With the unions favouring strike action over Labour’s plan to lay off 90 employees, Sir Keir might now have to brace for a few unwanted visitors outside his North London home, as new Unite General Secretary Sharon Graham, elected last week, has promised to “ramp up” leverage tactics against company bosses in order to “defend jobs, fight cuts and protect pay”. “We know what works and how to deliver pain to employers“, she claims. Historically, this has involved inflating a 10-foot “Scabby Rat” in bosses’ front gardens…

Graham also boasted in her manifesto of “winning twelve Leverage campaigns and representing workers for over 20 years“, claiming:

“Now is the time for practical action – not empty political rhetoric or strongly worded press releases. If we are going to stop our members paying the price for COVID-19, we need urgent reform and to work differently both now and in the future.

Would be amusingly awkward for Starmer to cross a picket line outside his own home…