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Implementing the Ridley Report: The Role of Thatcher's Policy Unit during the Miners’ Strike of 1984–1985

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  05 December 2018

Phil Rawsthorne
Phil Rawsthorne*
Affiliation:
Edge Hill University
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Abstract

The Conservative Party has long faced concerns that in regard to the great British miners’ strike of 1984–1985, senior Tories had, in fact, planned the confrontation as early as 1977, when still on the opposition benches. Historian John Savile pointed to the existence of the Ridley Report—a Conservative think-tank paper produced in 1977, which appeared to include a detailed blueprint on how to provoke, and secondly win, a battle against Britain's powerful miners’ union. After Margaret Thatcher's second election victory, and her first landslide, in 1983, the Prime Minister populated the Downing Street Policy Unit with private-sector allies who looked to implement aspects of the report. Some of these allies had clear economic incentives in running down British coal. Nevertheless, the Policy Unit members were instrumental in determining government policy concerning all aspects of the strike, including preparation, policing, the law courts, financial concerns and the portrayal of the strike in the media. The campaign by Thatcher's Policy Unit resulted in a shattering blow for Britain's trade union movement from which it has yet to recover—just as the Ridley Report had predicted.

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Articles
Information
International Labor and Working-Class History , Volume 94 , Fall 2018 , pp. 156 - 201
Copyright
Copyright © International Labor and Working-Class History, Inc. 2018 

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References

NOTES

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113. Smith, The Actual Account, 13.

114. Policy Unit to Thatcher, March 9, 1984, TNA Kew, PREM19/1329.

115. RR, 14.

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117. Ibid.

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120. Ottey, The Strike, 51.

121. Gilmour, Dancing With Dogma, 87.

122. Smith, The Actual Account, 16.

123. Ibid.

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127. Ottey, The Strike, 69.

128. Ibid., 61.

129. Ibid., 69.

130. Minutes from Cabinet Meeting, March 8, 1984, CAB128/78.

131. Pascall to Thatcher, Coal Report, March 30, 1984, TNA Kew, PREM19/1329.

132. Ibid.

133. John Redwood to Thatcher, Report, August 14, 1984, TNA Kew, PREM19/1332.

134. Thatcher, The Downing Street Years, 377.

135. Home Office Report to Thatcher, June 1984, TNA Kew, PREM19/1331.

136. Ibid.

137. David Pascall to Thatcher, Coal Report, March 30, 1984, TNA Kew, PREM19/1329.

138. Peter Walker, Cabinet Meeting, April 12, 1984, CAB128/78.

139. Peter Warry to Thatcher, July 20, 1984, TNA Kew, PREM19/1332.

140. John Wybrew to Thatcher, November 21, 1984, TNA Kew, PREM19/1578.

141. Margaret Thatcher cited in Minutes of Meeting of MISC101 Group, April 27, 1984, CAB130/1268.

142. Nicholas Ridley cited in Minutes of Meeting of MISC101 Group, April 27, 1984, CAB130/1268.

143. Pascall to Thatcher, June 19, 1984, TNA Kew, PREM19/1331.

144. Redwood, to Thatcher, July 13, 1984, TNA Kew, PREM19/1331.

145. Ibid.

146. Ibid.

147. Redwood to Thatcher, August 1, 1984, TNA Kew, PREM19/1332.

148. Ronald Reagan letter to Thatcher, July 15, 1984, TNA Kew, PREM19/1331.

149. Thatcher, letter to Ronald Reagan, July 18, 1984, TNA Kew, PREM19/1331.

150. Policy Unit report, October 3, 1984, TNA Kew, PREM19/1334.

151. Pascall to Thatcher, May 11, 1984, TNA Kew, PREM19/1330.

152. London Weekend Television report on economic viability of mining industry, copy found in Prime Minister's files, September 23, 1984, TNA Kew, PREM19/1334.

153. Saville, “An Open Conspiracy”, 295–329.

154. Ibid.

155. Ibid.

156. Thatcher, Minutes of a Meeting of Cabinet Office, at number 10, December 13, 1984, TNA Kew, PREM19/1578.

157. Letter from Treasury to Thatcher, May 8, 1984, TNA Kew, PREM19/1330.

158. Policy Unit to Thatcher, August 1984, TNA Kew, PREM19/1332.

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175. Thatcher to then Home Secretary Rees, March 1979, PREM19/1329.

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178. Rees to Thatcher, April 12, 1979, PREM19.1329.

179. Minutes from Cabinet Meeting, March 15, 1984, CAB128/78.

180. Leon Brittan, Cabinet Meeting, March 22, 1984, CAB128/78.

181. McSmith, No Such Thing as Society, 161.

182. Ibid.

183. M. Thatcher, The Downing Street Years (London, 1993), 352.

184. Ibid., 365.

185. Milne, Enemy Within, 23.

186. Leon Brittan quoted in Milne, Enemy Within, 10.

187. Fine, B. and Millar, R., eds., “Introduction,” in Policing the Miners’ Strike (London, 1985), 2Google Scholar.

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191. Ibid.

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197. Ibid.

198. Untitled Report on proclamation of state of emergency July 14, 1984, TNA Kew, PREM19/1332.

199. Ibid.

200. Pascall to Thatcher, June 19, 1984, PREM19/1331.

201. Handwritten by Thatcher on Report from Home Secretary Leon Brittan, July 3, 1984, TNA Kew, PREM19/1331.

202. Untitled Report on proclamation of state of emergency July 14, 1984, TNA Kew, PREM19/1332.

203. Thatcher cited in Untitled Record of meeting at no 10, July 17, 1984, TNA Kew, PREM19/1331.

204. Brittan to Thatcher, December 18, 1984, TNA Kew, PREM19/1578.

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209. Brittan to Thatcher, June 1984, TNA Kew, PREM19/1331.

210. Attorney General letter to Thatcher, June 4, 1984, TNA Kew, PREM19/1331.

211. Christian, “Restriction Without Conviction,” 121.

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215. Green, The Enemy Without, 94.

216. Ibid., 99.

217. Ibid., 107.

218. Leon Brittan to Thatcher, December 18, 1984, TNA Kew, PREM19/1578.

219. Ibid.

220. Ibid.

221. Attorney General to Thatcher, November 7, 1984. TNA Kew, PREM19/1335.

222. Policy Unit Report to Thatcher, September 6, 1984, TNA Kew, PREM19/1333.

223. Redwood to Thatcher, July 13, 1984, TNA Kew, PREM19/1331.

224. Redwood to Thatcher, September 13, 1984, TNA Kew, PREM19/1333.

225. Peter Walker, Cabinet Meeting, September 13, 1984, CAB128/79.

226. Redwood to Thatcher, October 3, 1984, TNA Kew,  PREM19/1334.

227. Redwood to Thatcher, October 19, 1984, TNA Kew, PREM19/1334.

228. Untitled Report on endurance in event of NACODS strike, October 1984, TNA Kew, PREM19/1335.

229. Warry to Thatcher, November 22, 1984, TNA Kew, PREM19/1578.

230. Wybrew to Thatcher, October 23, 1984, TNA Kew, PREM19/1335.

231. Untitled briefing on industrial action from the Department of Employment, August 17, 1984, TNA Kew, PREM19/1332.

232. Warry to Thatcher, November 28, 1984, TNA Kew, PREM19/1578.

233. Ibid.

234. Margaret Thatcher, Cabinet Meeting, October 25, 1984, CAB128/79.

235. Wybrew to Thatcher, February 22, 1985, TNA Kew, PREM19/1579.

236. Allen, “The Year Long Miners’ Strike,” 278–91.

237. Policy Unit report to Thatcher, January 28, 1985, TNA Kew, PREM19/1578.

238. Thatcher to Secretary of State, transcript of telephone call, January 20, 1985, TNA Kew, PREM19/1578.

239. Smith, The Actual Account, 154.

240. Untitled Letter to NUM General Secretary Heathfield, February 8, 1985, TNA Kew,  PREM19/1579.

241. Ridley Report, Confidential Annex, Margaret Thatcher Foundation.

242. Ibid.

243. Saville, “An Open Conspiracy,” 295–329.

244. Thatcher's Secretary's Reply to letter from House of Lords, July 1984, TNA Kew, PREM19/1332.

245. Untitled government advisor report to Thatcher, October 19, 1984, TNA Kew, PREM19/1334.

246. Untitled Report from Department of Health and Social Security, November 3, 1984,  PREM19/1335.

247. Discussion between Margaret Thatcher and Norman Fowler, Cabinet Meeting, November 15, 1984, CAB128/79.

248. Redwood to Thatcher, July 13, 1984, TNA Kew, PREM19/1331.

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250. Bloom, Thatcher's Secret War, 126.

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254. Bloom, Thatcher's Secret War, 126.

255. Howell, “Defiant Dominoes: Working Miners and the 1984–1985 Strike,” 158.

256. Ibid.

257. Ibid.

258. Untitled Report discussing phone-call with Hart, October 20, 1984, PREM/1335.

259. Redwood to Thatcher, August 29, 1984, TNA Kew, PREM19/1332.

260. Matgamma, Class Against Class, 38.

261. Warry to Thatcher, October 26, 1984, TNA Kew, PREM19/1335.

262. Ibid.

263. Margaret Thatcher, Cabinet Meeting, November 15, 1984, CAB128/79.

264. Report on Justice Nicholls’ Statement, December 1984, TNA Kew, PREM19/1578.

265. Pantling to Thatcher, October 11, 1984, TNA Kew, PREM19/1335.

266. Ibid.

267. Matgamma, Class Against Class, 38.

268. Norman Lamont, letter on Soviet assistance to the NUM, to Thatcher, November 21, 1984, TNA Kew, PREM19/1578.

269. Untitled Report from Foreign Office on Soviet Assistance to NUM, November 20, 1984, TNA Kew, PREM19/1578.

270. Norman Lamont, letter on Soviet assistance to the NUM, to Thatcher, November 21, 1984, TNA Kew, PREM19/1578.

271. Handwritten by Thatcher on report from Lamont on Soviet assistance to the NUM, November 23, 1984, TNA Kew, PREM19/1578.

272. Untitled Report from Foreign Office, January 18, 1985, Norman Lamont, letter on Soviet assistance to the NUM, to Thatcher, November 21, 1984, TNA Kew, PREM19/1578.

273. Attorney General to Thatcher, November 14, 1984, TNA Kew, PREM19/1335.

274. Ibid.

275. Untitled Letter from Law Officers to Thatcher, February 18, 1985, TNA Kew, PREM19/1579.

276. Ibid.

277. David Hart, Report to Thatcher, February 11, 1985, PREM19/1579.

278. Gilmour, Dancing With Dogma, 89.

279. Smith, The Actual Account, 225.

280. Ibid.

281. Pascall to Thatcher, March 20, 1984, TNA Kew, PREM19/1330.

282. Waddington, “Authoritive Institutions,” 118.

283. Ibid.

284. Green, The Enemy Without, 166.

285. Waddington, “Authoritive Institutions,” 131.

286. Ibid.

287. Green, The Enemy Without, 157.

288. Warry to Thatcher, December 7, 1984, TNA Kew, PREM19/1578.

289. Ibid.

290. Emphasis handwritten by Thatcher on copy of advertisement in Daily Mirror, April 24, 1984, TNA Kew, PREM19/1330.

291. Policy Unit report, April 18, 1984, TNA Kew, PREM19/1330.

292. Margaret Thatcher, Cabinet Meeting, June 28, 1984, CAB128/79.

293. Redwood to Thatcher, September 13, 1984, TNA Kew, PREM19/1333.

294. Warry to Thatcher, October 26, 1984, TNA Kew, PREM19/1335.

295. Pascall to Thatcher, May 25, 1984, TNA Kew, PREM19/1330.

296. Bernard Ingham to Thatcher, November 21, 1984, TNA Kew, PREM19/1578.

297. Redwood to Thatcher, February 1985, TNA Kew, PREM19/1579.

298. Policy Unit report to Thatcher, March 6, 1985, TNA Kew, PREM19/1580.

299. Gilmour, Dancing With Dogma, 155.

300. Vinen, R., “Thatcherism and the Cold War,” in Making Thatcher's Britain ed. Jackson, B. and Saunders, R. (Cambridge, United Kingdom, 2012), 212Google Scholar.

301. Williams, G., “Thirty Years On,” in Settling Scores: The Media, the Police & the Miners’ Strike, ed. Williams, G. (London, 2014), 20Google Scholar.

302. Ibid., 19.

303. Leeworthy, “Secret Life of Us,” 825–46.

304. Smith, The Actual Account, 226.

305. Ibid.

306. Gilmour, Dancing With Dogma, 91.