The Tories’ Unite strategy is paying unimagined dividends

Fernando

For the Tories Unite is a gift that keeps on giving.
Firstly, when Labour raised Ashcroft the Tories could point to Lord Paul and others. The Tories have nothing comparable to Unite which Labour can exploit.
Secondly, given that the government has accepted that there will need to be large cuts in the public sector in the next few years and it’s impossible to make those cuts without pay restraint and job losses, isn’t it a tad unwise for the Labour Party to ally itself so closely to a Union certain to try to frustrate these unpleasant but necessary policies. Voters might worry that the deficit reduction isn’t going to happen.
Thirdly, it's back to 1983 for Labour: an atavistic return to the core vote, class conflict and union barons. No wonder Mandy is worried.

teledu

Let's hope Labour's relationship with Unite blows up in their face and that Brown is forced to take a stance one way or the other over Unite's actions re. BA at PMQs today; we shall see.
Long term though, this is leading us down the road to state (taxpayer) funded political parties - which I suspect both Labour and the Conservatives would quite like.
Trouble is though, Brussels probably already has this as a long term aim - with the rider that only parties that support the EU can get the money.
Undemocratic you say! "So what?" our EU masters would reply.

Ghengis

If ever a pair deserved each other its Mandelson and Whelan.

Richard

It is easy to see just how PMQ's is going to go today....building up the defences and setting up the barricades already.
So let me see everything in your blog that you say is happening between Mandlesnake and Whelan is because of the last 24hr tory bandwagon jumping......yeah right!
The relationship with Unite and the Labour party is very strong and the tories know that they are playing a very dangerous game right now that could blow up in their faces.
The general public will see this as provocation and in the same way the tories use the money markets to scare the voters, nothing is more worrying than the thought of long term industrial stife under a conservative government.
Shameron is no Maggie and he will find the Unions are not as toothless as he thinks.

Lastly has Liam Fox now lost any chance of a ministerial job now.....following his bad luck yesterday. Funny how Tory MP's can all find thousands to pay back down the back of the sofa!

DavidL

Mandelson & Co blew their chance when they ran away from State funding. The generous millionaire model was never viable in the long term because these people are only interested in winners who will be in a position to affect policy or grant contracts.
The result is that Labour is now heading into opposition more reliant on Union funding than ever as if the Blair revolution did not happen.
This might be fatal to the Labour party but it is also bad news for our democracy. Even the most narrow minded Tory would have to recognise that democracy requires a viable choice. At the moment we don't have one. The focus of the Lib Dems on the Tories looks ever more ill-advised. Will there be enough Blarites left to establish SDP2 after the election?

alex popplewell

Great example of how we need to bang on about issues until the westminster village-and most of us on here- are bored stiff of them,and maybe thats when they start to hit home where it matters ie seats 1-118.I think this has a lot of legs vs just a Paul v Ashcroft story.part of a who is paying the bill/who is paying the price for Gordon Brown? story.

ajs

The battle-a few mangy old donkeys leading too many lions who have been misled for too long, and, one hopes, will see the light before 6th May.

paulg

What we are seeing is the labour party engaged in a civil war. The bullying stories could have only been fed to the media by alaister campbell and peter mandelson.

Whilst Gordon Brown and his henchmen are determined to secure the leadership for their candidate.

I always said they should have went in March because in the next sixty days open warfare will break out for the future of the labour party.

Mr Brwon will not forgive them for labelling him a bully and by definition a coward.
They must have known fortitude and bravery are traits he sets great store by- he did write a book about it after all.

Only the true heart of a villain such as the one lord mandelson possess would know where to wound the worst.

Vulture

Nu Liebour, old Liebour : they're all the bloody same. All ruinous, malevolent sods.

The only difference is that Nu Liebour are generally middle-class Marxists interested in power above all.

Old Liebour (eg. Woodley and Prescott) are just terminally thick and are in the game for tribal reasons and to make a bit more money than they could as bona fide members of the working class.

You pays your dues and takes your choice between these two unlovely cheeks of the same arse.

Alexander Pelling

Richard, I would love to know what the dangers are for the the Tories in highlighting the relationship between Labour and Unite. Labour's weakness in the face of union power is a matter of well-documented historical fact. The Party's present near-bankruptcy just makes its financial dependency on the union of even greater political and constitutional relevance.

To characterise the Tories' references to this relationship as "provocation" is the ranting of an impotent bully and marks you as an obvious man of the Left. Whom might it provoke, other than Lefty activists who are wildly unpopular in any event? Who cares what they 'think' anyway?

Your lot have had the biggest opportunity in history to do something for this country and you've done nothing but squander its wealth on your own narrow political interests. You only need to read Rawnsley's new book to see what a squalid, self-interested, useless bunch Blair, Brown, Balls and Co. are. All they ever cared about - and all they still do care about - was and is themselves and the high offices they coveted.

"Provocation" indeed! The more the better, I say.

Trafalgar

Richard, do you honestly think that the Tories - or anyone else - have the ability 'use the money markets to scare the voters'?

The money markets answer to no-one and will lend or invest money in the best way possible to extract a return for their money. If they feel that the government of the day is not taking adequate steps to manage its debt they will levy a higher interest rate to account for the increased risk that they might not get their money back.

Senor Frizby

Mandy now knows the things are on the final slide and Grubby Brown is a loser. He'll slowly back away from the Labour party and reposition himself for Tory duty.

Duplicitous and self-serving - that is the Mandy we know.

Mike Burmester

UNITE is not just a union of "workers". I worked for a clearing bank and joined the staff association. On retirement I took out life membership. A series of mergers and amalgamations in recent years has resulted in me becoming a member of UNITE without this being an active decision on my part. There will be others in his position.

In2minds

In you photo above Mandy looks as worried as dear Richard sounds when he writes!

Robert Haines

What are the odds that Mandy suddenly comes over all a bit Tory after the election? Any room at the inn? He doesn't strike me as the kind of man who'll take wilderness years easily...

gary smith

richard
did you get your grounding in the money markets from harman?

Richard Manns

Just when I thought we really might lose, the unions rush in to save the Tory party.

Victor Southern

Unite going to have talks with the infamous Teamsters is certainly an own goal for them.

The last bleat of their General Secretary was that BA refused to put back on the table the deal that Unite had already refused.

When Unions strike they do not carry public sympathy outside the ranks of other unions. The general public is only annoyed by nonsense whereby their post is not delivered, their bins are not emptied or they cannot go to their destinations.

Fergus Pickering

Well done, young Richard. No spelling mistakes this time. I accept that 'stife' is a typo. But alas, your syntax is still letting you down. Look at the sentence that contains the clause beginning 'in the same way the tories...'. This ought to go on '... they (the tories)[do something]' But it does not. It goes on 'nothing is more worrying...' In other words you have changed your subject midstream, as it were. See if you can put it right. If you cannot, I will show you what you can do. It's not your fault. Your education was obviously defective. Mine was not.

Chuck Unsworth

@ Fergus Pickering.

I think it unfair to be so condescending towards Richard. Apart from a natural derangement, he is yet another State Education Victim, an object of pity more than derision. We should not mock the afflicted.

2trueblue

Unite, what a grand name for what we now know to mean the opposite in every way. The union itself is fragmented and they are doing a great job with Liebore. Fantastic. Perfect timing.

Major Plonquer

All this talk of Mandelson and Whelan has my head in a spin. Same with Harman and Romey. We have to ask 'who wears the pants?' Which one is the husband?

Hyde Tory

Tories happy? You don't even know the half of it! Purnell's chosen candidate will fail simply because he is associated with Purnell, and the Unite candidates will fail because they are seen as more of the same - outsiders imposed on the constituency party. Oh, and then there's this...http://tameside-eye.blogspot.com/2010/03/who-smeared-jonny-reynolds.html