Straw blames Thatcher for police culture

Former Home Secretary Jack Straw has accused Margaret Thatcher of creating a “culture of impunity” in the police that was on display in their handling of the Hillsborough disaster.

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.

“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.”