We will use your email address only for sending you newsletters. Please see our Privacy Notice for details of your data protection rights.

Mr McCluskey, a key ally of former Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn, became general secretary of the UK’s largest trade union in 2010 and was twice re-elected to the position. The 69-year-old’s term of office finishes in 2022 but The Times reported that a successor will be chosen a year earlier.

Mr McCluskey has been a vocal critic of Sir Keir, savaging his “timid leadership” and warning him he cannot win a general election without the support of the Left.

In a previous shock interview, Mr McCluskey also warned his support for Sir Keir is “very much based on the pledges that he made to get him into leadership”.

This included continuing Labour’s radical values, hiking taxes on the highest earners, improving union rights and nationalising the rail, mail and utility sectors – all key policy pledges under Mr Corbyn.

Unite, with 1.2 million members, is Labour’s biggest donor.

Its support was vital to Mr Corbyn’s survival as Labour leader for four years and he appointed its officials to powerful roles in his office.

However, the union is now at a crossroads, as Sir Keir seeks to break away definitively from the Corbyn era and reduce Labour’s reliance on left-wing unions.

It comes at a time when key allies of Mr Corbyn slowly disappear from the Labour front benches.

Sir Keir sacked former shadow education secretary Rebecca Long-Bailey in June after she shared an article containing anti-Semitic conspiracy theory and just this week Lloyd Russell-Moyle stepped down from the frontbench after he came under pressure for comments he made about JK Rowling’s domestic abuse revelations.

Mr McCluskey’s reported departure comes after Unison leader Dave Prentis announced he would be stepping down from his role at the end of the year, while Tim Roache, general secretary of the GMB, stood down in April citing ill health.

DON’T MISS
Labour war: McCluskey attacks ‘timid’ Starmer for lack of leadership [OPINION]
Jeremy Corbyn’s Brexit plot exposed as ‘cynical betrayal’ [REVEALED]
Sir Michael Fallon mocks Jeremy Corbyn in stern Russia warning [INSIGHT]

The GMB later said it had received an anonymous letter in which “a number of allegations have been made about Tim’s conduct” while he was leader.

The race to succeed Mr McCluskey had already begun, with Steve Turner, the union’s assistant general secretary, submitting his nomination to be the candidate of United Left, a broad-left organisation within the union.

The section is holding a hustings on Saturday with Mr Turner and Northern Ireland-born solicitor left-wing veteran nominated as candidates.

The hustings were announced when it was believed the term of Mr McCluskey would finish in April 2022.

Mr Beckett, a fierce critic of Sir Keir, is the current de facto deputy to Mr McCluskey, and previously accused the Labour leader of punishing the working class for the coronavirus crisis.

He has been tipped to see off the challenge of Mr Turner, a union official that has played a leading role in industrial disputes involving industry sector giants British and Bombardier.

At the time the hustings was announced in early July, a Unite spokesman said: “Len McCluskey’s term as Unite general secretary ends in April 2022. There are therefore no present plans for an election for his successor.

“Unofficial groups within the union and potential candidates are free to plan for the eventual election as they please, but for the union as a whole the priority, of course, remains protecting members’ jobs, safety and living standards through this dreadful pandemic.”

Source: Read Full Article