Keir Starmer was last night facing fresh questions about the influence of union barons over his Government as analysis showed they account for a third of Labour’s governing body.
Some 13 barons sit on the party’s powerful National Executive Committee, including the boss of the rail union that last week called strikes just 48 hours after being offered a 14.25 per cent pay hike.
It means they account for a third of the 39 members with voting rights on the NEC, which has held regular meetings with Sir Keir and senior ministers, including his deputy Angela Rayner.
The body provides ‘strategic direction’ to the party and oversees the policy-making process.
Critics last night suggested it was a potential ‘conflict of interest’ for the Prime Minister and Ms Rayner because they sit around the NEC table with those they are negotiating with on behalf of taxpayers.
Critics last night suggested it was a potential ‘conflict of interest’ for the Prime Minister (pictured during a visit to Police Service of Northern Ireland) because he sits around the NEC table with those they are negotiating with on behalf of taxpayers
They said it may also explain why the Prime Minister has been willing to sign off inflation-busting public sector pay hikes with no strings attached.
It comes after the Mail revealed how 213 of Sir Keir’s 404 MPs took union cash to help them fight the election. The MPs raked in a whopping £1.8 million from union bosses after the election was called in May.
Separate analysis shows that Cabinet ministers have received more than £500,000 in union donations in the past five years. Ms Rayner has the highest total – more than £144,000 since 2019.
Former Tory minister Sir John Hayes said: ‘Any ministers that sit on the NEC must be very careful about a conflict of interest because, if they’re sitting alongside the people they’re in negotiation with over wages and terms and conditions, it makes it extremely difficult for them to be impartial.
‘You can’t be poacher and gamekeeper… I think there’s a real issue here.’
Former Tory leader Sir Iain Duncan Smith said: ‘We now see who Labour really are, which is not some sort of Blairite party.
‘It’s actually an old-fashioned trade union-supporting party. And that is where it will govern from – very much from the Left.’
Mick Whelan, the boss of train drivers’ union Aslef, sits on the NEC. Last week Transport Secretary Louise Haigh, who is a close ally of Mr Whelan, approved a 14.25 per cent pay deal for train drivers over three years without any concessions on reforming the system.
Only two days later, Aslef announced further rail strikes on the East Coast Mainline, connecting London to Edinburgh, sparking accusations that Sir Keir has lost control of his union ‘paymasters’ weeks into his premiership.
The Labour Party was contacted for comment.
