This article is more than 2 years old

This article is more than 2 years old

Jeremy Corbyn’s close ally Len McCluskey has survived an attempt to force a rerun of his leadership election.

The head of Unite faced a claim from his rival Gerard Coyne that both he and the union had breached election rules.

The retired high court judge Jeffrey Burke QC, acting on behalf of the certification officer, rejected Coyne’s claim that the election should have been declared null and void. Coyne said the election of a general secretary in April 2017 should not have been called and that McCluskey continued to act as head of the union after he stood down.

The hearing was closely monitored by all factions within the Labour movement because Unite is Labour’s biggest donor, supports Corbyn’s office and has former and current employees in key roles in the party.

There will be a hearing in June regarding other claims Coyne in which he has accused the union and McCluskey’s supporters of breaching union rules.

Among eight further complaints, the union will be accused of using facilities to stop Coyne from pursuing an investigation into whether union facilities were improperly used to buy a £700,000 flat for McCluskey.



However, it is not thought that the outstanding complaints will lead to a rerun of the election.

A Unite spokesperson said: “Unite welcomes the assistant certification officer’s rejection of Mr Coyne’s complaint, and his ruling that the union acted in accordance with its rules in calling a general secretary election.

“It should be noted that when the general secretary election was called no complaints or objections were made by Mr Coyne or any other individuals.”

Coyne said he was considering whether to appeal against the decision. “I am confident that the evidence we will present will demonstrate that this election was not conducted properly or in a way that respected the interests of Unite’s members,” he said.