‘I'd rather be found dead in a ditch’: Durham Miners’ chief triggers Tory MPs after telling them to stay away from annual event

The president of the Durham Miners’ Association has infuriated Tory MPs after insisting that he would “rather be found dead in a ditch” than invite them to the miners’ gala – a yearly event that honors British coal miners.

In an interview with the BBC, Durham Miners President Alan Mardghum dismissed suggestions that Conservative MPs, particularly in the northeast of England, should be welcomed to the July gala, despite four out of the seven constituencies in the Durham area being represented by the Tory party.

To paraphrase [Boris] Johnson, I would rather be found dead in a ditch than invite them, or Johnson, to the gala.

Mardghum also advised any Tory politicians thinking of joining in the Durham festivities in the summer that it would be wise for them to speak to the police, in what ostensibly was a warning about their safety.

He explained that the reason Boris Johnson’s party is not welcome is because “they did their best to absolutely destroy the Durham miners and the miners of Great Britain,” particularly during Margaret Thatcher’s premiership in the early to mid 1980s.

Simon Clarke, the Tory MP for Middlesbrough South and East Cleveland, hit out at Mardghum’s remarks on social media, claiming Labour supporters like him do not understand “how unpleasant this kind of idiocy looks to the wider public.”

New Tory MP Richard Holden – who won the seat of North West Durham in December, unseating Labour’s Laura Pidcock in the process – claimed that he had ex-miners telling him that they were “rejecting class war politics” to vote for him.

The annual event of trade unionists and miners has long been a strongly pro-Labour gathering, with the outgoing leader Jeremy Corbyn a regular attendee, along with other former and current senior party figures.

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