Unite support

It is peculiar that Brian Wilson (Perspective, 15 November) sees it as strange that the elected leader of 165,000 Scottish trade unionists, among others, should express a view on the leadership of the party they are affiliated to.

The fact that Mick McGahey and Hugh Wyper did not offer an opinion on who should hold a post which didn’t exist in their day is scarcely surprising. That Brian – a prominent No voice in the referendum debate – should regard it as illegitimate for a British union leader to have a view on a matter of great importance for Britain as a whole, is.

Needless to say, our Scottish lay committees took the decision as to who Unite should support, not me, after the fullest consultation the very tight timetable permitted.

Since Brian makes no effort to deal with the political case I made, it only remains to refute once more his tired old smears regarding last year’s events in the Falkirk Labour Party. Unite has been cleared of any wrong-doing both by Police Scotland and by the Labour Party itself. For the record once again, we were recruiting dozens of ordinary working men and women to the party created to represent them – never something which has found much favour with the Blairite wing of the party.

Len McCluskey

General Secretary, 
Unite the union

London