Alternative Comedy
I never had the Unite boss Len McCluskey down as a comedian, but I may need to reassess things after reading an article in last week's Sunday Time.
According to the newspaper's deputy political editor, McCluskey 'joked about hitting Eagle' after the Labour MP announced her decision to challenge the party leader, Jeremy Corbyn.
Union chief ‘joked about hitting Eagle’
By James Lyons - The Sunday Times
Eagle: victim of ‘toxic’ abuseANADOLU AGENCY/GETTY
Len McCluskey, leader of the Unite union, joked to Angela Eagle about hitting her after she challenged Jeremy Corbyn for the party leadership, it was claimed this weekend.
Eagle’s twin sister Maria later confronted McCluskey, a staunch ally of the hard-left Labour leader, after hearing what had happened, according to one witness.
McCluskey told Maria, who is also a Labour MP: “It’s a joke, it’s a joke,”, according to the witness. But she insisted: “it is not funny, not funny, Len,” when Angela had received so much abuse for challenging Corbyn.
“If you think that is funny then you have a funny sense of humour saying that to someone who has been threatened with being killed and is being abused on social media,” Maria told him.
Yesterday, a Unite spokesman said the account was “utter rubbish”, adding: “We have no further comment to make.”
Len McCluskey, leader of the Unite union, joked to Angela Eagle about hitting her after she challenged Jeremy Corbyn for the party leadership, it was claimed this weekend.
Eagle’s twin sister Maria later confronted McCluskey, a staunch ally of the hard-left Labour leader, after hearing what had happened, according to one witness.
McCluskey told Maria, who is also a Labour MP: “It’s a joke, it’s a joke,”, according to the witness. But she insisted: “it is not funny, not funny, Len,” when Angela had received so much abuse for challenging Corbyn.
“If you think that is funny then you have a funny sense of humour saying that to someone who has been threatened with being killed and is being abused on social media,” Maria told him.
Yesterday, a Unite spokesman said the account was “utter rubbish”, adding: “We have no further comment to make.”
