Outraged Unite delegates to the union’s policy conference are being told to sit down and shut up as Keir Starmer lectures them on Thursday morning – or to stay away if they can’t, because it would be disrespectful to Labour’s appalling ‘leader’.
A meeting of the Unite executive has agreed that anyone who doesn’t want to be in the hall in Brighton when billionaire-friendly ‘Keith’ drones on from 2pm should not come in until he has left, because the union invited him and it would be disrespectful.
A protest by union members outside the venue up to his arrival will go ahead regardless. The protest’s organisers have named a very small selection of Starmer’s sins against the movement in their flyer for the demonstration:
Starmer’s cover-ups and inaction over abuse, racism and sexual harassment also make him an unfit guest of any union. He has – again, just a small selection:
- allowed a right-wing former councillor to stand as a candidate despite being arrested for possession of illegal images of children
- allowed a right-wing council leader to become a Labour parliamentary candidate despite the party’s own lawyer saying he should be investigated over allegations of ‘serious’ sexual assault
- welcomed MP Neil Coyle back into the party despite racist remarks and Coyle being found by Parliament to have sexually harassed at least one person
- allowed a right-wing councillor with unanswered allegations of disgraceful anti-disabled ‘concentration camp’ comments to try to oust left-wing MP Ian Byrne in the safe seat of Liverpool West Derby
- covered up a whistleblower’s allegations of ‘sadistic’ and ‘criminal’ abuse and exploitation of domestic violence victims by a front-bench MP’s staffer who was also his lover
- kept two other MPs in his Shadow Cabinet despite them being investigated for sexual harassment
Unite general secretary Sharon Graham’s own record has also been marked by allegations – which neither she nor the union have denied – of abuse, cover-up and failure to protect women:
- that she attempted to have evidence destroyed in bullying and misogyny complaints about her husband, whom she now employs in her office despite a final warning from the union for his behaviour
- the union’s appalling treatment of Irish union legend Brendan Ogle has led to Ogle taking legal action over Unite’s ‘disgusting’ abuse and bullying following his return from cancer treatment. Ogle did not support Sharon Graham in the union’s general secretary election and the union’s conduct toward him led to protests during Graham’s recent Dublin visit, outrage among Irish politicians and even threats from a whole sector to disaffiliate entirely
- in addition, after her supporters failed in their bid to take control of the Unite executive despite ‘dark money’ spending on advertising, ineglible and racist members being allowed to stand and the alleged use of paid organisers in and following the exec election campaign, her faction has resorted to Starmerite tactics to try to discredit the executive members’ election of a new left-wing union chair and both vice-chairs, as well as the vital Finance and General Purpose Committee
Graham has tried to deflect outrage at the invitation to Starmer by saying that she has put him and his party ‘on notice’ regarding their behaviour, a claim that has met with derision among activists.
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Given that the proposal to disaffiliate from the Labour Party has already been soundly defeated by the overwhelming majority of delegates I wonder how many will bother to protest either inside or outside the venue. It all seems a bit pointless now that this key vote has been and gone. What will they be hoping to influence?
As declassified UK recently reported
CPS has destroyed all records of Keir Starmer’s four trips to Washington when he was working for the Tory government.
“US records show Starmer met with Attorney General Eric Holder and a host of American and British national security officials in Washington in 2011, when he was in charge of Julian Assange’s proposed extradition to Sweden.”
Starmer is a CIA agent. It really is as simple as that. His job is to destroy the Labour Party as a potential vehicle for socialism and opponent of imperialism.
Really? 🙄
Bevin, Starmer also destroyed the Savile case files when he was in charge of the CPS. He is as you say a plant of enormous proportions……
As are his cheerleaders.
Risible.
No protest against one such as Starmer from members of one of Labour’s biggest donors?
Beyond belief.
I’m a Unite member.
Brian Precious, I too was a Unite member, but after yesterday’s stitch up of an affiliation vote I am an ex member. The money I save on my subs will go to helping Palestinian causes.
It is not a key vote. It was not an endorsement of Starmer.
Herr Flick
A Hung Parliament will be the game changer
Doug – Or maybe “Things could get worse… [for the Tories]
Political folklore dictates that there will be swingback to the government before the next election, but might things only get worse from here?
https://willjennings.substack.com/p/things-could-get-worse/
Was there a protest today (Thursday)?
Realistically you’d need all unions to disaffiliate at once,together, and for there to be a viable alternative party to rally behind. Otherwise the unions would be just more voices in the wilderness, alongside the politically excluded pro-Corbyn left. That’s obviously not in the interests of all the members they represent. The unions need to keep up the pressure for PR , there may even be a hung parliament making that argument come to the fore.
It’s bad enough that a bunch of Tories have, through pure deception, taken over the Labour party. Starmer ,Reeves and Streeting have little ambition from their time in office, beyond being a status quo defending placeholder govt, until the Tories get their act together again to win again under the atrocious FPTP.
We both know that realistically that’s not going to happen.
Andy, As a Unite member I was refused a vote to disaffiliate from Labour. I was also refused a vote to select the delegate who voted on my behalf…….The Union movement is dead, busted. Even Lynch wants people to vote for Labour. Forget about Unions being a force for change, it’s over.
Needless to say I’m an ex Unite member.
I wonder if you will be missed.
Actually Mr Chief Turd Polisher and Paedo Protector who gives a shit what you think ? I was talking to Andy and not you……so go play with the traffic.
baz2001 – Aww diddums, do you need a safe space?
“who gives a shit what you think ?”
Self evidently you cared enough to comment. 😏
“I wonder if you will be missed.”
A reply which says it all in terms of the priorities of this childish approach from this childish little troll whose only concern is to flaunt his minuscule ego..
Because the consideration for normal adults concerns the question of why was a member denied a vote on this matter? Followed by the two related contextual questions of;
A. Was this a one off or were a significant proportion of other members also denied a vote?
Which naturally leads to….
B. Was the vote manipulated/fixed/gerrymandered to achieve the desired result of remaining affiliated?
Questions which lead to….
C. How many other members denied a vote have resigned their Union membership?
Presumably, following this little boys approach of steveH, they too would elicit the same “I wonder if you will be missed” response.
Which tells you all you need to know about the ‘character’ of people like steveH and what they would really like to see but don’t have the bottle to say out loud to people’s faces.
Time is running out for the unions. No more barons just chattels and gong seekers.
Andy
Corbynism hasn’t gone away, demographically it will have grown.
Therefore with JC as spiritual leader and a young BAME female as leader, a new party would start with 400,000 members and 70% of Union
It’s a numbers game, they are the few, we are the many
Doud, well said and 100% correct.
The pair of you are deluding yourselves.
Will Jeremy be standing in the next general election?
I have my doubts, don’t you?
After a few years of a Starmer govt Corbynism will be very relevant.
Latest silly idea from John Ashworth is to use AI to match people to local vacancies. Euan Blair’s company, Multiverse, quote: ‘matches candidates to vacancies based on aptitude not qualifications’ – seems like a nothing company basically selling hot air, with no actual product. But it’s apparently valued at £1.4bn with Blair’s share put at around £400m according to the guardian.
What’s the betting that Ashworth intends to give them the juicy govt contract.
Doug, apologies for my spelling of your name it was a mistake. I hope you know my comment was directed at you and not the resident village idiot. Who, as we know is employed to Polish The Turd and interrupts when not asked.
Herr Flick
As our Resident Nazi can you find room for one of your compatriots when they do the runner from Ukraine
Can your boss take a few
Got plenty to say today, haven’t you, nonce enabler?
Wassamarra? Worried keef might cop some deserved criticism? The very mention of keef copping an earful’s put you on double time.
Disappeared when keef was found to be harbouring nonces though. Weirdly tried to use other people’s postings as your own views.
Didn’t post your own view but ONLY when questioned why not, did you try to tell us someone else posted something you agreed with, so you didn’t bother posting.
What a crawling, snivelling sycophantic weird gobshite.
People have not just a right but a duty to protest against this truly awful man.
At the first Executive Committee meeting of UNITE for the new EC the United Left /Members First took control of the EC . They are working hard to undermine Sharon Graham and get back to their easy life before the latest huge round of industrial actions, given that the second paragragh of this piece clearly states the EC calling for no protest it is not actually SG calling for no Starmer protest at Thursdays conference, it is the United Left / Members First. Passing the buck for crap decisions and comment seems to be becoming a UL/MF trait…
“A meeting of the Unite executive has agreed that anyone who doesn’t want to be in the hall in Brighton when billionaire-friendly ‘Keith’ drones on from 2pm should not come in until he has left, because the union invited him and it would be disrespectful.” – SW article.
Sounds right to me Dave P. If said non-attendants simply stood at the entrance to the conference hall quietly nodding disapproval of Starmer and waited silently until the alleged leader’s speech finished before rejoining the conference hall, the point would be made. Powerfully.
United Left’s Members First’s proposal is canny and effective – especially when/if the BBC-lead MSM ignores the gesture and its significance.
Reply to Dave Putson
Unfortunately Dave, it seems to me that Sharon Graham is working very hard to undermine herself.
Most decent people were horrified by Sharon’s vindictive disregard for Brendan Ogle’s welfare on his return to work after cancer. So outraged were the members in Ireland that Sharon had to duck out of a policy conference in Dublin.
How do you think Unite will ever be able to call employers to account for Disability discrimination including the callous uncaring treatment of people who are recovering from life threatening illnesses when Sharon thinks it is OK treat a long term union employee so badly.
Then there are the unresolved issues round her husband’s behaviour and the fact that he was handed a job on a plate despite these issues.
There is also her apparent interferance in NEC elections. As a paid official she doesn’t have a vote and shouldn’t try to influence who is elected and who is not. It seems there were also some dirty tricks involved in the NEC elections which undermined of union democracy.
So as I said Dave clearly nobody is undermining Sharon – she’s doing that all by herself
Regarding Starmer are you saying the Union left wanted him there? I find this difficult to understand after his disgusting purges within the party. Perhaps you could clarify what the wording of the the motion to invite him was , if there was a recorded vote and if so the number of UL/MF who voted in favour of Starmer attending.t
Respect for Starmer !! ??
Again – Two words that don’t belong in the same sentence.
Starmer will no-doubt get respect from the Trilateral Commission, of which he is a member.
He’ll get no respect from ordinary Unite members like me.
I read it as respect for the union, not Starmer (or his centrist neoliberalism).
Reply to Qwertboi
No I think Johnsco1 is right – it seems to me that the respect referred to is respect for Starmer not the Union.
Somebody should tell Unite that respect is something which has to be earned.
“A meeting of the Unite executive has agreed that anyone who doesn’t want to be in the hall in Brighton when billionaire-friendly ‘Keith’ drones on from 2pm should not come in until he has left, because the union invited him and it would be disrespectful.” – SW article.
‘The right to protest’, described as a basic human right, is now described as ‘disrespectful’? ………..so be it!
I’m jiggered if I know what’s disrespectful
As Steve Richards says…the right to protest is now being put into that category.
Asked for by people who brazenly take union dues but who appear that they’d deny you your democratic fundamental right to express malcontent.
Now, where else is that happening ?🤔
As I keep advising. Save your moolah. Deny them their funding. Protest at YOUR leisure, not when it’s convenient for that corporate arse-kissing shower o shite….Who point-blank refuse to back YOU when YOU strive for better pay and conditions but try to claim the credit when YOU get the result.
Heckle the both of the weasels. Watch them play the victims….And remember…No subscription without representation.
In essence, thell the both of them to get bent.
On the basis of past precedent and practice its a racing certainty that before too long that term “disrespect” will be prefaced with the word “extreme.”
Both terms defined for the convenience of those peddling them along with their half wit cheerleaders.
As ever Toffee, you have nailed it. No subscription without representation. Screw them all.