Unite
George Osborne’s benefits speech – full text
George Osborne’s speech is below. As you will see, it is a bold defence of the government’s policies on tax and welfare, including the 50p rate cut. There was a… Continue reading
51 Comments
Tata Steel’s job cuts, a tale of 2 press releases
Today brings bad news that Tata Steel is to cut 900 jobs in the UK (at plants in South Wales, North Yorkshire, Teesside and the West Midlands). This is catastrophic… Continue reading
26 Comments
Labour conference: Chuka Umunna plays good cop with trade unions
Ed Balls channelled the bad cop with the trade unions this morning, warning conference that ‘there will be difficult decisions in the future from which we will not flinch.’ This… Continue reading
12 Comments
Labour conference: Len McCluskey perks up delegates
Labour delegates were clearly out late last night, as it took them quite a while to get going this morning. It was only when Unite general secretary Len McCluskey took… Continue reading
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Fuel for the political bonfire
Pasties and jerry cans — who’d have thought that yesterday’s politics would descend into a roaring debate about two such innocuous items? And still the hullabaloo goes on. Most of… Continue reading
66 Comments
The government’s keen to avoid the petrol chaos of 2000
So, once again, we face the prospect of disruption at the pumps, as tanker drivers have voted for strike action over their terms of employment. According to the union Unite,… Continue reading
9 Comments
Miliband can count on the NHS in PMQs, but not much else
Today’s main PMQs drama came after the session itself had ended. Julie Hilling, a Labour MP who Cameron had said was ‘sponsored’ by the union whose leader threatened to disrupt… Continue reading
16 Comments
McCluskey versus the Olympics
The declaration by Len McCluskey, the leader of Unite, that public sector unions should consider disrupting the Olympics is going to re-ignite the whole debate about union power. McCluskey tells… Continue reading
61 CommentsMiliband tells the unions ‘tough’
Ed Miliband has just done a TV clip full of the kind of quotes that politicians love using. In an interview with Nick Robinson (above), the Labour leader declared that… Continue reading
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What will Miliband do now?
The Labour leader Ed Miliband has been determined not to define himself by picking fights against his own side. He didn’t want to do a Blair or a Cameron and… Continue reading
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Labour disunited
Labour MPs didn’t pick Ed Miliband as Labour leader; they preferred his brother. Labour members didn’t pick Ed Miliband as Labour leader; they preferred his brother too. It was the… Continue reading
25 Comments
Unions hit government on pension changes
The coalition’s plan to leave the Public and Commercial Services Union isolated in its opposition to the proposed changes to public sector pensions has had several setbacks today. The Unite… Continue reading
27 CommentsVince Cable dances with the unions
The Business Secretary’s words to the GMB union today about the government’s reluctance to reform Britain’s antiquated trade unions laws could hardly have been more modest. He called for a… Continue reading
7 CommentsUnite chief blames MI5 for protest violence
Sometimes, just when you think that the craziest left-wing ideologues have gone off to tend to their gardens, up one pops. Meet Len McCluskey, the head of Unite, who tells… Continue reading
29 CommentsProtecting the silent majority – and the Royal Wedding
David Cameron made significant waves yesterday both at Prime Minister’s Questions and in a Sun article about reforming Britain’s antiquated trade union laws. He was responding to a favoured tactic… Continue reading
16 CommentsUnite turns back the clock
Len McCluskey has won the race to lead Unite, Britain’s largest union. McCluskey will therefore have a major role in how the left respond to cuts in public spending. It… Continue reading
18 CommentsSimpson and Bayliss are reading the Miliband creed
Derek Simpson has had a Damascene conversion. The gnarled bruiser, famous for telling Alistair Darling to ‘tax the bankers out of existence’, has backed Les Bayliss, the moderate candidate in the… Continue reading
5 CommentsDesperate Balls comes out fighting
Springtime for Ed Miliband, curtains for Balls. Or at least it should be, following the news that Unite will back Miliband for the leadership. It is rumoured that Balls will… Continue reading
30 CommentsHow Whelan & Co. exploit Britain’s libel laws
The Charlie Whelan problem is intensifying for Labour, with more revelations in the Mail on Sunday today taking on from our cover story in this week’s magazine. Whelan’s behaviour may… Continue reading
18 CommentsHow Charlie Whelan killed New Labour
Last summer, The Spectator received a letter from Charlie Whelan’s solicitors complaining about this post – where we mention their client’s spot of bother with his colleagues at Unite. Carter-Ruck were instructed… Continue reading
91 Comments