Tag: Len McCluskey

The comments made by Len McCluskey, the General Secretary of Unite the Union, on 18 November 2020.

I am astonished at the decision to withdraw the PLP whip from Jeremy Corbyn. This is a vindictive and vengeful action which despoils Party democracy and due process alike and amounts to overruling the unanimous decision of the NEC panel yesterday to readmit him to the Party.

This action gives rise to double jeopardy in the handling of the case and shows marked bad faith. The unity of the Labour Party around the need to implement the EHRC recommendations in full is being recklessly undermined.

The continued persecution of Jeremy Corbyn, a politician who inspired millions, by a leadership capitulating to external pressure on Party procedures risks destroying the unity and integrity of the Party. I urge Keir Starmer in the strongest terms to pull back from the brink.

The comments made by Len McCluskey, the General Secretary of Unite the Union, on 29 October 2020.

This was a day for our party to move forward as one to defeat the evil of antisemitism. However, the decision to suspend Jeremy Corbyn has threatened that opportunity.

The suspension appears to fly in the face of one of the important recommendations made by the EHRC – and which Keir himself said he would implement in full and immediately – which is to remove the leader’s office from party investigations.

But it is also an act of grave injustice which, if not reversed, will create chaos within the party and in doing so compromise Labour’s chances of a general election victory. A split party will be doomed to defeat.

I therefore call upon Keir to work across the party on a fitting and unifying way forward, to unite our party behind the implementation of the EHRC’s important recommendations so that they can be taken forward as speedily as possible, and with the members’ full trust and confidence.

I also appeal to members angered by this suspension not to leave the party but to support moves to find a better way through. Working people are under fire like never before and ill-served by the worst government of our lifetimes. More than ever, they need a strong, united Labour party to stand up for them, ready to govern.