Blacklist Solicitor Quizes Labour MP on Complicity

Imran Khan QC, acting on behalf of the Blacklist Support Group, has written a letter (attached) to John Spellar MP, asking the former minister in the Blair government to clarify his involvement in secret meetings that took place between Norman Tebbit and leaders of the Electric, Electronic, Telecommunications and Plumbing Union (EETPU). Lord Tebbit told a parliamentary Zoom meeting last week that such meetings took place during his time as Secretary of State for Employment in the Thatcher government, claiming that the meetings were held to discuss how to deal with 'left-wing' members of the union. Tebbit later confirmed the meetings took place in a interview for The Times, which states:

“I got briefings from Special Branch on what some of the hard-left, communist-style leaders were up to, yes,” Tebbit, who was employment secretary from 1981 to 1983, said this morning. “But I got far more briefings from my friends who were trade union leaders.” Describing secret audiences with unions including the Electric, Electronic, Telecommunications and Plumbing Union, he added: “Friends of mine who were trade union leaders would come to see me at the Department of Employment by arrangement. They would drive, be admitted straight into the underground car park and take the lift straight to my office, so that nobody would know that they had seen me.”

Before entering parliament, John Spellar was the EETPU Political Officer (1969-1992) which included the period during the 1980s when the union was expelled from the TUC because of what were referred to as 'sweetheart deals' with employers, including supporting Rupert Murdoch during the year long Wapping dispute. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_Spellar

Blacklist Support Group represents construction workers who were blacklisted for their union activities by major building contractors, including many members of the EETPU. Dozens of the unlawful blacklist files include the entry "EETPU says NO". An internal police investigation called Operation Reuben, has admitted that the police infiltrated trade unions to spy on activists, and that Special Branch and the Security Services provided information to the illegal blacklisting organisations; the Consulting Association and the Economic League. Given that Lord Tebbit revealed that while Employment minister he received briefings about union members from Special Branch, the secret meetings between the Conservative Minister and the EETPU may be relevant to the public inquiry into undercover policing being chaired by Sir John Mitting.

To ascertain whether John Spellar MP had any involvement in the meetings, Imran Khan QC has asked the following questions:

In your position as the EETPU political officer:

1. What was your role in setting up the meetings between EETPU and Norman Tebbit?

2. Did you attend these or any other any meetings between the union and Norman Tebbit?

3. Are you aware of any documentation relating to the meetings; such as but not restricted to invitations, emails, minutes, meeting notes, diary entries, reports to the EETPU Executive, or any other records kept by yourself or the union?

4. Did you arrange any similar meetings with Conservative government Ministers, especially during the time when EETPU was expelled from the TUC?

Note:

The EETPU only ever had two General Secretaries, Lord Frank Chapple (1968-1984) and Eric Hammond OBE (1984-1992).

Following various union mergers, EETPU is now part of UNITE the Union, which in 2019 set up an independent investigation into allegations of collusion by union officials in blacklisting of union members.