With the cost of living crisis hitting millions, Keir Starmer will pay an electoral price for his failure to support striking workers
- John McDonnell is a former shadow chancellor
It was 1977. I was in my mid-20s and had just moved down from the north to west London. A group of Asian women working at a film-developing factory in Brent had started a strike for better pay and working conditions. Trade union branches across London and my local constituency Labour party in Hayes were sending delegations to join the women in their saris on the picket lines. This was the historic Grunwick strike, led by the now famous, heroic Jayaben Desai.
I went with our CLP delegation regularly. It was a tough and, at times, violent dispute as the police escorted a bus full of scabs brought in by the company to break the strike and teach the women a lesson.
John McDonnell is the Labour MP for Hayes and Harlington. He was shadow chancellor from 2015 to 2020
