Labour Party which Arthur Scargill leads, sent the former union boss a text message reading: 'Thatcher Dead'. [36] In September 1990, the Certification Officer brought criminal charges against Scargill and Heathfield for wilfully neglecting to perform the union's duty to keep proper accounting records. Lisa Marie Presley, daughter of Elvis, dies at . "Destroy everything, and create a 'me-me-me' class. On the first step, it says "nationalisation"; after that comes "the five-day week", "social security", "family allowances", "health and peace", and "prosperity and happiness". Even if talent is thin on the ground could I suggest the Crime Commissioners of Leicestershire and West Midlands do us all a favour by throwing out their deranged Chief Constables. He called for the cotton mills, steel plants and mines to be re-opened and that under EU rules, the government had not been able to subsidise the coal mines. The strike began on 12 March 1984, and became known for being one of the most violent events in British labour history. But apparently not. Why should the leader of the Socialist Labour Party (a Corbyn ally naturally) be allowed to pocket a million? Feedback | The NUM is not your personal bank account and never will be again. [9] This performance strengthened his popularity with the Yorkshire miners. "Leadership in the Miners Union-Scargill, Arthur Rise to Power. When the suggestion was put to Mr Cole, why didnt he say the idea was out of the question, not least because the public would want to see an officers face? 10 Dec 2012. Back at the NUM I have an appointment to meet Betty Cook and Anne Scargill, to discuss the 30th anniversary of the miners' strike of 1984-5, which began in Yorkshire during the opening days of March 1984. Joining the NUM at the age of 19 in 1957, Scargill was one of its leading activists by the late 1960s. His application was blocked at the time as it was not his primary residence. Beaming Queen Consort Camilla visits the University of Aberdeen as she returns to Take note, Prince Harry! [58][59] Scargill's appearance on the picket line was alluded to by Prime Minister Boris Johnson the next day at Prime Minister's Questions, accusing the Labour Party of "literally holding hands with Arthur Scargill". [33], In July 1990, the NUM executive voted unanimously to sue Scargill and general secretary Peter Heathfield. Yet that has not stopped the ardent communist exploiting one of her flagship policies. https://www.thefreelibrary.com/Dear+Arthur+Scargill%2c+before+you+let+your+daughter+marry+my+love-+rat-a060693318. [52], The Guardian in February 2014 said that Scargill had become a recluse. [53] Following Margaret Thatcher's death in April 2013, ITN made Scargill several offers for a five-minute interview, with the final offer reaching 16,000, but Scargill refused all the offers and did not speak to any media organisation. And did we win that? I were 42, me. [39], During the media controversy, the antiperspirant Mitchum used Scargill's image, without his consent, under the slogan "Mitchum, for when you're really sweating! He arrived at the colliery to find he could not get into his office because someone had super-glued the door shut. He left school in 1953 at fifteen years old to work as a coal miner at Woolley Colliery, where he worked for nineteen years.[2][3]. News Group Newspapers Limited in England No. And as Iwas in the area, it would be remiss of me not to knock on his door. . The strike ended on 3 March 1985 following an NUM vote to return to work. All but two of the county's collieries have closed, and in their place are seemingly endless retail parks, the foundations of a local economy in which people work in shops to spend money in other shops. Scargill, the former militant leader of. A former miner and vice-president of the Yorkshire NUM, he now serves as the treasurer of the Socialist Labour Party, the would-be challenger to Tony Blair that Scargill founded in 1996, whose membership has since dwindled to around 300. He claimed that the government had a long-term strategy to destroy the industry by closing unprofitable pits, and that it listed pits it wanted to close each year. He was on television all the time: a charismatic character. Scargill was involved in a High Court case in 1978 that set a precedent in UK labour law, known as Roebuck v NUM (Yorkshire Area) No 2. He did not take the Eleven-Plus exam and went to Worsbrough Dale School (now called the Elmhirst School). Scargill was born in Worsbrough Dale near Barnsley, West Riding of Yorkshire. And when Iput the phone down, I came and sat in the house, and the television was on, and it came on that Margaret Thatcher had died. Like me you wont have heard of Ms Tandoh since she last appeared in the show a couple of years back and the only reason she would have made any impression was a suggestion she was flirting with Mr Hollywood. All rights reserved. [56], In July 2021 he spoke at the Rebel Town Festival in Jarrow. But his brain is as active as ever. https://www.thefamouspeople.com/profiles/arthur-scargill-50638.php. IVE heard from Ron The Guvnor who on receiving his car renewal of 755 for his BMW an increase of 300 without a claim told his insurers they had a good chance of appearing in my column unless there was a reduction. His application was refused because the flat in the Barbican Estate's Shakespeare Tower was not Scargill's primary residence. In a 1975 interview with New Left Review Scargill said: I was in the Young Communist League for about six or seven years and I became a member of its National Executive Committee responsible for industrial work. Arthur Scargill (born 11 January 1938) [1] is a British trade unionist who was President of the National Union of Mineworkers (NUM) from 1982 to 2002. Arthur Scargill is a Capricorn and was born in The Year of the Tiger Life. The union now has just under 1,800 members, who work at a small handful of deep pits and open-cast mines, but its financial holdings are said to total around 20m, which Scargill's supporters say lies at the heart of their current battles. So our conscience is clear. Many of us started in the 1950s in the Young Communist League. They're at it again! It turned into a confrontation with the Conservative government of Margaret Thatcher in which the miners' union was defeated. The political power of the NUM and of most British trade unions was severely reduced. The NUM says the money is being used to defend what remains of the coal industry and help both its members and former miners. Scargill was the only child of his parents. One of his closest associates is Ken Capstick, 73, who lives 20 minutes' drive from Barnsley in a quiet corner of Wakefield. Kitchen has said he believes Scargill is out to destroy the NUM. "The Sun", "Sun", "Sun Online" are registered trademarks or trade names of News Group Newspapers Limited. It began in Yorkshire, and eventually spread to the rest of the country. A lot of conflict followed between the government and Scargill`s union. For webmasters |. Why Arthur Scargill is reluctant to leave his 1.5m Barbican flat The National Union of Mineworkers is fed up of forking out for their former president, but he clearly likes his home among the. Arthur Scargill was born on 11th January 1938, in Worsbrough Dale, in South Yorkshire, England, into a family of coal miners. A secret record is kept of the time at which all workers arrive and leave each day. Milne, Seumas. " "There's definitely a disproportionate amount of time and money being spent fighting Arthur Scargill rather than looking after the members and protecting the union," he tells me. Jeremy Hunt is mocked over toe-curling 'inflation explainer' video by ordering How much will YOUR broadband go up in price? Here as elsewhere in post-industrial Yorkshire, the surrounding landscape attests to what arrived instead. "I've never, ever said owt. So I knew Arthur didn't know. "I don't see much difference betweenthe way Arthur has lived his life and thecapitalist system he built areputation for fighting in that he's allout for his self. If BA is ever to going to boast that its the Worlds Favourite Airline again it will have to hire staff who dont look at passengers as getting in the way of their decent nights sleep. One of them is from the nearby Wombwell Main pit, and tells its own story. Mr Logan, 42, is now business manager at the Ashville Medical Centre, in Barnsley, where Dr Scargill works as a GP. The editor of the Daily Mirror at the time, Roy Greenslade, wrote an article in The Guardian in May 2002 to apologise to Scargill for the false claims about paying off the mortgage and for putting too much trust in Roger Windsor, who at the time had still not repaid the 29,500 that he had taken from the Miners' Welfare Fund and that the Lightman Report had asked that he repay. Hair salon in Stalybridge, Greater Manchester Hairess, Driving school in Worcester Jules Control. I cannot find parliamentary language to use to describe Arthur Scargill.. The judge, Sir SydneyTempleman held that it was unfair that Scargill was on the appeal panel in the NUM for journalists being disciplined for appearing as witnesses against a libel action by Scargill himself. The Enemy Within", Verso 2014. Join thought-provoking conversations, follow other Independent readers and see their replies. I hope Thatcher's death was degrading and painful, tweets From the Iron Chancellor to the Iron Lady: Angela Merkel 'Thatcher is to blame for Britain's poor relationship with Royal Family will find it 'impossible' to compromise with Sussexes, Man ordered to take off a Jesus Saves t-shirt at Mall of America, Russian pro-war fanatic warns Britain could be 'wiped off the map', BBC Breakfast celebrates forty years of hilarious bloopers, Ken Bruce will be joining the Greatest Hits Radio family in April, As it happened: UK Government blocks Scotland's new gender law, Bungling helicopter pilot blows over stadium roof injuring eight, Kamala opts out of kneeling with Biden for Warriors photo op, Shamima Begum never considered turning back during journey to ISIS. One of them is from the nearby Wombwell Main pit, and tells its own story. In 2014, it was reported that Scargill had become a recluse. But his victory is in the struggle itself. One he enjoys showing the world: The great trade unionist, the great Socialist, the great fighter against the evils of capitalism, the man who would walk 1,000. The Sun website is regulated by the Independent Press Standards Organisation (IPSO), Our journalists strive for accuracy but on occasion we make mistakes. Even Muslim groups think the idea is mad. [32] An internal NUM report by Gavin Lightman QC found that Scargill had used some of the Libyan money to pay for improvements to his bungalow but not to pay off his mortgage (as had been alleged),[33] and stated that Scargill's failure to make a full report on the Soviet money donated for the Welsh miners was "a remarkable breach of duty" and that he should repay the money back to the NUM. ", R.R. He was the representative of the Yorkshire miners. His time at the top of the union saw not just the strike and his union's defeat, but the rapid decline of the British coal industry not least in the early 1990s, when the-then trade minister Michael Heseltine announced that 31 ofthe UK's remaining 50 deep collieries were to shut. [3] The couple had a daughter together, Margaret Scargill, in 1962 who is now a practicing GP. Rishi Sunak slams food tsar's warning that bringing baked treats into the office is like Ex-pupils make new sex abuse claims against staff at 45,000-a-year Yehudi Menuhin music school where former 'Incel' killer's eight-minute reign of terror: Chilling footage shows Plymouth gunman Jake Davison wielding Grinning prankster who interrupted BBC's FA Cup coverage with porn grins outside after Wolves say he won't How MOTD porn prankster Daniel 'Jarvo' Jarvis has long history of stunts including invading The Oval, X Every police force in England is warned to root out sex offenders: Forces are told to check staff haven't Pictured: Five-year-old girl knocked down and killed by a takeaway delivery driver as her devastated mother Shakira 'took aim at ex Gerard Pique by including a severed HEAD in a fridge in her music video - after Farmer, 71, who appeared on BBC documentary This Farming Life is killed by one of his own cows. He lost on both occasions, winning 2.4% of the vote in Hartlepool at the 2001 general election. [19] The NUM had previously held three ballots on a national strike, all of which rejected the proposal: 55% voted against in January 1982, and 61% voted against in both October 1982 and March 1983.[20]. We stood and fought against enormous odds, and not just for the pits for our way of life. He had been a Communist and retained strong Marxist views and a penchant for denouncing anyone who disagreed with him as a traitor Scargill had indeed been elected by a vast margin and he set about turning the NUM's once moderate executive into a reliably militant group By adopting a position that no pits should be closed on economic grounds, even if the coal was exhausted more investment would always find more coal, and from his point of view, the losses were irrelevant he made sure confrontation would not be avoided.
