Gerry Gable

Gerry Gable
Gerry Gable
Born January 1937 (age 74)
Spouse Sonia Gable

Gerry Gable (born January 1937) is a British political activist. He was a long-serving editor of the anti-fascist Searchlight magazine.

Contents

Background

As a youth, Gable was a member of the Young Communist League and the Communist Party of Great Britain, and worked as a runner on the Communist Party's Daily Worker newspaper, leaving after a year to become a Communist Party trade union organizer. He stood unsuccessfully for the Communist Party on May 10, 1962 at Northfield Ward, Stamford Hill, North London.[1]

He was involved in the formation of the militant anti-fascist organisation, the 62 Group.[1][2]

In November 1963, Gable was arrested and held at Hornsey police station following an attempt to enter the Mayfair flat of Holocaust denier David Irving.[2] On January 14 1964, he admitted burglary with intent to steal private papers, for which he was fined £28.[3][page needed] At his trial, counsel for the defence told the court, "they hoped to find material they could take to Special Branch".[4][page needed]

Gable was involved in the formation of the anti-fascist magazine Searchlight in the mid-1960s, along with Reg Freeson, Joan Lestor, Maurice Ludmer and others. Gable and Ludmer remained active in Searchlight Associates and re-launched the magazine in 1975.

BBC libel litigation

In 1984 Gerry Gable was commissioned by the BBC to produce research for a BBC Panorama programme "Maggie's Militant Tendency". The episode was to focus on a claim of right-wing extremism in the Conservative Party. Gable claimed that his research drew upon the information previously published in Searchlight.[5] Gable "was the man mainly responsible for the programme"[6][page needed] according to the Labour Party member of parliament Robin Corbett.

The claims by Gable that two Conservative party figures, Neil Hamilton and Gerald Howarth, were secret extremist Nazi supporters was met with libel action against the BBC. The programme had alleged (not admitted as evidence in court) that Hamilton gave a Nazi salute in Berlin while 'messing around' on a Parliamentary visit in August 1983.[7]

The BBC capitulated on 21 October and paid the pair's legal costs from the publicly funded license fee. Hamilton and Howarth were awarded £20,000 each and in the next edition of Panorama on 27 October, the BBC made an unreserved apology to both. The total cost of the trial, including the remedy awarded to the claimants, reached £1 million.[citation needed]

Searchlight magazine

Gable stepped down as editor of Searchlight magazine in 1998 to make way for younger members of the team.[citation needed]

References

  1. ^ "Searchlight and the State", Anarchy 36, 1983, as reprinted on the Kate Sharpley website
  2. ^ Evening Standard, November 28, 1963
  3. ^ Daily Telegraph, January 15, 1964
  4. ^ Daily Telegraph, January 17, 1964
  5. ^ Searchlight, No.130, April 1986, p2
  6. ^ Daily Telegraph, 13 March 1985
  7. ^ Wilson, Jamie (December 22, 1999). "Who will listen to his story now?". The Guardian (London). http://www.guardian.co.uk/uk/1999/dec/22/hamiltonvalfayed.jamiewilson3. 

External links


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