‘Perhaps he’s reacting to me taking the p*** out of him’, says Beckett
Unite’s assistant general secretary Howard Beckett has said that he is not leaving the union, after right-wing former Labour MP Tom Watson claimed he was ‘mov[ing] on to new projects’.
Watson published his claim on his Twitter feed in a tweet that didn’t quite congratulate new general secretary Sharon Graham on her election win:
Beckett told Skwawkbox:
I’m not leaving. My only new project is to build a stronger project to stand up to the forces Watson is so keen to support. Perhaps he’s reacting to me taking the p*** out of him after his man Coyne lost badly.
Watson was one of several Labour right-wingers in the West Midlands to unsuccessfully back Gerard Coyne in the election, despite his humiliation in the 2017 contest and his breaches of member data privacy rights that led to his dismissal by Unite.
Beckett has also publicly accused Watson of sending him unsolicited WhatsApp messages that the Unite man described as ‘a little creepy’:
Watson’s humour is unlikely to have been improved by the fact that Beckett stepped down as a candidate in the general secretary election in order to reduce division of the left vote and avoid letting Coyne to slip through. Gerard Coyne trailed in last in the contest.
Mr Watson has been contacted for comment.
SKWAWKBOX needs your help. The site is provided free of charge but depends on the support of its readers to be viable. If you can afford to without hardship, please click here to arrange a one-off or modest monthly donation via PayPal or here to set up a monthly donation via GoCardless (SKWAWKBOX will contact you to confirm the GoCardless amount). Thanks for your solidarity so SKWAWKBOX can keep bringing you information the Establishment would prefer you not to know about.
If you wish to republish this post for non-commercial use, you are welcome to do so – see here for more.
Think i heard Twatson on the prowl. Only heard a few last seconds of vile Coyle. Keith issued a distress call spun as congratulations to Sharon.
Even the FT is giving tunes of DOOM to Keith. All the comment so far of Sharon is exactly as my own view. We have very vibrant times ahead.
A swift bonus will be the IMMEDIATE withdrawal of funding to the parasites. I’m hoping Bakers Union does the same.
DONT THREATEN!!! ACTION is needed
❌‼️❌‼️❌‼️
p.s. Forgot to say: When Sharon Graham said she has been a Labour member for ten years; someone called Twatson promptly piped up that he had never seen her at Labour Party events. Needless to say, Sharon Graham PROMPTLY demolished Twatson’s cheap n nasty tricks.
Sharon did: No dodging. No that doesn’t matter. No “off the cuff”. No say nothing, attack will disappear etc. No I’m above that!!! NO!!! GROUNDED in BASIC realities of LIFE outside foggy and misty high mountains, Sharon played with a straight bat!!!
WHACK right back to Twatson!!!
No wonder she leads Unite from tomorrow!!!
Not soon enough. a G L O R I O U S day
GLORIOUS!!!
‼️🌞🚩‼️🚩‼️🌞🚩
Can we have a link to this superb put down
SteveH davidH SH, what’s the magic word ? ? ?
🌕❓🌕❓🌕❓
It is always useful to have a hobby in life to fall back on.
Extending ones already extensive and rapidly growing collection of put downs suffered to include those of fellow travellers is a valid as any other hobby one supposes.
Biden’s doing as he put it into effect the unimaginable INCOMPETENCE of withdrawing the military BEFORE innocent civilians.
He had FULL knowledge since at least JANUARY, of the MAY withdrawal date. At least 143,000 people could have been evacuated using one daily C17 flight from February to date.
Instead he postponed the withdrawal to September ( i think) then brought it forward to 31 August, yet STILL failed to get on with evacuating civilians until the last two weeks.
Some, whom others may describe as “fellow travellers” despite the LOGIC they see under their noses, regard telling TRUTHS as defending an EX president. If those are the “travellers” with which we are BURDENED and condemn us to crash against the obvious, SteveH davidH Malcolm Coleman and other AH SHs may as well just put their feet up in the Caribbean or anywhere else.
They are laughing their heads off. THAT is why SteveH gloats and taunts. They suspect many of our “fellow travellers” will squander every advantage because they ADMIRE the parasites. They CRAVE to be accepted by Starmer. Note well, i heard Shami Chakrabarti, HOURS after Campbell was RIGHTLY EXPELLED, she turned up to speak up. What was her message??? That Campbell could be readmitted.
QUESTION rhetorical – Has she turned up to say same about the THOUSANDS of member well known and unknown thrown under the busses???
What about the twisted beliefs we are burdened with in “fellow travellers”??? Harriet Harman was not alone in enabling the “Pedophile Information Exchange”…
That’s the type, people fawn over and feel we must keep onboard. And like Owen Jones use words like “comrade” and “solidarity” or like Toynbee write with “cleaned up prose”, and certainly may not use words like Twatson, Arsetair Campbellend; and would NEVER “mock up a photograph” even of a war criminal.
Well meaning SINCERE but unwitting KEY tools of the status quo, hate stuff like that. They feel it destroys the “appeal” their heroes have. They speak for themselves. I like at least half a MILLION members… i repeat, N E W joiners, certainly were attracted to the SUBSTANCE of policies from someone we had no memory of.
I must have heard him, because almost every single presenter has said he ALWAYS used to be on and he was a good guest. I suppose as EXCELLENT as two moths ago ish, but for the still far too under energised voice; though not as grindingly dreadful as he too often has been…. not always but MOSTLY.
But as millions of the general public, may have drifted off to scrubbing the carrots or ironing or thinking of ones OWN shopping list, because the guest spoke as if they were already defeated about ever getting another pint of milk and a loaf of white bread, and detached and hardly audible.
PRIORITIES and SEQUENCING and CONVICTION and TURNING UP and SPEAKING up to DEFEND what we believe in the ABUNDANT 24/7 opportunities to communicate DIRECTLY to the widest INTERNATIONAL audience, should be our FOCUS; PLUS attention to BASIC
VITAL matters rather than fretting about “mock up photos” and the shallowest concerns re what should constitute “appeal”.
ALL at the sharp end, would do well to read reflect and use their bandwidth to help BRING ABOUT the transformation this country URGENTLY needs MORE than ever.
🎣🌕♦️🎣🌕♦️🎣🌕♦️
Oh dear, you are rambling again.
if self proclaimed “smart people” had the instinct to extract constructive basics from ramblings or cogent sensible BASIC suggestions / hints / gloating , even from you SteveH davidh SH, my “fellow travellers” would not now be at the mercy of you and your parasitic nest🪱🪱🪱
Thank Goodness for Sharon Graham!!! I would be devastated if she allows McCluskey, Turner, Beckett, Dianne based on her “unity” vomit yesterday, Gardner, Thornberry, Chackrabati, Jeremy, Jones … ANY of that lot…
Graham will be well advised to keep them at a great distance. They will only drag her down and drain her precious energy and time.
I was surprised to hear Dianne repeating the “unity” mantra yesterday. Just shows “education” does not equate to wisdom. Neither does perfectly good intentions.
I don’t feel worried yet, as Graham has made it plain she won’t be taken in by the obvious deceit of your Starmer. She must also not allow others named above to even be associated with her. They have NOTHING necessary to offer. Since they knew her, they should have known to support her. They prove that despite years of experience they are strangers to astute judgement. The last five years have proven beyond doubt that they are their own worst enemies rather than you and your lot.
🔱🔱🔱🔱🔱🔱
But more pivotal; their WORST enemies, are the “Left’s” most EFFECTIVE enemies. They have GOOD intentions. BUT, they are amongst the most convincing HARD evidence – “the road to Hell is PAVED with good intentions”
⚙️🪡🧭⚙️🪡🧭⚙️🪡🧭
windchimes – Are you saying that ‘the left’ is its own worst enemy.
Ab so LOUT LY +++
I’m saying exactly what you and your lot know and understandably cause you to laugh your heads off.
You offer for free, some useful info and free targets for practice…. A heads up on your SIR DipStick Starner’s line, yet many call for you to be blocked because they find you irritating. Indeed you are irritating and tiresome too, but certainly no danger as u r obviously a parasitic tool. BUT – You are not pretending to be what you are not.
Quite remarkably, the same self proclaimed “smart” set, would happily invite the equally obvious Malcolm Colemans to babysit their children then jump into bed with them. Why because they join in with the obsession with externalities… the more mysterious the better. Externalities which mostly go out of fashion like the Bilderbergs, and Illuminati.
My “Left” lot seem addicted to academic definitions, as if nothing has worth unless described by some “expert” with a theory and compound definition to rival the most Teutonic of languages. VERY VERY ODD to find it with such extreme frequency here. Only once, have i seen such before. While a student, a brilliant and lovely friend asked me to read her Masters thesis.
It was not my area. “Otherness”. It was my first encounter with that perfectly sound / valid term. BUT found the thesis otherwise impenetrable and said so. The response was, “we have to use the jargon.” Needless to say my dear friend did sparklingly well. Did another Masters and think she completed a PHd. Interestingly she had NEVER used such deliberately intangible words, then nor since, in normal conversations or communications. She obviously realises that academic theories and definitions are for application in a TANGIBLE way.
They are not ends in themselves nor meaningful badges of “intelligence” nor useful nor necessary in transforming this world. I would be surprised to hear Tories in and out of our party ever use useless language. I would “GLADLY” welcome info to the contrary. Even my language is not as accessible as i would like, but try to fire things off as they come to mind… and ALWAYS intend to be concise. But as things are, there is much that needs saying. Anything can happen at anytime. Others who never post, may find something constructive. Those are the people i think we need. New people. Unknown people. People who ask how? Why? how? Why? WHAT is decency? WHAT is integrity? What should be prioritised? What needs changing?
Who knew the opposite ie ZERO questions of what we need to do, would be so prolific and entrenched on of all places Skwawkbox.org⁉️⁉️⁉️
Some scorn footballers who perform most magnificently. The footballers, some being only teenagers, METICULOUSLY assess themselves, WELCOME constructive criticism, practise and improve DESPITE the most abusive attacks of every type – physical and verbal. Yet so shallow the sense of virtue on the “Left” they happily insult footballers and our OWN Red Wall voters. How could that be???
I COMPLETELY disassociate myself from those nasty views. What does it say of those who are quite content to stay silent about the many being called “racist” and “stupid” yet believe that we should have a cosy creche of driftwood for ourselves and fuss about silly photos.
Remarkable. But glad to find such weirdness. Explains why the few have gotten away with murder for ages. Impossible for the “smart” “educated” set, gassing on about every bandwagon… which they almost never start themselves. And when they do, they probably are “BUSY” using megaphones to deliver their talks to people with whom they already agree… in some oxygen starved bunker somewhere… maybe up a mountain behind the thickest clouds and densest fog.
They should stay in the fog, if they refuse to change, lest the suck up more time and energy of those why want to get things done and defeat your lot SteveH davidH SH.
🔹❌⛓🔹❌⛓🔹❌⛓
Nothing wrong with rambling. Keeps you fit and you get to see some glorious countryside.
Better than being stuck in the house feverishly polishing an exponentially growing collection of put downs you’ve walked into and suffered.
Dave – If only we were all as c;ever as you think you are.
Oops –
c;evercleverWhy thank you steveH. It is always most gratifying to receive recognition from the acknowledged expert in a particular field.
Dave – You’re welcome
Someone openly acknowledging their limitations is progress of a kind as Harry Callaghan would no doubt observe.
SH it is obvious to u that your “Mandy’s” choice, your EvansHodge BlairWMDCoyle SIRKeithStarner’s choice Coyne had EVERY SINGLE FORCE force which others prattle on about: media, Zionists, Trilaterals, TONS of money on and on PLUS the FULL desperate support of the party machine gifted to them on silver platters. Think i even heard the BOD & CAA and Chronicle out and about with their usual toxins against Beckett 🦠
p.s. I LOVE it when an unknown triumphs like Jeremy and Sharon over known names. This time though i expect the triumph to be sustained without dilutions and appeasements.
Stay FAR away from appeasers. They will drain your energy. I’m sure u know that already, hence your success.
CONGRATULATIONS Sharon Graham
🌟🌺🎉🌟🌺🎉🌟🌺🎉
Great that Beckett is staying. I hope that Graham keeps both Beckett and Turner in their present positions as Unites’s Assistant General Secretaries. The three of them make a formidable team to keep Starmer on the straight and narrow or risking a further withdrawal of Unite’s funding.
I believe Sharon Graham has the necessary back bone to withdraw funding from the LP if Starmer carries on ignoring the Trade Union’s agenda for protecting and creating high value jobs as part of a Green New Deal to build back better after the pandemic.
Apparently Mr W is a visiting lecturer on politics at a Nottingham University, if I were there on that course I think I would ask for a rebate?
Congratulations to Sharon and I must admit she slipped under the Establishments including Right Wing Labour’s radar.
I read her manifesto today & some good stuff, ‘A Workers Manifesto’ which will be put to Labour (they will keg themselves) and only funding Parliamentary candidates who have been shop stewards or reps (one in the eye for Right Wing Labour careerists!).
Spoiler alert, as Lumpen is about to pile in, on a 10% or so turn out, this is about the norm for political activism and even in the days of the USSR it was 10% but the important thing is EVERY member has the opportunity to vote and to get involved and that is what is paramount.
And what is heartwarming for left wing democratic socialists is that 88,000 voted for Left/Leftish candidates and 35,000 for the Right.
So 73% of Unite’s most politically active and engaged seem to be Pro-Left Wing Democratic Socialist.
Solidarity!
The Labour mafia should have been dealt with and expelled for bringing the party into disrepute.A leader has these powers,and a leader uses them if they have any backbone.Sharon Graham must make sure that she doesn’t have parasites like that inside the unite union like theres been for many years.Get rid and get even.Make sure coyle is no1 on the list and clean out the scabs.To think that any sane person would promote that treacherous dog and mc skunk and twotson to the House of old parasites just shows how weak the former leadership of the Labour party was.This win for the left wing in Unite is a precious win amongst all the setbacks,it must be gaurded and protected from the right wing rabble.
Bazza – “And what is heartwarming for left wing democratic socialists is that 88,000 voted for Left/Leftish candidates and 35,000 for the Right. So 73% of Unite’s most politically active and engaged seem to be Pro-Left Wing Democratic Socialist. Solidarity!”
Hear hear!!! U beat me to it! Almost SEVENTY FIVE percent of those who voted, REJECTED SteveH davidH SH’s Mandy’s man. Once again Evans & SIR Keith Starmer’s choices have been REJECTED.
Said it b4. Needs saying again, the parasites can be EASILY defeated EVEN without doing what i firmly believe MUST be done, i.e. TURN up and defend your case. Such is the general distaste for what Starmer & Co offer that even the absent Turner defeated Coyne into last place by over SIX THOUSAND votes‼️‼️‼️
We must raise our expectations. Ww MUST dump the parasites. To my amazement, Dianne Abbott though turning up and speaking well, disappointed by including the same old same old “party is united” rubbish. It is gross indecency to even think of uniting with types like Starmer, Blair, Mandelson and Hodge and saboteurs.
PLEASE Dianne, i’m BEGGING. DONT return to vomits lime unifying with warmongers and those who hate those who are not “filthy rich”. That makes ZERO sense. It shows a poverty of imagination. FLUSH vomits away. You saw what this strange craving to be “unified with” OBVIOUS saboteurs caused. We r living through that.
Still, re Sharon Graham becoming the first female major Union leader –
joy Joy JOY
🎊🌟✨🎊🌟✨🎊🌟✨
windchime – I thought you might find this an interesting listen
Disinformation: A User’s Guide
Archive on 4
What if there was never a ‘truth’ era before ‘post-truth’? Phil Tinline mines a century of disinformation tricks.
https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b09vx0db
‘Mr Watson has been contacted for comment.’ 🙂 🙂 🙂
Just, discovered, last night, Tom ‘bandwagon’ Watson, has ‘blocked’ me on Twitter. 🙂 So, that’s a result.
George Peel YES !!! We should welcome attacks from Twatson. Means u r spot on😁😁😁
No idea what the BBC, or Sky, are making of Sharon Graham becoming Unite GS, but ITV News gave her four minutes, and Channel4News gave it five.
Not sure what to make of Matt Frei’s contribution. Liz Bates covered it, and ended by saying(paraphrase) :
‘Starmer hasn’t picked up the phone to congratulate her(Sharon Graham), but he has tweeted his congratulations.’
Matt Frei :
‘Oh, well, that’s something.’
End of segment.
Not sure if that was meant to be pithy, sarcasm or resigned exasperation. I plumped for sarcasm, myself. 🙂
Make up your own minds : https://www.channel4.com/news/sharon-graham-elected-as-unite-unions-first-woman-leader
Matt Frei’s “oh well, that’s something’ I too took it sarcasms from him.
Perhaps someone has written Starmer’s tweet for him. Whereas he’d have to physically pick the phone up himself to speak to Sharon.
George Peel, the last place u should devote any time is all the TV ‘news’. They r ALWAYS behind the curve and wrong about everything.
Sharon Graham’s victory was covered on radio with at least TEN minutes EVERY hour. Also on EACH news half hour bulletin, PLUS at least one whole hour segment i heard. EVERY single comment of approx five minutes, was positively in favour of Sharon Graham.
Every single bulletin played SIR Keith’s grovelling deceit about wanting to work with Sharon Graham to help workers.
From my INSTANT assessment of her, she will NOT be stitched up and so easily deceived by parasites like Starmer even once, let alone over and over and over; and despite the sharp consequences for “The Many” prepared to do the same for the rest of their lives.
Sharon Graham may know this already, but it needs repeating; stay FAR from appeasers and big tenters. Do not even speak to them. They have proven that they are happy to maintain the status quo snd sacrifice anything and anyone… except Twatson, Hodge, Phillips nos one & two, Ashworth and, arrange a meeting to duck out of voting to ‘impeach’ a war criminal responsible for the deaths of well over a million in ONE invaded country.
Stay FAR from them. They will use all their energy telling you what CANT be done, NO CHOICE, you’ll be attacked… on and on with myths and as if that’s not bad enough encourage shady backroom deals which IGNORE the “grassroots”.
You won without them. You do NOT need their support nor approval in ANY way whatsoever.
Your win proves that. NEW era. Unknown names. No more unifying with those who have done what they assumed was all they were allowed to do.
Develop the confidence in others and TRUE independent thought. And continue to be PRO ACTIVE
rather than always reacting to the OBVIOUS predictable and EASILY predicted with SURPRISED.
Those who even HINT at the tiniest obsession with myths, should not be allowed ANYWHERE in your circle. Everyone can hear their defeatists whining from far off. They are energised for that alone.
Teach people to spot Malcolm Colemans. Malcolm Colemans can frighten many into helplessness.
And don’t fuss about “mock up photos” – the priority issue even some at the sharp end are switched on for…, NOT RANOX, not SERCO, not G4S, not the injustice towards Chris Williamson, Marc Wadsworth and THOUSANDS more, but the “appeal” that a photo might dent.
99% of people are not bad, but have learnt to be tied to the most trite … the most INSIGNIFICANT concerns. It is irresponsible to fail to tell them the truth.
More could be said, thank goodness you know it already. That’s why you won, Ms Sharon Graham
🥇🎉❌🥇🎉❌🥇🎉❌
Will Evans discipline Graham for being interviewed by the newspapers of the Socialist Party and Socialist Workers Party?
That thoughts crossed my mind. Will Sharon be disciplined for the SWP and SP backing her. Such is the state of the party they’re probably going through her social media already.
When it’s their turn to be proscibed.
As competitor parties they don’t need to be prescribed.
Paul Smith26/08/2021 AT 8:06 AM
As competitor parties they don’t need to be prescribed.
Of course – dunno what I was thinking…🙄
Paul Smith Graham was backed by the socialist party and the SWP ,Steve Turner was backed by the Communist party of Britain and endorsed.I don’t see any problems with either being endorsed or interviewed by them.ITs the Unite union not some primary school or some second rate tory tribute act ,What Teacher thinks doesnt much matter being has they left the democratic socialist Labour party not us and hundreds of thousands more disgusted.and very angry 😠 with a determination to get even…I also want to know what happened to my union subs when the Labour leader got his greasy mits on the loot …Missing millions and no sign of were the loots been stashed?
I don’t see any problems either. Evans Will back off.
Paul Smith & Back of Beyond, Sharon Graham is not the type to fuss over what Evans or Starmer might do. She will respond with a straight bat. WHACK ‼️‼️‼️ Straight into their faces, jell scattering every where.
Frankly, i think SIR Keith & Evans already realise that. Unlike too many, Sharon is not DESPERATE to be part of the clique of unwitting Status Quo enablers.
That’s my impression. Within fifteen minutes of hearing her. All the other minutes and reading, DEFINITELY enforces my first impression. Even her Socialist Workers & Socialist Newspaper endorsement impresses. PREPARATION in advance for any thing which can always happen at anytime.
🎊❌🎊❌🎊❌
TWatson by name, TWatson by nature
My congratulations to Sharon Graham.
As said – I voted Steve Turner.
I’m sure that SG will have factored into her first reactions the fact that a lot of players on the Labour Right and a lot of money from deep pockets is already lining up to ensure thaty she fails.
I’m listening for the first attempts to trap her into accusations of anti-Semitism …. and other “bear traps”
As for Twatson’s position … No doubt he’s still waiting for his orders from Trevor Chinn
[The same Trevor Chinn who bunged Twatson’s “office” tens of thousands of pounds while he was Labour Deputy Leader]
“…..internal pressure to stand aside for male colleagues”. T.Watson. What an interesting statement; I wonder if it’s just a cliche or can he substantiate?
Hope Unite can get their workers manifesto adopted at conference
That makes me smile, accept or we bankrupt you
As a better man than me once said
‘When you have them by the bollocks then surely their hearts and minds will follow’
The RW’s post-contest camaraderie & congratulatory messages to Sharon Graham, represent extraordinary revisionism. Throughout the campaign, Coyne was happy producing shouty videos portraying the contest as a battle to deny two ‘hard-left candidates’ in Turner and Graham. It’s Watson’s gang and Coyne, who should be ‘moving on’.
Good comments on Graham s election from the morning star covering the future of the unions and the Labour party.Nice article as well were Vietnam tell VP Harris were to stick the Anti China alliance..in her visit to S.East Asia. The Americans seem only to attract the attention of Chinas old warmongering neighbour Japan,who are still hated by many here and certainly not trusted.So the fleet from the west look like they are unwelcome especially amongst comrades.who see no good reason for the sabre rattling in the self explanatory S.China sea.
Sharon Graham
Appears to be a very effective campaigner, thinking outside the box and changing the narrative, put bluntly she takes no prisoners
On what planet does anyone think Temporary Embarrassment will not face a world of pain from the new General Secretary
Conference just got a lot more interesting
Doug – Well nothing really, apart from the platform she stood on.
SteveH
Hook, line and sinker
Doug – Really?
A rather strange reponce. could you explain why you think this is the case?