Union chief Len McCluskey sets low bar for Labour

Holding 200 seats would be a success in UK general election, Unite leader tells POLITICO.

General secretary of Unite Len McCluskey | Oli Scarff/AFP via Getty Images | Oli Scarff/AFP via Getty Images

LONDON — Jeremy Corbyn’s most influential union backer, Len McCluskey, said it will be a “successful campaign” if Labour holds on to just 200 of the House of Commons’ 650 seats in next month’s general election.

McCluskey, the general secretary of Unite — the U.K.’s biggest trade union — said it would be “extraordinary” if Labour won and admitted part of the problem was the party leader’s public image, which he blamed on “media bias.”

In a telephone interview with POLITICO, the Unite leader pinned the blame for Labour’s struggles on the media’s “constant attack” on Corbyn, internal party divisions, and on public support for Prime Minister Theresa May “jumping on the bandwagon of hard Brexit.”

He also insisted his personal support for Corbyn was rock solid, heaping praise on Tuesday’s manifesto launch, which proposed sweeping nationalizations, tax increases for the wealthy and a major boost in public spending to improve the National Health Service, social care and house-building.

However, McCluskey’s remarks are likely to be seized upon by Corbyn’s opponents inside the party as evidence that the leadership has all but given up hope of winning the election and has turned its attention to lowering expectations in order for Corbyn to cling to power after June 8. Labour held 229 seats compared to the Tories’ 330 at the end of the last parliament.

His comments come amid reports that the Labour leadership will argue that Corbyn should remain leader if he can match the party’s vote share of 30.4 percent at the last election under then-leader Ed Miliband. Current polls have Labour hovering around that benchmark — almost 20 percent behind May’s Conservatives, who are consistently recording support of around 48 percent.

McCluskey said working class voters who say they are going to vote Tory for the first time are doing so “because their mind is being turned by the constant attack of the media on Jeremy Corbyn and the image that they’ve pinned on Jeremy.”

He said he was not holding out much hope for an upset victory despite the popularity of many of Labour’s left-wing policies, unveiled at the party’s manifesto launch in Bradford, West Yorkshire, today.

“In terms of the imagery of Jeremy, that’s a huge task,” he said. “He’s got now just under four weeks to try to see if you can break through that image and it’s going to be a very, very difficult task. We are sending messages out to our members saying, this is a decent, honest man, who is on your side, what have you got to be afraid of, what have you go to lose?

“Labour’s policies will make Britain a better and more equal society so we’re trying to pump out that message. Whether that breakthrough can happen, we’ll wait and see. I’m not optimistic, but we’ll wait and see.”

‘Immense’ task

McCluskey said it was difficult for the party to challenge now only two years after losing an election, and one year after Labour MPs attempted to replace Corbyn as leader — a move he said instilled the impression of a divided party in the minds of many voters.

He added: “The scale of the task is immense. People like me are always optimistic … things can happen. But I don’t see Labour winning. I think it would be extraordinary.”

McCluskey set what many will see as a new, historically low benchmark on which the success of the campaign will be judged.

“I believe that if Labour can hold on to 200 seats or so it will be a successful campaign,” McCluskey said. “It will mean that Theresa May will have had an election, will have increased her majority but not dramatically.”

If Labour ended up with just 200 MPs, it would likely hand the Conservative government a working majority of more than 80. It would also be Labour’s worst result since 1935.

If Labour ended up with just 200 MPs, it would likely hand the Conservative government a working majority of more than 80.

However, McCluskey did not rule out victory completely, saying Labour was “fighting for every vote” and praising Corbyn’s performance in the campaign.

“I think it’s going to be difficult because of the media bias to break that, but you never know. The truth is, wherever he goes … there are massive, massive crowds that turn out for him,” he said.

McCluskey said he was not setting a benchmark on which his own support for Corbyn rested. Asked directly whether he had considered a threshold at which he would reconsider his backing, McCluskey said: “No, we’re fighting for every seat.” He added: “Let’s wait and see what that turns itself into, in terms of percentage votes and seats.”

McCluskey’s intervention comes as Labour MPs consider their options in the event of a bad result on June 8. Veteran MP Frank Field told POLITICO the parliamentary party could elect its own leader in parliament and form a group called “People’s Labour” if Corbyn leads the party to defeat.

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