Well, well, well. Mick Lynch, RMT’s infamous general secretary, has today announced he will be stepping down from the top job after four years in post. In a statement, the trade unionist remarked:
It has been a privilege to serve this union for over 30 years in all capacities, but now it is time for change… RMT will always need a new generation of workers to take up the fight for its members and for a fairer society for all, and I am immensely proud to have been part of that struggle.
Lynch has led RMT members through a number of pay battles in recent years and found himself at the centre of a rather lot of controversy along the way. As the RMT chief heads off, Mr S thought it would be fitting to compile some of his most memorable moments in the media…
Temper tantrums on the Today show
Lynch has made his scepticism of the British press pretty clear in recent years – and has struggled to contain his frustration with certain lines of questioning. After being invited onto the Beeb’s Today programme, Lynch featured in a rather extraordinary clash with presenter Mishal Husain after being quizzed on how much payment workers had lost as a result of the 2022 strikes.
Issuing a pretty fiery response, Lynch shot back:
What I do find annoying though, Mishal, is that you put these lines that are directly taken from the propaganda from the other side. You never show any admiration for the fight that working people are putting up. You never criticise the super rich for what they’re doing…You never seem to take an impartial view on society…You always seem to just punt out whatever you hear from the employers and the government.
Why are you pursuing this line? Why do you need that number? You’re parroting the most right-wing stuff you can get hold of on behalf of the government.
Crikey. Talk about pulling no punches…
Sulking on Sky
Six months later, Lynch was up to his old tricks after enduring a line of questioning from Sky’s Jane Secker about which, if Mr S might comment, the trade union boss looked rather frustrated. When Secker questioned whether regular strikes by the RMT might put commuters off using rail transport altogether – asking whether the RMT risked ‘striking their way out of a job?’ – a fed up Lynch fumed: ‘Well I don’t think that’s true. That’s a government line you’re punting out on their behalf.’
A ruffled Secker responded:
Excuse me – I’m talking to you about conversations I’ve had. I’m not going to have you stand there and accuse me of being a government mouthpiece. I’m a human being, I’m a middle-aged woman and a journalist. And I’m talking to you about conversations I’ve had with people I know. This has got nothing to do with the government.
Doubling down, Lynch replied: ‘It’s exactly the phraseology that I hear across the table from government ministers almost verbatim, so there you go. Maybe you’re just very in tune with what they say.’ Oh dear. There’s no love lost there, eh?
Branding the UK media a ‘disgrace’
After a few run-ins with reporters, Lynch labelled the British press a ‘disgrace’ and called for better regulation. His criticism of the press coming after the Sun splashed on allegations made against an anonymous BBC presenter, who later turned out to be Huw Edwards. Lynch claimed that the media will ‘hound and chase everybody that they can if they think it suits their agenda’. Given what we know now, his remarks haven’t aged particularly well…
Anyone But England
The UK media do in fact appear to live rent-free in Lynch’s head, with the union chief informing an Edinburgh audience in 2023 that the deciding factor for whether he would back England at a sports match is ‘how pompous the British press is’. Er, right.
Admitting that the hype around England’s football team can be ‘annoying’, the trade unionist noted his Irish heritage was ‘very important’ to him and revealed he had ‘never had a British passport ever’. Rather than cheering on England, Lynch is more comfortable travelling to watch Ireland matches and has suggested he is happy to support Scotland and Wales at big games. How curious…
Lynch slammed over ‘bonkers’ pro-Palestine comments
Just last year, the union boss came under fire after he compared Israel’s treatment of Palestinians to the slave trade. Lynch’s comments were made a week after Foreign Secretary David Lammy suspended 30 of 350 arms licences to Israel, with the RMT chief commenting at a pro-Palestine fringe event:
Some licenses, what was it? 30 out of 150 or something of that number? This is like somebody standing up in front of you in the 1840s and saying: ‘I’m going to abolish some slavery. I’m going to liberate some people. I’m going to do this measure, but it’s only going to apply in this very small way.
Former Labour MP and current antisemitism adviser for the government remarked that Lynch’s was ‘not a very clever analogy’ while Tory MP Greg Smith added: ‘The comments made trying to compare a democracy trying to defend themselves with slavery are off-the-charts bonkers.’ Ouch.
Comments