For the second time in as many weeks, I’m staring at a blank screen. The cursor is flashing but the words don’t come easily. I’m a politician; I’m rarely without something to say.
But last Sunday, 16 October, I sat for hours looking at my computer screen. Knowing that the House of Commons would debate the release of Hillsborough papers on Monday, I had to write a speech.
The question wasn’t what to say; it was where to begin. How do you begin to describe the hurt and distress caused firstly on 15 April 1989 itself, the anger and horror at the subsequent media coverage, and the frustration and injustice of the failure of the legal system to provide due process and accountability over 22 years?
How to put into words the hurt I have felt each time I have corrected myths perpetuated about my home town being a ‘self-pity city’?
And it’s the same just now. How can I tell you, Progress reader, how much it matters to have a true record of how 96 people died and thousands suffered because of police mismanagement, media slurs, and the failures of the judiciary?
Some will know already.
After my speech on Monday I received hundreds of emails. Many of them recounted experiences of the day of the disaster. Heartbreaking stories of grief. Of the survivor’s guilt felt by those present on the day and who watched powerless as fellow fans were pulled out of the stand and carried across the pitch on cheap advertising hoardings.
I was not at Hillsborough that awful day. I watched as my dad hit the top of our television with his fist and shouted, ‘Get them out, get them out, get them out!’ in his panic and fear of what was taking place. The truth is, football fans all over Britain knew what was going on because most had experienced the brutality and disregard with which they were treated by police at the time.
Police actions at Hillsborough, however, were breathtaking in their inadequacy and horrific in outcome. If you are not aware of the facts, I would recommend you see the Interim Taylor Report. Police allowed too many fans in too small a space, and then once the crush began, senior officers failed to organise to rescue those dying in front of their eyes. They failed the fans absolutely; they failed their own junior officers who were without leadership; and they failed the thousands that day that spent hours wandering the streets and hospitals of Sheffield looking for loved ones.
The cover-up that followed – in cahoots with certain parts of the media – meant that no prosecutions arose from the Taylor Inquiry. A botched inquest and private prosecutions that could not reach a conclusion mean that in the public eye the only public blame for the Hillsborough disaster has rested with those who were the victims.
On Monday, Andy Burnham read police notes from the day held in the House of Lords containing instructions from a senior officer to doctor the account given by junior officers to prevent them from taking the blame. Maria Eagle’s speech gave a powerful insight into the propaganda survivors and families have fought against.
And when I rose on Monday night to speak on whether the government should let us have a full unredacted account of the decisions taken that allowed such a cover-up, I couldn’t help the tears.
I feel now the pain of 22 years of struggling to put things right. I’ve stood for most of my life and shouted for justice at a football ground. For a true account that shows – without the tabloid lies – who was to blame. Standing in the House of Commons with the home secretary and the culture secretary in front of me – the people with the power to make sure that true account is written – was too much for the usual composure and moderate language of parliament.
I’m so glad they have responded positively to our pleas for justice.
Having the names and ages of those who died laid down in Hansard – the Official Record – forever is the first step. Allowing the Hillsborough Independent Panel to access and account for all decisions on that day is the second. The path to justice has been long and hard so far. We won’t give up until the full truth is out. It’s the least that is owed.
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Alison McGovern is MP for Wirral South
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You really should be more careful about the use of the word tabloid. I have worked for tabloid newspapers my whole life. Firstly at the Liverpool Echo and for the last 17 years at the Daily Mirror. Both papers have been nothing but friends of the Hillsborough campaign. Indeed I’d go as far as saying those tablod papers were still arguing the case and backing the families when there was conspicuous silence in the Commons.
If you mean The Sun, say The Sun. I find you tarring me and my colleagues with the same brush you’d use to tar The Sun deeply offensive and only likely to send the message that we are all one and the same. That’s simply not true.
Matt Kelly
I sent you a message on Tuesday morning, I was in the Hillsborough group page on the Monday night whilst we were all glued to the telly watching you…we were willing you on, admiring you for your bravery and the fact you managed to finish your speech so powerfully despite the obvious raw emotin you were feeling. We were all so proud of you. You did the families proud, you did those of us who survived it proud and you got the message across. Much respect.