Former Labour leader Neil Kinnock has claimed that a fear of being scapegoated by Arthur Scargill if miners lost their heroic 1984-85 strike was behind his startling inaction during the walkout.

Mr Kinnock gives the excuse in the final episode of a documentary series about the miners’ strike set to be shown on Welsh channel S4C this evening.

Looking back at the famous strike, he insists he was “absolutely helpless” to stop Thatcher’s war on miners and the coalfield communities.