The party gains from its trade union links with working people, but it’s damaged by union leaders who use it as their political plaything
Earlier this week I wrote that “hard left factions seeking to control our largest trade unions should not have a guaranteed place in the governing counsels of the party”. I did not realise that affirmation would come so quickly from Aslef’s general secretary Mick Whelan, who chairs the national trade union-Labour organisation, Tulo. He demanded that Keir Starmer repudiate me and make clear that there would be no attempts to break or water down the union link; and he was instantly supported by fellow Corbynista John McDonnell.
Of course, I was not attacking the trade union link but the power of hard left factions that abuse it. I clearly touched a raw nerve. The Labour party gains from its trade union links with working people, but it is damaged by trade union leaders, such as Whelan and Unite’s Len McCluskey, who use Labour as a political plaything to pursue their ultra-leftism, which is completely unrepresentative both of their own members’ and Labour members’ views.
