Leading with the left
Leading with the left
When the General Secretary of the TUC starts acting as a sales rep for the Government front bench, you know that workers up and down the country are about to be shafted big time and that's exactly what has happened over this trade union rights business.
The TUC blew it when, in an act of tactical ineptitude that bore all the hallmarks of the Crystal Palace defence, they indicated that they would accept a voting threshold of 30% rather than the agreed union position of a simple majority.
As we say in our house, you don't sell out your principles for a bag of half-sucked sweeties. Any trade union official who tries to sell this to the members as some sort of victory deserves to get shoved off the nearest conference venue pier.
Talking of general secretaries I have to be honest and say that I was surprised that Lew Adams got beaten in the recent ASLEF ballot. Lew was on the right side in key debates in the movement on issues like Clause IV and Party into Power but was still unable to resist a challenge from the left.
I think this could be a straw in the wind and that we might be moving into an era where any general secretary, particularly in the public sector, who is seen as having any kind of connection at all with this conservative government should be looking over their shoulder.
Yes, I was in Stockholm for the Cup Winners' Cup Final, and it was fantastic. Great atmosphere, no aggro, but a nightmare trying to get out of the airport for the flight home. We were delayed for over four hours, which for me meant a quick shower and off to Radio Four to do battle with Alan Johnston and John Redwood on the back of about four hours sleep in two days, and a fearsome hangover. I just about managed to get away with it.
Funny enough, I didn't see Tony Banks or his big chum David Mellor at the airport, but then Banksy doesn't move in our circles any more and Mellor never did.
I hear that Banksy may be Blair's man for Mayor of London. All I would remind you is that Banks appointed Mellor as head of the Football Task Force, an act which any real football fan will tell you is a bit like appointing Bernard Manning as the head of the Commission for Racial Equality.
Our new daughter Katie is doing well, although I've been forced to grass her up to the internal security forces in UNISON after that prankster Fast Freddie Le Platt sent her a membership card for the CFDU.
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