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LABOUR leadership candidates “who wouldn’t touch workers with a bargepole” tried to muscle their way onto the Durham Miners’ Gala platform at the last minute, the Morning Star can reveal.
Organisers invited only Jeremy Corbyn and deputy hopeful Tom Watson to address the crowd as both had been nominated by the Durham Miners Association for the top jobs.
But rivals Andy Burnham, Liz Kendall and Yvette Cooper, who support continuing with a degree of Tory austerity and renewing Britain’s nuclear weapons, turned up anyway.
![Durham Miners' Gala 2026 [Pic: Neil Terry]](https://morningstaronline.co.uk/sites/default/files/styles/desktop/public/2026-07/SSS_20260711_DURHAM_MINERS_GALA_0-21.jpg.webp?itok=NUVjowji)
Durham Miners’ Association chair STEPHEN GUY speaks to Ben Chacko about the Reform threat, what’s needed from Labour and why the Big Meeting will never lose its politics
IAN LAVERY MP warns that decades of neoliberal policies have left former industrial communities behind — but a renewed Labour commitment to working people could change the political landscape
Durham Miners’ Association general secretary ALAN MARDGHUM speaks to Ben Chacko about the PM-in-waiting, the threat of Reform and the radical change of direction this country needs