Official and unofficial- Denning explains

THE OFFICIAL Solicito decided to intervene behalf of three dockers ti :atened with jail after had consulted lawyers for le Transport and Gen Workers' Union.

Lord Denning, Master of the Rolls, made this revelation in the Court of Appeal yesterday.

Denning made the unprecedented statement yesterday 'in view of speculation which has been going on in some quarters as to how the application came to be made to us on Friday afternoon.

I would like to say exactly what happened,' Denning said in almost confessional terms.

The story he related to court is one of incredible coincidences.

If it had not come from a man as eminent as Denning—he conducted the Tory government's investigation into the Profumo case—one's credibility would be tested in accepting it. Denning His account goes like this: 'We felt it was a case in which 'On Thursday about midday the court might invite the assisthe Official Solicitor was invited tance of the Official Solicitor, by the secretary of the NIRC to and we asked him to come. The appear at a hearing in that court Official Solicitor then told us of which was to be held today and the steps he had already taken, to instruct counsel as amicus including the advice he had curiae (friend of the court) to received from Mr Alexander. assist that court in dealing with 'We then invited the Official the contempt aspects of the case. Solicitor to discuss the matter "The Official Solicitor at once with Mr Pain and Mr Hunter in rétained Mr Robert Alexander, order that each might have the counsel. In the evening the Offi- benefit of the other's advice, and cial Solicitor received the papers for the Official Solicitor to then and sent a copy to counsel. Both take such steps as he thought considered the papers overnight, proper.' ready for a conference in the What happened then is history. morning. This was held At 3 p.m. Denning and his fellow *Each was independently of the judges sat and by 5.30 they opinion that there were grounds quashed the contempt charges for thinking the orders had not against the London docks leadbeen properly made in the light ers-Vic Turner, Bernie Steer of the evidence before the court. and Alan Williams. It was decided to attend on the The extraordinary statement Monday morning in any case, but will only heighten workers' hosboth considered that it might well tility to the workings of the law be proper to make an immediate in relation to their struggles. application to the Court of It reveals an immense degree Appeal in the afternoon. of backroom manoeuvring which will give trade unionists a new insight into how the judiciary ter, who had each been involved operates. in the litigation arising out of the There will also be deep cynicism container dispute, had kept them- about the statesmanlike motives selves informed of the develop- of MessrE Pain and Hunter. ments. They had no instructions There are bound to be questions from anyone in the matter, but raised as to whether they went they felt that as the freedom of to see Denning on their own the individual was at stake as behalf or as emissaries of the well as the national interest, Transport and General Workers' someone ought to bring the mat- Union leadership. Since the ter before the Court of Appeal T&GWU decided to accept the at the earliest possible moment. NIRC, Pain and Hunter have •They therefore asked to see presented all the transport me personally in chambers to union's briefs. inquire as to what would be the Many people will wonder how proper course to take. They two legal minions like Pain and wondered if they could come Hunter could so readily get an before the court as amicus curiae. interview at such short notice Mr Pain and Mr Hunter came to with powerful judges as Denning see me at a few minutes before and Roskill. In other words, 2 p.m. colleagues-Lord Denning's statement begs as Justice Buckley and Lord Justice many questions as it seeks to Roskill-joined me at once. answer. on he ral

In this four part series Peter Jeffries traces the history of the British labour movement from the formation of the First International in 1860 to the Taff Vale judge. ment of 1901. He examines how the British working class built the unions as powerhouses of struggleand then built the Labour Party after coming under challenge in the courts. Harrisson, Saained Roder method of Stalinism-has been able to utter a single word of warning about the real significance Relations Tory Industrial Relations Court? Because for them, the revolutionary content of the British working class's history has - because they desperately wish to see the working class tied to these traitors. For the revolutionary party, it is not merely a matter of raising the demand for a Labour government, but of warning the most advanced workers of the revolutionary implications of such a government. became the form in which the social conflicts of the French Revolution were fought out.

So for us, the question of Puritanism, and the many divisions which were contained witan it, is of vital concern, just as the form of value was of vital concern for Marx. For we have to see how these religious forms of thought were