TODAY we look back at two political figures – and an Army barracks in Lewes Road, Brighton.

Arthur Scargill can be seen accompanied by two other men walking along Brighton seafront in 1984, likely to be at the time of the annual Trades Union Congress at the Brighton Conference Centre.

The former National Union of Mineworkers’ general secretary was a controversial figure in British politics.

He led the union through the 1984-85 miners’ strike, a major event in the history of the British Labour movement.

It turned into a political battle with the Thatcher Government in which the miners’ union was heavily suppressed.

Scargill is now the party leader of the Socialist Labour Party (SLP), which he founded in 1996.

He gave a speech to the TUC meeting during the same year that Margaret Thatcher was targeted in the IRA bombing of Brighton’s Grand hotel. At the time, Mrs Thatcher said: “Mr Kinnock’s own words… show just how far the enemies of democracy have advanced inside the modern Labour party.

“Mr Kinnock, for all his words – and there is no shortage of those – has been hijacked, first by Mr Scargill, then by the anti-democrats at his own party conference. In name he may be leader. In reality he is a puppet.”

In our picture above, Nicholas Soames MP can be seen in a Boeing 777 flight simulator.

Sir Nicholas is the grandson of Sir Winston Churchill and has been the MP for Mid Sussex since 1997. We are not sure what this occasion was all about – maybe our readers can enlighten us.

Finally we have several shots of Lewes Road Army barracks, or Preston Barracks as the site is known, pictured in 1987.

The site is owned by the city council and was acquired from the Ministry of Defence because of its strategic significance and potential to contribute towards many of the city’s priorities. Redevelopment of the site started in July 2014 as part of a £150 million scheme, with the proposals including part of the University of Brighton’s campus.