23 Facts About Len McCluskey

Len McCluskey was General Secretary of Unite the Union, the largest affiliate and a major donor to the Labour Party.

Len McCluskey was elected as the general secretary of Unite in 2010, and was re-elected to his post in 2013 and 2017.

Len McCluskey was a key backer and supporter of Jeremy Corbyn during his time as Leader of the Labour Party.

Leonard David Len McCluskey was born in Liverpool, Lancashire, on 23 July 1950, the son of Leonard, a painter-decorator, and Peggy, a housewife who reportedly politically inspired her son.

Len McCluskey failed the 11-plus, but passed the 13-plus, intended for late developers.

Len McCluskey joined the Transport and General Workers' Union in 1968, and became a shop steward for the union the following year.

Len McCluskey was involved in unionising the white collar staff in the Liverpool docks among whom previously there had been an absence of trade union organisation.

Len McCluskey defines himself as being on the left of the union, and has been given the label of "Red Len" in the British press because of his involvement in Unite's dispute with British Airways.

Len McCluskey expressed regret in 2009, and again in 2011, that the Labour governments of Tony Blair and Gordon Brown did not reverse the legislative changes affecting trade unions of the immediately preceding Conservative governments.

Len McCluskey argued in June 2016, that the changes made by those governments have "left the lowest paid and the most vulnerable workers in our society in dire straits".

In 2010, Len McCluskey ran for election as General Secretary of Unite to replace joint-General Secretaries Derek Simpson and Tony Woodley, who had both announced their retirement.

On 21 November 2010, it was announced that Len McCluskey had been elected to the post, beating Jerry Hicks, Les Bayliss and Gail Cartmail.

Len McCluskey gained 101,000 votes in a total 16 per cent turnout of around 1.5 million members.

Simpson retired in December 2010, and Woodley followed shortly after that, leaving Len McCluskey to take office as the General Secretary on 1 January 2011.

In 2013, Len McCluskey announced that he would be running for re-election as General Secretary.

Len McCluskey was re-elected in April 2013 with 144,570 votes against Jerry Hicks with 79,819 votes on a turnout of 15.2 per cent.

Len McCluskey threatened to disaffiliate Unite from Labour and launch a new workers' party in March 2014 if Labour lost the 2015 general election, which could cause Labour to cease to exist in its current form, according to Jim Pickard of the Financial Times.

Len McCluskey later termed the events of June and July 2016 concerning Corbyn's leadership of the Labour Party as a "crazy vote of no confidence, this mass resignation" and "this coup attempt" in an interview with Decca Aitkenhead of The Guardian.

In December 2016, Len McCluskey resigned as General Secretary and stood again in a leadership election.

Len McCluskey was re-elected in April 2017 by less than 6,000 votes over Coyne; 59,067 votes to Coyne's 53,544 on a turnout of 12.2 per cent.

In October 2021, Len McCluskey told Scottish Labour to back another Scottish independence referendum in order to win back support from the Scottish National Party.

Len McCluskey was married to Ann for more than 20 years; the couple had a son.

From 1994, Len McCluskey lived with Paula Lace with whom he had a daughter.