a row, from 1977 to 1983, achieving 103,000 votes in 1982, his highest vote and also the highest vote for someone who was neither an MP nor a former MP. Bradford North Wall became President of Bradford Trades Council in 1973, and in 1981 he won a reselection battle against the sitting MP for Bradford North, Ben Ford, by 35 votes to 28. Ford alleged irregularities in the selection procedure and it was re-run, but Wall won again, this time by 49 votes to 12, and replaced Ford as the Labour candidate. During the general election in 1983 Wall faced press criticism for his Trotskyist views, particularly in The Sunday Times, which portrayed Wall as wanting "civil war" and "bloodshed",; in response a Militant editorial statement claimed that"Militant was in favour of a peaceful transformation of society. No supporter of Militant would ever advocate or encourage 'bloodshed' or 'civil war'. ... Pat was explaining that if there was any threat to a peaceful transformation of society, that threat would come from the capitalist class itself." Labour Party leader Michael Foot publicly denounced his candidacy during the 1983 campaign. Wall won 14,492 votes (30.3 per cent), coming in second place, less than 2,000 votes behind the winning Conservative candidate Geoffrey Lawler, and ahead of the former Labour agent, Peter Birkby, standing for the SDP, and Ben Ford, standing as "Independent Labour". Wall stood again in the same constituency in 1987 and was featured in the Conservative election broadcast of 27 May 1987, which attacked his candidacy because he was a Marxist. He was quoted as saying: "A Marxist Labour government would mean the abolition of the monarchy, the House of Lords, the sacking of the generals, the admirals, the air marshals, the senior civil servants, the police chiefs and in particular the judges." The Sun also featured a demand that Wall be defeated on the day of the election. Wall held public meetings and 17 workplace meetings in the constituency and won the seat, recording a 9.9 per cent swing from the SDP. Death After a long illness, Wall died in the intensive care unit at Bradford Royal Infirmary on 6 August 1990, aged 57. More than 700 people attended a memorial meeting held after his funeral, the speakers including Arthur Scargill, Max Madden MP, Dennis Skinner MP, Dave Nellist MP, Bob Cryer MP and Terry Fields MP. References External links