1986 02 15 From Manchester With Love comment, NME

PUNK POLITICO

THE METAMORPHOSIS of Liverpool's Derek Hatton into latter-day punk anti-hero was finally achieved on Saturday night, when New Order, The Fall and The Smiths staged a benefit gig, 'From Manchester With Love', at Liverpool's Royal Court, in aid of the councillors' Legal Appeal Fund.

But Morrissey and Johnny Marr spoiled the Deputy Leader's Valentine party by choosing at the final curtain not to appear on stage with local combo The Lloyd Collection. With the mikes turned off. The Fall away and gone, and only Bernard Albrecht of New Order actively joining in, Lloyd's attempt at 'Maggie's Farm', sans Hatton, trailed off into a spasm of gobbing, can and bottle-chucking, effectively scuppering the grand political finale.

Earlier, Hatton, self-consciously dressed down for the occasion in blue leather jacket, open-necked shirt and cords, pronounced himself 'dead made up'. And well he might, the Manchester bands' presence alone ensured a massive shot in the arm for his credibility, as well as helping the Fund to top £109,000 in only 10 weeks.

The idea for the event came after Morrissey sent Hatton a letter of support and some albums. Having - he admits - ascertained who Morrissey was, Hatton travelled to Manchester where he met New Order and John Cooper Clarke, who compered Saturday's gig.

Morrissey was unavailable for interviews. The Fall, true to the old capitalist punk ethic, demanded and got a sizeable fee for their efforts.

Liverpool's own Margi Clarke, of Letter To Brezhnev fame. waxed lyrical about the city's future under Hatton, a future - she believes -where the city has the chance to become the Hollywood of Britain -"The one thing that Liverpool's got is talent, it's got more stars than Bethlehem." What about the whispers? "I don't know what he's guilty of, myself."

New Order's Bernard Albrecht explained why the band took part. "It's basically to give him a chance; also because he's fighting the Government; it's a David and Goliath situation. We did it to get an equilibrium, really, not to say, this person's right, and that person's wrong; we're not experts on the situation."

Peter Hook's view is of Hatton as a political punk. "It's very interesting; it's very anarchistic, what he's done; I admire that and I admire him as a person; I don't particularly believe in his policies. He's a nice guy. In fact he reminded me of us, just the way he talks, his attitude, the way he acts; I think he's quite normal. I think he's been put into a position that he doesn't really enjoy, being a political sort of superstar. The funny thing is that we don't enjoy that either, so we get a kind of affinity from that. Also his attitude - he's challenging the powers that be, trying to do things differently; it's very like the way we work, with Factory. He's very Sex Pistolish in a way; what the Pistols did with music, he's done with government - it's punk.'

Which brings me back to a remark Jamie Reid made about the recent Sex Pistols court case. Reid ("the man who put the pin through the Queen's nose") revealed that the Pistols case, and the Lambeth and Liverpool councillors' case were running in adjoining rooms in the High Court, and Malcolm McLaren dearly wanted to meet Derek Hatton, but missed him by a whisker. So maybe punk isn't dead after all - even if it's pushing 40 and wears a blue leather jacket, open-necked shirt, and cords...

Quentin McDermotl