Did Labour MP help Thatcher spy on unions?
Spellar urged to clarify whether he assisted Tories as an EETPU official – Bethany Rielly reports

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.
More from this author

In an exclusive investigation, BETHANY RIELLY looks at how the state targeted leading politicians and campaigning groups — labelling many well-known figures 'extremists' and 'subversives' for attempting to hold the police to account

On September 4, 16 Eritrean asylum-seekers were arrested at a protest against their country’s dictatorship and its supporters here. Since then, questions have been raised about whether the British authorities are doing enough to protect activists and asylum-seekers from the ‘long arm’ of the regime in Asmara