Olympic Spirit

I see that Len McCluskey - the Unite leader - has escaped the clutches of his minders again and started making more silly public statements - before anyone could wrestle the microphone away.

On this occasion Len gave an in depth interview with the Guardian - in which he encouraged people to consider using strike action to disrupt the Olympic Games - in London this summer.

Len's outburst was directed against public spending cuts - and he went on to say that the government's policies were "so deep and ideological" that targeting the Games would be justified. 

What a chump.

Just think of all the young people from around the world - striving for excellence, training hard for years - only for Len and his band of merry men to come along and spoil the party.

Now if I were I Labour councillor in South Lanarkshire - I might be tempted to call Len a prize p**** - see post dated 25 February 2012: 'Insulting Talk'.

Because he's already been disowned by Ed Miliband and the Labour high command - who are keen not to be associated with the elderly trade union sugar daddies like Len that bankroll the party.

Len's money - or his members' money to be precise - might seem essential to the Labour leadership.

Yet the man and his views are about as welcome - as a tax inspector at Rangers Football Club these days.

The problem for the unions is that Len's comments are just barking mad - because Labour would also be cutting public spending if the party was still in power today.

In fact it was Alistair Darling - the former Labour chancellor - who said that the cuts in public spending required to re-balance the UK economy - were greater than those introduced during the recession of the 1980s - when Mrs Thatcher was in power.

So how can the coalition's spending plans be ideological - when broadly similar plans from the Labour party are not?

Unless of course Len wants to disown Labour and its leader - which is another matter altogether.

The other way to tell that cuts in public spending is another way of saying that UK has to start living within its means - is that the same thing has been happening in other European countries - where the socialists are or have been in power.

Greece and Spain are the obvious examples.

Maybe Len believes that these other countries were not socialist enough - that they should have kept spending money they didn't have - by borrowing ever more.

But that of course is nonsense - too ridiculous for words.

Whether Len is just a publicity-seeking buffoon remains to be seen - though the omens don't look good it has to be said.

But one thing is clear - Len is not speaking for Unite's 1.3 million members - never mind the rest of the trade union movement.