Back in 2021, Guido did some digging into the eyebrow-raising nature of Len McCluskey’s hotel and conference centre project for Unite union in Birmingham—a supposed £7 million investment that spiralled to a staggering £98 million. The completed building is now valued at a mere £29 million. To top it off, a £95 million construction contract was awarded to one of McCluskey’s close pals…
It was reported last night the Serious Fraud Office is investigating the (now) £112 million project, meaning £83 million of members’ money has seemingly vanished. As if that wasn’t enough, a KC-led inquiry, commissioned by current general secretary Sharon Graham, has unearthed a mysterious £14 million black hole in the union’s accounts…
Meanwhile, McCluskey, who once touted this project as a “fantastic investment,” has gone suspiciously silent. A reminder: Unite coughed up over £500,000 for Labour MPs during the last election. Bad timing for a government who claims to be on the side of the unions…
Statement by Paul Dacre, Editor-in-Chief of Associated Newspapers Limited, following Harry’s loss in court today:
“Prince Harry wrote a sad book which boasted about his killing of 25 Taliban, his drug-taking and, in cringe-making detail, how he lost his virginity. There isn’t a laundry in the cosmos big enough to wash all the dirty linen he has aired about his own family. For him, to complain about HIS privacy being invaded takes, not just the biscuit, but the whole tin. Poor Harry. I feel sorry for the way a confused and angry young man has been drawn into this case. The bitter irony is that his mother, Diana, liked the Mail. We were her paper. We took her side in her acrimonious break up with Charles. She and I would speak and meet. The Mail’s superb royal reporter was her friend and confidante. The truth is that this trumped-up action – which has cost well over £50 million and wasted a huge amount of valuable court time – should never have been brought to trial. That it did, raises profoundly disturbing questions about the conduct of elements of the legal profession. Today’s verdict is not just a victory for Associated’s magnificent journalists – several of whom have had a terrible toll imposed on their health and lives – but a free press generally. Make no mistake. This was a conspiracy, supported by Hacked Off, to destroy a paper. Financed by the orgy-loving, racist Max Mosley and involving the actor Hugh Grant, it was also a sinister bid to resuscitate Leveson Two and impose statutory regulation on the press which, even now, is rearing its ugly head in Labour’s Media Green Paper.”