The leader of the Unite union, Len McCluskey, has insisted he still supports Jeremy Corbyn after he suggested the Labour leader would consider stepping down if the party’s opinion poll ratings remained low.
Mr McCluskey, who has been one of Corbyn’s strongest supporters, said the Labour leader and his shadow chancellor John McDonnell were “not egomaniacs” and would not want to keep their roles if there were no hope of victory.
Speaking to the Mirror , he said: "Let's suppose we are not having a snap election. It buys into this question of what happens if we get to 2019 and opinion polls are still awful. The truth is everybody would examine that situation, including Jeremy Corbyn and John McDonnell," said Mr McCluskey, who added his backing for Corbyn was "based on critical support".
“These two are not egomaniacs. They are not desperate to cling on to power for power’s sake.” But in a subsequent tweet sent from the official Twitter feed for his campaign to stay on as Unite’s general secretary, Mr McCluskey insisted this did not mean his backing for Corbyn was ebbing away.
Full support
“Jeremy Corbyn continues to have my full support, he’s a genuine, decent man fighting for a fairer Britain – media headlines distort facts!” he said. Mr McCluskey added that Labour needed to pin down its stance on the free movement of people following departure from the EU, after different MPs expressed wildly varying assessments on the need for any change.
McCluskey, whose union is a major funder of Labour, said the party could lose votes to Ukip if it did not “get its narrative right on free movement” and immigration.
“We need to expose what Ukip stand for – not just anti-foreign, anti-workers’ rights, their hidden agenda on the NHS and welfare state. But it will only work if ordinary people believe Labour is listening to their concerns and has solutions.”
Recent polls have shown Theresa May’s Conservatives leading Labour by around 12 points, with the prime minister’s personal ratings also considerably higher than Mr Corbyn’s. Labour also performed dreadfully in December’s byelections in Richmond Park and Sleaford .
Senior Labour figures around Mr Corbyn have insisted the party’s poll standing will improve, but Mr McCluskey’s comments increase the pressure on the Labour leader. Mr McCluskey is facing his own challenge to remain as Unite’s general secretary.
In a speech, his rival Gerard Coyne was to say that tightening border controls should be a fundamental part of the Brexit process.
Betrayed
“My many conversations with Unite members leave me in no doubt that those who voted for Brexit expect that promise of an end to uncontrolled immigration from the EU to be kept, and will feel betrayed if it is not,” he was due to say.
“Theresa May and other ministers should not wait until article 50 has been triggered to set out a negotiating position on free movement of labour. They should be saying now, without equivocation, that the issue is non-negotiable. There can be no compromise on the principle of taking back control of our borders.”
Mr Coyne later criticsed Mr McCluskey for seeking to be Labour’s “puppet master”.
He said: "My criticism of his handling of the role of general secretary of Unite is not whether he has backed the right leader or the wrong leader of the Labour party, but that he appears to think it is his job to be Labour's puppet master." This in return brought an angry response from Mr McCluskey, via Twitter. – (Guardian service)