Sir Keir Starmer faces an unenviable choice: whether to sack shadow transport minster Sam Tarry who defied the Labour leader’s instruction not to join RMT picket lines and posed for photos outside Euston station this morning. Fail to sack him and Starmer will undermine his own authority and make himself look pathetically weak. Wield the axe, on the other hand, and Starmer will stir anger well beyond the Corbynite wing of the party, and reveal to the world how deeply knee-jerk support for striking workers still runs within Labour’s ranks.
Twenty five years ago Tony Blair convinced the electorate that the trade union movement and Labour’s relationship with it had evolved into one of maturity and responsibility. Tarry’s appearance on the RMT picket lines is yet one more example of how, despite this, so many of Labour’s people continue to have a romantic image of striking workers.
There is little sign that Starmer has it in him to convince the country that Labour’s relationship with trade unions is responsible
For many on the Labour benches, trade unions can do no wrong; their cause is always just and their picket lines must never, ever be crossed.
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