Anti-Nuclear Campaign (ANC)

The Anti-Nuclear Campaign (ANC) was an umbrella group to which local campaign groups affiliated from across the UK. Like the Campaign for Nuclear Disarmament (CND), the ANC campaigned on an anti-nuclear platform but, unlike CND, also opposed the civil nuclear industry.

The ANC was spied on between 1980 and 1983 by HN155 ‘Phil Cooper’ HN155 'Phil Cooper' 'Phil Cooper' is the fake name of an SDS undercover who joined the unit in Autumn 1979. He was deployed into the Socialist Workers Party via the Waltham Forest Anti Nuclear Campaign and worked in the national SWP headquarters. Inquiry Chair Mitting found as a matter of fact that he had several casual sexual relationships while undercover. His real name has been restricted. , whose interest in the group came from his task of infiltrating the Socialist Workers Party (SWP). International Socialists (IS) / Socialist Workers Party (SWP) The International Socialists (IS)/Socialist Worker Party (SWP) is a Trotskyist political party. It started life in 1950 as the Socialist Review Group, changing its name to the International Socialists in 1962 and then to the Socialist Workers Party in 1977. The IS/SWP was of significant interest to the policing and security apparatus, spied on by at least 35 undercover officers. This profile is a stub that will updated. Full page: International Socialists (IS) / Socialist Workers Party (SWP)  Cooper helped set up the first ANC branch in Waltham Forest and became its treasurer. HN155 'Phil Cooper', Report on inaugural meeting of the Waltham Forest Anti-Nuclear Campaign with HN155 appointed Treasurer, held at redacted venue on 19 Feb 1980, 22 Apr 1980, Metropolitan Police Special Branch, UCPI0000013893.View Document

The ANC was founded in November 1979, partly in response to the 1977 Windscale Inquiry, which recommended permitting reprocessing of spent uranium oxide fuel at the Windscale Works in Cumbria. Mr Justice Parker, The Windscale Inquiry, Her Majesty's Stationary Office, 26 Jan 1978.  

The inquiry was widely seen as a whitewash that ignored scientific objections to nuclear energy, including those from ‘respectable’ sources such as the environmental organisation Friends of the Earth (FOE). Friends of the Earth (FoE) Friends of the Earth (FoE) is a mainstream environmental campaign group and charity founded in 1971. Most of the reporting on FoE relates to its connections with anti-nuclear groups, such as the Torness Alliance during the early 1980s. However, FoE was discussed in a meeting between the SDS and MI5, that explored using the group as a point of entry to place an undercover officer in the anti-nuclear movement. Full page: Friends of the Earth (FoE)

The result of the inquiry paved the way for the further development of nuclear energy throughout the UK, taken up vigorously in 1979 by the new Margaret Thatcher government, which planned to build 10 new nuclear reactors by the 1990s.

The ANC was chaired by Arthur Scargill, then also president of the National Union of Mineworkers (NUM), but had a broad range of support. National Union of Mineworkers (NUM) The National Union of Mineworkers The Miners Federation of Great Britain (MFGB) formed in 1889 and it became the National Union of Mineworkers (NUM) in 1944 and is still a functioning organisation today. It is a core particpant in the Inquiry. The NUM was involved in many strikes in across the UK. This included the majot 1972 and 1984 strikes. Although the NUM was of great interest to the surveillance state (including MI5) no evidence of targeting by the Special Demonstration Squad has been disclosed by the Inquiry. Full page: National Union of Mineworkers (NUM)  On founding the group, Scargill made it clear that the ANC should not identify with any particular part of the political spectrum and should focus on the basic demands of halting nuclear power, developing an alternative energy programme and guaranteeing employment during any transitional period away from nuclear power. 

The ANC’s first annual general meeting in Digbeth demonstrated the group's broad appeal. It included affiliated branches of many of the groups that spycops also spied upon or infiltrated, including the NUM and other trade unions, Energy 2000, FOE, Big Flame Big Flame Big Flame was a libertarian socialist group, formed in 1971 and dissolved in 1984, the offshoot of a Merseyside socialist newspaper of that name and a prolific publisher of Marxist analysis. Big Flame members were involved in landmark industrial disputes and in setting up the Troops Out Movement (TOM). Big Flame was targeted by HN297 Richard Clark, 'Rick Gibson', who hastily withdrew after Big Flame members discovered he was a police officer Full page: Big Flame , Socialist Environment and Resources Association (SERA), the SWP, the Ecology Party, CND Campaign for Nuclear Disarmament (CND) The Campaign for Nuclear Disarmament is a mass organisation founded in 1957 that advocates for unilateral nuclear disarmament. In the early 1980s, it had around 100,000 members and attracted 250,000 people to its marches. Despite Special Branch and MI5 acknowledging that it was not a subversive organisation, it was spied on by both, including SDS undercovers HN65 'John Kerry' and HN88 'Timothy Spence' in the 1980s. , Young Liberals  Young Liberals (YL) The youth wing of the Liberal Party, this radical and active youth movement attracted about 25,000 members during its heyday in the late 1960s. Dubbed the ‘Red Guard’ by the media, former Young Liberals include Inquiry core participants Lord Peter Hain and the late Tony Bunyan. Full page: Young Liberals (YL) , the International Marxist Group (IMG) International Marxist Group (IMG) The International Marxist Group (IMG) was a Trotskyist group in Britain in 1968-1982. It was the British Section of the Fourth International and a vital part of the Vietnam Solidarity Campaign. At its peak, in the 1970s, the IMG had around 1,000 members and supporters. The IMG was spied on by HN336 'Dick Epps', HN340 'Andy Bailey' and HN353 'Gary Roberts' during the 1960s and 1970s; several other SDS officers reported on it. Full page: International Marxist Group (IMG) , Scottish Campaign to Resist the Atomic Menace (SCRAM) Scottish Campaign to Resist the Atomic Menace (SCRAM) The Scottish Campaign to Resist the Atomic Menace (SCRAM) was founded in 1976. It was reported on through the Torness Alliance, its campaign to oppose the construction of a nuclear reactor in Lothian, which was spied on in the early 1980s by undercover officers HN155 ‘Phil Cooper’ and HN85 Roger Pearce (‘Roger Thorley’). SCRAM was mentioned in connection only with this campaign and other anti-nuclear umbrella groups noted in SDS reporting. Despite this, SCRAM appears in SDS annual reports named a central target for surveillance. Full page: Scottish Campaign to Resist the Atomic Menace (SCRAM) , the Anti-Nuclear Group and many more. HN155 'Phil Cooper', Detailed report on Anti-Nuclear Campaign's first AGM, held at Digbeth Civic Hall, Birmingham on 14-15 June 1980, inc leaflets (attached), 20 Aug 1980, Metropolitan Police Special Branch, UCPI0000014199.View Document

Although many of its branches had affiliated with the ANC, FOE, along with Greenpeace (UK) Greenpeace (UK) Greenpeace UK was founded in 1977, opening its first office in London to support global anti-whaling and anti-sealing campaigns. Note, London Greenpeace was a seperate organisation, founded in 1971. , discouraged members from joining the ANC, a significant move from the two most visible environmental organisations.

Despite the ANC's broad appeal, it is worth emphasising its links with the NUM. Minutes of 1979 cabinet meetings reveal that the Thatcher government was actively pursuing a pro-nuclear energy policy, in part to reduce UK reliance on coal, thereby strengthening the government’s ability to counter strikes by the NUM, one of the most powerful trade unions.

ANC activities included pressuring trade unions and the Trades Union Congress (TUC) to support a shift away from nuclear energy and working within the Labour Party to change policy. The main focus of these efforts was opposing the expansion of the Sizewell nuclear site in Suffolk, a campaign that proved unsuccessful.

Sources

Wolfgang Rüdig & P.D.Lowe. The Withered ‘Greening’ of British Politics: a Study of the Ecology Party. Wolfgang Rudig & P.D. Lowe, The withered "greening" of british politics: A study of the ecology party, Political Studies, 1986.

Wolfgang Rüdig. Maintaining a Low Profile: The Anti-Nuclear Movement and the British State. Wolfgang Rudig, The Anti-Nuclear Movement and the British State. in Helena Flam (ed.) States and Anti-Nuclear Movements. , Edinburgh University Press, 1994.