Scargill had every weapon of the state thrown against him, including the secret service and every single national newspaper. The Mirror printed unsubstantiated lies as Roy Greenslade later admitted.

The executive of the NUM got no more wages than the striking miners.

He did not own a mansion - he owned a bungalow in Worsborough village and drank in the local John Smith's pub.

Scargill said that if the miners lost the strike the pits would close and Britain would rely on imported coal. Thatcher, Heseltine and the rest denied that was true.

40% of our electricity is still coal-fired and that is imported mainly from Eastern Europe. We still have vast reserves of coal and we could still produce the cheapest deep-mined coal in western Europe.

Now, tell me who was right.