There has been a lot of misinformation about how Len McCluskey was selected as the candidate of the 'United Left' group for General Secretary of Unite. The misinformation has been spread particularly thickly on United Left's
secretive, small and paranoid email list.
So we publish below the true account by someone who was actually there, Dr Judy Atkinson. This was originally published in the respected Labour Left Briefing magazine:
UNITED LEFT ELECTS RIGHT WINGER AS CANDIDATE FOR GENERAL SECRETARY ELECTIONS IN 2010
Judy Atkinson reports
On 5th September, in a hustings marred by exclusions, bullying and walk outs, United Left supporters met in Manchester to decide who will be their candidate for Unite general secretary in 2010.
Three candidates who had put their names forward were Jerry Hicks, victimised convenor at Bristol Rolls Royce, who in March came closer than anyone else to unseating Derek Simpson when he polled 40,000 votes to Simpson’s 60,000 in the election for joint general secretary; Len McLuskey, Unite assistant general secretary and Tony Woodley’s favoured successor; and Rob Williams, convenor at the Linamar factory in Swansea, victimised and subsequently reinstated after a successful strike in May.
At the start of the meeting United Left national chair Martin Mayer decided to exclude about 20 people on various spurious grounds that they had arrived late or were not