Len McCluskey accuses Chris Williamson of 'undermining Jeremy Corbyn' in Labour rulebook clash
2 min read
Unite boss Len McCluskey has accused Chris Williamson of “undermining the wishes” of Jeremy Corbyn in a bitter feud between the pair over Labour rulebook reforms.
The union leader wrote a blog hitting out at the outspoken Labour MP, as he defended the decision not to back mandatory reselection contests for sitting parliamentarians.
It comes after PoliticsHome revealed the pair had a public-bust up over the matter at the Labour party conference yesterday.
Mr Williamson had accused union delegates at the Labour conference of having voted against Unite policy when they backed a rule change to make dumping an existing Labour MP easier.
Just a third of local constituency members would have to support a trigger ballot for a new contest under the new plan - down from half. But calls for mandatory reselection were dismissed.
But in a scathing response piece for the Labour List website, Mr McCluskey said the Derby North MP risked “splitting the tremendous support for the Labour leadership that has been on show throughout conference”.
The Unite boss said the union voted in line with Labour bosses on the National Executive Committee - and would only do otherwise if there were “the most serious reasons”.
He added: “Anyone, including good comrades like Chris, who uses ultra-leftist terminology like ‘machine politics’ and ‘bureaucratic machine’ risks undermining the wishes of Jeremy Corbyn and the unity he has created.”
Mr Williamson told PoliticsHome: "The demand from grassroots members for greater democracy is unstoppable now."
He had said in a Morning Star article: “Unite's conference backed mandatory reselection at its 2016 conference. Had the Unite delegation voted in line with their own policy, the outcome would have been very different.”
PoliticsHome has learned that Mr McCluskey made clear his anger at Mr Williamson's behaviour when the pair bumped into each other at the Labour conference in Liverpool.
One eyewitness said: "It was a lot of finger-wagging and then Len McCluskey walked off very vigorously. It was a fairly heated argument - Len is quite scary when he's angry."
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