UNITED KINGDOM: COLONEL DAVID STIRLING...THE MAN BEHIND GREAT BRITAIN 75 ... HOPES VOLUNTEER STRIKE-BREAKING FORCE WILL BE READY BY THE END OF THE YEAR.

Record ID: 190096

  • Title: UNITED KINGDOM: COLONEL DAVID STIRLING...THE MAN BEHIND GREAT BRITAIN 75 ... HOPES VOLUNTEER STRIKE-BREAKING FORCE WILL BE READY BY THE END OF THE YEAR.
  • Date: 4th October 1974
  • Summary: 1. GV Colonel Stirling seated with interviewer 0.13 2. CU&SV Colonel Stirling speaks 1.54 "Our plan is limited....and this has always been stated to provide Government, to make available to government, whatever type of Government it is... Socialist, or Liberal, or Conservative, or coalition.... with volunteers, trained and capable of running the minimum power required out of the generating stations to keep certain essential basic services going. They would, of curse, act under police escort. And we wouldn't, or course, make a move...and some of the papers have deliberately ignored this... until we had ben invited to do so by the Government of the day. Now what we propose to do, as I say, is to have sufficient numbers of trained volunteers to cope with we wouldn't go further. Then helping to cope with sewage disposal...nobody wants that on the streets while they're negotiating with the trade unions..to keep the water supply going...being pumped. And we would hope to help maintain the refrigeration at the major food despots in the country. I don't expect to be in a position to cope effectively until toward the end of December. I believe that the crunch is expected to come some time in February or March." Initials ET/117 ET/124 A transcript of Colonel Stirling's comments on film appears below: Script is copyright Reuters Limited. All rights reserved
  • Embargoed: 19th October 1974 13:00
  • Keywords:
  • Location: LONDON, UK
  • City:
  • Country: United Kingdom
  • Reuters ID: LVAEAJ69AOB25JTIFNF74XIW5RVU
  • Story Text: Colonel David Stirling's plans for the Great Britain 75 organisation are progressing well, and he hopes to have a force of well-trained volunteer strike-breakers ready to act to the end of the year.

    The Colonel's plans were "rumbled" by two London Newspapers earlier this year, and the details of great Britain 75 were released prematurely.

    Basically, Colonel Stirling plans a volunteer force, which would move in during serious national strikes to keep industry running. His man target would be the power stations, but Great Britain 75 forces would also be prepared to take on the sewage disposal and water supply services.

    In an interview with Visnews reporter Jim Stirling on friday (4 October), the Colonel again said his organisation would not move without direction from the Government of the day....be it a Socialist, Liberal, Conservative.... or a coalition. Colonel Stirling said he did not expect to be in a position to act effectively before December. However, he added that the "crunch" probably would not come until February or March next year.
  • Copyright Holder: REUTERS
  • Copyright Notice: (c) Copyright Thomson Reuters 2015. Open For Restrictions - http://about.reuters.com/fulllegal.asp
  • Usage Terms/Restrictions: None
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