General Strike 100

100 years ago today this was the most important building in the country. It's 32 Eccleston Square in Pimlico, just round the corner from Victoria station. Sorry about the scaffolding, that's temporary. But in May 1926 it was the headquarters of the Trades Union Congress. And it was here that the General Strike was called, bringing the nation to a halt for nine days. No struggle like it has ever happened since. The build-up It was the miners that started it, or rather the mining companies, or perhaps Sir Winston Churchill. In 1925 as Chancellor he restored Britain to the Gold Standard, thereby raising exchange rates and dampening global demand for exports. This made the mining industry even less profitable than it had been so the private companies that ran the mines looked for ways to make efficiencies. They decided to pay miners less and extend their working day which plainly the mining unions weren't happy with, their campaign slogan being ‘Not a penny off the pay, not a minute on…