Militant Unions
No doubt the calculation was that if they were going to bankroll the near bankrupt Labour Party so that it could fight the election, the unions, as a reward for their largess, could become more assertive. This is a catastrophic mistake. Voters in middle England are angry and distrustful of politicians, they hate the greedy bankers, but above all they hate and fear in equal measure militant trade unions. They have no sympathy whatever with cabin staff, whom they regard as overpaid and over privileged, they know BA is going bust if it does not reform. As for the railway union and its continuous militancy, every time Bob Crow says a word a bucket full of extra Tory votes is assured in the commuter belts, not just around London , but around all the major cities. Losing marginals here means the end of the Labour Government.
Frantic Ministers know this. Exhortations, condemnations and phone calls fly. Cameron has been handed an astounding opportunity to pull well ahead into a comfortable majority. So long as he can avoid policy muddles and keep Ashcroft locked away, the road to Number Ten is now wide open.
An intersting footnote which gives credence to the idea that this union shambles is an orchestrated plan, was the appearance before that Commons Select Committee the other day of Baroness Dean, claiming that Ashcroft had not carried out his undertakings to the the Scrutiny Committee for titles and honours, of which she is a member. Baroness Dean is none other than the Brenda Dean who led the newspaper print unions to spectacular defeat in the Battle of Wapping, which broke the power of those unions and changed newspaper production forever. She is this time a minor player, but in what may prove for Labour and even bigger disaster.
There is another footnote too. Lord Ashcroft is, as Michael Ashcroft, a veteran of the Asset Stripping days of the late sixties and early seventies. Doyens of that reviled breed were very close to Ted Heath. His dreams and his government ended in bitterness, defeat and tears. Cameron and Hague need to reflect on that.
Meanwhile the Trades Unions need to understand that in the modern world, which is so very different to times past, strkes are to industrial relations as linchings are to justice. They no longer have a place and they cannot achieve their pupose. Civilised society now walks a better path.