Ben Birchall – PA Images via Getty ImagesCarolyn Harris
Keir Starmer’s parliamentary aide has quit amid claims that she spread groundless rumours about fellow MPs’ private lives.
Carolyn Harris resigned from her post of parliamentary private secretary (PPS) after a formal complaint was made by a senior MP about her conduct, HuffPost UK has been told.
The departure of the Swansea East MP, who is also deputy leader of the Welsh Labour Party, was seen as the latest fallout from a bitter briefing war over Starmer’s shadow cabinet reshuffle and his decision to “sack” deputy leader Angela Rayner as party chair and campaigns chief.
In a statement issued by Starmer’s office, she said: “It has been the proudest moment of my career to co-chair the campaign that saw Keir Starmer elected as Labour leader, and to serve as his PPS for the past year.
“Stepping back from this role is the right thing at this moment, coming as it does after some trying personal times and an ever-increasing workload as deputy leader of Welsh Labour. I have enjoyed every minute, and look forward to supporting Keir the best way I can in the months ahead.”
It is understood that Harris, who has made no secret of her combative approach to the leader’s critics within the party, sparked a backlash with recent briefings about shadow cabinet ministers’ alleged disloyalty and about MPs’ personal lives.
The Times, which first broke the news that she was stepping down, alleged that Harris had spread “salacious rumours” about colleagues.
One frontbencher told HuffPost UK: “She’s been stirring it about shadow cabinet members, among the PLP, for weeks. She’s been spreading it about in the [Commons] tea room, everywhere. And she’s finally been caught red handed this weekend.”
“The job of PPS is to be the ears and eyes of the leader, not the mouth,” one senior MP said. “She was playing too high a profile role, throwing her weight around, interfering rather than feeding back what the PLP felt. Listen, assess, report, that’s the job.”
Another said: “It felt like Keir wasn’t fully aware of what she was up to, or at least I hope he wasn’t. It would be much worse if he sanctioned it.”
Starmer is now on the hunt for a new PPS. “We need to stop thinking of PPSs as some new intaker, and maybe appoint someone who’s been around a bit,” one backbencher said. “Amiable, clubbable, friends with everybody, that’s what you want.”
Relations between the Labour leader and his deputy soured badly on Saturday night when she learned from the Sunday Times of a plan to fire her from her campaigns role.
At one point, Rayner was tempted to go public with her anger at being apparently made a scapegoat for Labour’s poor local elections performance in parts of England.
Starmer used the Queen’s Speech debate in the Commons to joke about his recent showdown with Rayner over her move to a new role, saying a “black belt” in martial arts would be useful for “the next shadow cabinet meeting”.
Boris Johnson jibed that Rayner, whose authority in the party was enhanced by several new roles including shadow first secretary of state, was a “lioness” who was likely to become hungrier “the more titles he feeds her”.
Sitting opposite, she gestured that she had her eyes on the Tory leader, and later wrote on Twitter: “The only title I’m hungry for, Boris Johnson, is Deputy Prime Minister.”
Most of the results are now in and the parties are now conducting their post-mortems of the “super Thursday” local elections.
The Tories were the big winners in England, gaining control of 13 councils and adding 240 councillors, at the time of writing when 140 of 143 councils had declared.
Labour meanwhile had a terrible election, losing control of eight councils as the party shed 318 councillors, prompting Keir Starmer to embark on a shadow cabinet reshuffle.
But with elections of metro mayors across England, and for the Scottish and Welsh parliaments also taking place, the full picture is more complex.
With the help of YouGov’s Patrick English and Tory polling expert Lord Hayward, here are the five key things you need to know:
1. Labour turmoil in the ‘red wall’
Owen Humphreys – PA Images via Getty ImagesBoris Johnson in front of a giant inflatable of himself as he meets and newly elected Tory MP Jill Mortimer at Jacksons Wharf in Hartlepool
There were bitter recriminations in Labour after it lost a slew of council seats and the crunch by-election in the so-called “red wall” seat of Hartlepool, which the party had held since the constituency’s inception in the 1970s.
Labour also lost control Durham, the county of the miners’ gala and a previous bastion of support for the party, and endured “staggeringly bad” losses in the likes of Rotherham, according to Hayward.
English says these losses to the Tories in working class Leave-voting areas are a continuation of the realignment of British politics that followed the Brexit vote in 2016.
And they are a stinging indictment of Starmer’s strategy to win back ex-Labour Brexit supporters who deserted the party for the Tories en masse in the 2019 general election and handed Boris Johnson a huge parliamentary majority.
The Labour leader is now facing an internal battle for Labour’s future, as he prepares to embark on a shadow cabinet reshuffle to refresh his top team amid a backlash over the sacking of his deputy Angela Rayner from her party chair job.
Plenty are now also asking whether Labour can ever recover, or whether the party is finished as an electoral force.
2. Glimmers of hope?
Hollie Adams via Getty ImagesStarmer leaves home on Saturday morning
There were small glimmers of hope for Labour, with the party performing well in Wales where it secured an effective majority and “stemmed the tide of Leave voters flooding away to the Conservatives”, according to English.
The party also did well in so-called “blue wall” traditionally Tory seats, but which voted Remain in 2016 and are now beginning to turn to Labour.
Starmer is likely to be pleased with Labour taking the West of England and Cambridgeshire and Peterborough mayoralties.
And there were signs of a “Brighton effect” stretching out across the south coast as Labour took a swathe of seats on Worthing council, according to Hayward.
Starmer’s party even won a county council seat from the Tories in Chipping Norton, in the affluent Cotswold area where former prime minister David Cameron lives.
Labour can at least begin making up ground on the Tories thanks to these types of university-educated, Remain voters, as voters continue to turn British politics on its head.
But “in terms of the mathematics there are not enough blue wall areas to gain a majority in a general election, absolutely not”, English says.
“If Keir Starmer is looking for silver linings, he got beaten 5-2,” the pollster adds.
“Okay, you got hammered, but you scored two goals.”
3. Green surge
💚 We’re seeing huge swings to the Greens all over the country.
🌍 It’s time for new and bold ideas. It’s time for change.
Labour supporters may want to look away now, because they have another problem with the Greens enjoying a good day across England.
The party has 14 seats on Bristol council, with the city still counting remaining areas, helped push Sheffield into no overall control following the long-running tree-felling row, and has done well in the suburban home counties.
Hayward says this is “a problem” for Labour as the Greens are “showing signs of being able to do well in towns and cities as the alternative [to Labour]”.
English meanwhile talks of a “pincer movement” with Labour losing seats to both the Greens and the Liberal Democrats.
But the Greens are also appealing to different kinds of voters, and have taken more seats from the Tories than Labour, according to English.
“They are winning seats off everyone all over the country, including in places where Labour couldn’t even dream of winning,” he says.
“And they are building these coalitions of voters who are very different types.
“It would be really daft to think that they are just young, hippy, liberal voters and old tree huggers who vote for them, it’s not.”
4. High profile Tory mayors dig in
Ian Forsyth via Getty ImagesRe-elected Tees Valley mayor Ben Houchen with health secretary Matt Hancock
While Labour looked set to win 11 of the 13 mayoralties being contested in cities and metropolitan regions across England, the party’s heavy defeats in former strongholds in the West Midlands and Tees Valley provided more evidence of the Brexit alignment.
Andy Street was re-elected in the West Midlands with more than 48% of the vote, embarrassing Labour challenger Liam Byrne, who suggested he could win easily.
And Ben Houchen’s thumping victory in Tees Valley with 73% of the vote inspired Johnson to reportedly leave a voice note for the current toast of the Tory Party saying: “You’re just showing off now with that majority”.
English says: “Is it because the Conservatives are flooding money into these places so the mayors can campaign on it? “Or you could flip it around, and the Conservatives would say that’s just evidence the mayors have done a bloody good job, securing money for their areas.
“There are general incumbency effects as well – once you’ve got a mayor in there and they have done a good job, they are going to get rewarded.”
Perhaps the most significant result of them all was north of the border, where Nicola Sturgeon’s SNP fell just short of the overall majority that would have made her calls for a second independence referendum even more difficult to ignore.
However, there is a majority in Holyrood for another referendum, thanks to the pro-independence Greens picking up eight seats to add to the SNP’s 64.
In response, there are signs that the UK government’s position on a referendum may be softening slightly.
Cabinet Office minister Michael Gove made clear on Sunday that now was not the time for an independence vote, with the UK recovering from coronavirus.
But he pointedly refused to say the Westminster government would go to the Supreme Court to block referendum legislation from Holyrood, and stopped short of an outright rejection of another vote in an interview with ITV Scotland.
Starmer has already removed deputy leader Angela Rayner as party chair and campaigns coordinator, after Labour lost control of a host of councils and the “red wall” parliamentary seat of Hartlepool for the first time since its inception in the 1970s.
The Labour leader has faced a backlash from senior figures for apparently sacking Rayner.
Allies insist she has been offered another job in the shadow cabinet but they could not say what it would be, with Starmer in the process of reshuffling his top team on Sunday.
Reports suggest shadow communities secretary Steve Reed could be in line to replace Rayner.
Ian Murray, the shadow secretary for Scotland, and MP Chris Bryant have also been tipped for promotion.
Shadow chancellor Anneliese Dodds is meanwhile among those reported to be in line for a demotion.
There has also been criticism from some sections of the party of Starmer’s key aide Jenny Chapman, the former MP for Darlington.
Speaking to Times Radio on Sunday, Murray insisted Rayner had not been sacked and that Starmer wants to move her to a “much more prominent role” so Labour can benefit from her “authentic voice”.
But after headlines that Rayner had been sacked sparked outrage from some in the party, Murray admitted: “Communications over the last 24 hours have not been top-quality.”
Pool via Getty ImagesStarmer and Rayner on the campaign trail on Wednesday in Birmingham
Greater Manchester mayor Andy Burnham, who has signalled he is ready to take over from Starmer if asked, said of Rayner’s sacking: “I can’t support this.
“This is straightforwardly wrong if it’s true.”
Members of former leader Jeremy Corbyn’s team, who come from the left of the party, were among those to criticise the move to “scapegoat” the deputy leader.
Former shadow home secretary Diane Abbott called it “baffling” while John McDonnell labelled it a “huge mistake”.
McDonnell, a former shadow chancellor, told the BBC’s Andrew Marr Show: “When the leader of the party on Friday said he takes responsibility for the election result in Hartlepool in particular and then scapegoats Angela Rayner, I think many of us feel that is unfair, particularly as we all know actually that Keir’s style of leadership is that his office controls everything.
“It is very centralised and he controlled the campaign.”
In a further sign of the splits in the party, Labour grandee Lord Peter Mandelson urged Starmer to dilute the influence of party members and “hard left factions” linked to train unions.
He said Starmer was set to embark on a “serious review” of Labour policy.
“I also believe that he needs to to look at how the party is organised, how it represents the genuine grassroots of the party and reflects the genuine views and values of Labour voters across the country in all the nations and the regions of the country,” Mandelson told Times Radio
“The idea that the Labour Party and its policies and its outlook can be driven disproportionately frankly by a mixture of grassroots members in London and the south-east and the sort of hard left factions that are attached to trade unions – that has got to go, we have got to change.
“Party reform therefore I think is an essential part of what Keir has got to take on next.”
As well as undertaking a reshuffle, Starmer has hired Gordon Brown’s former chief pollster Deborah Mattinson – who has written a book about why Labour lost the so-called “red wall” at the 2019 general election – as director of strategy.
Jacob King – PA Images via Getty ImagesDeputy Leader of the Labour Party Angela Rayner
Angela Rayner has been sacked by Keir Starmer as the Labour Party’s chair and campaigns co-ordinator, Labour sources have confirmed.
Starmer’s shock decision to strip his deputy leader of both strategic roles came after Labour lost a slew of council seats and the key ‘red wall’ seat of Hartlepool.
It is understood Rayner will be offered a different job. The demotion does not affect Rayner’s role as deputy leader, which is elected.
A Labour source said: “Keir said he was taking full responsibility for the result of the elections – and he said we need to change.
“That means change how we run our campaigns in the future. Angela will continue to play a senior role in Keir’s team.”
Reports suggest shadow communities secretary Steve Reed could be in line to replace Rayner.
Ian Murray, the shadow secretary for Scotland, and MP Chris Bryant have also been tipped for promotion.
Stefan Rousseau – PA Images via Getty ImagesLabour leader Sir Keir Starmer leaving his north London home following the result in the Hartlepool parliamentary by-election. Picture date: Friday May 7, 2021. (Photo by Stefan Rousseau/PA Images via Getty Images)
Removing Rayner from her campaign roles has divided opinion among activists and MPs.
One former Labour staffer: “This Angela decision is probably one of the stupidest political decisions a leaders office has made in a very long time.”
Others said Starmer was avoiding blame for defeat, with former shadow chancellor John McDonnell calling the move “a cowardly avoidance of responsibility”.
Keir Starmer said yesterday that he took full responsibility for the election result in Hartlepool & other losses. Instead today he’s scapegoating everyone apart from himself. This isn’t leadership it’s a cowardly avoidance of responsibility. https://t.co/HysX0DQn8D
— John McDonnell MP (@johnmcdonnellMP) May 8, 2021
Another Labour source took aim at Jenny Chapman, Starmer’s political director.
“It’s absolutely crazy,” they said. “This sacking isn’t about Angela. It’s all about Jenny.”
But one Labour MP told HuffPost UK they backed the decision
They said: “I’m delighted Keir’s done this. She needs to take her share of the blame for the campaign she was in charge of. What was the slogan of our campaign? There wasn’t one.
“Her presentations to the Parliamentary Labour Party on the campaign updates were streams of consciousness. She’s also been making life difficult for David Evans [party general secretary]. It had to stop.”
This is a breaking news story and will be updated. Follow HuffPost UK on Twitter here, and on Facebook here.
As the results came in, the pattern was clear and, for Labour activists, painfully familiar.
Keir Starmer, the man elected to stop the bleed in the party’s so-called red wall, was instead presiding over yet more red ruin.
Boris Johnson’s Conservatives had not only captured the totemic Westminster seat of Hartlepool – a Labour constituency since its inception – but a slew of English council seats from County Durham to Dudley were turning from red to blue.
Despite a scramble to manage expectations by Labour HQ, there could be no glossing over the fact these were terrible results, with Starmer rejected by much of its previous working-class base.
Starmer did not quell speculation he will embark on a reshuffle in response to the drubbing, telling reporters on Friday his party has “lost the trust of working people” and he will do “whatever it takes” to restore it.
So, who might he look to in order to shake things up? Here are some of the options.
On The Way Up
Stefan Rousseau – PA Images via Getty ImagesLabour’s shadow schools minister Wes Streeting could be in line for a promotion
Wes Streeting
Viewed as a rising star hungry to do battle with the Tory benches, the shadow schools minister grew up in a council flat in Stepney and went on to study at Cambridge.
A moderate and vocal critic of Jeremy Corbyn’s leadership, Streeting has become a close ally of Starmer’s in recent months, repeatedly taking to the airwaves to defend the party’s new direction.
As the country recovers from coronavirus, Labour may see the Tories as vulnerable on social mobility and the widening opportunity gap between rich and poor.
It is for this reason, many tip Streeting to take the education brief from Kate Green, who some feel has failed to land blows on Gavin Williamson despite the A-Levels fiasco and a series of cuts.
“Wes would be Gavin Williamson’s worst nightmare,” said one Labour source.
It is also possible, however, that Streeting’s confident media performances could be placed in a more strategic role, such as shadowing Michael Gove’s Cabinet Office role.
His previous support for the People’s Vote campaign could hamper his chances, however, with Starmer keen to draw a line under Brexit.
LEON NEAL via Getty ImagesRachel Reeves, Shadow Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster, who spearheaded the Tory sleaze drive is tipped for a big job
Rachel Reeves
Widely tipped to replace Anneliese Dodds as shadow chancellor, Leeds West MP Reeves is one of the few shadow ministers with previous frontbench experience.
Seen as on the right of the party, Reeves served in Ed Miliband’s shadow cabinet and is seen as having won trust and respect among those the left by leading the campaign against “Tory sleaze”.
A former economist for the Bank of England and British Embassy in Washington, Reeves is not thought to have any competition if Starmer is searching for a new face to take on Rishi Sunak at the despatch box.
Yui MokPAJess Phillips could be in line for a promotion
Jess Phillips
One of Starmer’s most high-profile frontbenchers, the shadow domestic violence minister led party calls for action after Sarah Everard’s murder.
The Birmingham Yardley MP has a forthright style and, though Starmer may view her as something of a loose cannon, he is said to highly prize her work campaigning on homelessness, domestic killings and violence against women.
Phillips, who was the moderates’ candidate for leadership when Corbyn stepped down, is also a strong communicator, both online and on broadcast, and comfortable with the “red wall” voters Starmer fears the party has lost touch with.
The 39-year-old has previously voiced an ambition to be home secretary, which is a brief Starmer may consider for her, but possible alternatives may be shadow equalities secretary.
She may also be considered for the role of shadow employment rights secretary should Starmer wish to move Corbyn ally Andy McDonald.
On the way out?
Ian Forsyth via Getty ImagesAnneliese Dodds, shadow chancellor of the exchequer, is thought not to have landed any blows on Rishi Sunak
Anneliese Dodds
Starmer’s choice for shadow chancellor, the most important appointment for any leader, has attracted regular criticism.
Her allies point out her difficult task in facing Rishi Sunak while the occupant of Number 11 has handed out huge sums of cash via the furlough scheme and other Covid support.
But many feel Dodds has failed to nail her opponent when he was weak on free school meals cuts, the Eat Out To Help Out debacle and the Greensill Capital scandal.
Prevaricating over whether Labour would back a wealth tax and hiring a former advisor of John McDonnell’s also fanned concerns about whether she was suitable.
Demoting his own pick for such a crucial job would inevitably invite criticism of Starmer’s judgement, however, and Dodds is well-liked and viewed as knowledgeable among MPs.
But, equally, if Starmer refused to consider a move, he may face the charge of tinkering around the edges.
House of Commons – PA Images via Getty ImagesShadow health secretary Jonathan Ashworth is a solid media performer but is connected to Jeremy Corbyn’s era in power
Jonathan Ashworth
The shadow health secretary has been in post since 2016 and was appointed by Corbyn, despite not sharing the former leader’s left-wing outlook.
Sources have suggested Starmer is keen for a reset on health policy, especially as the NHS is traditionally Labour’s strongest campaign issue and Johnson’s approach to social care may soon be a key dividing line.
Others have underlined that sacking Ashworth, whose current knowledge of the brief is likely to be unrivalled, during the pandemic would be a misstep.
Questions over whether Ashworth has briefed against Starmer and his staff to journalists have been swirling, however.
“He is acting like he has already lost his job,” said one source.
Liz Kendall, Justin Madders, Rosena Allin-Khan and Lucy Powell are among the names touted as his replacement.
Danny Lawson – PA Images via Getty ImagesEmily Thornberry during the Labour leadership hustings
Emily Thornberry
Relations between the shadow trade secretary and Starmer are thought to have been rocky in recent months.
Starmer demoted his leadership rival from her role as shadow foreign secretary last year and there are suggestions he could go further.
Despite her combative scrutiny of Liz Truss, Thornberry has been increasingly sidelined in recent months, rarely, if ever, appearing on the media.
Her previous comments about the St George’s flag are also seen by Starmer’s allies as undermining the party’s attempts to appear more patriotic.
It is possible she is offered an alternative role as shadow leader of the Commons, should long-serving Valerie Vaz wish to move on, but it’s not clear Thornberry would accept.
Starmer might consider bringing in a well-known “big beast” as her replacement, such as former shadow foreign secretary Hilary Benn.
What else could Starmer do?
Ian Forsyth via Getty ImagesLisa Nandy
Starmer will be desperate to show working class voters he is listening and may look to boost the role of Wigan MP and shadow foreign secretary Lisa Nandy.
Her policy work on reviving the party’s offer to towns is highly rated and sources say he is keen for her to be seen on broadcast media more often.
A sideways move to the Home Office role, replacing Nick Thomas-Symonds, to shadow Priti Patel may be on the cards.
It would see Nandy front and centre of efforts to make the party credible on issues like crime and immigration, something vital to securing support in the red wall.
Deputy leader Angela Rayner’s role as elections chief has also been questioned, with some saying she lacks experience of marginal battles.
Others lay the blame for defeats at the door of former Darlington MP Jenny Chapman, Starmer’s campaign chief, though the leader is said to remain loyal to her.
Ian Murray, who is helping Anas Sarwar to lead a resurgence in Scotland, and Chris Bryant, whose local party has ousted Plaid Cymru’s former leader Leanne Wood in the Rhondda in the Welsh assembly elections, are said to have strong cases for expanded attacking roles.
Aaron Chown – PA Images via Getty ImagesSteve Reed, shadow communities secretary
Should Rachel Reeves’ potential elevation to shadow chancellor create a vacancy as shadow minister for the Cabinet Office, Starmer will need a strategic brain.
He may choose one of his key allies, such as Steve Reed or Bridget Phillipson, to battle Michael Gove. Rayner may also be approached.
It is a high-profile spot that entails building on the success Reeves has had scrutinising Johnson’s rule-breaking in the wake of the cash for curtains scandal and questions over PPE contracts.
It is not clear whether Marsha de Cordova’s position as shadow equalities minister is safe, despite fears about the optics of removing a black, disabled woman from his top team. Flo Eshalomi and Taiwo Owatemi could be options that allow Starmer to demonstrate a clear break with the Corbyn era.
Starmer may also choose to stamp his authority on the Parliamentary Labour Party by removing long-serving chief whip Nick Brown, potentially to make way for Alan Campbell.
Others in line for promotion include Sarah Jones, who is currently shadow policing minister, and Chi Onwurah, who has long been tipped for shadow business secretary. It is unlikely, however, that Ed Miliband will relinquish his climate change responsibilities ahead of the COP 26 conference.
Alison McGovern, shadow sports minister and Wirral MP, and Alex Norris may be asked to step up if Starmer’s reshuffle is wide-ranging.
Unite the union should stop acting like Keir Starmer’s “backseat driver” and give him time to do his job, a lead contender in the race to replace Len McCluskey has declared.
Gerard Coyne, who was narrowly defeated by McCluskey in 2017, said Unite had been “more focused in messing around in Westminster politics” than delivering for its 1.2 million members in recent years.
In an interview with HuffPost UK, Coyne also said the union should “throw open the shutters” on how it spent members’ money, not least on running up legal bills to fight “political cases” and on a controversial £98m hotel complex it has built in Birmingham.
Starmer is under increasing pressure ahead of the May 6 elections, with the possible loss of the Hartlepool by-election according to some opinion polls.
Earlier this year, McCluskey warned the Labour leader he risked being “dumped in the dustbin of history” if he continued to attack the Left of the party and failed to readmit Jeremy Corbyn as an MP.
But Coyne, the union’s former West Midlands regional secretary, said that he wanted to move Unite away from its general secretary’s practice of regularly commenting on the Labour leadership.
“Keir is the leader of the Labour Party and deserves the time with which to set out his positions. I would prefer to see a Labour government, so I’m supporting what the leader of the Labour Party is doing,” he said.
“But my focus is on what’s happening in Unite the union and focusing on our members. We’ve spent way too much time giving our opinions, our thoughts on the direction of Labour, being a backseat driver for the Labour Party.
“It needs to get on with its day job and we need to get on with our day job. Theirs is to go and win elections, and ours is to represent working people and improve their pay and conditions, and make sure that they’re supported when they need it.
“I’ve been a committed member of the Labour Party all my life, but it’s not what I’m here to do, I’m here to fight an election for the general secretary.”
The UK’s second biggest union is Labour’s biggest financial backer and has played a key role in Labour leadership elections, helping Ed Miliband narrowly beat his brother David in 2010 and defending Corbyn through his tenure. It also has key seats on the party’s ruling National Executive Committee (NEC).
The race to succeed McCluskey started last month and the new general secretary will be in place by September. As well as Coyne, other candidates include senior union officials Steve Turner, Howard Beckett and Sharon Graham.
Jane Barlow – PAUnite leadership candidate Gerard Coyne
Coyne said that he was confident of getting the 174 branch nominations required to get on the ballot paper, but pointed out that the hurdle was much higher than Unison’s 25 and the GMB’s 50.
“That gives an indication about how determined they were to try and get me off the ballot paper, but I don’t think that’s going to work somehow,” he said.
Although the Covid pandemic makes it difficult to physically meet the union’s members, Coyne said that Zoom call technology had made it easier to get in touch with hundreds of Unite reps, many miles apart.
“I think that the union has to operate in a hybrid version of engagement with our workplace reps that uses modern technology like this. It’s created a more direct form of democracy. If and when I’m elected that is how I will carry on as general secretary because it’s meant that I’ve been able to touch the pulse of the union.”
He called on the union to embrace the technology and hold a national online hustings for the general secretary election. Although some Unite workplaces such as Rolls Royce are holding remote hustings, the format does not allow for debate or interaction between candidates.
With turnouts in union elections as low as 10%, Coyne wants Unite to do much more to promote the general secretary race and if elected has pledged to create an internal “democracy commission” to regularly engage members.
”It’s fundamental really in terms of the long term future of the union, because if we are going to be a democratic organisation, we’ve got to start increasing the participation of our members. After all, we are a £175 million annual turnover organisation, it’s something that they have a direct interest in because they are paying the wages.”
The spending of members’ money is an issue which Coyne has made a centrepiece of his campaign, with a call for an independent review of the £98m spent on the Unite hotel and conference centre complex in Birmingham.
“When you hear the estimated spend was £7m, then £35m, then £55m and finally £98m, we absolutely have to have a root and branch review to learn the lessons,” he said.
“Did you know there’s a proposal for a ‘Birmingham 2’? In principle, the [union] executive have given the go ahead for a mutli-storey car park and another hotel. My view is we are not a property developer, we’re a trade union and that’s what we should stick to.”
Hollie Adams – PA Images via Getty ImagesLen McCluskey, general secretary of Unite the union
Coyne’s plan for greater financial transparency includes a register of interests and benefits for all union staff. “I just think we’ve got to throw open the shutters and let the daylight in.”
Another area he believes money has been wasted is on legal fees for court cases, including some against the Labour party, that have little direct impact on union members.
Unite is due in court again next week as it faces demands to settle damages and lawyers’ costs to former MP Anna Turley, who won a libel action against it and Skwawkbox blogger Stephen Walker.
Coyne contrasts Unite’s record with that of unions like the GMB, which won rights for Uber drivers and Asda workers, and Unison, which challenged employment tribunal fees.
“That’s the bedrock of what trade unionism should be focusing on, on its legal activities driven from the bottom up, and not choosing to spend money on very high profile political cases. We should be actually focusing on the ones that benefit our members. Legal services should be driven by industrial need.”
He also thinks that under McCluskey the union has lost touch with its mainstream membership, not least on some issues that arose in the pandemic.
“I’ve heard from lorry drivers who are bitterly complaining that there is no toilet provision for them when they drop off their cargo. Members want the union to be campaigning on the practical things like that that help them, real nuts and bolts issues.”
Although his three rivals are undeniably more to the left of him, Coyne is also frustrated at being portrayed as a “right winger” in the general secretary race.
“I don’t recognise that parody of me being the right-wing candidate. I’ve been in the union as an employee for 28 years, I’ve been a member for 35.
“In terms of the classic ‘do you oppose strike action?’, of course I’m not opposed to our members taking an industrial dispute. Have I ever signed a sweetheart deal? No, never have. Have I ever signed a no strike deal? No. I just fight for members’ interests. Am I afraid of anybody? No, I think I’ve proved that.”
Coyne wasn’t afraid of his first boss when he was a 16-year-old with a part-time supermarket shelf stacking job at Sainsbury’s. “We had a store manager, who basically instituted a policy of when you were working on the tills you couldn’t talk to the people next to you,” he explained.
“This was before barcode scanning, you had to type it in and it was the most mind-numbing work. Not being able to talk to the person next to you made every shift drag and there was a sense of annoyance amongst a lot of my colleagues.
“So I went down to the local office of the Transport and General [union, a forerunner of Unite], grabbed a handful of forms. I started first by recruiting my mates and we recruited most of the store into the union. We raised it with the management and fairly quickly after that, that manager was moved on.”
Coyne’s activism stemmed from his deep family roots in trade unionism. His staunch socialist father was the local Fire Brigades Union brigade secretary. His maternal grandfather came out of the First World War to found his local Labour party in Birmingham. All five of his brothers have been involved in the labour movement.
Like his nearest rival in the general secretary race, his trade unionism is also informed by his love of football. Whereas Steve Turner supports Millwall, Coyne is a lifelong fan of West Bromwich Albion, another team that has for years battled against the odds and is facing relegation from the top flight.
“The truth is that I’ve always supported an underdog team,” he said, with a smile. “We’re certainly doing better than Millwall, whether we manage to stay in the Premier League or not.”
The party grandee told HuffPost UK’s Commons People podcast that while Labour’s local election attacks around “cronyism” and the lobbying scandal will “loosen and crumble” Tory support, it will not be enough to win nationally in 2024.
Starmer must also present a “credible and attractive alternative”, as well as showing Labour is strong enough to “tear [the Tories] inside out, strip them down, lay them bare, and see what they stand for and what they are not doing for this country”.
Mandelson told Commons People: “One thing is clear to me – it’s that Tory sleaze is not going to win the next election for Labour.
“It will loosen and crumble a lot of support for the Tories and people will reach the conclusion that they are out for themselves and that they suit themselves and they fill the pockets of their own cronies and supporters, that’s true.
“But that doesn’t mean to say that Labour’s just got to sit back and wait for the election to fall into their laps.
“That’s not how you win elections.
“So fine, make the point, but you’ve got to present a credible and attractive alternative if you want people to vote for you.”
Speaking from Hartlepool where he is campaigning for Labour ahead of the crunch May 6 by-election, Mandelson said the party had a “real fight” in the seat, where it was “completely outgunned” by the combined Tory and Brexit Party vote in 2019.
Johnson is also benefitting from a “vaccine bounce” in the polls, while voters in Hartlepool felt Labour had “lost its way over the last decade” because it was nationally “rubbish” and “fell into bad hands” locally, and that the party took the town for granted.
“Then along came Brexit which loosened the cement even more, and frankly Corbyn then was the final hammer blow for Labour in this town, and then we had the disastrous results in the election in 2019,” he said.
GLYN KIRK via Getty ImagesLabour grandee Lord Peter Mandelson
But now, he said, they feel “Labour is coming home, that there is a new broom, and they feel it nationally with Keir Starmer and I’m glad to say they feel it locally”.
“Increasingly, people are seeing Labour as a credible alternative, they do see Keir Starmer as a man of principles and of integrity.
“But they want to know a lot more about him and what he believes in and what the policies of the Labour Party will be at the next election before they are prepared to transfer their allegiance to him and the Labour Party.
Pointing out that Labour’s leadership has been “hermetically sealed” from the public due to Covid, he said that now the party has to make its case “with greater intensity, and more speed and more focus than we’ve been doing at any time in the last year”.
Asked if Starmer needs to freshen up the shadow cabinet, Mandelson said: “He’ll know what to do when the time comes and I’m not going to start giving him advice or lessons about how he should do his job.
“All I know is this – that people want Labour to make the weather.
“They want Labour to make the news.
“They want the Tories properly taken apart.
“If you fall short, if it’s a bit weak, if it’s a bit flabby, if it appears not to know how to use the media well, if it’s not doing its opposition research well and honing its attacks and creating the ammunition, and [having] people strong enough to fire that ammunition in the Tory direction, then people are going to say well, are Labour strong enough?”
Mandelson went on: “You don’t win elections by going through the motions, you don’t win elections by saying nice things about yourself.
“You’ve got to go for your opponents as well, tear them inside out, strip them down, lay them bare, and see what they stand for and what they are not doing for this country.
“And then people will look to you, and when they do look to you, you better have a credible, affordable set of modern policies for people to vote for.
“And that’s what Labour’s got to create over the next year or so.”
He added: “I want my party to win, I’m fed up of losing, I’m fed up to my back teeth of losing, I want to see my party winning again, and that’s why I’m here and that’s why I work for it.”
Keir Starmer has angrily rounded on “cowards” who brief against his staff and warned shadow ministers that they should quit if they’re unhappy with his leadership team.
The Labour leader told the weekly meeting of Labour’s shadow cabinet that he was appalled by recent criticism of his aides, saying those responsible should “either stop now or have the guts to get out” of his frontbench team.
In a rare flash of anger, Starmer said that if anyone wanted to criticise his leadership they should direct that at him rather than act like “cowards who attack my staff”.
Most of his shadow ministers strongly welcomed Starmer’s words, although one insider said that there was “stony silence” from some on the Zoom call meeting.
Among those who then spoke up to strongly support his approach were shadow home secretary Nick Thomas-Symonds, shadow culture secretary Jo Stevens and shadow work and pensions secretary Jonathan Reynolds.
Shadow transport secretary Jim McMahon, shadow communities secretary Steve Reed and shadow housing secretary Thangam Debbonaire stressed just how damaging such briefing was to the party particularly in an election period.
Unnamed shadow ministers have in recent weeks criticised Starmer’s aides, including his chief of staff Morgan McSweeney, policy chief Claire Ainsley and political director Jenny Chapman, blaming them for Labour’s caution or its reliance on focus groups of former “Red Wall” voters.
Starmer is also understood to be furious at recent briefings against frontbenchers Anneliese Dodds and Rachel Reeves.
“We’ve got a vital set of elections next month and this stuff just shouldn’t be happening. It’s deeply disloyal,” one of those on the call told HuffPost UK.
The May elections are Starmer’s first electoral test since he became leader a year ago, and he faces the added challenge of Labour defending its once safe seat of Hartlepool in a by-election.
The Labour leader has campaigned on crime and policing, council tax hikes and the planned 1% nurses pay rise in the run-up to the May 6 polling day.
Covid restrictions and the week-long pause to mark the passing of Prince Philip have derailed the party’s hopes to get reaching more voters directly.
While Starmer has pointed out the party’s poll ratings have suffered from a “vaccine bounce” for Boris Johnson and the Tories, some MPs believe he needs to do more to set out his plans for a future Labour government.
The Unite union general secretary said voters “don’t understand” what Labour stands for anymore.
In an interview with Times Radio on Sunday, McCluskey, who was a close ally of Jeremy Corbyn, said Starmer was on course to “destroy the unity of the party”.
McCluskey also said the selection process led to the selection of Paul Williams as Labour’s candidate for the Hartlepool by-election “beggars belief”.
Williams chosen to stand in the seat after he was the only person placed on the shortlist of candidates.
In the interview, McCluskey said: “Keir needs to start telling people what he is and what Labour are. People don’t know at the moment.
“People knew where Jeremy Corbyn was coming from long before any elections.
“People knew where Tony Blair was coming from long before any elections.
“At the moment we are suffering because people don’t understand what Keir Starmer stands for or what Labour stands for. And that’s what he has to do.
“Stick to the radical nature of the policies he stood on and win back the red wall seats.
“If he continues to attack the democracy in the left of the party he’ll destroy the unity of the party and the reality will be he’ll be dumped into the dustbin of history.”
Speaking about the upcoming Hartlepool by-election, McCluskey said: “If that’s Keir’s definition of democracy well it’s certainly not mine. It’s not even a pretence any more.
“A shortlist – actually it was a longlist – of one man. It beggars belief. But at the moment in terms of the internal democracy within our party. Nothing is surprising.
“I regret the fact that a proper process wouldn’t have been gone through.”
The by-election in the so-called red wall seat was triggered after incumbent Labour MP Mike Hill resigned this week amid sexual harassment allegations.
The contest will be seen a key test for Starmer’s leadership, one year after he succeeded Corbyn at the top of the party.
Boris Johnson made advances into traditional Labour territory in the North of England, Midlands and north Wales during the general election in December 2019, in which he secured a Conservative majority victory.
One of the seats taken as part of the host of red-to-blue turnovers in the North East was Williams’ former Stockton South seat.
Williams has apologised after a Tweet of his from 2011 was unearthed in which he asked his followers: “Do you have a favourite Tory milf?”
Shami Chakrabarti, the former shadow attorney general under Corbyn, has said the “unacceptable misogynistic” language means Williams should be dumped as the candidate.
But speaking to the Andrew Marr Show on Sunday, Lisa Nandy, the shadow foreign secretary, agreed while the language was “completely and utterly unacceptable”, as Williams had apologised he should not have to step down.
Boris Johnson has refused to apologise after falsely claiming Labour voted against a pay rise for nurses.
The prime minister, who is under fire for his offer to give hard-pressed NHS staff a 1% pay rise, had claimed that Keir Starmer’s party had opposed earlier government plans to give health workers a 2.1% hike.
The move, part of the NHS funding bill, was never put to a vote but Johnson’s aides have rejected calls for the PM to say sorry or even correct his mistake.
During prime minister’s questions on Wednesday, Johnson told MPs: “The last time we put it to a vote, he (Starmer) voted against it.”
Shadow health secretary Jonathan Ashworth raised a point of order with Commons speaker Lindsay Hoyle after the session.
He said: “The prime minister twice from that despatch box said that the Labour opposition voted against the NHS Funding Bill and the 2.1% increase for NHS staff – this is not the case.
“Indeed, in the debate, as Hansard will show, I was explicit that we would not be dividing the House.”
Hoyle ruled that it was “certainly a point of clarification” but by that point Johnson had left the chamber.
Johnson’s press secretary Allegra Stratton, who later faced questions from journalists, refused to offer any apology from the PM.
She said: “The speaker addressed it in the House immediately after the shadow health secretary and the speaker regarded it as a point of clarification, and he regarded it as having been dealt with.”
Pressed more than 10 times on whether Johnson would accept he was wrong about claiming there was a vote, Stratton repeated the line and said simply said it was “appropriate” for the speaker to clarify the point.
She insisted that Johnson was “concerned about the truth of these matters”, she added “it would be difficult if the speaker had not addressed it”.
Asked about the ministerial code, which says government ministers should correct any error “at the earliest opportunity”, Stratton insisted that “the system worked”, suggesting the speaker corrected the mistake.
