BURNHAM’S DEMAND FOR A PUBLIC ENQUIRY INTO THE BATTLE OF HASTINGS REJECTED!

Coinciding with the 950th anniversary of the Norman invasion of England and William the Conqueror’s subsequent crowning at Westminster, Andy Burnham, Labour’s poster boy for righting historical wrongs, is believed to have called on the Home Secretary to open an investigation into the antics of the Duke of Normandy and the alleged backing of the French authorities, and is demanding a public enquiry into that unwarranted fracas, which is now referred to in history books as 'The Battle of Hastings.'

Campaigners for an official inquiry into the 1066 clash between King Harold’s English army and forces under the control of  William, Duke of Normandy, have claimed they have been misled by the interpretation of the battle, as depicted on the Bayeux Tapestry, which was published by French needlepoint experts, and commissioned by the conquering forces during the 11th century, on which campaigners claim 'tells a biased and heavily redacted story of the Norman Conquest of England.'

Home Secretary Amber Rudd, the new Home Secretary was believed to be considering appointing a High Court Judge to Chair a probe into the events that lead to King Harold meeting his death by an agent of the Norman Duke; who allegedly shot Harold in the eye with a well aimed arrow, whilst clearly depicted as being in an off-side position; still typical of the 'Onion Eaters' and of FIFA officials of today! 



" I told him, put a rubber sucker on it or you'll have someone's bloody eye out!"

However, in a move described as an "establishment stitch-up" by Mr Burnham, Ms Rudd, on reviewing the available evidence, has now rejected calls for a statutory inquiry or independent review into the historic confrontation at Bexhill, stating Mr Burnham and his co-campaigners were trying to undermine the very fabric of the nation in their demands, and by questioning the validity of the Doomsday Book; which William needed at the time, to raise taxes to pay his army, and to assess the wealth and assets of his newly conquered Anglo/Norman subjects, who were, under William's capitalist policies, prospering throughout the land. 

She concluded by emphasising that any enquiry into Anglo-French history, was another attempt by the Manchester Mayoral candidate as a purely populist attempt to raise his public persona and could also make negotiations on 'Brexit' even more difficult and confusing that it's proving to be!

Having carefully considered the campaigners appeal for 'compensation', Ms Rudd added, “…that having concluded that there was no sufficient basis to instigate either a statutory inquiry or an independent review, it was alleged that she thought the totally unnecessary call by the Burnham camp to open ‘old wounds’ by dangling the possibility of getting a financial settlement for the historic battle, was purely the act of a tabloid obsessed, publicity seeking group, desperate to garner votes from marginalised Anglo-Saxons, especially those who are registered to vote within the Greater Manchester area!”

 

ANGELA DEMANDS DOES SHE!

 

I understand that our local Ashton MP Angela Rayner has joined Andy Burnham in the saddle of his next hobby horse in ‘demanding’ a public inquiry into the South Yorkshire police's involvement in events that took place at Orgreave during the Miners Strike in 1984.

Could it be significant that having ‘nailed her colours to the mast’ in support of Andy Burnham in his quest to become Manchester’s next Mayor, she found it politically prudent to sign a letter to the Home Secretary, in which she alleges similarities in the policing procedures and the legal handling of the Hillsborough tragedy and events at Orgreave.
 

However, I do find it odd, seeing as she would only have been 4years old at the time!

Yes, she may well have read about it, but she never experienced life when the nation’s electricity had to be switched off on a rota basis between 07.00am and midnight every day.

She never faced the long power cuts; that some days lasted from six to nine hours, whilst still attempting to carry out work under gas camping lights.

Why weren’t Labour MPs demanding ‘public enquiries’ then, when the shortage of electricity was forcing factories and businesses to close or when 1.2 million workers had to be laid off for weeks on end?

Even Imperial Chemical Industries, (ICI) then one of the country's leading industries, gave a week's notice to all its 60,000 weekly-paid staff.

In politics, they say timing is everything, so maybe it’s not so strange that these Labour MPs weren’t calling for a public enquiry into the strikes that lead to this unfortunate incident, during the 13years of the Blair/Brown government era!

Maybe Andy Burnham, who seems to have appointed himself as some sort of Shadow Minister for Historical Tragic Grievances, might be better thought of had he demanded an inquiry into the ‘Battle of Orgreave’ during his term as the PPS to the then Home Secretary, David Blunkett; but of course he wasn’t in the frame back in 2004, to become Manchester’s Mayor and didn’t crave the publicity needed to get him elected.

It’s also strange that this politically timed call for a ‘public enquiry’ by Labour MPs appears to just be pointed at the shortcomings of the Police service. No one seems to be want to highlight the roll that the ‘flying pickets’ took in this brutal riot.

Yes, there was obvious misconduct carried out by the police at the time, but let’s not forget that it was ‘striking miners’ who actually killed one of their own.

The new government Home Secretary, Amber Rudd was technically right that no-one died at Orgreave, unlike in South Wales where a local taxi driver David Wilkie was killed when a concrete block was dropped from an overhead bridge on his car while taking a ‘scab’ to work. The striking miners responsible ended up serving just four years in jail after their murder sentence reduced to manslaughter on appeal. – Perhaps Angela and Andy should also call for an enquiry into why two murderers were released after serving such a short term.