Hansard: 28th April 1981 - Volume 3
Tory MP for Streatham freaking out about leaflets found supporting the Brixton uprising of 1981. The joint statement in solidarity with the uprising from the Brixton Housing co-op and Brixton Gay Community is mentioned.
Mr. William Shelton (Streatham)
A debate on the economic and social problems of Greater London cannot ignore recent events in Brixton. Since my constituency lies within the borough of Lambeth, I have decided to comment on those events.
It would appear that the riot was not principally a racial one. We must all be thankful for that. If anything, it was a riot against authority and society and, principally, against the police. I must bring several charges. First, hostility to the police had been growing in the area for some time and owed much to a deliberate compaign over months, if not years, of anti-police indoctrination of the youth of Brixton, both black and white.
Secondly, those who are guilty of exploiting such youngsters are as morally guilty as those who attacked the police and looted and burnt down houses. Thirdly, some colleagues of Opposition Members must bear part of the guilt, particularly as some had positions of responsibility in the community. I shall substantiate that charge. For some time Lambeth—particularly Brixton—has been a centre for Left-wing organisations and organisations of the extreme Left, which have adopted the usual methods, namely, meetings, rallies, marches and the distribution of leaflets. Such organisations seem to have had a common purpose, namely, to stir up hostility towards our society and institutions, using the police as the whipping-boy.
I agree that there has been a strong police presence in the area, and particularly in Brixton. There is a high rate of crime in the area. However, the vast majority of citizens in Brixton are law-abiding and support the police. I agree that there is an unusual level of deprivation in the area. Whether that deprivation takes the form of housing or lack of jobs, the House deplores it. However, no level of deprivation can excuse what happened in Brixton. If any Opposition Member disagrees with that statement I shall gladly give way to him. The environment created a critical mass, such as can be found in other urban centres in England. The detonator was provided by Left-wing organisations which had been working towards that end for years.
I am surrounded by leaflets, which were picked up in Brixton and sent to me as a result of a question that I asked in the House some weeks ago. Some are old leaflets and some are more recent, but they all have similar things to state. For example, the Caribbean Times states:
""Deptford…Police knew it was a bomb.""
In its review the Revolutionary Communist tendency states:
""Police out of Brixton.""
There is an inflammatory editorial inside that paper. The Socialist Worker carries one headline:
""Brixton: black and white unite to fight!""
The "Workers News" states:
""Bring them down … The working class response gathers strength.""
Here is an odd one: It is a
""Joint Statement: Gay Liberation South London Brixton Gay Housing Co-op.""
The statement is unsigned, as many such leaflets are, and is consequently illegal. It states:
""For the past five years the people of Brixton have been the victims of constant police harassment. We unconditionally support the initiative.""
The "New Cross Massacre Inquest" states:
""We know the police will try to cover up the real truth. We know from previous experience not to trust the police investigation … Despite their efforts the police have been unable to come up with a black scapegoat.""
A leaflet entitled "Brixton—The Communist View" states:
""The uprising against police oppression that took place in Brixton has brought forth many explanations.""
The Workers News Group uses the headline "Lessons from Brixton". It continues:
""The spontaneous uprising of the people of Brixton against the intensified police harassment … ""
Even the Council for Community Relations in Lambeth issued a press release——
Mr. Tim Eggar (Enfield, North)
Share
Even?
Mr. Shelton
Share
I said "even" because the CRR is partly funded by Lambeth council. It states:
""CCRL sees the events of last weekend as the inevitable result of long standing and consistently provocative policing policies … the weekend's violence was the only way people could express legitimate resentment at persistent injustice.""
All hon. Members will surely disagree with such a shameful statement. The "Brixton Socialist Worker Bulletin" states:
""Frontline news … No one wants rioting, if there is an alternative. But for many people in this area … there is no alternative.""
A leaflet entitled "Brixton Socialist Workers' Party Public Meeting" states:
""It was a magnificent way for Brixton to fight back.""
I have many more pamphlets, all of which were found in Brixton. Many are given only to coloured youngsters and are often given by white men. Opposition Members may ask what all that has to do with the Labour Party. 'The headline in a leaflet headed "Labour Party Young Socialists" makes the following demand: "Defend Brixton". There is a photograph of Brixton burning. It continues:
""Brixton has erupted with an explosion of pent-up anger. It was provoked by a massive police presence … Responsibility for what happened lies squarely on the shoulders of the police"."
Among its demands are the immediate release of those arrested, the dropping of all charges, the disbandment of the Special Patrol Group and democratic control of the police.
I had expected the hon. Member for Lambeth. Central (Mr. Tilley) to be in the Chamber during a debate on Lambeth. If he had been here I would have told him——
Mr. John Fraser (Norwood)
He is on the hon. Gentleman's rotten British Nationality Bill upstairs.
Mr. Shelton
I withdraw my implied criticism. I shall tell the hon. Gentleman of my remarks. The "Labour Party Young Socialists" leaflet was published in connection with a meeting at which the hon. Member for Lambeth, Central was to speak.
Mr. Jay
As regards my hon. Friend the Member for Lambeth, Central (Mr. Tilley), is the hon. Gentleman aware that although the police are no more perfect than hon. Members, many of my hon. Friends and I deplore indiscriminate attacks on them as much as he does?
Mr. Shelton
I am delighted to hear that. If the hon. Member for Lambeth, Central spoke at the meeting, I am sure that he would have said the same. I have no way of knowing what he said. However, his name appears on a leaflet so I presume he must have seen it. I should not allow my name to appear on a leaflet for a meeting at which I was to speak if I had not seen it beforehand.
I return to the subject of the Labour Party's involvement. The working party report on community police relations in Lambeth was commissioned by the Labour-controlled Lambeth council.
I have referred to that before in the House. The first chapter is headed "Army of Occupation". The subheadings include "Intimidation", "Arbitrary arrests", "Misuse of laws", "Continual harassment", and so on. It is a disgraceful report. It was sponsored by the Labour Party through the Lambeth Council. It costs £4. It did not have a wide circulation, but the best parts of it were published in the "Lambeth Local" the borough news sheet, which goes to every home. So the excerpts from that disgraceful report were widely circulated throughout the constituency before the riots in Brixton.
Mr. John Wheeler (Paddington)
At the ratepayers' expense.
Mr. Shelton
As my hon. Friend says, at the ratepayers' expense.
Mr. Clinton Davis
Did not that report have the support of a Conservative councillor, who subscribed his name to it?
Mr. Shelton
The hon. Gentleman is correct. A Conservative councillor signed the report. I do not withdraw my remarks about it being a disgraceful report. I am sure that he bitterly regrets having signed it.
The report is not the only direct involvement of Lambeth council in the events to which I have referred. For example, I wonder whether the House knows that £62,000 of ratepayers' and, ironically, taxpayers' money through the inner city partnership scheme goes to the Union Place resource centre, which is for the use of the community. A list of organisations sponsored by the ratepayer and taxpayer through the Labour-controlled Lambeth council reads as though they had escaped from the pages from Peter Simple. Examples are Red Therapy, Gay Teachers,—hon. Gentlemen will find leaflets and posters at the centre for these interesting and bizarre organisations—Rock Against Sexism, Advisory Service for Squatters and the Brixton Ad-Hoc Committee Against Police Repression. At least the last, in my use of language, would be an organisation directed to subverting the society in which we live. I draw the attention of the Opposition to the £18,000 of ratepayers' and taxpayers' money that goes to the collective bookshop funded through Lambeth council, which provides information on the Revolutionary Marxist Tendency, the Communist Party, and many of the same ilk.
When the leader of Lambeth council, Councillor Ted Knight, was questioned about that, his reply was:
""We have responsibility to improve the quality of life in all directions"."
His role as Labour leader of Lambeth council is interesting. The Guardian on 21 April quoted him as saying:
""Lambeth is now under an army of occupation"—"
a phrase that we have heard before—
""and the situation is, as days proceed, that steps are being taken by the police to step up the same apparatus of surveillance as one sees in concentration camps"."
That man is the official Labour GLC candidate for Norwood and was the Labour Party candidate for Hornsey in the last election. I am glad to say that he was defeated. He and his Labour colleagues are good at only two things—bankrupting the borough and stirring up social discord.
Lambeth's initiative was for a specific purpose, towards local control of the police—what it calls a more democratic control of the police. I have another quotation about Councillor Knight from The Guardian report of the same meeting.
""He called for the police to be entirely withdrawn from Brixton and for the force to be disbanded and replaced by an organisation answerable to the working class people.""
The right hon. Member for Battersea, North (Mr. Jay) may laugh, but these are his Labour Party colleagues in positions of responsibility in the community, standing for election in a few weeks' time for an important position in the Greater London Council. That is not a laughing matter. The conclusion of the report on police and community relations states:
""This situation is created by the nature of the police force … At the moment the police are not controlled by the community or seen as part of it.""
There is a tendency for the Left wing to believe that the police should come under local council control. The Opposition may say that that is peculiar only to Lambeth, and that it is a bizarre aberration. I remind them, as did my hon. Friend the Member for Ravensbourne (Mr. Hunt), that the 1981 GLC Labour manifesto says:
""A Labour controlled GLC will invite boroughs to join in establishing a Police Committee to monitor the work of the Police Force as a prelude to it gaining power to control the Police.""
The vast majority of people in London and in the British Isles would profoundly reject that ambition. I believe that it is dangerous, damaging and sinister.
Mr. Jay
Is it not true that London is the only area in the country where the police are directly under the control of the Home Secretary? I do not say that I favour it, but surely a proposal that London should be in the same position as the rest of the country is not really revolutionary.
Mr. Shelton
The right hon. Gentleman must know that the London police perform a national function. I remind him that what I said is true. Such a proposal would be rejected by the people of London.
In conclusion, I make two points. First, I urge the youth of the borough in which my constituency lies, and elsewhere, not to allow themselves to be exploited by fringe Left-wing groups or to be misled by councils such as Lambeth. Secondly, I warn the people of London that economic bankruptcy and social discord will tend to spread London-wide if Labour wins the GLC elections.