Trade unions regulator the Certification Officer has been told Len McCluskey allegedly broke Unite rules in the bitter General Secretary election he narrowly won last year. Red Len defeated Gerard Coyne by just over 5,000 votes last April. Now in proceedings brought by Coyne the regulator is being asked to assess whether McCluskey:
- Acted improperly by calling a contest for a post despite the fact there was no vacancy;
- Used members’ money to resource and staff his campaign, fund his election and travel around the country;
- Used his position as general secretary to gain an unfair advantage;
- Retained control over Unite and had full time staff working for his re-election campaign during the months when he claimed to have resigned.
Coyne said:
“Mr McCluskey styled himself during the campaign as ‘General Secretary of Unite’ when he was a candidate in an election he had called for his own benefit. He used the machinery of Unite to gain an unfair advantage…
“Did he know that he was breaking his union’s rules? If he did not know, that was gross incompetence. If he knew, and thought he would get away with it, it was worse than incompetent; it showed contempt for the union and its members”.
The verdict follows after Easter. If Unite’s rules are found to have been broken the election will be declared null and void and a new contest will take place…
The artist who produced the anti-Semitic mural defended by Jeremy Corbyn has spoken, giving an ‘exclusive’ to David Icke. The mural painter ‘Mear One’ says he has refused “msm interview requests” and thanks Icke for allowing him to speak “for those who are awoken”. He then goes on to rant about the Rothschilds. This is the man Corbyn backed and said was in “good company”…
WATCH: pic.twitter.com/FIMLAfzMi1
— Harry Cole (@MrHarryCole) March 26, 2018
As John Woodcock lays into Jeremy Corbyn in the Commons, Chris Williamson tells him to go and join the Tories. Keep an eye out for Woodcock cupping his ear…
Dear Jonathan and Jonathan,
Thank you for your letter to the Labour Party concerning antisemitism issued as a press statement last night.
First of all, let me acknowledge the anger and upset that provoked it, and repeat my offer of an urgent meeting to discuss the issues you have raised as soon as possible.
I stated yesterday, and repeat today, that I will not tolerate any form of antisemitism that exists in or around our party and movement. I am committed to eliminating antisemitism wherever it exists.
As I told the Labour Party conference in 2016, antisemitism is an evil that led to the worst crimes of the 20th century. Prejudice and hatred of Jewish people has no place whatsoever in the Labour Party, and every one of us has a responsibility to ensure it is never allowed to fester in our society again.
I recognise that antisemitism has surfaced within the Labour Party, and has too often been dismissed as simply a matter of a few bad apples. This has caused pain and hurt to Jewish members of our Party and to the wider Jewish community in Britain. I am sincerely sorry for the pain which has been caused, and pledge to redouble my efforts to bring this anxiety to an end.
This morning Guido reported that Jeremy Corbyn had personally joined a third anti-Semitic Facebook group. This afternoon Corbyn has left the group. Guido is happy to be of assistance on Jezza’s journey…
As predicted, Corbyn’s spokesman says he didn’t see the anti-Semitism: “Jeremy has never posted in the group, did not follow its content and was not an active participant”. Team Jezza insist he therefore did not know that there were dozens of anti-Semitic comments in the group. The fact remains that Corbyn actively chose to join the group himself, he was not added by somebody else, and remained a member for years as this anti-Semitism took place. Yet another case of him unluckily failing to notice the most extreme anti-Semitism when it was right in front of him…
Jeremy Corbyn has been active in one anti-Semitic Facebook group. He was a member of a second anti-Semitic Facebook group until last week. And now Guido can reveal he personally joined and is still a member of a third Facebook group filled with extremely anti-Semitic content.
The difference with the other groups is that Corbyn personally and actively joined “The Labour Party Supporter”. He was not added by anybody else. “The Labour Party Supporter” is full of anti-Semitic postings about the Rothschilds, Jews harvesting organs, the Holocaust and conspiracy theories linking Israel and ISIS. Corbyn remains a member of the group this morning.
Corbyn cannot use the excuse that he was added by someone else and didn’t know about it. He decided the group was something he wanted to join, and something he wanted to remain a member of to this very day, despite the huge amount of anti-Semitic material posted in the group for years. Does anyone believe his line that with the mural, the Facebook groups and everything else, he simply didn’t notice the anti-Semitism?
