The Enemy within: Thatcher's Secret War Against the Miners

This excellent book provides a thorough account of the real truth behind the smear campaign of the early 1990's directed against the National Union of Miners and Arthur Scargill in particular. A campaign with one goal, but many players - the media, the Tory government and the security services - the objective of which was to follow through Margaret Thatcher's aim of ensuring the coal miners (and unions in general) would never again be in a position where they might hold the country to ransom, or bring down a government.

Seumas Milne's updated and exhaustive work exposes the truth, once and for all, about a campaign that ultimately failed because it was based on a foundation of lies and misinformation.

Milne only touches on the strike itself, and twenty years on there is a real need for a similarly exhaustive study of the 84-85 miners strike to accompany this book (hopefully written by an correspondingly impartial observer), so that students and historians can in the future, fully understand the lasting significance of these events.

The book itself in extremely well written and makes easy reading. If I have one criticism, it would be regarding Milne's explanation of the truth about the "Libyan money". The point is clearly made quite early on, but reiterated and re-explained too often afterwards.

Forget Michael Moore's rants about the corruption and lies in the US: read this book and discover some home truths about those that we entrust with our money, our lives and our security in this country.


Blistering reading   January 26, 2008
An avid reader
6 out of 6 found this review helpful

I bought this revealing book primarily to improve my facts of an event which happened when I was about 10 years old. My only real memories of the stike were images on the TV of police and miners clashing at picket lines.

What this book reveals is that even the reports I watched on the TV were 'spliced' to show the miners attacking the police first.

This must read covers dodgy legal professionals, machiavellian MPs, even shadier journalists, moles, and the unaccountability of MI5 which makes worrying reading.

Whilst explaining the important events of the 'conflict' Milne's remarkable work leads us through a modern history lesson of the current pathetic state of British politics, the fact there is no real difference between New Labour and the Tories. Unfortunatley the miners strike helped many different organisations to exorcise the Right's nemesis, powerful trade unions and has taken away the mouthpiece of the working man and woman.

The style of writing is top class and facts are presented in an easily digestible fashion.




The truth at last!   October 12, 2008
Aesop
2 out of 2 found this review helpful

Having grown up in a town in the heart of the Derbyshire coalfield, this book provided a fascinating insight into what really went on behind the Government orchestrated media campaign of the strike.

This book leaves us in no doubt that the powers that be are constantly at work in order to "protect us" from what they will tell us are threats, but really they are just removing what they perceive as a threat to their power. Shouldn't be such a surprise!

This book brings into sharp focus the main players in the campaign against the miners leaders and continues to engage the reader even when the events take complex turns. A fascinating read - well worth a look.


Not as described.   July 9, 2007
Mr. M. Slater
8 out of 18 found this review helpful

This book should be called 'Robert Maxwell's secret war against the Miners'. The book shows convincingly that Maxwell actively tried to bring down the NUM, and also that the NUM Chief Executive was very incompetent. It does not live up to the cover claims that it will show how Thatcher used MI5 to infiltrate and subvert the miners' strike. The book speculates heavily about 'right wing elements' within MI5 but provides very little proof of 'dirty tricks' by MI5. The closest it comes is to report the opinion of a single anonymous source (even the author does not appear to know the source's identity).

If any reader wishes to discover that Robert Maxwell was not a pleasant man, buy this book. If the reader believes that the British establishment always tries to undermine the working class and wants the intellectual equivalent of comfort food, they should buy this book. If the reader wishes to find out the role of Mrs Thatcher's government and is prepared to critically analyse any evidence presented, this book will be of limited interest.