It's the block vote stupid

A POLL CONDUCTED by Tory donor Lord Ashcroft, suggests that if Ed Milliband is successful in his desire to see trade union members allowed to opt in to donating to the Labour Party, then it could prove very costly to the party.

            The poll's findings found that only 12% of Unite members would join the Labour party if given this choice. Unite members were also asked in the poll how they would vote if there were an election tomorrow, and the results were fascinating. Less than half would vote Labour on 49%, while 23% would vote Tory, and Ukip would get 12% support, leaving the Lib Dems with just 7%.

            You can see in these figures the injustice of the present system where trade union members have no say in how the union bosses spend their money. They were just taken for granted by their union who still believe that if they are members of a trade union, it follows as surely as night follows day, they must be supporters the Labour Party. This is the fiction the union bosses have believed for decades, and between say, the post war Atlee government and the rise of Margaret Thatcher, the unions could feel comfortable in such a belief. But they kept on believing long after Thatcher ignited the home owning democracy that liberated so many council tenants.

            This is why both unions and the Labour Party hated Margaret Thatcher so much. She broke the cosy relationship between the union members and the Labour Party. The 1970s gave birth to Thatcherism, and I need not refresh the memories of people my age, why this was so.

            If Ed Milliband succeeds in his battle with the unions regarding party funding, it would be no mean achievement. But for a Clause IV moment to arrive, he would have to abandon the Divine Right of the Block Vote. Only this will convince us sceptics that the unions have been castrated from all power and influence within the Labour Party; until then Ed will not be taken seriously.

BUT THE runes do not look very promising for Ed.  After the Falkirk vote rigging scandal Ed promised an investigation into such vile practices. The nation sat glued to their televisions and queued at newsstands to await the announcement of the nature of Ed's investigation into the long history of crooked union practices.

            When it came, Ed announced that Lord Collins would lead the investigation. Well, we thought…a Lord! The Labour Party are against the House of Lords, so any member appointed to lead an investigation must truly be independent and can relied upon to council a fare outcome.

            Well an interesting article by Andrew Pierce in the Daily Mail has poured buckets of cold water over Lord Collins. When just plain Ray Collins, in 1985, he was regarded as the 'Office Manager' at Transport House, the old Transport and General Workers Union headquarters. In that period all finalised voting slips were held in a cupboard at Transport House. At the time, Ray Collins must have been invested with the oversight of such valuable documents. However 9,500 ballot papers vanished from Transport House, almost a 1000 of which were later discovered torn in two and found on a rubbish tip in London. As 'Office Manager, Ray Collins would have known where the ballot papers had been stored.

            But this was not to be the end of it. According to Andrew Pierce, in 2009 Ray Collins was a player in another voting scandal. It revolved around the election of a parliamentary Labour candidate in the Erith and Thamesmead constituency in South London, which was rocked by a vicious dirty tricks campaign. By now Collins had become the General Secretary of the Labour Party, and ordered the ballot papers to be brought to the Labour Party Headquarters and put in a sealed box in another secured cupboard similar to that at Transport House in 1985.

            Once more the box was broken into and the whole process had to be begin again. Which brings me to the candidates that were fighting this election. The Blairite candidate for this constituency was Georgia Gould (aged 22), and the daughter of Philip Gould a close advisor to New Labour and a cohort of Tony Blair. The outcry that followed  destroyed any chance Georgia had of ever being chosen as a candidate.

            Collins did his best but it was never enough. He is now a Lord of all things, given in pandering service to both the trade union movement and the Labour Party. Now to be regarded by Ed Milliband as an independent voice.

OF COURSE, vote rigging has always been part of trade union culture, and so is taking union members for granted; but now Ed insists that things will change, with prospective Labour Party candidates having to fight an American style primary instead of the current corrupt  practice that very nearly saw Georgia Gould selected as a party candidate.

            But sadly as welcome as all this is, the unions will still dominate party democracy in the one area where it matters to MPs, members, and activists. Much of party policy is debated and voted upon at the annual party congress held each autumn. Here the unions wield the block vote and can, so to speak, have complete control of the party's tiller. They will oppose the leadership and membership on any debate that they consider not to be in their interests.

            The block vote is perhaps the worst abuse of democracy of all. It is comparable to the ancient  Divine Right to rule that many monarchs enjoyed up to the arrival of  William of Orange. The 'block-head' vote comes from a similar archaic pedigree as the Divine Right, and should have been done away with decades ago; it was not brought to an end however, simply because it came to the aid of the leadership when it faced a challenge from the activists who were overwhelmingly of the Left and dominated conference (especially in the 1980's): but even then, their loyalty often came at a price.

            Only when this ancient and (in terms of democracy) feudal practice has been finally done away with by a Labour Party leader, then, and only then, will another Clause IV moment have arrived for the party leadership. In the meantime both union leaders and Labour party members, but especially its MPs, should take full cognisance of the poll commissioned by Lord Ashcroft.