Would-be union boss warns the Labour Party 'faces militant-led coup'
A WOULD-BE union boss warns the Labour Party faces a “militant tendency” type coup.
Gerard Coyne says he would not be a
Gerard Coyne, who is standing against Len McCluskey to become leader of Unite, vowed if he were elected he would not be a “puppet master” to Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn.
“I don’t want to be puppet master of the leader of the Labour Party. I don’t want to play the game that Len has,” he said.
“It’s been a highly politicised agenda from Len as general secretary and if I am elected I am determined to move away from that.”
Mr Coyne accused Mr McCluskey of courting
At the beginning of this election, we saw Momentum sending leaflets to its members urging them to join Unite at a reduced subscription of 50p
Speaking before the Unite ballot opens tomorrow, he accused Mr McCluskey of courting “ultra Left-wing” elements around the Labour Party, like campaign group Momentum.
“At the beginning of this election, we saw Momentum sending leaflets to its members urging them to join Unite at a reduced subscription of 50p,” he said.
“Lots of members were angry at the interference of Momentum. We then hear if Len was re-elected a deal had been done for financial support from Unite. So there’s no doubt the infl uence of an ultra Left group, similar to the militant tendency, is part of the agenda.”
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He said id he was elected he would move away from a politicised agenda
Momentum leader Jon Lansman has been recorded saying the group will link with Unite if Mr McCluskey wins re-election.
Affiliation would give the group access to funding.
He said there militant tendency is part of the agenda
A Momentum spokesman said: “Jon Lansman was speaking in an aspirational manner about the possibility of Unite and CWU affiliating to Momentum.”
Unite said affiliation decisions could not be made by the general secretary alone.