Labour MPs demand probe into Red Len’s £100m cronyism row
Keir Starmer turned the screw on union baron Len McCluskey yesterday over a £100million construction scandal.
The Labour leader called for an inquiry into how the cost of a hotel and conference centre being built for Unite soared from £7million to £98million.
The contract was awarded to a building firm owned by Paul Flanagan, a fellow Liverpudlian and friend of Mr McCluskey. The company in charge of health and safety on the Birmingham project is owned by David Anderson, son of former Liverpool mayor Joe Anderson.
Mr Flanagan and the Andersons have all been arrested on suspicion of bribery in an investigation not linked to Unite. All three deny wrongdoing and have been released. There is no suggestion of any criminal wrongdoing in the union’s dealings with either company or of a link between the investigation in Liverpool and the hotel.
Asked yesterday about the scandal, which was exposed by the Mail, Sir Keir said: ‘it’s clearly an issue for Unite to address. The questions should be put to the union on behalf of its members.’
His intervention follows a series of withering personal attacks from Mr McCluskey. The union general- secretary, who was an ally of Sir Keir’s predecessor Jeremy Corbyn, said the party leader risked being ‘dumped into the dustbin of history’ because Labour voters did not know what he stood for.
Mr McCluskey claimed that Sir Keir had failed to stand up to Boris Johnson and was ‘dull and opportunistic, only following the political wind after it has blown’. echoing Willie Whitelaw’s 1970s jibe about Harold Wilson, Mr McCluskey said Sir Keir was ‘going round the country stirring up apathy’.
Senior Labour figures came to their leader’s defence yesterday.
Former minister Ben Bradshaw said: ‘The obvious answer to lack of transparency [over the Birmingham project] is to have an independent inquiry.
‘That is absolutely the right thing to do. That is what members would expect.’
Labour MP Neil Coyle, who is sponsored by Unite, said: ‘i feel angry. it is an outrageous abuse to use (Unite) members’ hard earned subscriptions on a scheme that has gone catastrophically wrong – and there has been no apology.’
A flattering profile of Mr McCluskey in a left-wing magazine in 2019 said he was ‘proud of prestige projects’ such as the Unite hotel in Birmingham being built by ‘ his Liverpool friend Paul Flanagan’.
As guest of honour in 2014 for an event at Liverpool’s Sir Thomas Hotel, owned by Mr Flanagan, Mr McCluskey said the businessman was from a ‘working-class family who have made good and have never forgotten
their roots’.
Mr McCluskey’s union salutes the Flanagan Group as its ‘go-to building firm’ in a testimonial on the company’s website.
The contest to find a successor to Mr McCluskey, 70, who steps down as Unite leader next year, is due to start shortly.
The Birmingham hotel is widely seen as his legacy but is known as ‘Red Len’s Folly’ by his critics.
Unite says the initial estimate was too low and rose after it was decided to add an extra floor and upgrade the establishment from a three- star rating to four. The project includes a 170-bedroom Marriott-branded hotel, a conference room, an education centre and regional offices for Unite.
Defending the project, Unite has said: ‘This is a world-class facility, which will provide conference, education and hotel facilities for our entire union and help regenerate a neglected part of the UK’s second city.’
When he revealed the extent of the £98million bill in January, Mr McCluskey said the union would not tolerate ‘shabby practices’ or low pay.