Description:Socialist Challenge ‘Labour Special Patrol Group’ MS 1591 Paul Mackney Collection
As the dispute proceeded, serious confrontations occurred between the police and pickets. This image cleverly links the Government with a body that was demonised by both ‘traditional’ and ‘new’ elements of the labour movement, reflecting the bitterness that surrounded this dispute.
• The superimposed faces were [left to right]; Merlyn Rees [Home Secretary], James Callaghan [Prime Minister], Dennis Healey [Chancellor of the Exchequer] and Michael Foot [Leader of the House of Commons].
• The reference to the Special Patrol Group [SPG] reflects what many in the labour movement considered to be a suspect element within the Metropolitan Police. Distrusted by trades unionists for its deployment to counter mass picketing, the SPG was also closely associated with misuse of stop and search powers under the ‘sus law’ [Vagrancy Act 1824]. This was regarded by many as unfairly targeting black and Asian men.