Candidate for Redcar says union defamed her in an article on Skwawkbox blog in 2017

This article is more than 10 months old

This article is more than 10 months old

Labour’s biggest backer, the union Unite, has told the high court that the party’s parliamentary candidate in Redcar is unfit to be an MP.

Anna Turley, who was the Labour MP in the North Yorkshire town until last week and hopes to regain the seat, is suing Unite over an article published on the Skwawkbox blog that related to an application she made for union membership.

Turley – a moderate who three years ago called the Unite general secretary, Len McCluskey, an “arsehole” on Twitter – claims the article, which contained a press statement from Unite, libelled her.

She is also suing Stephen Walker, a journalist who edits and publishes the hard-left blog, and says Unite misused her private information.

The hearing at the Royal Courts of Justice in central London, which began on Monday, is expected to last three days and will hear from witnesses such as Labour’s Ruth Smeeth appearing via video link, statements from former MPs and testimony from high-ranking union officials.

It could prove to be highly embarrassing as Labour MPs and Unite attempt to put on a show of togetherness during the general election campaign.

A barrister representing Unite and Walker told a judge that Turley had been dishonest and “regrettably” was not fit to be an MP. Anthony Hudson QC told Mr Justice Nicklin that Turley’s dishonesty “permeates through every part of the case”.

He claimed she had been “deceiving people so she could vote against Mr McCluskey and oust Jeremy Corbyn”.

The case relates to Turley’s application to join Unite in December 2016, which she submitted the day before the announcement of a Unite election for general secretary. McCluskey, one of Corbyn’s most influential advisers, was facing a possible challenge from the moderate Gerard Coyne.

An article appeared on Skwawkbox in April 2017 that claimed Turley had broken the rules because she had joined Unite’s community section, which was supposed to be exclusively for unwaged members, and she had made a false declaration to do so.

A Unite spokesperson was quoted in the article as saying: “Anyone joining on a fraudulent basis will prompt an investigation. A complaint has been received and is being investigated.”

According to Turley’s counsel, she joined as a Unite Community member and was told by Unite in March 2017 that she should move to become an “industrial” member. Turley replied days later apologising and asking how she should transfer her membership.

Kate Wilson, for Turley, said the Skwawkbox article in April 2017 conveyed the meaning that Turley had acted dishonestly in submitting her application.

According to court documents, Turley applied to join Unite Community after she read about the challenge to McCluskey’s leadership on the Birthday Club Group of MPs, a confidential WhatsApp group of Labour moderates.

The Birthday Club WhatsApp was set up to help like-minded MPs to arrange celebrations and became a forum for dissent.

On 5 December 2016, Smeeth, the MP for Stoke-on-Trent North and a Unite member, sent a message to the group’s members saying McCluskey was to resign to trigger an early election for a new general secretary.

Smeeth wrote to the group that it was “game on in Unite” and suggested that the MPs could join Unite Community, according to court papers. The Labour MPs Stella Creasy and Chris Leslie asked Smeeth to share the link to sign up for membership, the documents claims. After receiving the link, Turley replied: “Done. Now for a shower.”

Documents submitted to court show Unite discussed contacting Turley to inform her that she was not entitled to be a Unite Community member in both January and February 2017 and finally contacted her in March. Six days after receiving an email, Turley replied saying she did not know she had joined the wrong section and asking how she could transfer to the right section.

Walker, a journalist who is close to Unite, contacted the union about Turley’s membership in early April and received the statement that appeared in the Skwawkbox article, court documents said.

Unite and Walker’s legal team will claim that Turley acted “dishonestly and deceitfully” in the run-up to the court case by lying about the circumstances in which she joined Unite and then trying to cover up those lies, court documents show.

According to Turley’s legal team, Unite has admitted breaching its client’s rights under the Data Protection Act.

The case continues.