A James Anderton-taunting 'Private Eye' cover from 1987. Private Eye nicknamed Manchester's famously illiberal and outspokenly homophobic Chief Constable 'Knacker of the Yard'.

In 1986, James Anderton described people with AIDS as 'swirling in a cesspit of their own making'.

Anderton was behind a number of gay club raids in Manchester in the 1980s, including ones at Mineshaft/Rockies (1984) and Napoleons.