Unions cold on Brown overthrow

June 8, 2009 9:45 pm by Jim Pickard

A last thought before I get on with my week’s holiday. (Alex still in Westminster of course.)

The unions are one of the power bases within the Labour movement which could credibly pull the rug from under Gordon Brown. Why: because they provide almost all of its funding these days.

But it doesn’t look like that is going to happen*.

One senior figure in one of the larger unions told me last week that “the unions are staying out of this and watching from the sides.”

Derek Simpson, co-head of Unite, has meanwhile said that the resignations gave Brown the chance to remould his cabinet without a handful of legacy Blairites.

Another brother has gone further tonight, saying in private that the plotters are “Blairite scum“. (There is a widespread suspicion many of the rebels have past form in opposing the PM). So not sitting on the fence then.

* Union off-record briefings are not always 100 per cent reliable

Posted in Labour, Unions |
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