Catalogue Number
NMLH.2024.42.3
Object Name
photograph
People
Arthur Scargill, National Union of Mineworkers, Tony Blair, Labour Party
Description
A black and white photograph of Arthur Scargill standing behind a table giving a speech. He has two men seated on either side of him. The man on the far right of the photo is a young Tony Blair.
Arthur Scargill, a former miner from Barnsley, Yorkshire, was President of the National Union of Mineworkers (NUM) from 1982-2002. He became a miner after leaving school at 15 and worked at Woolley Colliery for nineteen years. He joined the NUM in 1957, and became a leading figure during the Miners' Strikes in 1972 and 1974 which were considered responsible for the fall of the Conservative government of Edward Heath. Scargill is best known for his leadership during the 1984-85 Miners' Strike which was called following announcements by Margaret Thatcher's Conservative government that a significant number of mines would be closed, leading to mass redundancies.
Scargill was a member of the Young Communist League, and later the Labour Party, before founding the Socialist Labour Party (SLP) in 1996, which he led until 2024. This photograph was most likely taken during his membership in the Labour Party, as Tony Blair, who would go on to become Prime Minister from 1997-2007, is present. Scargill founded the SLP in protest against Tony Blair's 1996 rewrite of the Labour Party's constitution, removing the party's commitment to socialism.
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