McCluskey ‘grasps at straws’ with claims of dirty tricks

UNION head Len McCluskey has been accused of “grasping at straws” after he claimed critics of Labour’s Jeremy Corbyn want to manipulate the Unite leadership election to damage them both.

Mr McCluskey, the Unite union’s general secretary, faces a challenge from Gerard Coyne, who he says is backed by a “cabal” of Labour MPs “fighting a proxy war against Corbyn”.

Mr McCluskey, who has been at the top of the powerful union since 2011, is one of Mr Corbyn’s most powerful backers but he has been damaged by concerns over Unite’s support for the pro-Corbyn Momentum group and about a London flat which he bought using union money.

The union leader has demanded Labour investigate his conspiracy claim after the election result on April 21.

However, one union source told The Daily Telegraph: “Len is grasping at straws now, it’s clear that he is getting significant push-back from members over his recent comments.”

Mr McCluskey’s accusations of “dirty tricks” against Labour MPs is being seen as a sign that he is worried about his position. “There are real concerns about the way Unite is being run, particularly the support for Momentum and the flat he bought,” the source added. “He ought to be focused on those things, rather than thrashing out at people who have been members of the union for most of their working lives.”

Another source added: “This is about shoring up the leader, in both senses.

“Without Len, Corbyn is weakened and if he was ousted that could be the end of the Left’s grip on our party. A lot of people would welcome that.”

Yesterday, Mr McCluskey told The Observer newspaper that MPs – including Tom Watson, the party’s deputy leader who Mr Corbyn publicly disagreed with over Syria last week – are “trying to abuse Unite’s democracy” to oust the Labour leader, making Mr McCluskey’s election campaign a third leadership race for Mr Corbyn.