There are few more ridiculous political ideas than the proposition that the Labour party should break its link with the trade unions. The union bond grounds the party and has saved Labour governments from the failed delusion of socialist economics. However, there is one idea that is far worse, and it is now gripping a small but noisy Labour faction: the idea that Labour should support every strike held in the UK.
Whatever the cause, whatever the case, some on the left of the party believe that “your struggle is my struggle” – hence the picket-line posturing and attention-seeking social media posts of some Labour MPs this summer. This is damaging for the party. At its heart, this returning to the 1970s sends one message loud and clear: that those MPs want Labour to be a party of protest rather than a party that is ever in power. That’s why Keir Starmer was right to ban frontbenchers from joining picket lines and absolutely correct to sack the junior shadow transport minister Sam Tarry after he freelanced on pay policy from an RMT picket line last week.
