In part III of a serialisation of his new book, JOHN McINALLY tells the extraordinary story of the attempts by ‘moderates’ to prevent leftwinger Mark Serwotka from taking the leadership of the then-newly formed PCS union
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Not one step back: an interview with Dennis Skinner
In an exclusive interview, DANIEL POWELL speaks to the veteran left-wing MP about Brexit, Sports Direct, triggering Michael Heseltine, throwing shade at the Queen - and never, ever, making friends with a Tory
Dennis Skinner addresses Labour Party conference in 2017
Trade unionists must raise our voices not only for justice and against occupation, but also to protect our fundamental right to protest, writes LOUISE REGAN, ahead of a not-to-be-missed PSC conference
As the PM and his chief of staff’s blunders have mounted up, ANDREW MURRAY wonders who among Labour’s diminished ‘soft left’ might make a bid for the leadership
The multiple crises this country is facing are policy-driven – and more of the same won’t turn things around, argues DIANE ABBOTT MP
If we want to do better than before then we have to learn from all our experiences – good and bad – and bring those to bear today, writes KEVIN OVENDEN
Morning Star campaigns manager CALVIN TUCKER gives the latest of his fortnightly updates on the all-important 95th Anniversary Appeal
AT Westminster’s grandiose central lobby, Labour’s longest continuously serving MP Dennis Skinner seeks a quiet place for our conversation.
Passing through a corridor, he indicates a doorway that was once a trade union room. The “Palace of Varieties,” as he calls his place of work, has changed since he first became MP for Bolsover in 1970. Settling for the cafeteria, he begins to recall his early days.
“I was the president of the Derbyshire miners, and I had been going down a few times to the headquarters of the NUM on Euston Road, so if it finished early I used to come in Parliament and see what was happening.
“One day they were having a debate on pay policy, so I came in for that, and John Mendelson, who represented Penistone in South Yorkshire, used to give me a ticket. I was under the gallery in those special seats, like it’s almost on the floor.
“I was eating a sandwich and one of the whips came to me and said: ‘You can’t eat in here.’ I said: ‘Oh, can’t you, I’ll have to do it quietly then, secretly’.”
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