Len McCluskey.

It seems strange that Gerard Coyne is claiming Len McCluskey broke Unite the Union rules in resigning as general secretary, so an election could be held – and staying in post during the campaign.

Look at the Labour Party: Iain McNicol recently resigned as general secretary and stayed in post during the campaign. There appears to be at least a precedent there.

Why say that Mr McCluskey was wrong to trigger a contest when there was no vacancy? We have all seen situations in which people have quit important roles in order to have their position confirmed in the face of a challenge.

And what is the meaning of the claim that Mr McCluskey continued to act as general secretary? The excerpt below shows that Gail Cartmail was appointed as acting general secretary, so his occupation of the role at the time was in name alone – unless there is evidence to show otherwise.

None appears to have been in evidence at the hearing on March 27.

So it seems bizarre that, after the hearing, Mr Coyne would tweet the following:

https://twitter.com/gerard_coyne/status/978659870307246086

Cheated?

That would imply that Mr McCluskey corruptly affected the election result somehow.

Where was the evidence for that? It wasn’t even under discussion.

A hearing that could decide the future direction of the Unite union was told on Tuesday that Len McCluskey broke the rules by continuing to act as general secretary after he stepped down from the post.

Gerard Coyne, who narrowly lost to McCluskey in April 2017, claimed that the incumbent acted improperly by calling a contest despite the fact there was no vacancy.

Jeffrey Burke QC, acting on behalf of the certification officer, is being asked by Coyne to order a rerun of the contest on the grounds that, according to the union’s rules, it should not have been held. Burke, a retired high court judge, is expected to deliver his verdict after Easter. If he decides Unite’s rules were broken the general secretary contest will be declared null and void and a new contest will be called.

The hearing took evidence from Gail Cartmail, who was appointed as acting general secretary during the four-month campaign.

Source: Unite boss accused of breaching rules over leadership contest | Politics | The Guardian

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