Sir Keir Starmer is preparing for the annual TUC feast with union leaders – but one important person is on the ‘naughty step’

Published

2 years ago

September 10, 2023

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Mick Lynch is. But Sharon Graham isn’t.

Yet Mick’s union the RMT isn’t even affiliated to the Labour Party, while Sharon’s Unite is one of the party’s biggest donors.

Sir Keir Starmer breezes into blowy Liverpool on day two of the TUC conference to attend the traditional gala dinner for shadow cabinet ministers and the TUC’s general council, mostly the leaders of the big unions.

Mick’s predecessor, the loud, no-nonsense left-winger Bob Crow – who stormed out of a TUC speech by Sir Tony Blair some years ago, always used to boycott the dinner, declaring that he was “going down the pub” instead.

But savvy Mick, the thinking man’s Bob Crow, is going. It seems he’s not one to turn down a free dinner. He’s also not the sort to miss the opportunity to put his point of view to the Labour leader or any other senior politician.

But Sharon, who since her election as Unite general secretary in late 2021 has made a point of avoiding the kind of political scheming of her extrovert predecessor Len McCluskey, is not going to the dinner.

She’ll be busy dealing with an industrial dispute on Monday evening, she told Sky News. Probably just as well, after her “1990s tribute act” attack on Sir Keir in a provocative Sunday Times article.

According to insiders, Sir Keir and his deputy Angela Rayner, who makes the big set-piece speech on behalf of the Labour Party at the TUC on Tuesday morning, have put Sharon “on the naughty step” after her frequent criticisms of the Labour leadership.

She did reveal to Sky News in an interview, however, that she’s meeting Sir Keir next week, ahead of Labour’s conference next month. So relations can’t be all that bad.

Despite their differing dining arrangements, both Mick and Sharon will be leading players in the debates at the TUC conference over the next few days.

The RMT leader is leading the unions’ fight against the government’s Strikes (Minimum Service Levels) Act, which received Royal Assent at the end of July.

He told Sky News there are no new rail strikes planned at the moment. But, he said, if the employers, the Rail Delivery Group which represents the train companies, don’t come up with a new offer soon, there will be.

What’s the betting those new strikes with coincide with the Conservative Party conference, which takes place between 1 and 4 October? Don’t forget, that’s more or less when hospital consultants are going on strike. They’re walking out on between 2 and 5 October.

Broken Britain, anyone?

Sharon may not be joining Sir Keir, Mick and the other diners at the TUC feast, but the Unite leader will be active in the conference hall, leading the demands for re-nationalisation of energy companies in a debate on Monday.

In her Sunday Times article, she also called for wealth taxes – rejected by shadow chancellor Rachel Reeves – and taxes on what she called “excessive” business profits.

The conference began on Sunday afternoon with stirring speeches by two other senior union leaders, Christina McAnea of Unison and Paul Serwotka of the civil service union PCS.

He talked powerfully about “broken Britain”, though he was referring to crumbling concrete in schools and escaping prisoners rather than strikes by trade unions!

The TUC’s new general secretary, the affable scouser Paul Nowak, earlier announced a move to report the government to the United Nations workers’ rights watchdog, the International Labour Organisation (ILO) over what he called the government’s “pernicious” anti-strike laws.

Not sure that move will have Tory ministers quaking in their boots. After all, isn’t the ILO just a talking shop? To be fair, though, the TUC chief claimed in a Sky News interview that unions have won significant legal battles against the government in the past.

This could be the last TUC conference before a general election which Labour are favourites to win, Christina McAnea predicted in her speech on funding public services, although realistically the election conference is more likely to be just before the election.

If she’s right, there could be a mood celebration at next year’s general council dinner. Although his union is not affiliated to Labour, the RMT’s Mick will probably be there.

And who knows, perhaps Unite’s Sharon – if she’s no longer on the naughty step – will join him at the top table.

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‘Stability in Middle East is priority,’ says Starmer – as world reacts to strikes

Published

7 hours ago

June 22, 2025

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'Stability in Middle East is priority,' says Starmer - as world reacts to strikes

Sir Keir Starmer has said stability in the Middle East is “a priority” following US strikes on Iran’s nuclear facilities, as the world reacted to the attack.

The prime minister also called on Iran to “return to the negotiating table” to “reach a diplomatic solution to end this crisis”.

The US struck three sites in Iran early on Sunday morning, with Donald Trump boasting the country’s key nuclear sites were “completely and fully obliterated” in an address to the nation from the White House. He warned there could be further strikes if Iran retaliates.

Follow latest: Iran considering ‘all options’ after US strikes

In a statement, Sir Keir said: “Iran’s nuclear programme is a grave threat to international security. Iran can never be allowed to develop a nuclear weapon, and the US has taken action to alleviate that threat.

“The situation in the Middle East remains volatile and stability in the region is a priority. We call on Iran to return to the negotiating table and reach a diplomatic solution to end this crisis.”

He said the UK was not involved in the attack but was informed about them in advance.

Sir Keir later told reporters there was a “risk of escalation” and added: “That’s a risk to the region. It’s a risk beyond the region, and that’s why all our focus has been on de-escalating, getting people back around to negotiate what is a very real threat in relation to the nuclear programme.”

The prime minister will chair a meeting of the government’s COBRA crisis committee on Sunday afternoon.

Netanyahu praises Trump

Israel‘s Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu praised Mr Trump for the strikes, saying: “Your bold decision to target Iran’s nuclear facilities with the awesome and righteous might of the United States will change history.

“History will record that President Trump acted to deny the world’s most dangerous regime the world’s most dangerous weapons.”

UN secretary-general ‘gravely alarmed’ by US attack

But UN secretary general Antonio Guterres said he was “gravely alarmed by the use of force” by the US against Iran.

“This is a dangerous escalation in a region already on the edge – and a direct threat to international peace and security. There is a growing risk that this conflict could rapidly get out of control – with catastrophic consequences for civilians, the region, and the world.”

European Union foreign policy chief Kaja Kallas urged all sides to step back and return to the negotiating table. “Iran must not be allowed to develop a nuclear weapon,” she said in a post on X.

“I urge all sides to step back, return to the negotiating table and prevent further escalation,” she said, adding that EU foreign ministers will discuss the situation tomorrow.

How the world reacted to the strikes

World leaders reacted to the strikes with calls for diplomacy and de-escalation, with some fearing they could push the region towards a wider conflict.

Russia’s former president and current deputy chair of its security council, Dmitry Medvedev, said on the Telegram messaging app: “Trump, who came in as a peacemaker president, has started a new war for the US.”

China strongly condemned the attack, with its foreign ministry saying the move seriously violates the UN charter and worsens tensions in the Middle East. It urged the parties involved to cease attacks as soon as possible and begin negotiations.

German Chancellor Friedrich Merz urged Iran to enter immediate talks with the US and Israel to find a diplomatic solution to the conflict, a government spokesperson said.

France urged all sides to show restraint, with its foreign minister Jean-Noel Barrot saying Paris is “convinced that a lasting resolution to this issue requires a negotiated solution within the framework of the Non-Proliferation Treaty”.

Italy’s foreign minister Antonio Tajani said after the attack that his country’s government hopes “a de-escalation can begin and Iran can sit down at the negotiating table”.

Cuba’s President Miguel Diaz-Canel said on X: “We strongly condemn the US bombing of Iran’s nuclear facilities, which constitutes a dangerous escalation of the conflict in the Middle East. The aggression seriously violates the UN Charter and international law and plunges humanity into a crisis with irreversible consequences.”

Venezuela’s foreign minister Yvan Gil said his country’s government “condemns US military aggression” and “demands an immediate cessation of hostilities”.

NATO member Turkey said the strikes raised the risk of a regional conflict spreading globally, with the foreign ministry saying the spread of the conflict into a wider global war must not be allowed.

The Iraqi government condemned the strikes, saying they create a grave threat to peace and security in the Middle East.

Saudi Arabia expressed “deep concern” but stopped short of condemning the attack.

Both Hamas in Gaza and the Houthis in Yemen – part of Iran’s so-called Axis of Resistance – condemned the strikes, with the Houthis vowing to support Iran in its fight against “the Zionist and American aggression”.

Lebanon’s Prime Minister Nawaf Salam said his country needs to stay away from any possible regional spillover from the conflict.

Qatar said it “regrets” the escalating tensions and its foreign ministry urged all parties to show restraint and “avoid escalation, which the peoples of the region, burdened by conflicts and their tragic humanitarian repercussions, cannot tolerate”.

The United Arab Emirates called for an immediate halt to the escalation to “avoid serious repercussions” in the region, with its foreign ministry warning they could lead the region to “new levels of instability”.

Oman condemned the strikes, with a spokesperson for its foreign ministry warning they threaten “to expand the scope of the conflict and constitute a serious violation of international law and the United Nations charter”.

Maryam Rajavi, the head of Iranian opposition group National Council of Resistance of Iran, said from Paris: “Now [Supreme Leader] Khamenei must go. The Iranian people welcome the end of the war and seek peace and freedom.

“Khamenei is responsible for an unpatriotic project that, in addition to costing countless lives, has cost the Iranian people at least $2trn (£1.5trn) – and now, it has all gone up in smoke.”