It’s not for me, it’s for my lad. I just want my life to be perfect again. Jimmy McGovern, Dockers ***** docker in pub, Channel 4 1999
We’re working to a finish. ibid. supervisor
It’s a wildcat! It’s got fuck-all to do with the T&G! ibid. union officer Jack
The only thing that’s made this job half decent is solidarity. ibid. striker
When my grandchildren say to me in fifteen, twenty, twenty-five years time, Where were you when the Liverpool dockers were fighting for their jobs, their community, their dignity, and their pride, I want to be able to say, I was there marching with them side by side. ibid. Bill Morris
He [union officer] told me there’d be no appeal on behalf of the five men who were sacked even though I offered to reinstate them. ibid. employer
Think of the pain that they’ve endured for twenty-two months, and oppose this executive council, and support the Liverpool dockers. ibid. address to conference
Tomaso Buscetta: Palermo 1986: What makes this Mafia trial different from any other is the cracking of the Mafia code of silence. One man’s testimony is said to convict over 400 members of the Mafia. His betrayal makes him the Mafia’s most wanted man … ‘The most significant Mafia turncoat in criminal history.’ Our Godfather, news, Netflix 2019
In 2015, something strange happened in British politics. A movement no-one expected. With a leader no-one predicted. And the start of the biggest political witch-hunt of the 21st century. Oh Jeremy Corbyn: The Big Lie ***** 2023
‘Antisemitic and a racist.’ ibid. The Jewish Chronicle front page
Nobody can fail to see that this was a concerted, orchestrated campaign. ibid. Moshe Machover
Senior officials in headquarters were actively working against Labour. ibid. Ken Loach
Starmer: A dangerous deceitful man who will do anything. ibid. woman
In 2017 the supporters of Jeremy Corbyn came close to putting him Number 10. But within three years his party had been crushed at the polls, and Jeremy and his grass-roots movement apparently dumped in the wastebin of history. What happened? And what destroyed the Corbyn project? And has it been destroyed? ibid. Alexsie Sayle
This is a story of injustice and the destruction of democracy. And deception on an industrial scale. ibid. caption
But for the establishment the sudden rise of Corbyn was terrifying. ibid. Sayle
But from the start Jeremy Corbyn’s biggest threat was from his own MPs. ibid.
Corbyn didn’t win the election but he got the largest increase in the share of the vote of any Labour leader since Clement Attlee in 1945. ibid.
The Smear that Stuck: ‘There is a big lie everywhere and one of the big lies of our time is the Labour Party being infested with Anti-Semitism.’ ibid. Machover
The Anti-Semitic smear hurt Corbyn but it didn’t take him down. ibid. Sayle
10th July 2019 BBC Panorama transmitted, ‘Is Labour Anti-Semitic? reporter John Ware. ibid. caption
‘Instead of that we went on the defensive. We tried to say we’re sorry.’ ibid. man
Behind closed doors, there was a secret war against him, being fought by his party’s own paid officials. ibid. Sayle
In London’s Ergon House a secret team were channelling thousands of pounds of campaign funds to the right-wing MPs of their choice. ibid.
In the end it was not paid officials who brought Corbyn down, but an MP [Starmer] who said he was on his [Corbyn’s] side. ibid.
I want to pay tribute to Jeremy Corbyn who led our party through some really difficult times. ibid. Starmer
Peter Mandelson, the architect of New Labour, has said he is working every day to undermine Jeremy Corbyn. ibid. caption
Was the colourless Starmer really an undercover saboteur? A sort of establishment spycop who infiltrated the Corbyn Project just to bring him down? ibid. Sayle
When Starmer became Labour leader in April 2020, many believed his pledges to continue Corbyn’s policies and united the Party. Starmer set out to wipe every trace of Corbyn from the Party. ibid.
Thousands of Labour Party members were witchhunted. ibid.
When QC Martin Forde at last published his findings in July 2022 it was by no means the total whitewash. ibid.
In 1988 Russia buried a hero. He was a legend of the KGB. But he was no Russian … ‘The Soviet Union has buried the spy Kim Philby with full military honours.’ The Real Spies Among Friends, BBC news, ITV 2023
Kim Philby belonged to the most notorious spy ring in British history. Young men born to privilege who reached the heart of the British establishment. Then betrayed its greatest secrets. The Cambridge spies deceived their friends. And made a mockery of British intelligence. ibid.
Donald Maclean becomes the second Soviet spy, codenamed Orphan. ibid.
The timebomb – Guy Burgess – is now a Russian spy codename Girl. And the next Soviet recruit would be his recommendation – Anthony Blunt, codenamed Tony. ibid.
Maclean is so successful the Russians give him a new codename – Homer. ibid.
‘The defection causes a firestorm in Britain.’ ibid.
On 30th August 1963 Guy Burgess dies of acute liver failure. He was 52. ibid.
Philby is reunited with Donald Maclean. Then betrays his fellow traitor by sleeping with his wife. ibid.
Four years later Blunt dies of a cancer. Three weeks earlier in Moscow Donald Maclean had succumbed to cancer. And in 1988 after decades of heavy drinking, Kim Philby dies in Moscow. ibid.
People might ask me in thirty years, ‘What did you achieve in your time in politics?’ I’m no fan of this government obviously. But still, I will be able to say I helped prevent Jeremy Corbyn from leading us through a huge national crisis. And to be honest, I’ll take that. Gavin Shuker, former Labour MP and Change UK co-founder, April 2020
But Michael Gove had betrayed his running mate forcing Boris Johnson out of the leadership race. Laura Kuenssberg: State of Chaos I, BBC 2023
Ferry: I’m not risking my life for a hundred K.
Serkan: But it’s enough for you to betray a friend, huh. Undercover s3e8: Showdown, Netflix 2022
1926 General Strike: In 1925 the coal owners decided to reduce the miners’ wages. The miners resisted and other unions stood with them. On 31th July, Prime Minister Baldwin announced a subsidy for nine months while Sir Herbert Samuel held an inquiry into the industry. The Government spent the nine months putting the finishing touches to its plans to confront the miners when the subsidy ran out. The TUC did nothing. The subsidy was to be withdrawn on 30th April 1926, and the miners were to be locked out of the pits unless they accepted reduced wages and longer hours of work. On April 29th, a delegate conference of all unions was called to consider strike action in support of the miners. Days of Hope IV: 1926 General strike, captions
Churchill and Birkenhead sneering down at us … ibid. Union’ big cheese’ talk
The TUC don’t want this strike. ibid. Tory big cheese’ talk
While I’m on this committee there’s absolutely no chance of any sell-out. ibid. TUC big cheese’ talk
Russia stands like an oasis in the desert. ibid. activist
We should be out there warning people against these bastards not ruddy well telling them to vote for ’em … The working classes learnt more in five days of being on them streets than they would in five years of reading newspapers and pamphlets and voting in the elections, and we’re doing nothing about it. ibid. Ben
The [TUC] Council is on the point of disassociating itself from the miners. ibid. treachery of big knob
They were produced for the press. They were propaganda figures … The men are going back to work, and those numbers are suspect. ibid.
It seems the employers have been given a free hand. ibid. Hargreaves
You’re a social democrat, and social democrats always betray. ibid. Ben to Hargreaves
We did something, and you failed it up. ibid.