Exclusive: judge rejects Graham/Unite attempt to use technicality to throw out Beckett’s privacy lawsuit

Left-winger’s claim for breach of privacy will proceed after expensive lawyers fail to convince judge

A High Court judge has thrown out an attempt by Unite general secretary Sharon Graham and the union to have former assistant general secretary Howard Beckett’s breach of privacy lawsuit against them killed before trial on a technicality.

Unite’s highly-paid lawyers had tried to claim at the hearing in late March – which Skwawkbox attended – that Beckett’s amended ‘particulars of claim’ in the case should have been ‘re-sealed’ by a judge before they were sent to Graham’s lawyers and that therefore the case was invalidated and now out of time.

‘Senior Master’ Cook has rejected all the arguments of Graham, Unite and their lawyers, ruling today that:

I have concluded that there is no requirement in the CPR which requires a claimant using electronic working who has amended a claim form without permission under CPR 17.1 by endorsing the issued and sealed version received from the Court to serve a re-sealed version of the claim form. Nor is such a requirement imposed by any of the case law decided before or after the implementation of the Electronic Working pilot. This conclusion accords with the reality of practice in the King’s Bench Division where there would be no discernible difference in a claim form amended pursuant to CPR 17.1 on the face of the issued sealed copy if it were served prior to filing or after filing.

The case will now proceed. Sharon Graham has been allowed not to testify under oath and face cross-examination in previous cases brought against the union during her tenure as General Secretary – but in this case she is actually a named defendant.

Beckett’s claim relates to allegations that Graham and Unite leaked private information about Beckett to journalist Joe Pike. Following articles will provide more information about the case.

Sharon Graham is also embroiled in a dispute by union staff working in the department she created for her husband to run, who allege that he and managers working under him have bullied and abused staff. At least three and by some reports four of the five women working in the department have quit and Graham and her team have been accused by furious workers of employing union-busting tactics to break up the strike, including having allies join the GMB union that represents staff working for Unite to try to vote down the strike action, an allegation that the union’s sector committee has demanded be investigated. Unite’s officers have also accused her of using anti-union legislation to stop them organising collectively.

And in a stunning development exclusively revealed by Skwawkbox, lawyers acting for Unite and Graham also confirmed Skwawkbox’s reporting that the union had destroyed evidence gathered by staff, particularly women, who had recorded the behaviour her husband, Jack Clarke, in their complaint that he was behaving abusively and misogynistically.

Clarke was appointed to his current role, after Graham became general secretary, despite being on a final warning from the union for his behaviour. The industrial action continues and threatens to spread to the whole HQ staff after more than 9/10 workers there voted in favour of strike action over the issue.

Graham has also been heavily criticised for her refusal to implement the union’s position, democratically agreed by delegates, to support the people of Palestine against Israel’s apartheid and genocide – instead insisting that she will prioritise arms industry jobs over calls to stand against the genocide. She has also claimed that leaked financials showing the union in a dire financial position are ‘fake’, even though they bore marks of coming from Unite’s internal ‘Sharepoint’ system. Unite has not filed annual accounts since she became general secretary.

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