UNITE, my union, is being subjected to a media witch-hunt. Some may say that is intemperate language but the way the role of the union in the Scottish Labour leadership election is being described by media commentators provides damning evidence.
The cry must have gone out from editors across the land – find me those who have been put forward by Unite to vote who are not eligible to do so! Then we can run our crusade that these tawdry examples prove the entire process is “rigged”, “a shambles”, “a disgrace” or whatever term of insult is selected at the time.
Thus on the rare occasion when one of these problems is brought to light the media sallies forth on the crusade with “The Verdict is Guilty. Now for the Trial” emblazoned on its banner. Phone calls are made to editorial desks from bitter right-wing “Labour sources” – the party is being “swamped” by Unite members.
So what is actually going on? Thousands upon thousands of Unite members have decided to exercise their entirely legitimate right to vote in the Scottish Labour leadership election. Unite has not broken a single rule. The Scottish Labour Party’s General Secretary has said so on numerous occasions.
The current rules to encourage mass membership, including engagement with the union rank and file and the young were devised under the leadership of Ed Miliband. Not by Unite. Any attempt to characterise Ed as a raving Bolshevik would not stand up.
So time to compare the thousands who have registered with the three who claim they have been registered to vote against their wishes. As already noted the media circus has descended on their cases with alacrity. There has been no pause to note that it is actually the current Labour verification process which identified these mistaken registrations. Unite has its own explanations in all three cases but let’s deal with the latest accuser, Sandra Webster, whose fury at being registered as an affiliated supporter was recorded in The National’s pages yesterday.
“Top SSP activist on Labour party election list” was followed by “Contest in a shambles as questions on sign-up persist”.
Then a convenient “Labour source” helpfully aided this stage of the witch-hunt with a menacing off-the-record quote.
Funnily enough the quotes are almost always anonymous. “Given how many thousands have been added to the list of voters by Unite you have to wonder how many more non-supporters have votes in this contest,” they said.
Thus the “Labour source” implies that we need to elect a new people for the vote – devise a new system for votes such as this – the current system is not delivering what “Labour sources” want.
There is one single fact which brings this house of cards to an ignominious collapse. Unite has irrefutable proof from its own records that Sandra Webster followed the due processes and registered as an Affiliated Supporter of the Labour Party. The Labour Party’s vetting process correctly discovered she wasn’t entitled to vote and she was taken off the list.
Sandra to date is one of three similar cases. As far as the contest is concerned, Unite is concentrating on the marvellous engagement of the many and not the few.
Those who are aghast at trade union members registering to vote in a contest about the future leadership of the Labour Party ought to brush up on their Labour history.
In 1900 the Labour Representation Committee was established to give the working people in Britain a political voice in the country’s politics. It was built on the trades unions. The re-engagement of the unions with Labour in Scotland is replenishing and re-invigorating the party. The careerist tendency in Labour which sees its grip on the party slipping can squeal as much as they like. Unite and its members are walking in the footsteps of history.
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