Beyond Our Ken

John McDonnell's Role Model

John is not the first member of the Socialist Campaign Group (SCG) to fail to gain sufficient nominations to stand for the Leadership of the Labour Party. Ken Livingstone went down that path in 1992.

After Labour's defeat in the 1992 Election, Neil Kinnock and Roy Hattersley bounced the Labour Party into elections for Leader and Deputy by their premature resignations, which gave the Party little time to give the matter much thought.

We can hardly plead that we were unprepared this time - although what is happening is again devoid of questioning and analysis.

Trying To Talk Ken Out Of Standing

As soon as Neil and Roy announced their intention to resign, SCG weekly meetings were dominated by how we should respond. Opinions differed strongly, with some keen to push Ken Livingstone's candidature. After all, Ken enjoyed a high media profile.

Yet there were strong voices arguing against running any candidate. For a while no-one sort to test the water by moving for a vote on the matter. But time started to run out and those supporting Ken needed to move. This was done at a poorly attended meeting which was held as a parliament was either moving in or out of recess - I forget which.

There were only seven MPs present for the crucial meeting. These were Tony Benn, Dennis Skinner, Ken Livingstone, John Austin (who was newly elected and was then known as John Austin-Walker), the late Bernie Grant, the late Bob Cryer and myself.

Crunch Time

At that time, Ken and Bernie had been at loggerheads over the best way to pursue anti-racist activities. Ken was fully involved in the work of the Anti Racist Alliance, whilst Bernie was active with the Anti Nazi League. Ken and Bernie barely seemed to be on speaking terms.

It was, therefore, something of a surprise when Ken informed us that if he stood for the leadership he was in favour of Bernie standing as his running mate for the post of Deputy. Thankfully for Ken, Bernie liked the idea.

Dennis Skinner and Bob Cryer were strong supporters of the notion that the Group should run candidates, so they supported the proposal for a Ken-Bernie ticket.

Tony Benn was probably chairing the meeting, as he did not vote. John Austin-Walker and myself opposed the proposal, as we felt that it would be counter-productive both inside the newly elected Parliamentary Labour Party and throughout the wider movement.

Otherwise tied at 2-2 (Skinner and Cryer vs Austin-Walker and Barnes), the outcome was determined by the votes of the would-be candidates.

Needless to say without Ken and Bernie even having widespread support amongst the missing members of the SCG, they failed badly to obtain the required number of nominations from Labour MPs.

Tony's Contribution

The last time the SCG moved successfully to secure a nomination for the Labour Leadership was in 1988 when Tony Benn challenged the then incumbent Leader, Neil Kinnock. Tony obtained only 11.4% of the vote. (This contest is not to be confused with his famous narrow defeat by Dennis Healy for the Deputy Leadership of the Labour Party in 1981, during the high-water mark of Bennism.)

Before Tony's name went forward, there were again lengthy weekly debates in the SCG. I remember Red Dawn's reaction (i.e. Dawn Primarolo) in particular. She was a strong supporter of Tony Benn's political position and initially she argued forcefully in support of him standing. But when she discussed the situation with left activists in her Bristol Constituency (the very people who she thought would support her line), she was shocked to find them repeating the same warnings that some of us were putting to her at SCG meetings. She then changed her stance. Perhaps this was the start of her move into the Gordon Brown camp.

An immediate consequence of Tony's failed candidature in 1988 was that the Labour Party raised the hurdle for MPs' nominations beyond the then 10% level - a move that was unhelpful to John McDonnell in the long run.

Yield Not To Temptation

The SCG and the left generally need to learn the futility in current circumstances of running their own candidates for top Labour positions. It takes activists to the top of the hill and lets them roll down again - as will be seen in John4Leader's comment box and on many a blog.

It was the above reasoning which led me to press for Peter Hain to stand for Leader and not just for Deputy. I judged that for the left he was a plausible candidate who would clear the nominations hurdle, run a campaign we could associate ourselves with and give us an opportunity to have a marginal influence on the future direction of the Party. I did not expect him to win, but to have some influence on Gordon Brown via his campaign.

As Peter did not stand for Leader (and few saw the significance of pushing him to stand), I eventually moved at the 11th hour to support John McDonnell - as (given the eventual lack of choice) I would have nominated him if I had still been an MP. Which is more than I did for Ken Livingstone in 1988.

But none of us should be placed in such a position. When it comes to issues as key as the Leadership of the Labour Party, the left and its MPs should make coherent moves to seek out feasible candidates. Unfortunately, that position has never won through in the SCG - except as below.

1988, 1992, 2007 Or 1994?

Although I know what went on in the SCG over the 1988 and 1992 Leadership contests, I'm not privy to what happened this year. But I am keen to find out.

There has, however, been one Leadership election where the SCG adopted the approach I favour. In 1994, I actively campaigned alongside Ken Livingstone and others for Margaret Beckett in the contest which Tony Blair won. Margaret might not seem to be a standard bearer for "left of centre" politics in current circumstances, but she did in 1994 (and for periods afterwards). At the least she would have maintained the Labourite stance of John Smith and would not have propagated a New Labour line - she was the Peter Hain of her time.

A Memory Of Tony Benn

I first heard Tony Benn speak when I was an adult student at Ruskin College in 1961 and I last heard him speak at a Conference run by the Society for the Study of Labour History over 50 years later. He  always spoke well and from his depth of understandings and from his socialist commitments. Like all good speakers, he was particularly keen to enter into a full and frank debate with his audience. I was tucked away in the audience the first time I heard him, but on the final occasion we had our last talk together after the meeting. He had been surprised to spot me in the audience.

Although I came across him at Labour Party Conferences and at fringe meetings in the 1970s and early 1980s; I never met up with him face to face until 1983. It was an exceptional occasion. He had been selected by Labour to stand for parliament in a by-election at Chesterfield. I was a tutor on an Industrial Day Release Course for Derbyshire Miners which was held at the Adult Education Centre at Hurst House in Chesterfield. As I was teaching politics, I arranged for the candidates from the Labour, Conservative and Liberal Parties to address us. They preferred to address and debate with us separately. As we had four hourly sessions in class between 10 am and 4 pm (with breaks for coffee and lunch), this was easy to arrange. Ideally with candidates covering three of the hourly periods, it would have been educationally advantageous for the fourth hour to be at the start or the end of the day. That would have allowed the class to prepare itself for the event, or to have an inquest over what had transpired. But the candidates had other commitments which cut across this neat plan. So for the session from 11.15 am to 12.15pm, I arranged for the late Bas Barker to address us. He was Chair of the Chesterfield Trade Union Council and the only fourth Party candidate up to then who had ever contested the Chesterfield seat - as a Communist. He was an ideal fourth choice. Eventually 17 candidates stood in the 1983 Chesterfield bye-election. But none of the "extras" had come forward in time for our  discussion. The media took a great interest in the event and turned up to mingle with us during the two coffee breaks, which were held in a "common room". When Tony was speaking the door opened quietly and a microphone was poked into the room. I quickly chased the intruder away. John Halstead was teaching a parallel course to mine as their economics tutor, so we placed the two classes together and shared the chairmanship and organisation. (The class I was teaching is shown in the top photo here). It was an exceptional day of serious debate. Tony in particular contributed to the quality of the day's activities. I considered it to be a great educational success. In the year after Tony's bye-election success, he found that his constituents faced the impact of pit closures and the 1984 Miners' Strike. Those he had addressed at Hurst House a year earlier where now at the forefront of local developments and had Tony solidly and actively on their side.

During the 1983 Chesterfield Bye-election, Tony made an incredible impression. It was not a good time for Labour. Egged on by the media, people turned up at his packed meetings intent to "sort him out". Yet they normally left with posters and leaflets to advance his candidature. I had given him my full support two year's earlier when he was very narrowly defeated in a contest for the Deputy Leadership of the Labour Party. I was at the Labour Party Conference where this vote took place and remember an official whispering in his ear to tell him the result. I still remember the "wow" look on his face.


Four years later, I joined Tony in parliament as the MP for the neighbouring seat to Chesterfield - North East Derbyshire.  The constituency I represented laps in a "C" shape around Chesterfield. Our Constituency Labour Party Meetings and half of my MPs surgeries were held in Chesterfield as it was a central point to meet given the distribution of the NE Derbyshire population. But the links with Tony were not just those of convenience. Once I settled into parliament, I joined the Socialist Campaign Group where he was a major figure. For 14 years we were often together joining in the same debates in the Commons. In the early years, there was the unsuccessful fight to save the remaining pits in our area. Even after he retired from parliament in 2001, he continued to attend meetings of the Socialist Campaign Group and we were together on the platform at the launch of "Labour Against the War" at the time of the invasion of Iraq. In the Commons we met weekly at Socialist Campaign Group meetings. Whilst in Labour rebellions against Blairism we normally met up in the same division lobbies.

Even when people have basic shared horizons in politics, they can't (and should not) agree on everything. On one occasion, Tony and I had a joint meeting of our two Constituency Labour Parties to discuss the situation in Northern Ireland. We did this as Tony and I had different views on what the correct approach should be. He was a solid advocate of a united Ireland. Whilst I was content with that as a long term aspiration, I felt that the fact that the Unionists were in the majority meant that their stance could not just be overridden; it needed accommodating to. Tony, of course, tested my contrasting stance to the full. But invariably in a comradely fashion. We took similar lines in debates within the Socialist Campaign Group itself.

No socialist can ignore Tony's contributions over the years and we need to draw from them. Tony would not, however, want us to do this dogmatically. But in the spirit he pursued matters - through the dialectics of comradely debate. What mattered to Tony was the values which people adhered to. Differences of interpretation on how to relate these to passing events, were of lesser importance. 

 

         

7 Reasons Why I'm Not A Bennite

Although I was a member of the Socialist Campaign Group for the bulk of my 18 years as an MP, I have never been a Bennite. In a similar way, I have been a member of the Labour Party for 50 years, but I have never been an uncritical fan of its "leaders" in that time. With both organisations, I have attempted to be a loyal grouser. My words below are said in this spirit.

The last time there was a significant left presence in the Labour Party, it was divided into two main camps - the hard and soft lefts. It always seemed to me that the latter could be outmanoeuvred or absorbed by the right and centre of the Labour Party. This finally happened under Blair. For the hard left, the prospect was that of being outmanoeuvred and isolated. This was again a Blairite achievement, aided by acts of self-destruction.

Unfortunately, my Goldilock endeavours (neither too soft nor too hard) never became part of an effective trend, so I was usually obliged to choose between whatever remained on the passing agendas of what was left on the left. Although I kept trying to spell out alternatives.

I give below 7 of my main reasons for not being a Bennite.

1. Northern Ireland. Even in the days of Provisional IRA violence, Tony was actively linked with Sinn Fein. At Chesterfield May Day Rallies, he was involved in fringe meetings which were supportive of Sinn Fein. In contrast, I firmly opposed all forms of terrorism in Northern Ireland and gave active support instead to those working for peace and reconciliation via such bodies as the local Trade Unions, the Peace Train Movement and New Dialogue. Tony and I once argued out our alternative positions at a joint meeting of the Constituency Parties of Chesterfield and North East Derbyshire.

2. European Union. When Harold Wilson provided a referendum as to whether Britain should continue its membership of the Common Market, I supported the "no" vote. But once this position was overwhelmingly defeated, I felt a need to adjust my position to meet the new circumstances. Since then I have always argued for the democratisation of the European Union, which is the proper fully fledged federal position. Tony's position became that of replacing the European Union with a loose treaty where common agreements can only be reached by a unanimous decision of the members' parliaments. I argue for feasible internal reforms to the European Union, Tony argues for root and branch transformation.

3. Leadership Contests. In 1988, Tony stood for the leadership of the Labour Party against the incumbent Neil Kinnock. Tony got 11.4% of the vote. His decision to throw his hat in the ring seemed to me to be mistaken. It was a counter-productive move, which led to the threshold for nominations being raised above the 10% level which existed for the 1988 contest. The debate inside the Socialist Campaign Group over whether he should stand lasted over several meetings, as I wasn't the only person with reservations about this form of politics. Hence my efforts to seek a defendable third choice to Brown and McDonnell recently.

4. The Break-up of Yugoslavia. This started when Milosevic played the Serbian ethnic card in Kosovo. Tudjman gleefully moved in to play the Croatian card and Izetbegovic was forced to defend the Muslim population in Bosnia. The case for effective intervention by the United Nations to stop the conflict was overwhelming. Yet in the end effective military action only emerged via a NATO-led response to the Albians of Kosovo being driven from their homeland. By that stage, there seemed to me to be no option but to support the NATO action whilst being ready to highlight any of its excesses. These soon arose in the bombing of Serbia when civilian targets were to the fore and it was only the Serbian military who experienced the collateral damage. My criticism of Tony's approach was that he saw no dilemma in all this for socialists. Seemingly we could put our faith in comrade Milosevic.

5. Afghanistan. The left was again faced with a dilemma over Afghanistan. If the Taliban and Al Qadia were to have their controls and bases removed, then action had to be taken. But a military dominated by the United States and its allies is liable to use unacceptable methods - especially over-the-top air strikes. I upset both Tony Blair and Tony Benn. That neither of the Tony's saw the dilemma I stressed, nor looked for means to bridge it seems to me to involve failures of vision. Seeking means to contain both Western Imperialism and the fascism of the terrorists, seems to me to be something socialists should have at the forefront of their minds.

6. Iraq After The Invasion. I was on the platform with Tony Benn at the launch of "Labour Against The War." I fully opposed the invasion of Iraq. For as hideous as Saddam Hussein's regime was I appreciated the complexities of Shia, Sunni and Kurdish conflicts and their internal divisions.Then there was the impact of an invasion on understandings elsewhere in the Middle East. Furthermore, I believed that there were clandestine forces in Iraq who had hopes of undermining Saddam's rules given support and understanding from outside.

But once the invasion took place, we were in a new situation. In addition to excessive action by the forces of Western Imperialism (including mercenaries) the Iraqi people were faced with the insurgency and the horrors of terrorism. I then resigned from "Labour Against The War" who continued with only a one-sided analysis. Alternatives to a "troops out" position (such replacement troops with Iraqi agreement) were never considered.

7. Local Experiences. When Tony won the Chesterfield seat in 1984, he achieved a fine victory in an adverse political climate. His public meetings were packed. People who went in order to "sort him out", left with leaflets and posters to try to spread his support. But after his victory, local attitudes changed over time. He developed a hot bed for the hard left with people coming from all over the country for the May Day celebrations. He made use of a section from Keir Hardie for one of his election addresses. His constituents saw him regularly on TV pressing a socialist revivalism. The problem with all this is that Chesterfield is into small town politics and comes out of an old moderate Lib-Lab tradition.

Between Eric Varley winning the seat at the depth of Labour's terrible national performance in 1983 and Tony's last victory at the height of Labour's electoral victory in 1997, the Chesterfield Labour vote only increased by a mere 2.7%. This compares with a national improvement of 15.6% in Labour's vote. Whilst in Dennis Skinner's nearby seat of Bolsover, the comparative increase was 17.7%. In North East Derbyshire which is a huge "C" shape encircling Chesterfield, the improvement was 19.7%.

It was little wonder that the Liberal Democrats went on to capture the Chesterfield seat in 2001. Yet it should be one of the strongest Labour seats in Derbyshire.

What Bennism teaches us is that we need a left strategy in the Labour Party which is directed to both (1) winning elections and (b) re-opening the long and difficult road to socialism. Bennism might be fun for its participants, but it isn't serious politics

In Defence Of The 1994 Margaret Beckett

Here is a criticism of those of us on the Labour Left who supported Margaret Beckett in the 1994 Labour Leadership election campaign. Below, I give my response.

Why A Margaret Beckett Ticket in 1994?

(1) Unless someone had foreknowledge, the pros and cons of Margaret's actions since the 1994 Campaign are irrelevant to this assessment.

(2) Overwhelmingly in her favour - she was not Tony Blair.

(3) There was no-one to her left who could have obtained the nominations, unless the 1994 John Prescott (who also stood) is considered to have occupied that position.

(4) If anyone to her left had by magic gained the nominations, they would not have been able to mount a feasible campaign. The bulk of the Party members did not wish to upset the apple-cart after 15 years in opposition.

(5) As Deputy Leader under John Smith then Leader after his death, she first followed and then sustained his stance. Although John Smith was no left-winger, he was in the Labourite tradition and he did not seek to ditch Democratic Socialism and Labourism as being illegitimate parts of the Labour tradition.

(6) She had a sound grasp of the Democratic Socialist case. Including -

* In 1970 she became a Researcher to the Labour Party on Industrial Policy and worked closely with Judith Hart and Stuart Holland on the proposals which emerged in Labour Programme of 1973 and the 1974 General Election Manifesto which reflected and included Tony Benn's famous formula of making "a fundamental and irreversible shift in the balance of power and wealth in favour of working people and their families".

* When looking for a left-wing candidate in 1973, the Lincoln Labour Party first approached Margaret (then known as Margaret Jackson) at the Labour Party Conference. In February 1974, she stood against their former candidate Dick Taverne - the right-wing dissident.Although she lost, she took the seat during the later October General Election of that year. She moved straight into Government positions, but was seen as being on the Left.

* She lost her seat at the 1979 General Election, but she was successful as a left-wing candidate for the National Executive Committee in 1980 and actively supported Tony Benn's famous but narrowly unsuccessful campaign for the Deputy Leadership of the Labour Party (against Dennis Healy) in 1981.

* She returned to Parliament in 1983, as MP for Derby South. She joined the Socialist Campaign Group and only resigned in 1988 over Tony Benn's counter-productive decision to stand for Party Leader against Neil Kinnock, the incumbent. Three other women MPs resigned with her and the Group became more isolated than ever.

(7) Although she moved away from the Hard Left from 1988, within the confines of a front-bench position she had a good democratic socialist record as Opposition Spokesperson on (a) Social Security (held since 1984 to 1989) (b) Treasury matters (Shadow to the Chief Secretary 1989 to 1992) and (c) Deputy Leader 1992-1994). Although I was one of those who remained in the Socialist Campaign Group, I never considered myself to be part of either the Hard or (what used to be called) the Soft Left - but I attempted to work on both elements to show them that there was (and are still) socialist alternatives. Although confined by office-holding, I felt that Margaret had a similar approach.

In assessing whether it was reasonable for the Left to back Margaret Beckett those 13 years ago, we must remember that this was a decade before the invasion of Iraq (and many other mistaken New Labour moves.) I happen to think that few of these major errors would have occurred if she had won that Leadership vote, even though I am sorry that she stuck so closely to office from 1994.

Tony Benn - True Blue

An Old Blogger

One of the advantages of being an Old Blogger like me is that you can always find an anniversary to celebrate - although sometimes by I remember I am a day or two out as with this one.

10 years ago my son, Stephen and I saw a classic FA Cup Semi-Final at a full-house at Old Trafford in which Chesterfield (our Local League Team) played Middlesbrough of the Premiership.

We Was Robbed

Chesterfield rushed to a 2-0 lead, but the Bro pulled one back. The defining moment arrived when Chesterfield clearly scored a third that would have established a commanding lead.

The TV evidence showed the ball to be well over the Bro goal line, but the Ref and the Linesman did not see what had happened. The Bro then fought back and took a 3-2 lead.

In the dying seconds, Chesterfield broke down the right-wing. The ball was centred and took a high bounce for Jamie Hewitt to rise and head it into the net. It was a great 3-3 draw.

The fact that Chesterfield lost the reply 3-0 does not take away from us what very nearly happened - a dream trip to Wembley to see Chesterfield play in an FA Cup Final with the chance of becoming the first team outside of the top two Leagues to take the trophy.

The Politics Of Football

All of this occurred in the middle of the 1997 General Election Campaign when I was the Labour Candidate for North East Derbyshire, which is a huge "C" shape around Chesterfield itself. Tony Benn and his late wife Carolyn were on the same coach. Tony being Chesterfield's Labour Candidate.

We had to abandon our red Labour favours as that was the Bro's colours. We transferred to the Tory blue of Chesterfield.

Labour went on to win a landslide electoral victory with my own majority trebleling in size. But that would have been put in the shade if Chesterfield had been able to clinch the Cup.

Such a win would have brought Tony up to speed on soccer. For when we passed a crowd in red shirt and red and white scarves he was heard to say "Oh! Are they Bro supporters ?" Perhaps he had in mind the alternative thought that they might have been Labour canvassers !

Whilst it was certainly a day for celebrations for Stephen and myself 10 years ago, we had much more to celebrate 2 years ago tomorrow. It was just 4 days after I retired as an MP. I will report on that later, but not tomorrow itself as we will be too busy with the anniversary celebrations.

Update : Why I Am Not A Bennite

In October I posted an article entitled "7 Reasons Why I'm Not A Bennite". An 8th reason has now emerged with Benn's support of David Davis in the contrived Bye-election at Haltemprice and Howden.

How can Tony Benn support someone whose overall views he is fundamentally in disagreement with? And how can he support the candidate of a Political Party which he has opposed throughout his life at election after election and (on fundamental issues) time after time in the lobbies in the Commons? It would be past my understanding if I had not already thought through 7 other reasons why I am not a Bennite.

Tony can hardly be attracted by David's personal qualities, because he has none. David was inept as a candidate for the leadership of the Conservative Party and handed the job to David Cameron. When on both Tory Government and Opposition front benches, he was always a fumbling light-weight. He must have been the worst Government Minister for Europe ever - and could hardly have gained Tony's admiration.

So Tony is knowingly supporting a plonker - but none of this surprises me.

Ken Coates

Ken Coates died on Sunday. He had a great capacity for what others would call work; whether it was political writing, academic output, establishing bodies which integrated publishing with group organisation, being a member of the European Parliament or participating in the dialectics of debate with adult students or political activists.

But none of the above were chores to Ken. What he saw as the real work he undertook in his life was when he was a coalminer from around the ages of 18 to 26. But even (or especially) in those days he learnt a great deal from various of his workmates and those he socialised with about Trade Unionism and Labour Movement Politics. So when he went to Nottingham University to study Sociology in what I will later show was the key political year of 1956, he talked of having discovered a new found freedom which lasted right throughout the week - and for every week. He had moved into a world which was to enable him to pursue two of his related passions - adult education and socialism. No longer did he have to share his precious time with coal getting. When he moved to be a Tutor in Adult Education (also at Nottingham University) he directed his attention to work with miners and other workers, whom he wished to share his newly found freedoms with.

I came to know Ken gradually when I moved into a parallel world of industrial day-release teaching for Trade Unionists (especially miners) at Sheffield University. This was in 1966 when Ken was launching the Vietnam Solidarity Campaign, which my wife and I marched with in a protest outside the Labour Party Conference in Scarborough the following year. Then it was on to a huge fringe meeting which was a precursor of the Institute of Workers' Control which Ken helped launch formally the following year.

Ken's political instinct was always to develop initiatives which would draw people together in ways that would expand their understandings and would thus spread socialist ideas. These included War Crime Tribunals, opposing the war in Vietnam, European Nuclear Disarmament, Industrial Democracy, the Bertrand Russell Peace Foundation, a Pensioner's Parliament, an Assembly of Disabled People, a Convention for Full Employment and Spokesmen Books.

Throughout such activities he published masses of related books and articles (some are shown here), whilst editing collections of essays. He seldom worked alone. He worked particularly well with the late Tony Topham, who was a fellow adult tutor at Hull University. Their joint work was normally concentrated around the issue of Industrial Democracy, but they also produced a majestic 900 page work on the 1870-1922 formation of the Transport and General Workers' Union , entitled "The Making of the Labour Movement" (Spokesmen paperback edition 1994). My own copy being a gift from Ken to which he added his fraternal greetings.

In 1970 he came to major public attention when a study of poverty in the St Ann's district of Nottingham was published as a Penguin Special in joint authorship with Richard Silburn, entitled "Poverty : The Forgotten Englishman". He worked with Silburn on related work. He also collaborated closely with Michael Barratt Brown who ran the Industrial Day-Release programme from Sheffield University were I was one of a group of eight tutors teaching on the courses. Ken and Michael's joint work included "The Blair Revelation: Deliverance for Whom?" (Spokesman. 1996) which indicated that Ken would not have an easy relationship with the New Labour hierarchy.

Ken had stood as Labour candidate in Nottingham South in 1983. And although he lost, he had the distinction of having the late Marxist intellectual Ralph Miliband canvassing for him with the help of his two sons David and Ed. He then became a Labour Member of the European Parliament from 1989 to 1999. In 1994 his seat encompassed the area of my own parliamentary seat in North East Derbyshire, where we worked together especially on environmental problems which blighted the area.

But the crunch came in 1997. First he was suspended by the Labour Group in Europe for failing to accept the arrangements they had put in place for the shortlisting of candidates for the coming Euro Elections. Tony Benn in my neighbouring seat Chesterfield and myself defended Ken's right to express his view. But towards the end of 1998 he joined the Green's Group in the European Parliament. He had clearly placed himself outside rules which the Labour hierarchy were only too keen to use. I tried to pursued him to pull back from his position, pointing out that there was still scope for rebellion against New Labour at Westminster at least, where 47 of us had voted in the first major rebellion against New Labour Whips over Single Parent Benefits. But Ken was never going to settle for being a loyal grouser.

Ken's uneasy relationship with Labour's officialdom had in fact led to his expulsion from the Party back in 1965. He fought his corner until 1969 before he was re-instated. His story and the wider politics of the period are covered in his book "The Crisis of British Socialism - Essays on the Rise of Harold Wilson and the Fall of the Labour Party" (Spokesman 1971). If he was alienated by Wilson, there is no way that he would continue to operate peacefully under Blair.

1956 (as I earlier indicated) was a huge year for socialists. It saw the Khrushchev Revelations about Stalin, the Suez Invasion, the Soviet Invasion of Hungary and revisionist advance in the Labour Party with Tony Crosland's publication "The Future of Socialism". Ken had been in the Communist Party up to then. But even then he had disagreed with an earlier line that Stalin had taken against Tito (where Yugoslavian Communism developed the concept of Worker Self Management which related closely to Ken's later work with the Institute of Workers' Control). For a period as Ken became an adult student he worked with those who established the International Marxist Group and he had a period on the board of International Socialism. He now seemed to be a Trotskyist.

In many ways Communism and Trotskyism are opposing socialist approaches. But Ken soon developed his own synthesis out of these to fit in with British (and later European) circumstances. He had already been drawn into activity with the New left of the late 1950s, with figures such as E.P.Thompson, Michael Barratt Brown and Ralph Miliband. What emerged for Ken was working with the left of the Labour Party where he could, but never surrendering to right wing practices. But it only made sense to Ken for him to spend energy in opposing the leadership of say Wilson and Blair, if this was only part of his main activity of building towards socialism via key issues such as Worker's Control and Environmental Protection.

We should certainly not dismiss his life as being full of heroic failures. The War Crime Tribunal was a major initiative and industrial democracy made inroads via Lucas Aerospace and others. His work for five years as President of the Human Rights Committee of the European Parliament was substantial. Above all he touched the lives of many as a tutor, writer and a political activist. Any of us would have been proud to have delivered a fraction of what he achieved from his "newly found freedom".

Nick Cohen's Myopia

The Death Of Socialism

I would never claim that socialism is in a healthy state in this country nor that it is a serious political force in current circumstances. But how can Nick Cohen begin to reach conclusions about our socialism having died without assessing or even mentioning the role of Labour's parliamentary bodies such as the Tribune and Socialist Campaign Groups? Yet nowhere do these emerge in his book "What's Left?".

He also fails to look at the Tribune Newspaper, numbers of other publications that can be purchased at Compass Conferences or the Morning Star (except in its old guise as the Daily Worker) . Compass itself is ignored for his preferred Euston Manifesto buddies.

At The Fringe

Yet the Revolutionary Communist Party, Socialist Alliance, the Socialist Workers Party and the Workers Revolutionary Party are all delved into; not to mention ye olde Communist Party. When it comes to left-wing personalities we get Perry Anderson, Tony Cliff, Ted Grant, Tariq Ali and Gerry Healy. And whilst this is all interesting stuff for officionados, where are the more recognisable lefties such as Tony Benn and his re-incarnation John McDonnell ? The latter is currently trying to stand for the leadership of the Labour Party, which at the moment provides the additional post of Prime Minister.

I don't agree with what John is doing, even though he has given me an open invitation to pop in to a Socialist Campaign Group Meeting in the Commons sometime. Nick does not seem to know that John even exists and is currently, in fact, using up a great deal of kinetic energy.

Thesis Fodder

The strange thing about Nick's omissions are that (from his own perspective) he could have used these as fodder to feed his overall thesis about the left's self inflicted wounds. For instance, the Socialist Campaign Group spawned "Labour Against the War", which has a close relationship with the "Stop the War Coalition". The latter is a clear target for Nick's polemic. Why does he not spread his net to also take on "Labour Against the War?".

I was on the platform at the launch of Labour's version of the "Stop the War Coalition". I later resigned when I felt that they seriously lost their way as a supposed democratic socialist organisation after the invasion.

The Shape Of Things To Come

I will return to what Nick missed in the future. This includes the strange absence of any analysis by him of the bulk of the hard lefts shortcomings over Northern Ireland. For current failures by many on the left to turn against terrorism in Iraq, follows on from much the same people associating themselves with the Provisional IRA's use of Sinn Fein.

In the meantime, the type of lefty who Nick criticizes over Iraq includes the strange case of Sami Ramadani whom is himself a London based Iraqi. To glimpse at what Sami gets up to scrawl down to question 6 here and then here.

The Pitmen's Requiem

Perhaps as you get older, your total experience has accumulated to such an extent that your world seems to get more inter-related and condensed. This may be why since I recently reached 75, I have identified so closely with two books I have read. The first of these, I reviewed here. It deals with a book that was first published before I was born. The second book was only published last year and I feel that it was written especially for me - although I may not be alone in this thought. The book is "The Pitmen's Requiem" (Northumbria Press 2010) by Peter Crookson.

The starting point of Crookson's book might not only seem to be of general relevance to myself, as its theme will appeal to many. Crookson sets out to write a biography of Robert Saint who wrote the music for the miners' brass band hymn "Gresford" - which can be listened to via this link. I, like numerous others, feel a special attachment to this music. I recently heard it played at a telling occasion at the cemetery at Easington Colliery on the 60th anniversary of its major pit disaster. I have since heard it played at the Durham Miners' Big Meeting, which still continues a tradition started in 1871.

The tune was composed in memory of 256 men and boys who were killed in a massive explosion at Gresford Colliery near Wrexham in 1934. It is played after all mining disasters,their anniversaries and on most occasions when brass bands play a programme in past or present mining areas.

The tune was not, however, composed by a Welshman, but by a former coal miner in County Durham. Robert Saint was born in Hebburn on the south bank of the Tyne, in an area which was then part of County Durham. Between the ages of 14 and 27, Saint worked at Hebburn Colliery until it closed in 1932. He then spent two years on the dole in an era of deep economic depression; supplementing his small allowance by being a saxophone player in a local orchestra and also by giving piano lessons. He then moved on to work with the National Equine Defence League showing a special interest in the well-being of pit ponies.

Whilst Crookston writes a telling tale about Saint, he also ran into trouble in seeking to unearth research material. For working class people seldom hold onto written material about their lives. Crookston spells out the problem in a beautiful chapter entitled "No Shoebox in the Wardrobe". So the author then starts to ask a well selected group of people what "Gresford" means to them and then gets them to elaborate about their own experiences of the Durham and Northumberland Coalfields. It is a formula of genius.

I mention five sets of these people below, as I see myself as having some forms of link with them.

(1) I was in the same class as Cecil Peacock in the Infant and Junior Schools at Easington Colliery. After the recent service of remembrance for the 60th anniversary of the Colliery's pit disaster, I reminded him that for a period when we were at school we were taken out of play periods so that he could help me to improve my spelling. Cecil became on expert on brass bands, "Gresford" and music in general; becoming the administrator for musical education for the Durham County Council. He started his working life as an electrician at the local pit and appreciated something which I never knew. He tells us that the explosion at Easington Colliery which killed 81 miners and then two rescue workers, occured at an underground spot almost two miles inland from the beach. I knew that the pit's operations went out under the north sea and had assumed that that was it; even though my own father was in the pit in a safe seam at the time of the explosion. In fact I was so astonished by Cecil's claim that I checked it out. I could find nothing in the official report of the disaster: but Mary Bell, a local historian and writer, tells me the following - "The explosion was inland where Cecil pointed out. I have a record of a rescue worker from Murton. He told me that he was working down the inland pit at Murton at the time and he was very near the disaster area. He felt although he had to go by lorry to Easington he wished he could have gone through the 'wall' and got there much quicker. Also people living up Canada (a district of Easington HB) said that sometimes they could hear when 'firing' was going on down the pit." On a school bus a few hours after the explosion, I passed what was a greyhound track above the point where the explosion took place. It has taken me 60 years to discover the significance of the spot.

(2) I have recently been in phone, postal and email contact with Heather Wood and she is also interviewed for Crookston's book. She chaired the organisation "Save Easington Area Mines" (SEAM) in 1984/5 and provides an important description of the role of women during the miners' strike of those years. She has recently written a book entitled "Fight To The Finish" (Northern Voices Community Projects, 2011) published about her late father, Gordon MacPherson who worked at the pit at Easington. Luckily Heather (and her mother) have kept the equivalent of "a shoebox in the wardrobe" and her book includes poems and stories by her father. He had a keen sense of humour, which he used for serious purposes.

(3) Additionally, I have been in touch by phone and correspondence with Alan Cummings who was Easington Colliery's Lodge Secretary when both the 1984/5 strike took place and the pit was closed in 1993. He still continues with his duties today, covering compensation cases and keeping Easington's mining tradition alive. Easington was as united during the period of the long drawn out conflict as any other colliery in the country. Cumming's gives a gripping account of those tough days.

(4) Tony Benn is also interviewed, for he selected Gresford as a tune when he was on Desert Island Discs and because he is a regular at the Durham Miners' Gala. You can hear him speaking for himself on these matters on the second video shown via this link. My connections with Tony have been substantial. Not only were we members of the Socialist Campaign Group in the Commons, but the Constituency I represented lapped around Tony's in Chesterfield in a "C" shape. In fact, Chesterfield was our common meeting ground via the Derbyshire Miners' Offices. For the area I represented had a very similar mining tradition to that of the Durham Coalfield.

(5) Crookston also interviews Arthur and Vera Bartholomew from their home in Byron Street at Easington Colliery. Although I know neither of these, I knew Byron Street well. My first girl friend lived there. Her father had been killed in the 1951 pit disaster. Arthur Bartholomew was 92 at the time of the interview and has a memory going back to his starting work in the pit at Dawdon Colliery (two miles north of Easington) at the age of 14. He was fore-overman at Easington at the time of the explosion, which was also the job held by my former girl friend's father.

There are many other elements of Crookston's book which I identify with. He takes a walk down the main street at Easington - Seaside lane. The strangers he passes are very friendly. In retirement my father walked down the length of most of Seaside Lane on almost a daily basis, enjoying the banter. But Crookston's is also depressed by the dereliction of closed shops and the abandoned Junior and Infant Schools which has had preservation orders placed on them. One of these schools was the scene of the count for Manny Shinwell's dramatic electoral victory over Ramsay MacDonald in 1935, but even Cecil Peacock now wants it to be demolished. Yet I remember the Seaside Lane of the post-war years with affection. For its main stretch, one side of Seaside Lane was dominated by a row of private shops, with a mix of two cinemas, a club, a pub, a barbers, a billiard hall, the functioning infant and junior schools and the Co-op. Then it reached the block of colliery houses. The other side of the Lane had some of Easington's posher houses, a doctor's surgery, well kept allotments near the waterworks, two Methodist chapels (a third for the Wesleyan's by then being used as a warehouse), churches for the Anglicans and the Pentecostals, an opening leading to the Miners' Welfare and to the Welfare Grounds with its football pitches, bowling greens, tennis courts and a cricket pitch; then at the bottom Walter Wilson's and Byron Street. (There are some enthralling poems by Roy Sanderson and Mary Bell about Easington. These contrast my own past experiences with Crookston's modern ones. I am unable to provide the link to these at the moment, but will add them sometime if I can.)

I was, no doubt. biased. But I felt that Easington was a cut above other Colliery areas. Inland pits often had ugly pit heaps and their coal dust to contend with, but Easington dumped its waste out of immediate sight, into the sea. It ruined the beach, but did not effect daily life. Nowadays the beach has been cleaned up; but the communal provisions have massively declined.

I am mistaken if I am giving the impression that Peter Crookston's book is mainly about Easington. Its central theme is about "Gresford" and its composer who was based in the Tyneside area, which I never even travelled to before I was 12 or so. I have homed in on the bits I relate to. Some of this now takes me into the areas close to Easington.

Peter Lee, an earlier leader of the Durham Miners is dealt with. He became the first Labour Leader of the Durham County Council in 1919 and had a new post-war town near Easington named after him. I knew Peterlee in its early days well. My grandmother, Uncle, Aunt (and her family) were amongst its early occupants. Following on from my becoming Secretary of the Easington Colliery Branch of the Labour Party, I became Secretary of the Peterlee and District Fabian Society. Although our monthly meetings were held in Peterlee, our biggest event was a day school held at Easington Secondary Modern School with 78 people attending.

Crookston takes us to coastal Collieries close to Easington, including Seaham where I started work as a railway clerk. Horden where I next worked at their railway station and Dawdon where as a young teenager I fixed up a football match and John Fickling on our side scored from his own half on a full sized pitch. But above all, Crookston takes us in and out of the inland area of Shotton Colliery, where my wife comes from. Her father was an onsetter at the local pit, with its pit heap almost spilling out onto its Front Street. It was described in J.B. Priestley's "English Journeys" in 1932. Invariably, Crookston has a chapter entitled "The People Priestley Admired" - although the references here are again to Tyneside.

Even when we return to the story of the man who composed "Gresford", I am still sent off to my own recollections. In a chapter entitled "Lament for a Vanished Culture". Crookston writes of his father and Robert Saint in deep conversation about the writings of Robbie Burns in 1948. This leads to a description of miners' home libaries and the self-taught tradition. Numbers of miners in the tradition of the autodidact, built up their own serious libraries. One collection of works stressed by Crookston is the Odhams Press "Home University Library". To this he could have added the Odham's Press "British Encylopedia." Next to my computer, I hold 24 hard book volumes of these two Odham's collections. They were the prize possession of my Uncle Bill (William Gray) who worked from the age of 14 to 65 in the pits; first at Sunniside in the south-west Durham Coalfield, then at Easington.

The fact that Peter Crookston hits all the right cords with me is that he is a skilled writer from a Great Northern Coalfield's background. It is also deeply significant that we were both born in 1936 and then each left the north-east in 1963. We are both at a time of life when we want to know more about our roots. Not in the sense of "Who Do You Think You Are?", but in the sense of what immediately shaped our early life.

The Two Worlds of Roy Hattersley

Putting The Boot Into Foot

In using a book review to condemn Michael Foot's leadership of the Labour Party from 1980 to 1983, Roy Hattersley has opened himself up to criticisms here and here.

A partial understanding of what Roy was himself up to at this time can be shown in his activities at the Labour Party Conference in 1981.

Compromise Or Confrontation

At that time, Roy was Joint Chair of the Solidarity Group of MPs which was considered to be on the right-wing of the Labour Party. Prior to what (in those days) were key elections for the NEC of the Labour Party, he addressed a Solidarity fringe meeting. He opened up two options.

On the one hand, he looked for coming NEC election results which would help to heal the wounds in the Labour Party by seeing an advance by right-wing candidates in the (then) Constituency Section which would facilitate the development of a mixed and broader Church. But then he ended up on a more brutal note about the Bennite Left and quoted the slogan "Do not fire first, but if it is war they want let it begin here".

When the election results were announced, Dennis Healy was safely re-elected as Deputy Leader and five lefties bit the dust in the Constituency Section. The potential broad Church was now tilting well to the right.

The "New Socialist" Debate

Roy's immediate response was to seek a move which would either come to terms with the Bennite Left or would undermine them.

He made his initial move for a position of compromise-through-strength at a fringe debate run by what was then the Labour Party's theoretical journal entitled (believe it or not) "New Socialist".

The journal organised a ding-dong right-left debate with Roy and Roger Godsip of Apex on the one hand and leading Bennites, Audrey Wise and Ken Coates on the other.

Roy started with a number of points designed to interest the left or (if that failed) to appeal over their heads to the audience. These included advocacy of high levels of public investment in manufacturing with equity thereby passing into public hands, a socialist incomes policy that would not be a form of wage restraint, what he called genuine forms of industrial democracy and a system of planning agreements. All raving acts of socialism by today's standards.

But instead of Audrey being wise and Ken cottoning on, they looked around for sticks to beat Roy with, such as the failures of the past Wilson-Callaghan Governments and divisions over the European Union. What they should have done was to have got Roy to reveal his full hand and then to nail its socialist potential to the table.

Frustration

I attempted to get called when the meeting was finally thrown open to the floor, to argue that the left should talk turkey with Roy. I wasn't lucky and the ding-dong continued from both the floor and the platform.

Roy had had enough and he left the meeting before the close. When it was all over I dashed up to the late Audrey Wise and sounded off at her at length for the missed opportunity. She could not get a word in edge ways, which must have been a fairly unique experience for her.

Roy was, in fact, willing to continue with his broad Church efforts for a period after the Conference. I had written up my Conference fringe experiences for the ILP's "Labour Leader" under the title "The Two Worlds of Roy Hattersley". He responded with a detailed letter which dealt with his proposals for Labour's Economic Strategy.

But with the 1983 electoral disaster (and the scuttle from socialism) on its way, the Church which Roy went on to help build did not engage with what was left of the left.

The Westminster Terrain

By I became an M.P. in 1987, Roy was Deputy Leader. At an early meeting of the Parliamentary Labour Party, he revealed that he had settled into a position where he was no longer seeking an accommodation with the left. Chris Mullen had just been elected. He was a former editor of Tribune and had worked closely with Tony Benn. When Chris made a contribution from the floor it was something of a mirror image of Roy's approach at the 1981 New Socialist meeting. Although he was in no position of strength, Chris sort a broad Church approach. In dismissing Chris's comments Roy said (in what passed for humour) "well I have to tell you, we are not taking prisoners."

Roy was now in the wrong one of his two worlds. So when the Tribune Group supported him for re-election as Deputy Leader, I left them.

But once Tony Blair arrived on the scene, Roy moved into his other world. This is because Roy is a labourite wherever he resides. It is a pity that back in 1981 the Left did not know that eventually something alien was waiting for them in the wings -New Labour.

Neil Kinnock and Roy were seen as the dream-team. The paradox is that a real dream team earlier might have been Michael Foot and Roy Hattersley, or even vice-versa. But only if Roy had been in his broad Church mode, whilst next to such a fine comrade.

Washington Or Moscow, Or Neither?

This photograph appears on the front of today's Morning Star. It shows what the paper calls Anti-War Campaigners who are about to hand in a letter to 10 Downing Street protesting about US and British actions in relation to Georgia. The Campaigners led by Tony Benn are in fact spearheaded by the Stop The War Coalition.

What they say in their letter is only at best one side of the truth. But these strange Anti-War Campaigners then fail to go on to condemn the actions of Russia for their invasion of Georgia and for their subsequent hard and dangerous line. I doubt whether they will now be delivering a letter to the Russian Embassy condemning Moscow's actions.

The Socialist Workers' Party used to have a slogan "Neither Washington Nor Moscow, But International Socialism". It is a pity that the bulk of today's Revolutionary and Hard Left don't re-examine the contemporary logic of that position.

The Late Eric Varley

The group in this photo includes Eric Varley who died on Wednesday. He is second from the left and was 27 at the time it was taken. I believe that it appeared in the "Derbyshire Times".

Over a three-year period from 1957 he studied Industrial Relations, Economics and Politics on a Day-Release Course run by the Sheffield University Extramural Department. The photo was taken in Chesterfield and shows a group of Miners who attended the course, presenting miners' lamps to their two final year tutors.

The man holding his lamp up high is the late Royden Harrison. Although I was always very much his academic junior, I took his place in the Extramural Department in 1966 when he moved on.

By the time I emerged on this scene and from 1964, Eric was already the Member of Parliament for Chesterfield. Eventually I was to become MP for a neighbouring seat which almost encircled Chesterfield, but this did not coincide with Eric's time as MP. He and I were also full-time adult students at Ruskin College, but again at different times.

Given such shared experiences, we might have been expected to have met and communicated far more than we did. This distancing arose to some extent because we saw each other as belonging to different wings of the Labour Party and because our paths kept missing each other. I feel that this was my loss.

I did listen annually to his speech at the Chesterfield May Day, heard him address a Rally in Chesterfield for the "no" campaign in Chesterfield during the referendum on the Common Market and made the arrangements with him for his talk to our then local Fabian Society in Dronfield, which is situated between Sheffield and Chesterfield.

The period when we were both at Westminster at the same time was between his appointment to the Lords in 1990 and my retirement as an MP in 2005. But we did not move in the same circles and he was not a regular attender.

We did, however, travel together by train to London if we met by accident and always talked non-stop, he also came to sit next to me at a handful of events - including a Conference of the Regional Labour Party.

He was always keen to find out what I was picking up about politicking in the Chesterfield Labour Party and I was happy to tell him. His own past links seeming to have discontinued.

When he resigned as MP for Chesterfield, he triggered the 1984 By-election which led to Tony Benn's return to Parliament. He had every reason to dismiss the thought that his resignation would have such a consequence. At the time. the Labour Party in Chesterfield had no tradition of lurching to the left. That he had handed the seat over to the very Bennism he had fought within the Labour Party, must have come to him as a shock.

He had held significant front bench posts and had been Treasurer of the Labour Party, so it has always been a mystery in this area as to why Eric resigned from Parliament at that time although numbers of his critics would dismiss his move with the simple claim that he had "sold out".

I feel that we should consider two alternative factors which are not unrelated.

He had been an MP for 20 years. Enough can be enough. I was ready for retirement after my 18 years. On the other hand I was 68 years old. Eric was only in his early 50s, not much older than when I first became an M.P.

Then the political tradition that he was part of was starting to lose its leading role in the Labour Party. There were a couple of options which he would never associate himself with.

First, there was the breakaway by the "Gang of Four" to found the Social Democratic Party which seemed particularly dangerous. It was led by former Labour politicians who seemed to him to be hopelessly romantic pro-Europeans and were also cutting themselves off from what he had grown up with - connections to the Trade Union Movement. He was an NUM Branch Secretary at 23 and became the Chair of the Trade Union Group of Labour M.P.s.

Secondly, there was the Bennite Campaign which seemed to him to be impossiblist. He had himself started out as a left-winger and in his early days was the favoured son of Bert Wynn, ex-Communist and Secretary of the Derbyshire Miners. But by Eric entered the Commons at 31 his political commitments were still maturing. It should not be assumed, however, that he retained little from his Derbyshire NUM past. He saw his new found gradualism* as fitting in with their interests and values. If he was now more right-wing, he was still firmly a labourite. It is something which differs from the later New Labour coup.

My argument might seem to be confounded by the fact that Eric resigned when Kinnock had just become leader. But where did that put Labour in Eric's eyes? Kinnock (whom he seems to have distrusted) still had to battle to overcome Militant and the Bennite left, but it must have seemed that this would be at the price of a great deal of long-winded utopian socialist rhetoric. Eric had run Dennis Healey's unsuccessful campaign against Michael Foot. The consequences of that defeat seeming to Eric to be the electoral humiliation of 1983. It must have looked to Eric as if the next electoral victory (even with Bennism tamed) could still be a couple of decades away. And would it then (whether it was right-wing or left-wing) be recognisable as a labour platform?

I regret not having spoken to him more, perhaps there was something to understand about the feeling he had in his guts.

* = Note added 2 August. Eric would know all about the theories of the Webbs. His day-release tutor Royden Harrison was a leading expert on their (and other) socialist theories.

Who Is Using Whom?

Yesterday I thought that Jon Cruddas was playing a clever game. But now he seems to have gone over the top. He is billed as appearing on the platform at the Opening Plenary Session of a Morning Star Conference on 16 June entitled "Politics After Blair". He will be alongside the paper's editor, John Haylett.

Other speakers include Salma Yaqoob(Respect), Andrew Murray(Stop-the-War Coalition), Kate Hudson(CND), Rob Griffiths(Communist Party of Great Britain), Bob Crow(RMT), Tony Benn, Ken Livingstone and John McDonnell.

Does Jon really want us to believe that he is part of this camp? And will those attracted by the Conference really believe that he has become one of them? His appearence does not worry me, but in moving to embrace the Hard Left is he not in danger of alienating some of his existing supporters who have not yet filled in their ballot papers?

Jon is in danger of losing his Compass.

Political Education and the Labour Party

A Conference with the above title was held in Rotherham on Saturday. I suspect that a number of democratic socialists (but thankfully not all) were put off attending when they saw that it was organised by the local Rotherham MP Denis MacShane and that Gerald Kaufman and David Owen were key participants. For at first glance it looked like an anti-left stitch-up. And indeed this might have been part of its intention.

The title of the Conference refers to the General Elections which followed Ramsay MacDonald setting up a National Government, the Attlee Government running out of steam and Michael Foot becoming leader of the Labour Party. These elections led to Labour being in a minority position in parliament for three periods which each spanned between 13 and 14 years.

The implications behind the title being that to avoid such periods in the wilderness, Labour should have stuck behind Ramsay MacDonald, obtained a more dynamic leader than Attlee if Bevanism was to have been nipped in the bud, and just never ever have acquired Michael Foot as leader as he was a loser. The conclusion which is thought to follow from such an approach is that a right wing New Labour agenda is needed in current circumstances.

But as we had a seven hour day with only short breaks and contributions from a series of independently minded academics, Polly Toynbee and others, plus audience participation; other lessons emerged. In fact in the concluding comments of the day from Andrew Gamble a Professor of Politics at Cambridge, he pointed out that the most telling collapse of Labour support emerged in the 1970s and not in the three periods stressed in the title. He could have added that in the ten General Elections from 1974 the Labour vote has only twice topped the 40% mark, yet this level was comfortably surpassed in all the nine post-war elections which proceeded that date. Perhaps if all that talk in the Labour Movement in the early 70s about developing a Social Contact had actually led to the development of a social bond that would have moved us in the direction of sharing, decency and social equality, then our support would not have fallen below the 30% mark in 1983 and 2010.

We were in danger of being provided with a selective one sided diet of the left's failings, covering Jimmy Maxton, Nye Bevan, Michael Foot, past Communist Trade Union leaders, the Ban the Bomb movement, Tony Benn and Militant. But this would hardly amount to a serious analysis. An early contributor David Howell pointed out that Labour support in 1945 was particularly strong amongst first time voters, which covered all those who had not qualified to vote in the previous General Election which was then way back in 1935. This was a cohort of voters who went on to help sustain the Labour vote in numbers of other early post-war elections. The question this leads to is just where can we find such a cohort today who have a clear interest in sharing and equality? What about today's young voters who are concerned about Student Fees, the loss of the Educational Maintenance Allowance, a lack of jobs, a world facing massive shortages of essentials, the dangers of climate change and the horrors of third world poverty? If we bring the young on board on such issues we do more than gain a political advantage, we help to revitalise our own beliefs.

Any conference which provides scope for the dialectics of debate, soon moves out of the realm of political propaganda into that of much needed world of political education; something which invariably takes over when carefully expressed disputes and disagreements arise. Even the anti Michael Foot line which was pressed by Kaufman and Owen, provides scope for countervailing considerations. Just why in 1983 did Michael Foot's leadership produce the worst percentage turn out for Labour of any General Election since 1922? Was it all due to his unilateralism, his duffle coat and his left-wing credentials? What about the knock on consequences of Thatcher running a highly populist and successful military campaign over the Falklands, and then there was the massive rupture within the Labour Party which led to the formation of the SDP? David Owen was at the centre of the breakaway and bares a major share of that responsibility for that 1983 election result.

Around 15 speakers made contributions, numbers of whom had sufficient interest in the topic to join the rest of us in the audience over the seven hours. I have always believed that speakers should also be listeners. Even when Hestor Barron confined her remarks to the experience in Durham Mining Constituencies in the 1930s, my concentration did not drop. But then she was discussing the area of my roots and I have read her book on the Durham Coalfield at the time of the 1926 Strike.

The day revealed an important issue for Labour if it is ever to maintain its future and reach its potential. It needs political education, political education, political education. So it is all power to Denis MacShane's elbow. He may have helped to produce something that has more significance than anything he probably ever had in mind.

Modifying A Picket Line

During last Thursday's strike, the Public and Commercial Service (PCS) Trade Union ran what seems to have been a picket line outside at least one of the main entrances to the Commons. One of their justifications for doing this is that they have fellow members of the PCS who work in the parliament building. They may, however, also have been asking others not to cross their picket line, including Members of Parliament. This raises the question of what Labour MPs should have done when confronted by such a picket - especially those who reject Red Ed's criticisms of the strike.

On the day prior to the strike Ed Miliband failed to raise the issue of the dispute at Prime Ministers Questions, although it was the key matter of the day. This gave Cameron the chance to taunt Miliband by asking whether Labour MPs would cross picket lines outside Parliament and other public buildings, and a spokesman for the Labour leader is then reported as saying that Labour MPs "will be coming to work as normal"; although it is not clear as to how many Labour MPs picked up this response.

Labour MPs who spoke in the Commons that day have been criticised for crossing a picket line. No vote took place that day, so those who spoke have been the easiest people to target. But is this targeting justified? There are a number of problems to consider.

(1) MPs using their passes have nine or ten entrances into Parliament. Four of these are major and well used entrances. It must have happened on the odd occasion, but in the 18 years I was an MP I can not once remember arriving at the Commons for a day's work via the entrance shown on the above photo. So many MPs could have arrived in the Commons on the day of the strike without observing the pickets.

(2) Many of those who have avoided being targeted were either (a) present in the parliament building, but did not speak in the Commons or (b) never turned up to enter the building as it was likely that there was no three-line whip that day. A few might have joined the strikers in their constituencies. But, unfortunately these would be few and far between. Many would just be AOL for reasons that had nothing to do with the strike.

(3) A handful had important matters to pursue in the Commons on behalf of their constituents and/or in the wider public interest. This is the main reason that we have a Parliament and a democratic franchise fought for by movements such as those of the Chartists and the Suffragettes. This point still stands even though the Commons and the use of the franchise often fails to meet up to the standards they should.

This third category include (a) John Cryer who contributed fully and well to a debate which directly effected the interests of his constituents and whom is, I assume, a solid supporter of the strikers, (b) Louise Ellman who had obtained a debate organised to discuss the dismissal of employees at Liverpool Passport Office and (c) Tom Watson who pursued an urgent question on the acquisition of BSkyB - a matter whose considerable public importance can be seen in today's media coverage.

The problem this matter raises is how should we act when two important principles clash with one another. First, there is the principle that you should not cross a picket line. Then there is the principle that you should not place any form of impediment upon an MP entering the Commons - a principle which seems to me to have been of significance ever since we achieved a (more-or-less) universal franchise.

When two principles clash, we need to look for the best way around them. Most MPs who supported the strike could have been away from the Commons giving backing to the action. But being away from the Commons for the full day was not a reasonable option for John Cryer. We need more John Cryer's not fewer. I would, therefore, hope that MPs such as John McDonnell and Jeremy Corbyn who refused to cross the picket line, would now ask PCS (etc) to modify there tactic in future. If the Commons is picketed, the picket line should not be directed at stopping the entry of MPs; but should instead seek to gain support from MPs. A support which can always be delivered (in part) inside the Commons itself.

Here is how one person responded to a similar dilemma, although it is about entering Downing Street which seems to me to have a lessor democratic importance than the Commons should have. On 23rd February 1979 during the Winter of Discontent, the Secretary of State for Energy recorded in his diary "Pickets were standing at the end of Downing Street. One picket looked through my car window and asked if he could speak to me. The driver went on but I stopped him and got out. I assured (the pickets that) I was not going in to do their job or replace their work, and I went in. I sat down at the table outside the Cabinet Room and worked on my papers...." (Tony Benn).

Past Labour MPs in North East Derbyshire.

This is an article of mine about the Labour MPs who have served North East Derbyshire in the past. I am placing it here as it is now difficult to access the original. There is some mention of neighbouring Labour MPs.

Chapter 1 It is just over a century since the Labour Party first achieved parliamentary representation in the area which is now covered by our Constituency Party. In 1909 our current Labour Party branches were spread amongst no less than three separate Parliamentary Divisions.  Dramatically in that year and without a General Election being held, all three seats went to Labour. It was all due to the role of the Miners’ Union. 1909 was the year in which they first affiliated to the Labour Party, following a national ballot. Two statues can be seen outside the former Miners’ Offices on Saltergate in Chesterfield. One of these is of James Haslam who was Secretary of the Derbyshire Miners. The other is William Harvey who was their Financial and Corresponding Secretary. The two were known as the “twin pillars” of the Derbyshire Miners’ Union and they became MPs. Haslam was first elected in 1906 and Harvey in a by-election the following year. Yet they were elected with the support of the Liberal Party and were known as Lib-Lab MPs. It was when the Miners’ Union moved into the Labour Party that they broke their links with the Liberals and joined the Parliamentary Labour Party where they played prominent roles. They both stood successfully in the two General Elections of 1910 as Labour candidates. James Haslam was the MP for Chesterfield, which at that time covered the area of our current branches at Clay Cross, Tupton, Grassmoor, West and Holmewood. William Harvey was the MP for a seat called North Eastern Derbyshire which included Dronfield, Eckington. Killamarsh and North Staveley. North Wingfield was part of a further constituency called Mid-Derbyshire. It also went Labour in 1909 when a by-election was held. In the days in which MPs weren’t paid, the Derbyshire Miners could not afford to run a third candidate, so the Nottinghamshire Miners stepped in and ran their Agent as the Labour candidate. He was George Hancock, who was the first miner in England ever to be elected as a Labour MP. For he had not emerged via the Lib-Lab avenue.  The legendary Labour leader Keir Hardie canvassed in the by-election. Haslam, Harvey and Hancock set a tradition going, which has led to the bits and pieces which came together as NE Derbyshire all being represented by Labour for a minimum of 88 years out of the past century. Chapter 2 The next time you get a chance; have a look at the two statues outside the former Miners' Offices at Saltergate in Chesterfield. The one on your right is that of James Haslam. He was born in Clay Cross in 1842, the youngest of 10 children and he started work there on the pit brow when he was ten years old, working 12 hours a day. He became the Secretary of the Derbyshire Miners' Association (DMA) when it broke away from the South Yorkshire Miners' Association in 1880 and helped to build it up into a powerful organisation. He became the MP for Chesterfield in 1906 which in those days also covered the areas of our current Branches at Clay Cross, Grassmoor, Holmewood, Tupton and West. He died in 1913. During his time as MP he continued to hold his post with the DMA, for MPs were not paid until 1911 and then only modestly. The statue on you left is that of William Edwin Harvey, who had a similar background to Haslam. He was born in 1852 in Hasland and went to work at a pit at Grassmoor when he was ten. Both Harvey and Haslam worked closely together on trade union matters and were also both active as Primitive Methodists. Harvey became MP for what was then known as North Eastern Derbyshire at a by-election in 1907 and held the position until his death in 1914. He held various posts with the DMA such as Treasurer, Assistant Secretary and finally the joint positions of Financial and Corresponding Secretary. His seat included the areas of our current Staveley, Killamarsh, Eckington and Dronfield Branches. Haslam and Harvey were known as the "twin pillars" of the DMA. They were both elected initially as LIb-Labs (i.e. as labouring people who were trade unionists but obtained organisational and financial backing from the Liberal Party).  But the DMA was by that time affiliated to the Miners Federation of Great Britain (MFGB) who in 1908 held a ballot on whether to affiliate to the recently established Labour Party. When the Miners voted to do this, Haslam and Harvey then moved over to become Labour MPs, winning their seats under that label in two subsequent General Elections that were held in 1910. James Haslam MP William Harvey MP They were also prominent figures in both the MFGB at national level and the Trade Union Congress. If you wish to find out more about Haslam and Harvey, the best source of information is contained in a book entitled "The Derbyshire Miners" by J.E. Williams, published by George Allen and Unwin in 1962.  As it is 993 pages long, your best bet would be to borrow it from your local library. If they don't have it they can easily get hold of a copy for you. It has a full index which can be used to sort out the best references to Haslam and Harvey.  At page 320 there is a photograph of the unveiling of the two statues outside the Miners' Offices on 26 June, 1915 - although the huge crowd is easier to see in the photo than are what were then two very new white statues. Chapter 3 For numbers of years prior to 1918, the current territory covered by the NE Derbyshire Constituency formed parts of three different Parliamentary seats.  I explained in an earlier article how these all came under Labour control in 1909. Yet by 1915 Labour had lost control of all of them. First of all, James Haslam the Labour MP for Chesterfield died in 1913. The Derbyshire Miners selected Barnet Kenyon to stand in his place. He had held posts as President, Assistant Secretary and General Agent for the Derbyshire Miners’ Association. But because of his close links with the Liberal Party both the National Executive Committee of the Labour Party and the Miners‘ Federation of Great Britain refused to endorse him as a candidate. The Miners spending a whole day discussing the issue at their national conference. Kenyon was, however, elected unopposed at the bye-election. At that time Clay Cross and much of the area around it (apart from North Wingfield) formed part of the Chesterfield seat. In 1914, William Harvey the MP for North Eastern Derbyshire (which covered Dronfield and surrounding areas) also died. Labour ran James Martin as their candidate in this bye-election. He was President of the Derbyshire Miners at the time. Yet he finished bottom of the poll in a three cornered fight. The reasons for this were (1) the Liberals split the anti-Tory vote by running a candidate for the first time since 1907, (2) the miners themselves were being offered conflicting patterns in the area  by the Liberal Kenyon and Labour’s Martin, (3) with the first world war starting in1914, patriotism was to the fore and the seat was won by the Conservative Major Bowden who had a majority of 314 over the Liberal and (4) Labour had little organisation and had previously depended upon the personality and prominence of the late William Harvey. After a defeat in which Labour obtained less then 27% of the vote, Labour quickly set up a constituency-style organisation. This was something of a pioneering move as the Labour Party nationally did not set up its general constituency structure until 1918. The third seat which was lost was Mid-Derbyshire which covered North Wingfield.  George Hancock of the Nottinghamshire Miners was their MP. But in 1915 he defected to the Liberal Party. Although Kenyon remained as MP for Chesterfield until 1929, it was Labour who started to dominate the political scene in the area covered by our current constituency. This was helped by boundary changes in 1918. Our area came to be divided between what was to be the solid Labour seat of Clay Cross (which then included North Wingfield) and a redrawn North Eastern Derbyshire which was taken again by Labour in the 1922 General Election in dramatic circumstance. Labour burst onto the local political scene in 1909 when the Derbyshire Miners’ Association (DMA) joined the Labour Party and the three parliamentary seats which cut into the current boundaries of NE Derbyshire each acquired a Labour MP. Yet due to two deaths and a defection, Labour had lost all three seats by 1915 and it was not until 1922 that it was again successful. Chapter 4 New parliamentary boundaries and the first votes for women were introduced in 1918. The three seats which cut into our current Constituency Boundaries were then Chesterfield, North Eastern Derbyshire and Clay Cross. Until 1929, the Chesterfield Constituency (which included the arrears of our current West Branch, Grassmoor and New Whittington) underwent one of its periods of Liberal control. This occurred because their MP Barnet Kenyon defected to the Liberals, although he had been a leader of the DMA. The Clay Cross Constituency contained an area dominated by pits, including North Wingfield, Tupton, Holmewood, Pilsley, Stonebroom and Clay Cross itself. Frank Hall of the DMA stood in 1918, taking 45.9% of the vote. He lost due to the fact that the Tories united behind a Liberal Coalition candidate who supported the continuation of the Lloyd George Coalition after the war. A victorious Coalition which came to be dominated by Conservatives. Labour, however, took the seat in 1922 and it became one of the strongest Labour seats in the country until its abolition in 1950. When Labour suffered a massive collapse in 1931 following the economic crisis and Ramsay MacDonald its leader defecting to form a National Government, Labour still held Clay Cross by 9,552. This was a considerable majority as the Labour Party nationally lost no less than 236 out of 288 seats. In this period, North East Derbyshire incorporated Dronfield, Eckington, Killamarsh and Staveley. It also spread over into Clowne, Barlborough, Bolsover and areas which were later moved into Sheffield. In dramatic circumstances it went Labour in 1922. The Labour candidate Frank Lee was an official of the DMA. He failed narrowly to take the seat in 1918, when he stood as one of the early advocates of the nationalisation of the coal industry. The contest of 1922 could not have been closer. Recounts took place. On the second count Labour’s majority was two. After the sixth recount, the boxes were sealed and. fresh counting clerks were employed. This still did not resolve the matter. As there was still no agreement about the result, it went before the King’s Bench Division of the Courts. Lee was belatedly declared the winner by 15 votes and entered the Commons five months after the count. In all Frank Lee fought 7 General Elections for Labour, losing in 1918 and again in 1931. He served a total of 16 years as an MP until his death in 1942. When Chesterfield finally returned to Labour in 1929 with the election of George Benson he went on to serve as their MP for a total of no less than 31 years in spite of his defeat in 1931. Chapter 5 The Clay Cross Parliamentary Constituency operated from 1918 and ended with the 1950 General Election. It covered Clay Cross, Tupton and North Wingfield in our current Constituency, plus areas in an around Holmewood, Glapwell, Shirebrook and Stonebroom. Mining abounded. Yet although the Constituency Labour Party was dominated by the miners’ vote, out of the six different Labour candidates it ran for parliament at various elections only two of these were miners. This showed an independence of mind by local miners from the pressures of the leadership of the Derbyshire Miners which was aided by the influences of Methodism and mobilised socialist views. The later coming from the local influence of bodies such as the left-wing Independent Labour Party, which only ended with its disaffiliation from Labour in 1932. The seat also became rock-solid Labour, so it attracted the interest of leading Labour figures at national level. Yet the first election of 1918 followed a conventional pattern for the area. Fred Hall, the Labour candidate was a leading official of the Derbyshire Miners Federation who eventually served on the Federation’s national executive committee for 29 years. He was, however, the only Labour candidate who failed to win the seat. He lost by 1,221 to a Liberal who had Conservative backing. A year after the Russian Revolution, they wanted to keep out what they saw as Bolsheviks. When Fred Hall dropped out of standing for the seat just prior to the 1922 General Election, Charlie Duncan was selected in his place. He had helped to found the Workers’ Union who had been involved in the birth of the Labour Party and which represented unskilled workers. He had previously had a spell as the Labour MP for Barrow and had served as both Whip and Secretary of the Parliamentary Labour Party. He won the elections in Clay Cross in 1922, 1923, 1924, 1929 and 1931. His final success revealed how Labour had built up the seat. The 1931 election was held following the collapse of the minority Labour Government in the middle of a major financial crisis, with Ramsay MacDonald its leader defecting to run a National Government. Labour’s position at the subsequent General Election collapsed from 288 to 52 seats, yet Labour held Clay Cross by almost 10,000 votes. When Charlie Duncan died in 1933, Clay Cross adopted Arthur Henderson as their candidate. Known as “Uncle Arthur” he is a huge figure in the early history of the Labour Party. He was leader of the Labour Party from 1908 to 1910 (with another spell at the start of the First World War). He served as Labour’s first Cabinet Minister in First World War Coalitions from 1915 to 1917. He helped shape the pre-Blairite structure of the Labour Party as General Secretary of the Labour Party, a post he held from 1912 to 1935. He was Home Secretary in the first Minority Labour Government of 1924 and Foreign Secretary from 1929-31. When MacDonald defected he took over as temporary leader until 1932, but gave up the position because he had by then lost his parliamentary seat. Clay Cross provided his avenue back into Labour’s parliamentary politics. In the by-election one of his opponents was Harry Pollitt the General Secretary of the Communist Party who lost his deposit with 10.8% of the votes to Henderson’s 69.3%. Whilst MP for Clay Cross, Henderson went on to receive the Nobel Peace Prize and was held in high regard as “no-one ever sought his help in vain*”. He died in 1935. At the subsequent General election, Clay Cross ran the 35 year old Alfred Holland a local Methodist. But within 10 months he was stricken with spinal meningitis and died shortly afterwards. A by-election in 1936 led to the Clay Cross Labour Party running its fourth candidate in five years. George Ridley had been on the Executive of the Railway Clerk’s Association since 1909. He was seen as “becoming the Labour Party’s leading pamphleteer*”. In 1944 he also died whilst still an MP. After 26 years, Clay Cross once more adopted a Derbyshire Miners’ Candidate in Harold Neal the area’s Vice President, who went on to become Secretary of the Miners’ group of MPs in parliament. There was a war-time pact amongst Churchill’s War-time Coalition Government at the time, so only two independent candidates stood against Neal. One ran as a “Workers Anti-Fascist” and the other as an “Independent Progressive”.  Neal got 76.3% of the votes. When the war ended, he improved his position by taking 82.1% of the votes in opposition to a Conservative. When the boundaries were redrawn and the Clay Cross seat was absorbed into other areas, Harold Neal became the Labour MP for Bolsover. He had a period as Parliamentary Secretary to the Minister of Fuel and Power in 1951 and retired as MP in 1970 to be replaced by Dennis Skinner who was the Chair of NE Derbyshire Labour Party in the period up to then, being a member of the Clay Cross Labour Party. A souvenir brochure published by the Clay Cross Divisional Labour Party in 1948 pointed out Labour’s dominance in the area, stating that there were “46 Local Government Seats (exclusive of Parish Councils) within the Constituency : of these 40 are held by Labour members. In addition, there are 16 Parish Councils : in the majority of cases we have 100 per cent representation”. ( * = The two earlier quotations are also taken from this invaluable source). Chapter 6 From 1918 to 1950 our corner of Derbyshire contained three parliamentary seats; two of these differed considerably from the current structures. The seat that we would still recognise is that of Chesterfield, which was based on its municipality although it also lapped beyond this. One of the seats was the Clay Cross Division which (as described in my previous article) was powerfully held by Labour from 1922 onwards. In fact it was one of the strongest Labour seats in the country and was held comfortably even in 1931 although the Labour vote then collapsed nationally. Next in Labour’s mining strength came what was known as the North Eastern Derbyshire Division.  It included what is now the northern section of the Bolsover District centred on Clowne, much of Staveley, areas later transferred to Sheffield such as Beighton and Dore, plus Dronfield, Eckington and Killamarsh. This was also mainly mining territory (but not exclusively so).  Labour gained the seat by only 15 votes in 1922, losing it afterwards only in the 1931 collapse. Whilst the Chesterfield Division took in mining territory such as Grassmoor and Arkwright and housed the offices of the Derbyshire Miners, its municipal character plus its business and commercial elements and its engineering works supplied it with countervailing tenancies to the solid mining tradition. I have previously explained how Barnet Keynon although emerging as an official of the Derbyshire Miners Association took the seat for the Liberals in 1918, 1922, 1923 and 1924. It was only when he retired in 1929 that Labour took the seat under George Benson. Yet the seat was again lost in the collapse of 1931, returning to Labour from 1935. Chesterfield’s Labour links with MPs who came from the mining industry were sparse. James Haslam fitted the category between 1909 and 1913. The next person to meet the criteria was Eric Varley much later in 1964. Chapter 7 The Clay Cross Constituency, the old North Eastern Derbyshire Constituency and a more recognisable Chesterfield Constituency, all existed alongside each other from 1918 to 1950.  It was a period of great political change and social turmoil.  The 1918 Election took place just after the end of the First World War in which many local people had fought, including those under conscription which had extended to Coal Miners. The election took place following the operation of a post-war Coalition in which Labour had been involved. The Liberals and Conservatives, however, attempted to keep their relationship going when the war ended. In the bulk of seats, they did not run candidates against each other. Lloyd George as Prime Minister and a Liberal was the main architect of the move. Although the deal between the Liberals and the Conservatives worked in the short run and they were back in Government, it eventually aided social forces through which Labour was coming to be seen as the alternative to the Conservatives. It was the start of a steep decline in support for the Liberal Party. It has some lessons for the current Con-Dem Coalition. The social tension of the time was seen in two huge strikes in the Coal Industry in 1921 and 1926. The latter being linked to the General Strike, but which went well beyond it.  Labour had electoral victories a few years after both of these strikes. In 1924 they formed the first minority Labour Government. It produced what became known as the Wheatley Housing Legislation which enabled Labour Local Authorities in particular to build Council Housing Estates - a massive housing improvement for many. Then a minority Labour Government operated from 1929 to 1931. This second Government was hit by the international financial crisis. Ramsay MacDonald was Prime Minister during the time of both these Minority Labour Governments, but he moved from the Labour Party with a small band of defectors in 1931 to set up a coalition Government (known as the National Government) with the Conservatives and a section of the divided Liberal Party.  Once more an election was soon called and "National" candidates from the Conservatives, elements of the split Liberal Party and the small group of "National Labour" won a massive victory. But although Labour lost huge numbers of seats (but not Clay Cross), they started the recovery in the 1935 election - including in our wider area. Following the experiences of the Second World War and a widespread determination not to return to the poverty, unemployment and depression of the inter-war years, Labour won the 1945 election under Clem Attlee with a huge majority of 147. All three of our local seats returned solid Labour majorities. Although Labour achieved the establishment of a Welfare State with a National Health Service, a public ownership programme with major significance locally because of the Nationalisation of the Coal Mines in 1947, plus an era of full employment and fair-shares for all; its majority in the 1950 election dropped to only 5. The contest in 1950 was fought under a new local constituency structure. Clay Cross and the old North Eastern Derbyshire being replaced by Bolsover and a new North East Derbyshire which formed the basis of our current constituency set-up.   The later formed a familiar "C" shape around Chesterfield. There have been many chops and changes since to Bolsover, NE Derbyshire and Chesterfield, but the only major area to be lost from their common external boundaries was an area transferred from NE Derbyshire to Sheffield in 1970. In 1950 Labour recorded huge majorities in the three seats in the area - 25,833 in Bolsover, 16,683 in Chesterfield and 16,457 in NE Derbyshire. The combined majority was nearly some 59,000 and almost 9,000 greater than the total in 1945. This is partly explained by the fact that the 1945 election wasn't fought on an up-to-date register. The huge dominance of Labour in our area at the time arises from the dominance of mining communities and the collective spirit they generated around 1950. Chapter 8 From 1918 to 1950 three seats ran roughly from east to west across our area. NE Derbyshire to the north, Chesterfield in the centre and the Clay Cross Constituency to the south. The 1950 General Election was, however, fought on new parliamentary boundaries which we would recognise today. The Bolsover Constituency was established and the Clay Cross seat was disbanded. North East Derbyshire (rather than the “Eastern” variety) came into existence. Clay Cross with Tupton and North Wingfield (also taken from the Clay Cross Division) become part of the newly structured NED Seat whose boundaries were initially similar to those of the current NE Derbyshire District Council area and included places such as Stonebroom. At the 1950 Election, Labour easily took all three of the new seats. Harold Neal the former Clay Cross MP won the Bolsover seat by 25,833. Harry White moved from the old NED seat to the new one, with a majority of 16,451. Whilst George Benson carried on at Chesterfield with a majority of 16, 683. The late Bas Barker who will be remembered by many of us for his work in the Trade Union Movement and then with Pensioners, taking only 554 votes for the Communist Party. Benson also had had a left-wing background, having at one time been Treasurer of the Independent Labour Party which had been founded by Keir Hardie and others. It had participated in the formation of the Labour Party itself. The current basic shape of our own Constituency came into operation for the 1950 election. The make-up of the area differed significantly from what we know today. A large number of pits were in operation, whilst Dronfield and Wingerworth were much smaller places than they now are. Between 1950 and 1970, the Constituency was almost identical to that of the area of the North East Derbyshire District, which at that time contained what are now areas of Sheffield such as Mosborough and Beighton as well as areas that are still part of the District including Stonebroom, Holmewood and Pilsley. It was essentially made up of working class communities which each had a close social bond. From 1950 up to 1987 the Constituency continued the tradition of being represented by Derbyshire Miners. The first of these was Henry White, who had also represented the area under its old boundaries since 1942. He came from Cresswell, served as a Miners' Branch Secretary for 18 years, became a Derbyshire County Councillor and an Alderman and was appointed as Vice-President to the Derbyshire Miners' Association in January 1939. He was first returned to parliament in 1942 following the death of Fred Lee whom he had acted as Agent to for in the previous 1935 General Election - there being no General Elections held during the Second World War. Henry White was successful in the General Elections of 1945, 1950, 1951 and 1955. The last three of these being held under the new boundaries. His respective majorities in the new seat were between 16,451 and 17,344. They reveal the power of the votes of mining families in these contests. Such majorities were obtained although Labour lost the General Elections of 1951 and 1955. His parliamentary contributions often centred on coal mining concerns, such as an opposition to opencast mining operations. Serving in parliament from 1942 to 1959 he saw a period of what was called "war socialism" with its fair-shares policy based upon rationing, then he saw the establishment of a post-war welfare state and a mixed economy which the 1951 to 1959 Conservative Government's felt a need (in the main) to accept. He was succeeded as our MP by Tom Swain, who was a powerful personality and will be remembered by numbers of current activists in the Constituency. His career will be dealt with next. Chapter 9 Tom Swain was the Labour MP for North East Derbyshire from 1959 to 1979. Even when we add the pre-1950 constituency set-up to the basic area we know today (thus taking us back to 1885), then Tom remains the MP with the longest period of service. Furthermore his majority of almost 20,000 in 1966 is the highest of any. Tom's record breaking is highly appropriate, as he was a larger than life character. At one time he was a fair ground boxer and some would say that he always looked the part. In the Commons Norman Tebbitt made a remark which offended him and he shouted out “If you say that outside, I'll punch your head in.” Sensibly, Tebbitt stayed put. Tom had ten children and five greenhouses. He had an ability which other back-bench MPs envied. He could get prominent coverage in the press, much to the delight of his constituents. In 1976 at the age of 66 he twice put to flight teenagers who were harassing women – at Chesterfield Station and also on the London Underground. The Sunday Mirror gave him full page coverage under a banner headline calling him “The Ladies Champion”, with four photos of Tom showing reconstructions of him adopting the“”Chinny Grip” he had used to control the young thugs. Tom had worked in the pits for 34 years and came to hold a variety of posts with the Derbyshire Miners, including Vice-President. His pugnacious style led him into conflict with Tory grandees, especially in the mutual conflict between Sir Gerald Narbarro and himself. Sir Gerald always turned up at Budget Day dressed as a dandy with a top hat, so Tom turned up wearing a pit helmet. Then at Prime Ministers” Questions to Harold Wilson, concerning building a statue to Winston Churchill, Tom asked if a statue could also be provided of Sir Gerald in Parliament Square to frighten away the pigeons. Yet Tom fought seriously for his constituents, starting from his maiden speech in a debate on the Coal Industry. Such speeches are expected to be non-controversial, but that wasn't Tom' style. He said that if he had attempted to be non-controversial, it would have been his first time ever. In a later speech he dealt compassionately with mining accidents, his own father having been killed in the pit. When in 1972, the Labour Councillors of Clay Cross refused to implement the Housing Finance Act (which hiked up Council Rents and started the destruction of Council Housing), their struggle gained widespread publicity. In defending them in the Commons, Tom said “I now come to the new centre of Europe – Clay Cross”. Tom was due to stand down as MP, but before the appropriate General Election took place he was killed in a car crash. The mini he was driving was hit by (of all things) an NCB lorry as he was travelling along Woodthorpe Road to Mastin Moor. As well as this being a personal tragedy, it turned out to have a serious impact on British politics. Tom was killed on 2 March. On 28 March the Callaghan Government lost a vote of confidence in the Commons by a single vote. If Tom had been alive, his vote would have tied the outcome and the Speaker (by convention) would have given his casting vote to the Labour Government. Instead a General Election had to be held, leading to Thatcher first becoming Prime Minister. As Tom had perceptively said to Thatcher in an intervention shortly before his death, Labour had not yet shot its fox. Chapter 10 The current recommendations of the Boundary Commission would return the North East Derbyshire Constituency to the shape it enjoyed between 1970 and 1983.  For the 20 years before that, the area had also included territory such as Mosborough and Beighton which were transferred to Sheffield prior to the 1970 General Election. Tom Swain was MP when the change took place. As explained in Chapter 9, he was due to retire in 1979, but he was killed in an accident shortly before that year's General Election. He was replaced by Ray Ellis who had worked at the High Moor pit in Killamarsh for 41 years, much of the time underground. Ray became Secretary of his local Miners' Lodge and then President of the Derbyshire NUM. When he attended the Derbyshire Miners' Day Release Classes he became known as “Educated Ellis” and during the 1983 General Election he was given to quoting from his favourite philosopher Santayana when he addressed public meetings.  He served as Secretary to the Miners' Group of MPs during the 1984 strike and spoke in support of the Miners' case in the Commons. For the 1983 General Election, however, the Constituency Boundaries underwent a further change. Stonebroom, Morton and Pilsley were transferred to the Bolsover Constituency, whilst Barrow Hill and Mastin Moor were added from the Chesterfield Constituency. In the context of the times, this was an advantage to Labour, as Barrow Hill and Mastin Moor were then solid Labour areas.  It was just as well that the change occurred, for Ray only held onto the seat in 1983 with a majority of 2006. He had suffered from the nationwide swing against Labour in 1983. This had resulted from a split in the Labour Party which led to a challenge from the Social Democratic Party led by Roy Jenkins who had been a former Labour Deputy Leader and Home Secretary. Nationally Labour ended up with its lowest percentage vote since 1918. As mining went into decline in North Derbyshire, Ray was to be the last local miner to enter the ring as a new Labour MP. He was preceded by the late Eric Varley who was first selected to stand for Labour for the 1964 General Election for Chesterfield and Dennis Skinner who became MP for Bolsover in 1970. Dennis originates from Clay Cross and had been Chairman of the North East Derbyshire Constituency Labour Party prior to becoming on MP. After 41 years, he still represents Bolsover in parliament. In all, ten Derbyshire Miners have been local MPs since James Haslam was first elected in 1906. In the next chapter we will examine the overall contribution of these pitmen politicians over more than 105 years. Chapter 11 For most of the 106 years since 1906, this area has been represented by one or more MPs who originated as coal miners and had been officials of their local miners' lodge and/or of the Derbyshire Miners Association. In all, there have been ten such MPs. Anyone born in the area who is now a pensioner could well have come across six of these. I deal with these below in pairs. The local mining MP Henry White retired in 1959, then Harold Neal retired in 1970. They had both been returned to parliament via by-elections during the Second World War and participated in the legislation to fulfil a long-time aim of the miners – the nationalisation of their industry, which became operative in 1947. Harold Neal was then the MP for Bolsover. Appropriately, he later became Parliamentary Secretary to Philip Noel-Baker the Minister for Fuel and Power. Henry White was the MP for North East Derbyshire and both his first and final contributions in the Commons were typical of him, in being about the mining industry. Henry White was succeeded by the miners Tom Swain and then Ray Ellis. Tom was a larger than life character, who after 20 years as an MP was killed on the Norbriggs to Woodthorpe Road when a Coal Board lorry ran into the mini he was driving. This was both a personal and political tragedy. Four weeks after his death, the Callaghan Government lost a vote of confidence by a single vote and this led to the General Election of 1979 which brought Margaret Thatcher to power. If Tom hadn't been killed, the vote of confidence would have ended in a tie and by precedent the Speaker's casting vote would have gone to the Callaghan Government and the General Election would not have been called. Tom was followed by Ray Ellis who became Secretary of the Miners' Group of MPs during the 1984 Miners' Strike and used avenues inside and outside of the Commons to argue their case. Eric Varley and Dennis Skinner are the two remaining post-war mining MPs. They were both MPs in early 1974 when the miners followed up a work-to-rule over poor wages, with a strike. In response the Heath Government instigated a three-day-working week to save fuel and then called a General Election under the slogan “Who Governs Britain?”. The electorate decided that the answer to the question was not to be the Conservatives. A minority Labour Government then acted quickly to settle the strike, aided by appointing Eric as a former miner to the post of Secretary of State for Energy. Eric later became Secretary for State for Industry, eventually resigning his seat in 1984 prior to that year's protracted miners' strike. Dennis Skinner as the MP for Bolsover was a leading figure both inside and outside of parliament on the side of the miners in the major disputes of 1972, 1974 and 1984-5 as well as in struggles against the privatisation of the coal industry and against the final closure of deep mine pits in Derbyshire. Dennis remains fully active in parliament today, but will almost certainly be the last pitman MP from Derbyshire. A characteristic of all the above six post-war pitmen politicians is that they were all firmly Labour MPs. But the four earlier DMA parliamentarians came from a different era and differed from this clear pattern. Our first two miners' MPs were James Haslam and William Harvey whose statues stand outside the former Miners' Offices on Saltergate. They both started work as ten year olds in the harsh circumstances of the mid 19th Century at collieries at Clay Cross and Grassmoor. Later they became active as both methodist lay preachers and trade unionists. In time they came to feel that north Derbyshire needed its own mining association separate from the rather distant South Yorkshire Miners Association which they had been active in until then. Along with three other miners, in 1879 they met at the old Sun Inn on West Bars (which preceded the current building) to plan to set up the Derbyshire Miners' Association (DMA). James Haslam became the DMA's first secretary, initially being unpaid and running the Association from his home. By 1893 it had 10,000 members in 69 local lodges and was able to open its offices on Saltergate that year. Haslam and Harvey became known as 'The Twin Pillars of the DMA”. For some time in the 19th Century, Parliamentary representation had been seen as a must by mining trade unions. They needed legislation to check that they weren't cheated over payments for the amount of coal they produced, to improve safety conditions, to end the employment of children, to reduce excessive working hours, to seek minimum wages, to set up conciliation procedures and to regulate the structure of their industry. There was also a deep need to improve housing, education, health and social provisions within their communities. But there were three major hurdles to overcome in order to get miners into parliament. First, although many miners as male householders had first achieved franchise rights in 1884 , they needed organising to ensure that they were registered to vote. The system for registration was not then an easy one. So when Haslam stood as Independent Labour in 1885 in Chesterfield, he finished bottom of the poll in a three cornered fight. There had not been time in just a year to mobilise the registration of enough miners. Secondly, MPs were not paid and had the costs of travel and accommodation in London to meet. It was not until 1901 that the Miners' Federation of Great Britain (MFGB) to whom the DMA were affiliated, came up with a modest scheme to cover these needs for successful mining candidates. Finally. to win a candidate needed the backing of one of the main political parties of the 19th Century – the Conservatives or the Liberals. The embryo Labour Party wasn't set up until 1900 and at that time the MFGB was not even affiliated to it. So after his initial electoral defeat, Haslam backed by the DMA sort the Liberal nomination. When he narrowly failed to achieve this he bided his time until the candidature became vacant once more. He was then successfully elected to parliament for Chesterfield in 1906 supported by both the DMA and the local Liberal Association and was known as a Lib-Lab candidate. In a 1907 by-election in what was then called North Eastern Derbyshire, William Harvey also won as a Lib-Lab. In 1909, however, the MFGB (covering the DMA) affiliated to the Labour Party and Haslam and Harvey accepted the Labour whip, standing successfully in the next two elections of 1910 as Labour candidates. We could then have expected there to have been a seamless transition to the ranks of the Labour Party by the DMA and its candidates. If we ignore what happened in the Chesterfield seat this is exactly what occurred in the two neighbouring seats. Both ran a number of DMA candidates under the Labour banner. But they did not initially win their seats. There were no further Labour victories by a miner until Frank Lee (at his second attempt) took the North East Derbyshire seat following the 1922 General Election , but only after a drawn out procedure. There were eight recounts, then the matter went to the courts and only seven months later was Lee able to enter parliament after finally being declared the winner by 15 votes. He held his seat until his death in 1942, apart from the 1931-35 period when Labour collapsed nationally following the consequences of the 1931 financial crisis. Lee was a solid Labour man in parliament involved in issues such the Miners' Lock-Out of 1926, its associated General Strike and criticism of the break-away Spencer's Miners' Union in Notts which was seen as a “scabs union”. He also worked hard on the wide range of communal concerns in his constituency. But although Lee stood in seven General Elections as a Labour Candidate and won five times, like Haslam and Harvey his early political involvement had been of a Lib-Lab nature and he had even been a local Liberal agent. But whilst Haslam, Harvey and Lee moved away from the Liberals to the Labour Party, there was one official of the DMA who finally moved in the opposite direction – Barnet Kenyon. On the death of Haslam in 1913 he became the Secretary and then the Agent of the DMA. The DMA supported him to stand for the Chesterfield seat and he was then endorsed by the Chesterfield Trade Union Council, which in those days also fulfilled the role of what would now be a Constituency Labour Party. But when Kenyon then agreed to address the local Liberal Association at their annual meetings and accepted their support in the coming by-election, the MFGB Annual Conference spent a whole day discussing his case and then refused to endorse his candidature. The Labour Party's Executive Committee also rejected him. Kenyon ended up as the Liberal Party Candidate and held the seat as such from 1913 until his retirement in 1929. The DMA finally removing Kenyon from his post as their Agent in 1923, around the time Lee was finally able to take his seat in parliament as a Labour MP. Essentially the DMA had moved from the Lib-Lab to the Labour camp in 1909, except for the strange case of Kenyon in Chesterfield. A complexity about the Chesterfield seat being that it was not as solid a mining area as its neighbouring seats, which eventually became designated as Bolsover and North East Derbyshire. Chesterfield was less homogeneous, for alongside mining it developed Chemical and Steel works at Staveley, plus engineering works and a range of commercial and business institutions. It was a town, distinct from the surrounding rural areas which were pock marked with pits. Between 1913 and 1964 it did not have a mining MP, which was normally a contrast with its two neighbouring seats. Nevertheless Chesterfield became a centre for the DMA. The statues of Haslam and Harvey were unveiled in 1915 after their deaths, with thousands of miners and their families from the wider coalfield being crammed in front of the Miners' Offices on Saltergate. Chapter 12 In the previous chapter, I dealt with ten North Derbyshire parliamentary pitmen politicians who were all members of the Derbyshire Miners' Association. All of these became Labour MPs, except Barnet Keynon who was exclusively a Liberal. The nine miners, who were Labour MPs, have been matched by nine fellow MPs who were not miners. I deal with these below. Between 1922 and 1944, the then Clay Cross Constituency was represented by four Labour MPs who were not miners - Charlie Duncan 1922-33, Arthur Henderson 1933-5, Alfred Holland 1935-36 and George Ridley 1936-44. Each of them died when MPs. Although Clay Cross covered more prominent mining areas than any of the North Derbyshire Constituencies at that time, they opted for 22 continuous years of having these non-mining MPs. I gave details about the Clay Cross Constituency in Chapter 5, in which I gave reasons as to why they endorsed non-miners. Three of the areas non-mining MPs have represented the Chesterfield Constituency - George Benson 1929-31 and then 1935-64, Tony Benn 1984-2001 and Toby Perkins since 2010. I deal with each of these each in turn below. George Benson had been imprisoned as a conscientious objector during the First World War, became Chair of the Howard League for Penal Reform and was knighted. He had a left-wing background, at one time being Treasurer of the Independent Labour Party. Tony Benn was first elected locally in a famous by-election in Chesterfield in 1984, just prior to that year's miners' strike. It was a contest which attracted a then record number of 17 candidates. He had been the MP for Bristol South East for two periods between 1950 and 1961 and then from 1963 to 1983, until the seat was abolished. His break as their MP between 1961 and 1963 arose because he inherited a seat in the Lords, but he successfully campaigned to allow people to reject their elevation to the Peerage; a matter that was passed into law in 1963. He held Ministerial Office during the periods of the Wilson and Callaghan Governments, moving to the left in the Labour Party in the late 1960s. He narrowly failed to beat Dennis Healy for the Deputy Leadership of the Labour Party in 1981. So, by the time he arrived in Chesterfield he had become something of an icon for the Labour Left. He went on to stand unsuccessfully against Neil Kinnock for the leadership of the Labour Party in 1988, losing by a substantial margin. Tony Benn Toby Perkins re-captured the Chesterfield seat in 2010, after it had been held by a Liberal Democrat for nine years. Overall, Labour lost 91 seats in that general election, so the gain of Chesterfield was quite an achievement. In his short time as an MP, he has served as a Shadow Minister for Education and is currently part of the front-bench team for Business, Innovation and Skills. Toby with Ed Miliband The Labour MPs for North East Derbyshire (under its different shapes and guises) were exclusively miners until 1987. The pattern started up in 1909, when William Edwin Harvey moved from the Lib-Lab camp to Labour. Although Labour lost the seat between 1914 to 1922 and 1931 to 1935, there was a total of 70 years in which the seat was held by miners. These were Harvey, Lee, White, Swain and Ellis. I was the person who broke this fine mould. In mitigation, I can only point to my close links with the Derbyshire Miners. I had taught politics with classes of miners on day-release classes from 1966 to 1987. A summary of my own 18 year parliamentary career is contained in a 12 page document entitled "A synopsis of my time as an MP", culled from 121 detailed reports which I issued over that time to the North East Derbyshire Constituency Labour Party. In parliament Dennis Skinner, Tony Benn and myself fought against the continuing and final closure of Derbyshire's pits, but by the time I retired in 2005 the area had moved into a new era. The pits had gone. Up to then what had been the coal mining area of North Derbyshire had been served by a total of 17 Labour MPs; yet not one of these was a women. This was despite the fact that all of the Constituencies in the area had been served by powerful female activists such as Ethel Lenthall, Dot Walton, Thelma Lide, Jill Jones and Florence Hancock (in reference to the latter, who operated in the Clay Cross Constituency, it is stated "it can be literally said that Florence Hancock won Clay Cross for Labour.") In part, the lack of female MPs can be explained by the prominent role of the mining industry. Harry Barnes   The situation was only finally rectified in 2005, when I was succeeded by Natascha Engel. She had worked as a volunteer in Spain with Amnesty International, as a trade union political fund co-ordinator and as Director of the John Smith Institute. In the Commons her first parliamentary positions were those of Parliamentary Private Secretaries and as a member of Select Committees. From 2010 she has been Chair of the pioneering Back Bench Business Committee, directly elected to the position by her fellow MPs. In 2011 Natascha was "Backbencher of the Year" and in 2013 the Political Studies Association www.psa.ac.uk named her as "Parliamentarian of the Year". Natascha with Dennis Skinner In the Labour interest, our area of Derbyshire is now (when this was initially published) served by Dennis Skinner, Toby Perkins and Natascha Engel. They represent the current stage of a journey pioneered by James Haslam and William Harvey whose (newly cleaned) statues can be found outside of the former Miners' Offices on Saltergate in Chesterfield. It is a tradition continually to be built upon.