THE forthcoming election of a new Unite general secretary is a crucial political event with implications well beyond the labour movement. And those that worked so hard and consistently to stop Jeremy Corbyn know it.  

They will make the necessary effort to end the strategically left-leaning and combative leadership of Unite. Gerard Coyne, who was sacked in 2017 after wrongly using Labour Party data to contact potential supporters in the last general secretary election, is their choice. In that election Coyne lost narrowly, by 5,000 votes, to sitting general secretary Len McCluskey on a low turnout.

Unite plays a leading role in the movement and recently, with Steve Turner in the lead, successfully pursued difficult negotiations with the government resulting in the introduction of the furlough scheme and other measures, to the benefit of millions of workers.