Ed Miliband’s relationship with Len McCluskey was defined in a brief camera shot at the Labour party conference in 2010. After praising trade unions, Miliband added that he would have no patience with ‘waves of irresponsible strikes’. Several rows back, McCluskey, who three days earlier had helped Ed defeat his brother David in the leadership election, was filmed shaking his head and shouting ‘Rubbish!’ Given that McCluskey’s Unite union pays most of Labour’s bills, his word was seen as a veto. This was the new deal.
McCluskey and his colleagues bestowed their patronage upon Ed not because they thought he would be a strong leader, but for rather the opposite reason: they expected acquiescence. In many ways, Ed has justified their faith. He damns any attempt to rein in public expenditure as heartless Tory cuts — even now, when total spending is not actually being cut. He has set Labour’s face against the school and health reforms it championed seven years ago. For three years, he has restricted himself to ponderous speeches on concepts such as ‘pre-distribution’. Meanwhile, the unions ran the party.
Only now does Miliband realise what a steep price he has paid for this relationship. David Cameron spent his time as opposition leader scouring Britain for talented MPs: Miliband stood back while unions lined up their stooges for safe seats. No party leader should tolerate a faction attempting to stitch up the appointment of parliamentary candidates, as we have seen in Falkirk. This is a recipe for electoral defeat not just in 2015, but in subsequent elections. Left alone, McCluskey and Unite will poison the Labour party every bit as much as Militant did in the 1980s.
Miliband’s speech this week may fall well short of the showdown Neil Kinnock had with Militant, but it is far braver than the Conservatives will admit.
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