“Originally a ‘planman’ on the Liverpool docks (drawing up plans of where cargoes from various ports would be held on ships), [Len McCluskey] rose through the ranks of the Transport and General Workers’ Union before playing a key role in the creation of Britain’s most powerful union, Unite – formed in 2007 from a merger of the T & G and Amicus. From 2010 until recently, he became its General Secretary.

The ‘red’ in the title refers not only to McCluskey’s politics – he was an early supporter of Militant, though says he was never a member – but also to his love of Liverpool FC, with which he appears to have travelled all over Europe. He also appears to have seen red many times in the more metaphorical sense during his union career and the book is full of score-settling. Former Labour Deputy Leader Tom Watson – who was McCluskey’s old flat mate – comes out of it particularly badly. And there is clearly no love lost with Keir Starmer either, who he accuses of duplicity.”

“Join us for an evening with Len McCluskey as he talks about his new autobiography, Always Red. The talk will be in-conversation with Labour MP, Dan Carden.”

“As a teenager, incensed by the half-wages paid to young workers on the Liverpool docks, Len McCluskey organised a successful strike among his fellow clerical workers to remedy the inequity. He was soon elected as shop steward, cancelling his place at teacher training college, and rose through the ranks to become one of the most influential labour leaders in recent times as general secretary of Unite. In this important autobiography, McCluskey describes himself as a class fighter, shaped by his time on the waterfront and his experiences of class and community solidarity in Liverpool.”

“It’s that eye for a deal that makes Always Red, [Len] McCluskey’s own juicy, take-no-prisoners memoir, so riveting. The former Unite leader has a reasonable claim to be the architect of Corbynism, having supported the rule changes under Ed Miliband that later helped the left break through in a leadership election, and then supplied funding, staff and strategic nous to an inexperienced Corbyn operation… The final chapter on how unions can best exert leverage should be required reading for anyone in politics (or business).”

“Trade unions should always be embedded in our communities because we remain a vital part of society. As long as bosses can make more money by paying their employees less, or by sacking easily and then hiring cheaply, or by cutting corners on safety, then trade unions will need to exist. No one has come up with a better method of levelling the playing field at work. The obstacles facing us today may seem formidable, but they are far less imposing than those overcome by the first workers to band together more than two centuries ago. Our forerunners had to fight and sometimes die for the right to form unions. They did so because no one is going to protect workers but workers themselves. I believe the ‘fighting back’ culture of Unite is true to that history, and I hope it will stand as an example for the trade unionism of the future.”

“‘Everything we do as citizens is determined by politics; and therefore everything unions do is determined by politics’, Len McCluskey wrote in his first book, a tract on trade unionism published shortly after the 2019 UK general election. Some eighteen months later, in her victorious election manifesto to succeed him as general secretary of Unite the Union, Sharon Graham declared that ‘the politics has failed.’ Her campaign insisted on the failure of Unite’s political project within the Labour Party. Any judgement of McCluskey’s record would seem to rest on what one makes of that indictment. As if to prove this point, McCluskey’s memoir, Always Red, released last month to coincide with the end of his decade-long tenure at the helm of Britain’s most formidable trade union, is dominated by a 180-page narration of his involvement in Westminster politics since 2011. The account of Corbynism therein is one of the most politically astute to date – no surprise given the editorial involvement of Alex Nunns, one of Corbyn’s most impressive former staffers and a historian of the project’s early stages.

When McCluskey began work as a planman on Liverpool’s docks in 1968, post-war trade union power was at its height. ‘You join the union here, son’ was the greeting at the dockland gate. McCluskey’s arrival as a 19-year-old member of the Transport and General Workers Union (T&G) came the same year as the election of International Brigadier Jack Jones as its general secretary, and through the early 1970s the union ‘reached the apogee of its influence on British life’, according to Andrew Murray, McCluskey’s chief of staff and official chronicler of the union’s history. By 1969, the T&G had 1.5 million members. It added 250,000 more in the following three years and hit the 2 million landmark in 1977. At this summit it was, in Murray’s telling, ‘the most powerful democratic working-class organisation in Britain’s history.’ Virtually all of McCluskey’s formative experiences, fondly recounted in the book, were in this ‘heroic period; a time when class solidarity…was something we lived and breathed.’”

“In Labour, the left is taking a battering from a vengeful right. But we have recent evidence that things can be very, very different. Always Red is a salutary reminder of that — a fascinating, funny, moving read, but above all an authoritative argument for the capacity of the labour movement to change the world.”

“Always Red is a good story about the way that trade unionism can drastically change people’s lives. [Len] McCluskey was brought up in the Kirkdale area of Liverpool in a house with an outside toilet, by a mother and father who had lost a child to tuberculosis. He slept in his parents’ bedroom until he was 10, and left education at 18 to work on Liverpool’s docks as a planman, drawing up all-important diagrams of ships and their cargo. The book’s best section evokes the dazzling world in which he found himself, and the constant sense that without the unions’ collective vigilance, many of the pillars of working-class life would come crashing down – something that began in earnest with the arrival in power of Margaret Thatcher.”

“Former Unite leader and fervent critic of Starmer, Len McCluskey, claims that the leader ‘reneged’ on his commitment to restore the whip to his predecessor, Jeremy Corbyn. Furthermore, in a visceral excerpt from his new book Always Red, McCluskey comments on how Starmer could ‘finish Labour’ due to his unrelenting crackdown on the left.”

“Corbynism has ‘changed British politics forever’ and Unite’s role in the movement is one of his proudest achievements, Len McCluskey told a packed launch for his autobiography Always Red on Wednesday night.

The former Unite general secretary’s book traces his life from growing up in Liverpool and becoming a shop steward when workers’ industrial power in this country was at its height in the 1970s to becoming general secretary and helping shift Labour to the left from 2010, culminating in the ‘extraordinary journey’ of the Jeremy Corbyn movement’s challenge to British capitalism.”

“Keir Starmer agreed a backroom deal to lift Jeremy Corbyn’s suspension from Labour but then rowed back on it following a backlash, Len McCluskey has claimed.

The former Unite chief warned the Labour leader ‘risks becoming fixed in the public’s mind as someone who can’t be trusted’ – citing both the episode and Sir Keir’s decision to abandon some leadership election pledges.”

“Jeremy Corbyn ally and former Unite Union leader Len McCluskey has launched a blistering attack on Sir Keir Starmer, revealing details of private conversations that risk splitting Labour down the middle.

In his autobiography, due to be released later this month, the hard-left union baron accuses Sir Keir of being ‘dishonourable’ and ‘wrongheaded’. And in a dire warning to the party, the life-long Labour affiliate warns the party’s leader faces the damning possibility of being seen as deceitful in the eyes of the public.”

“Sir Keir Starmer is ‘bereft of vision’ and needs to let voters know what he stands for, Unite General Secretary Len McCluskey has told the BBC…

[Len McCluskey] was speaking to the BBC at the launch of his autobiography, Always Red. The launch party, in a room above a Westminster pub, was packed with leading figures from the Labour left, including former shadow chancellor John McDonnell and ex-communications chief Seumas Milne.

Mr Corbyn gave a speech praising Mr McCluskey’s leadership of Unite – and for his ‘support and friendship during some very difficult times’, particularly during the failed ‘coup’ against him in 2016.”

“Former union boss Len McCluskey has accused Sir Keir Starmer of going back on a private deal to readmit Jeremy Corbyn to the Labour party.

The former general secretary of the Unite union said Sir Keir was ‘dishonourable’ and would become someone the public would not trust.”

“Former Unite boss Len McCluskey has accused Keir Starmer of breaking his promise to let Jeremy Corbyn back into the Labour party.

Mr McCluskey claimed that Mr Starmer had reneged on a pledge to readmit the former leader back into Labour’s ranks…

The story was redacted from review copies of Mr McCluskey’s new autobiography Always Red due to its sensitive nature.”

“Len McCluskey has revealed for the first time his detailed recollection of negotiations with Keir Starmer to readmit Jeremy Corbyn to the Labour party, accusing the leader of reneging on private promises.

The former Unite general secretary, who stepped down last month, said Starmer ‘risks becoming fixed in the public’s mind as someone who can’t be trusted’. Writing in the Guardian, he gives an account of the private conversations – a section redacted in review copies of his memoir Always Red because of its sensitivity.”

Read the full article here.

“If [Keir Starmer] is not careful, he risks becoming fixed in the public’s mind as someone who can’t be trusted. Sadly, my own experience of dealing with Starmer – as leader of Labour’s largest trade union affiliate until last month – offers nothing to dispel this image…

When Starmer took over, I hoped for good relations between us. To begin with, that’s how they were. Contrary to what might be expected, I spoke to Starmer far more than I ever did Jeremy Corbyn. But that all changed after Starmer’s destructive decision to suspend his predecessor from the party in October last year.

As I explain in greater depth in my book, Always Red, the final breakdown came not over the suspension itself – although I thought that a hot-headed act – but when Starmer chose to break an honest deal agreed between us for Corbyn’s readmission to the party.”

Read the full article here.

“Len McCluskey secretly plotted to bring Britain to its knees with a general strike disrupting the supply of food and power… The secret plan… and the manner of its implementation is expected to be outlined in forensic detail in his forthcoming autobiography, Always Red.”

Read the full article here.

“The Labour Party could ‘go under’ with Sir Keir Starmer as its leader, the head of its biggest trade union donor has said.

Len McCluskey, who is retiring as general secretary of Unite later this month, accused Starmer of moving the party to the right with ‘vapid New Labour clichés’ and an ‘anti-democratic crackdown on the left’.

His parting shot comes in a memoir, Always Red, which is set to be published on the day of Starmer’s speech at Labour’s annual conference next month.”

Read the full article here.

“Revenge via memoir is always compelling. Len McCluskey’s doing it at the moment to Keir Starmer.”

Read the full article here.

“Union firebrand Len McCluskey has launched a blistering attack on Sir Keir Starmer – claiming Labour could ‘go under’ with him at the helm.

In a bombshell memoir – to be published on the same day as Sir Keir’s Labour conference speech – the union baron will accuse him of an ‘anti-democratic crackdown on the Left.'”

Read the full article here.

“In his memoirs due to be published next month, the hard-left socialist launches a scathing assessment of Sir Keir’s time at the helm, warning Labour’s ship could ‘go under’ under his tenure. The damning book is being published to mark Mr. McCluskey’s retirement as he steps down as Unite general secretary.”

Read the full article here.

“The head of one of the UK’s biggest unions has claimed the Labour Party could ‘go under’ with Sir Keir Starmer as its leader.

Len McCluskey, the outgoing general secretary of Unite, warned that Sir Keir may not win back the ‘Red Wall’ seats claimed by the Conservatives at the 2019 election.

Mr McCluskey made the comments in his new autobiography, due to be published on the day of Sir Keir’s speech to Labour’s annual party conference in September.”

Read the full article here.

“In his book, Always Red, which is published next month, Mr. McCluskey questions whether the current Labour leader is a ‘babe in the woods’ or ‘altogether more calculating.’

The book’s publishers promise ‘explosive revelations about his dealings with Keir Starmer’ and some passages in advance copies have been redacted.”

Read the article here.

“In hard-hitting memoirs to mark his retirement, the Unite general secretary known as ‘Red Len’ suggests Sir Keir will fail to win back the ‘Red Wall’ seats Labour lost to the Tories in 2019.

Mr McCluskey, still Jeremy Corbyn’s chief union cheerleader, accuses the Labour leader of struggling to inspire the public, ‘vapid New Labour cliches’, and an ‘anti-democratic crackdown on the left.'”

Read the article here.