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| McCluskey says Labour decision to call police over Falkirk row is 'disgraceful' | |
| (about 2 hours later) | |
| The row between Labour and Unite over allegations of malpractice in Falkirk's constituency party exploded on Friday after Ed Miliband asked the police to investigate while the union's leader, Len McCluskey, expressed shock at the decision. | |
| The Labour leader also accused McCluskey, his most generous union backer, of supporting "machine politics" in an attempt to install a favourable parliamentary candidate. | |
| Detectives will examine evidence that individuals aligned to Unite were signing people up to the Labour party in Falkirk without their knowledge and on condition that they would support a particular candidate, it is understood. | |
| The selection row has snowballed into the worst crisis of Miliband's time as leader. Unite has accused the party of "smears" over claims in a private internal Labour report that there is evidence that the union sought to swing the contest by cramming the Scottish constituency with members. | |
| McCluskey on Friday expressed shock and exasperation at the decision to involve the police. "I am amazed there is going to be police inquiry. We will co-operate with any inquiry, but I am certain that they will produce a report not as full as what we would like. We are being attacked mercilessly and we have not done anything wrong," he said. | |
| "I haven't even seen this report. We were told when the inquiry was taking place that any allegations against the people who were being accused of things would have an opportunity to respond. They weren't even interviewed. Unite wasn't interviewed. This is absolute nonsense and I would hope that a calming influence could come into this," he said. | |
| As he spoke in a hospital car park in Trafford, Greater Manchester, McCluskey attacked the way shadow cabinet members, including Jim Murphy, have attacked the union for "overstepping the mark" in Falkirk. | |
| "What does that mean? We asked too many of our members to join the Labour party? We should have told them that the Labour party was full up perhaps," he said. "It is a nonsense and I am afraid that the way that this has been handled by Labour party HQ is nothing short of disgraceful," he said. | |
| Asked if he still supports Miliband, he said: "Absolutely, Ed Miliband is the leader of our party, there is absolutely no question of that. He has my full support and Unite's full support. But that is not to say that we have to agree on everything." | |
| McCluskey called for an independent inquiry, and insisted that the union has not yet seen the report. "If there are any wrongdoings in Falkirk, then let's have an independent inquiry so that we can have the truth. We have no confidence whatsoever in the so-called investigation that has been carried out by Labour party HQ. | |
| "The only way that we can see of resolving this, and getting back to the real business that people are interested in, is an independent report. If that independent report indicates that Unite have done something wrong, then I will be the first to put my hands up and accept responsibility for it and do something about it," he said. | |
| At the moment we are in the middle of a media storm which has been caused by Labour's inability to deal with this situation. They've shot themselves in the foot." | |
| Senior Labour officials met on Friday morning and decided to hand their report to police in Scotland. A Labour source said: "After consulting the party solicitor yesterday, we will hand our Falkirk report and other evidence to the police this afternoon." | Senior Labour officials met on Friday morning and decided to hand their report to police in Scotland. A Labour source said: "After consulting the party solicitor yesterday, we will hand our Falkirk report and other evidence to the police this afternoon." |
| Miliband told the BBC: "We are not going to have Len McCluskey, leader of Unite, defending this sort of machine politics. It is wrong. | Miliband told the BBC: "We are not going to have Len McCluskey, leader of Unite, defending this sort of machine politics. It is wrong. |
| "We had members being signed up without their knowledge, bad practice, malpractice, and frankly instead of defending that kind of thing, Len McCluskey should be condemning it, saying it has no part of his union and no part of the Labour party. | "We had members being signed up without their knowledge, bad practice, malpractice, and frankly instead of defending that kind of thing, Len McCluskey should be condemning it, saying it has no part of his union and no part of the Labour party. |
| "I am going to be very clear about this. I will act without fear or favour on behalf of cleanliness, transparency and fairness when it comes to Labour party selection and the way the party is run. I am defending the good name of hundreds of thousands of union members, hundreds of thousands of Labour members and Labour supporters all around the country. | |
| "My message to Len McCluskey is clear: face up to your responsibilities, face up to what people within your union were doing. Stop defending this," he said. | "My message to Len McCluskey is clear: face up to your responsibilities, face up to what people within your union were doing. Stop defending this," he said. |
| The row between Labour and its biggest union backer centres around claims of vote rigging in the process to replace Eric Joyce as Labour's candidate in Falkirk for the 2015 general election. Joyce resigned from the party after admitting assault in a Commons bar brawl. | The row between Labour and its biggest union backer centres around claims of vote rigging in the process to replace Eric Joyce as Labour's candidate in Falkirk for the 2015 general election. Joyce resigned from the party after admitting assault in a Commons bar brawl. |
| On Thursday, Labour's general election co-ordinator Tom Watson, whose office manager Karie Murphy was Unite's preferred candidate in Falkirk, quit for the "future unity" of the party. | On Thursday, Labour's general election co-ordinator Tom Watson, whose office manager Karie Murphy was Unite's preferred candidate in Falkirk, quit for the "future unity" of the party. |
| Murphy and the Falkirk party chairman, Stephen Deans, were suspended by the party and the constituency party's selection procedures are now being run by Labour's headquarters. | |
| Miliband, in his interview, gave details of Labour's own inquiry, which will be examined by police. "This inquiry said that people were being signed up to the Labour party without their knowledge. It says that bad practices were going on,. It says that peoiple were being asked to sign up to the Labour Pparty on condition they would support a particular candidate. We are not having this in the Labour Pparty," he said. | |
| On Thursday, a furious McCluskey denounced the party's own investigation as a stitch-up designed to "produce some evidence, however threadbare, to justify predetermined decisions". He added that he had lost faith in Labour headquarters and would be demanding the party set up an independent inquiry into the disputed Falkirk selection. | |
| He will have the first chance to make that demand at a meeting of the party's national organisation sub-committee on Tuesday, but the decision to endorse the Falkirk investigation and suspend the two party members in the Scottish constituency has already been agreed by senior party officials at a meeting on Thursday. | He will have the first chance to make that demand at a meeting of the party's national organisation sub-committee on Tuesday, but the decision to endorse the Falkirk investigation and suspend the two party members in the Scottish constituency has already been agreed by senior party officials at a meeting on Thursday. |
| In a letter to the party general secretary, Iain McNicol, McCluskey said: "The report has been used to smear Unite and its members. Even if the allegations of people being signed up to the party without their knowledge were true, this had nothing whatsoever to do with my union … The mishandling of this investigation has been a disgrace. I, however, am obliged to uphold the integrity of Unite, and I can no longer do so on the basis of going along with the activities of a Labour party administration in which I can place no trust." | In a letter to the party general secretary, Iain McNicol, McCluskey said: "The report has been used to smear Unite and its members. Even if the allegations of people being signed up to the party without their knowledge were true, this had nothing whatsoever to do with my union … The mishandling of this investigation has been a disgrace. I, however, am obliged to uphold the integrity of Unite, and I can no longer do so on the basis of going along with the activities of a Labour party administration in which I can place no trust." |
| Responding to news that the police had been asked to investigate fraud allegations, a Conservative spokesman said: "Why didn't he refer Falkirk to the police days ago? The answer is that Henry Smith, a Conservative MP, yesterday wrote a public letter to the chief constable of Scotland, calling for a fraud enquiry. So weak Ed Miliband has been forced to hand himself in," he said. | Responding to news that the police had been asked to investigate fraud allegations, a Conservative spokesman said: "Why didn't he refer Falkirk to the police days ago? The answer is that Henry Smith, a Conservative MP, yesterday wrote a public letter to the chief constable of Scotland, calling for a fraud enquiry. So weak Ed Miliband has been forced to hand himself in," he said. |