I have deliberately resisted the enormous temptation to bang on relentlessly over recent days about the Miners’ Strike, but this news is just heartbreaking.

The bitter miners’ strike – which split the nation 25 years ago – was nearly resolved twice during the last month before the dispute ended, a new book [Marching to the Fault Line: The 1984 Miners Strike and the Death of Industrial Britain, by Francis Beckett and David Hencke, published by Constable and Robinson] discloses today.

The second [failed attempt to settle] involved the near capitulation by Ian MacGregor, the coal board chief, to everything Scargill wanted three weeks before the dispute collapsed.

To get talks going, both sides agreed to scrap the long-standing disputed wording over future pit closures and replace it with a fresh set of proposals. Talks progressed until 12 February 1985, when both sides sat down to agree a new text that amounted to a “get-out-of-jail card for Scargill”. It effectively prevented pit closures until both sides agreed the pit reserves were exhausted.

News of the deal reached Peter Walker, the energy secretary, as both sides were sitting down in MacGregor’s flat. He despatched the coal minister, David Hunt, with a fresh set of papers.

According to Hunt there was a confrontation with MacGregor in the living room. Hunt told a pale MacGregor: “There is nothing for it but for you to gather up all those papers. Tell them you need to look at them again for a moment.” MacGregor – who had also received an angry telephone call from Thatcher – did as he was told, the papers were replaced and the offending phrase was removed.

The book recalls: “The government had been saved at the 59th minute of the 11th hour from a grossly embarrassing situation.”

Three fucking weeks…

That fucking Bloody Woman…

It may be enervating minutiae concerning ancient history to most, but the Minister will probably be spending most of 2014 and 2015 in Kew trawling the National Archives when the 30 Year Rule kicks in a propos the strike.