Labour disunited
Peter Hoskin 8:39am
Labour MPs didn't pick Ed Miliband as Labour leader; they preferred his brother. Labour
members didn't pick Ed Miliband as Labour leader; they preferred his brother too. It was the union bloc that delivered the crown unto Ed — spearheaded by the votes, support and influence of
the country's largest trade union, Unite.
Which is what makes Len McCluskey's article for the Guardian today so dangerous for the Labour leader. McCluskey, you'll remember, is the head of Unite — and he's not happy with how things are going now that Miliband has closed the ground, rhetorically at least, between his party's fiscal stance and the coalition's. ‘No effort was made by Labour to consult with trade unions before making the shift, notwithstanding that it impacts on millions of our members,’ he complains among among many other complaints. ‘It is hard to imagine the City being treated in such a cavalier way in relation to a change in banking policy.’
It would be tempting to view these complaints as choregraphed — as an attempt to bolster the idea that Miliband isn't in cahoots with the unions — were they not so poisonous. McCluskey also lays into ‘Liam Byrne, Jim Murphy, Stephen Twigg and now Ed Balls’ as ‘four horsemen of the austerity apocalypse’. And he predicts that, ‘Having won on the measures, new Labour will likely come for the man sooner or later,’ and depose Miliband.
But might this help Miliband anyway, by diminishing that ‘Red Ed’ tag? Perhaps, but I'm not sure it will do him much good. What we're seeing here is the end result of MiliE's year-and-a-half-long prevarication over policy and message. Had he struck on fiscal responsibility from the start, and developed his own take on it, then the unions would have known what they were getting, and the right-wing of the Labour party would have been happier. But, as it is, he didn't, and neither side is entirely persuaded now. Whether they agree with the new direction or not, both see that Miliband has been squeezed by the coalition. He's left it too late for this to be anything other than a concession.
And it also reinforces a point that I made a couple of weekends ago: that, compared to Brown, Miliband doesn't have a group of political bodyguards who will defend his leadership to the death. Sure, McCluskey doesn't attack the Labour leader personally, preferring to say that he is being ‘dragged back into the swamp of bond market orthodoxy’ by others. And he suggests that a ‘Blairite’ leader would mean ‘the destruction of the Labour party as constituted, as well as certain general election defeat’. But if this is what even Miliband's supporters are saying, then what chance has he got?
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alexsandr
January 17th, 2012 8:51am Report this commentgreat. start of labour party infighting. Bring it on!
Adrian Sells
January 17th, 2012 9:03am Report this commentBack to the Seventies - even the name "Len McCluskey" seems strangely redolent of that oh so glorious time of union activism.
Holly ......
January 17th, 2012 9:22am Report this commentOh dear. Never mind.
Finding out the quality of their chosen
'new generation' leader is a flip-flopping,
dithering, duffer must be heartbreaking.
Lets hope Miliband is not like a cream egg..
By Easter they're gone.
Shouldn't laugh though, Miliband could be replaced by Coop....
All those headlines dictated to the media from Harpy & co crying because 'Cameron is picking on me/her 'cos I/she is a woman'!
The media, of course will oblige.
Do they think we will all rush to vote for Ed, now he's just a horrid shade of pink?
Happy days!
Holly ......
January 17th, 2012 9:25am Report this commentOh, I Forgot..AHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA
HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA...Sorry couldn't help it.
JohnOfEnfield
January 17th, 2012 9:26am Report this comment@Adrian Sells....and he even looks the part.
Plug Ugly.
toco
January 17th, 2012 9:30am Report this commentHow very reminiscent of Jack Dash,Arthur Scargill,Barbara Dean et al-do the trades unions not understand even China and the Eastern Bloc have given up on communism in favour of life improving capitalism to provide their citizens with freedom and a better quality of life?
strapworld
January 17th, 2012 9:34am Report this commentAdrian Sells does have a point. McCluskey is a trot, Liverpudlian and could be Derek Hatton's love child!!
That said I would hope this government will bring in new legislation making the election of a general secretary by a majority of a minority of the membership unlawful and there must be at least a 60% turnout. (I would hasten to add I believe this should apply for all elections, I cannot understand how anyone with 40% or less of the votes of a minority of voters can be allowed to take that seat).
The same must apply for ballots on strike action. It must be mandatory for ALL members to participate.
Axstane
January 17th, 2012 9:55am Report this commentOne even has some slight pangs of sympathy for EdM when he has to try to make nicey-nicey with a dinosaur like McCluskey.
Our workers are in good hands when they are being looked after by McCluskey and Crow.
disenfranchised
January 17th, 2012 10:04am Report this commenthaven't read the aricle, because i've now reach total saturation point with all the twaddle about milibean and his monsters.
once more, and this assuredly for the last time, who bloody-well cares?
for christ's sake, i wish you speccy writers could find something interesting, something new, to write about.....
Vulture
January 17th, 2012 10:16am Report this commentAll Millipede needs is a stick and a dog and he's the new Michael Foot! He already lives in Hampstead.
TrevorsDen
January 17th, 2012 10:48am Report this commentI read that Len McCluskey was elected on a 15% turnout. Says it all really.
strapworld
January 17th, 2012 11:24am Report this commentVulture, Michael Foot lives in Highgate.
starfish
January 17th, 2012 11:50am Report this comment"Vulture, Michael Foot lives in Highgate"
Michael Foot is aaaaaaalive??????
alexsandr
January 17th, 2012 12:02pm Report this commentmichael foot - the labour leg-end.
Heartless Curmudgeon
January 17th, 2012 12:20pm Report this commentOh dear - the Bruvvas having a spat?
What a shame wotta pity!
There's only ONE ANSWER . . . bring back The Noble Lord Kinnock and his missus.
chrisg
January 17th, 2012 1:40pm Report this commentSandwiches and beer anyone?
Jeremy
January 17th, 2012 1:40pm Report this commentDo Zombies Speak?
David Lindsay
January 17th, 2012 3:27pm Report this commentLen McCluskey knows what he has to do.
Individual candidates should be funded based on their public subscription to specific policies, including their record of having supported them where applicable.
And it looks increasingly as if a new party might be required. Perhaps initially in order to act as Labour's conscience. But always containing the possibility of replacing Labour altogether.
Cynic
January 17th, 2012 5:33pm Report this commentMcCluskey is hinting, it seems, that he who pays the piper calls the tune with his complaint that he wasn't consulted. Are we about to have another "who rules Britain" (or should that now be who rules England?) moment? I'm afraid, if the people I speak to are anything to go by, the Unions are out of touch with the common mood. I haven't heard anybody deny that cuts are necessary. Most of the complaints I hear are that they aren't going far enough fast enough.
Cynic
January 17th, 2012 5:36pm Report this comment@Vulture "All Millipede needs is a stick and a dog and he's the new Michael Foot! He already lives in Hampstead." You forgot the donkey jacket.
Arthur Fowler
January 17th, 2012 5:53pm Report this commentThere is one surefire way for governments everywhere to avoid the tyranny of the bond markets - live within your means.
Most governments - and left wing ones in particular - seem to be pathologically incapable of this.
Barbara
January 17th, 2012 6:31pm Report this commentThe article rings true, he wasn't supposed to win. The 'other Miliband' was. He'd been prepared for the job, and to lose it like he did was awful. However, it's not just Miliband that grates with the electorate, it's the whole opposition front bench. They are all 'as bins' and need to be changed for the country to have any faith in the Labour party again. Miliband will not win an election, for years if ever, and lets face it they fail to admit their failures with the economy. They spent money like smarties, and thought they were Godly in doing so. No, we don't want Milband or any of his ilk in government for years to come, the damage as been to great and the bills far to high. Unforgiveable.
Jeremy
January 17th, 2012 6:49pm Report this commentDavid Lindsay:
"Individual candidates should be funded based on their public subscription to specific policies, including their record of having supported them where applicable."
Are you suggesting that individual candidates should "tout" for union funding by specifically advertising their support for policies which they know have union approval?
If a private company were to behave in exactly the same way that you suggest a union should behave, then would such behaviour be considered legal?
And more to the point, would it be considered morally or ethically sound for a large organisation to seek to exert direct political influence in return for "funding" candidates, as you appear to be suggesting?
MikeF
January 17th, 2012 11:39pm Report this commentFine - but the hold that the left has got on the media, social work and education systems, the charities sector and local government bureaucracy is to a large extent independent of the electoral performance at a national level of the Labour Party. That is where the real fight has to take place.
David Lindsay
January 18th, 2012 12:11am Report this commentJeremy, it happens all the time in America, by no means only among Democrats. As long as it is all out in the open. Unlike the way in which private companies over here do in fact do it, and always have done.
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