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Len McCluskey, the general secretary of Britain’s largest trade union, Unite the Union, is rumoured to be stepping down as leader sooner than expected. The 69-year-old’s term expires in April 2022. However, speculation in recent months suggests he will step down long before his official departure date.

Left-wing “firebrand” Howard Beckett is tipped to become Unite’s next leader.

This is despite reports earlier this year that Sharon Graham would become the body’s first female leader.

Mr Beckett is expected to find out whether he stands a chance of being a frontrunner for the role this Saturday.

The weekend will see United Left, a grouping of Unite activists, give their endorsement to a chosen candidate.

Others in the offing include Steve Turner, a London bus conductor turned union official.

Mr Turner has been pivotal in disputes involving British Airways and Bombardier.

Ms Graham is not seeking endorsement from United Left.

It is largely accepted that whoever secures support from the influential group goes on to win the ballot.

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Several times has Mr McCluskey been voted in as general secretary of Unite.

He was first elected in 2010.

A further two reelections in 2013 and 2017 saw him in the role sporadically over ten years.

A key backer of Jeremy Corbyn, the former Labour leader, Mr McCluskey enjoyed renewed popularity and support in the Labour years spanning 2015 to 2019.

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And, in an address at the Oxford Union earlier this year, he said: “So why, if trade unions achieve and provide all these great things, and given its a fact that workers in unionised workplaces are safer and higher paid than non-unionised workplaces, are we either vilified by politicians in the mainstream media whenever we seek to defend our members, or we’re portrayed as irrelevant dinosaurs of the Seventies.

“I get angry when I think of the fact that this very nation of ours, having defeated fascism at the end of World War 2, and gave Europe all of the freedoms that they currently enjoy, how is it right that German workers, Italian workers, Spanish, French, and all the rest have got better protections than British workers?

“It’s just simply wrong.

“And why did David Cameron introduce the Trade Union Act, which further restricts the ability of trade union members to stand up for themselves.

“Even the senior tory MP, David Davis, described its proposed restrictions on pickets as like ‘something out of Franco’s dictatorship in Spain’.”

Under Mr McCluskey, Unite has received praise for several of its attempts at modernisation.

For example, he helped to draw up the union’s national curriculum education programme on trade unionism with his Unite in Schools initiative.

A national programme, it aims to teach students about the role of trade unions in the workplace.

It is mostly targeted at year 10 and 11 students, and can be linked to the National Curriculum under Citizenship for Key Stage 4.

As it stands, Mr McCluskey’s initiative has been forced to suspend as schools across the UK shut amid the coronavirus outbreak.

Most are expected to return this September.

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