ROYLE Family actor Ricky Tomlinson has suffered a setback in his 40-year campaign to clear his name as one of the pickets jailed after the national building workers strike of 1972.
The Lord Chancellor Chris Grayling has revealed vital government and Cabinet papers about the case are to stay locked up for at least another 10 years - prompting the former Brookside actor to question whether politicians "want us all to die to make this issue go away".
'There must be something very powerful and damning in the papers if there is a need to keep them top secret for half a century'
Tomlinson, 73, believes the secret papers will reveal the part the then Prime Minister Ted Heath and other leading Conservatives played in the prosecutions and claims they will expose a Hillsborough-stylecover up over the arrests and conviction of the Shrewsbury 24.
Currently a Downing Street e-petition is gathering signatures in the hope of securing a full Parliamentary debate on what Tomlinson describes as one of the greatest injustices ever against the workers.
At a "show trial" in 1973, Tomlinson was given a two year jail sentence for along with other pickets who were also jailed had hoped the papers would have been released in 2003 under the 30 year rule, but the decision was taken then to keep them hidden for a further 10 years – until 2013.
Now, Tomlinson has been told by Chris Grayling that his predecesor as Lord Chancellor Secretary, Kenneth Clarke, had signed a new order over a year ago authorising the retention of the papers for "security reasons" until December 31, 2021.
Kenneth ClarkeTomlinson said: “It seems to me the politicians and the security services want us all to die to make this issue go away. All of us are in old age – I am in my seventies – and I have been working since 1973 to clear my name.
"Until we saw Grayling's letter just a few days ago, we had no idea Kenneth Clarke had ordered the papers to be kept under lock and key until the 2020s, with no guarantee they will be released then. There must be something very powerful and damning in the papers if there is a need to keep them top secret for half a century.
“I believe they will expose the influence on the convictions by Heath and other Cabinet ministers as well as the undercover work by the secret services. This is the kind of thing you would expect in an old style Soviet regime, not in 21st century England.”
Ricky Tomlinson: 'They are just
hoping we will all start dying off
in the next 10 years and this
will be forgotten'On Wednesday, Tomlinson and his campaign team are addressing a conference at 1 Parliament Conference Room C to highlight their plight. Present will be MPs Tom Watson, John McDonnell and the Liverpool Walton MP, Steve Rotheram, who has been at the forefront of exposing the Hillsborough cover-up. Trade union general secretaries Len McCluskey and Steve Murphy will also be at the conference.
Tomlinson says his campaign team have already unearthed vital correspondence between Sir Peter Rawlinson, Attorney General in Heath's government to the then Home Secretary Robert Carr. In the letter, Sir Peter warned the Home Secretary against instituting conspiracy charges against the Shrewsbury 24 involved in the 12-week strike of 1972.
But just days later, police swooped on Tomlinson's home in Wrexham and arrested him. The homes of other pickets were also raised in a co-ordinated exercise. The pickets faced a range of charges, including conspiracy and a number of them, including Tomlinson, spent several years in prison.
Tomlinson said: “I have been protesting my innocence since the moment of my arrest as I had done nothing wrong. Even the police who were on duty during the picketing didn't complain, in fact we got on OK with them.
"This was a political show trial. I am convinced when the full facts are released all of us will be cleared. They are just hoping we will all start dying off in the next 10 years and this will be forgotten. But I can assure them this campaign will continue well after all of us are dead and buried.”
The campaigners hiope a Downing Street e-petition, to generate a debate in parliament, will gather 100,000 names by it June deadline. You can sign it here.
