McCluskey says MI5 behind campaign to discredit Corbyn
MI5 AGENTS could be behind the bullying and abuse of critics of Jeremy Corbyn in a bid to stir up trouble for the Labour leader, his ally Len McCluskey, the trade union chief, has claimed.
The Unite general secretary stressed how Britain’s security services had a history of “dark practices” and suggested “right-wingers” in disguise could be responsible for the actions attributed to the Labour leader’s supporters.
“Do people believe for one second that the security forces are not involved in dark practices?” he told The Guardian.
“We found out just a couple of years ago that the chair of my then union, the Transport and General Workers Union, was an MI5 informant at the time.”
Noting how he had been on strike for six weeks in 1972, Mr McCluskey said: “Anybody who thinks that isn’t happening doesn’t live in the same world that I live in. Do you think that there’s not all kinds of right-wingers who are not secretly able to disguise themselves and stir up trouble? I find it amazing if people think that isn’t happening.”
The union chief also accused MPs and others in the party, who had complained of death threats and intimidation, of exaggerating the problem.
“There’s a hysteria being whipped up,” declared Mr McCluskey. “A few people say things they shouldn’t and then it’s blown up out of all proportion, to suit the imagery that the Labour Party has somehow become a cesspit – and suddenly it’s a crisis,” he added.
Earlier, Mr Corbyn was accused of allowing a “culture of bullying” to take hold within Labour and was compared to Sports Direct boss Mike Ashley by his leadership rival.
Owen Smith, the MP for Pontypridd, said “something had gone badly wrong” since the leader took charge amid fresh claims of abuse being directed at critics of the leader by activists.
Mr Corbyn said he was not a bully and said he was “disappointed” at the claims made against him, which included a suggestion he had threatened to ring the father of a critical MP in order to put pressure on him.
Mr Corbyn is favourite to win the postal ballot of Labour’s members – whose ranks have swelled to more than 500,000 – as well as the 183,000 people who signed up this week as registered supporters. The result is due on September 24.