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Did Labour MP help Thatcher spy on unions?
Spellar urged to clarify whether he assisted Tories as an EETPU official – Bethany Rielly reports
John Spellar MP [UK Parliament Official Portrait / Creative Commons]

A SERVING Labour MP has been urged to clarify whether he helped Margaret Thatcher’s government spy on left-wing trade unionists. 

Lawyers for the Blacklist Support Group (BSG) have written to John Spellar MP, a former minister in Tony Blair’s government, seeking clarification on his potential involvement in secret meetings between Norman Tebbit and a leader of electricians’ union EETPU in the 1980s. 

The Tory peer recently revealed that he had met with a leader of the now-defunct union while he was Thatcher’s employment secretary, seeking advice on how to deal with left-wing trade unionists. 

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