Straw blames Thatcher for police culture
The Labour MP said police felt they “ruled the roost” in the years after the 1984 miners’ strike, in which they played a crucial role on behalf of the Prime Minister.
“On reflection I have about this is the state of the police generally in the late 1980s.
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Hide Ad“The Thatcher government, because they needed the police to be a partisan force, particularly for the miners’ strike and other industrial troubles, created a culture of impunity in the police service,” Mr Straw said. “They really were immune from outside influences and they thought they could rule the roost, and that is what we absolutely saw in South Yorkshire.”