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MARGARET THATCHER personally met the leaders of the scab Union of Democratic Mineworkers (UDM) at least three times in the years following the miners’ strike.
Classified Downing Street files, which are released by the National Archives today, expose the extent to which the Thatcher government actively assisted the UDM, formed when strikebreaking Nottinghamshire miners broke away from the National Union of Mineworkers (NUM) in 1985.
Analysis of the files by the Morning Star shows that Thatcher had secret tete-a-tetes with UDM general secretary Roy Lynk in 1986, 1988 and 1989.
The General Strike exposed the power of the working class — and the limits of its leadership, writes Dr DYLAN MURPHY
![[Pic: Andrew Wiard]](https://morningstaronline.co.uk/sites/default/files/styles/desktop/public/2026-01/19860503_a_wiard_0002.jpg.webp?itok=w0tEojMk)
A handful of journalists at The Times faced a stark personal and political choice in 1986 – cross the picket lines for cash and career, or stand with organised labour at great personal risk. BARRIE CLEMENT recalls why refusing to scab at Wapping was not just an act of union loyalty, but a stand for the future of journalism
The Home Secretary’s recent letter suggests the Labour government may finally deliver on its nine-year manifesto commitment, writes KATE FLANNERY, but we must move quickly: as recently as 2024 Northumbria police destroyed miners’ strike documents