Coyne’s campaign is being scripted by the failed plotters in the PLP – Len McCluskey hits back in Unite contest

This is the full statement issued by Unite general secretary Len McCluskey in response to criticism by challenger Gerard Coyne.

Unite’s democracy would not be safe in Gerard Coyne’s hands.  His latest outburst is not an attack on myself as much as on our lay leadership and rank-and-file activists.

He claims that I decided that Unite should support Jeremy Corbyn as Labour leader in 2015 and 2016.  Yet the truth, as he is well aware, is that in 2015 this was a decision of our elected lay Executive Council, and in 2016 of our 600-strong Policy Conference, by a vast majority. To claim otherwise is to disrespect our membership and our democracy, while asserting that our union is a political “puppet master” panders to the worst anti-Labour stereotypes of the media.

These unscrupulous remarks show that Gerard Coyne’s campaign is not being driven by concern for Unite and its members’ interests.  It is being scripted by the failed plotters in the Parliamentary Labour Party, for whom Unite would be collateral damage in their political project to bring back Blairism.

Unite is electing a General Secretary, not a politicians’ puppet.  I urge Gerard Coyne to raise the tone of his campaign, and focus on the workplace issues which Unite members care about.