Orgreave inquiry: Why now and what are the crucial questions it seeks to answer? | The miners’ strike 1984-85
By: David Conn | Published: 2025-07-20 19:00:00 | Source: www.theguardian.com
Ministers have announced an inquiry into the violent policing at Orgreave and the collapsed prosecutions of 95 miners accused of offences there, 41 years after the infamous scenes of 18 June 1984. Here we set out some key details about why the inquiry has been set up and the crucial questions it may seek to answer.
Why has the government set up the Orgreave inquiry now?
The revival of campaigning about the Orgreave injustices developed after the Guardian published an article in April 2012 making the link between the South Yorkshire police operation in 1984 and a collapsed trial in 1985, and the 1989 Hillsborough disaster, in which 97 people were unlawfully killed. The same force, led by the same chief constable, Peter Wright, was responsible for the disaster, and orchestrated a false…
