Jeremy Corbyn urged to pay back £75,000 trade union loans by furious official after Copeland by-election defeat
Trade union official claims the Labour leader has done little for his members in return for large sum of cash
EMBATTLED Jeremy Corbyn is being chased to pay back £75,000 in loans from his union backers.
A furious official claims the Labour leader has done little for his members in return for the cash windfall.
And he has demanded he coughs up the lot now.
Mr Corbyn was still reeling over Thursday’s catastrophic defeat in the Copeland by-election when the demand came in yesterday.
He was handed the dosh in interest-free loans from his leftie union pal Len McCluskey to fund his leadership campaign.
The Unite boss quietly wrote off the debt before the first payment was due.
But the union’s West Midlands Secretary Gerard Coyne yesterday declared: “A loan is a loan – not a gift.”
And he vowed to pursue Mr Corbyn for full repayment if he wins a battle for control of the 1.4 million-member union.
Mr Coyne said: “Many inside Unite will be questioning, when Labour looks so far away from power, was this good value for money?
“We should be demanding that money back now. And one of the first things I will do, if I become general secretary, is write to Jeremy and ask for its return.”
Mr Corbyn has received £225,000 cash and £41,000 in benefits from Unite in the 14 months since he won the Labour crown.
The latest cash splurge was the £75,000 loan authorised by the union’s leader Mr McCluskey last November.
Mr Coyne said: “If a union boss is going to invest nearly £270,000 in the career of one politician – as Len as for Jeremy – then you would think he would at least pick a winner.”
RELATED STORIES
He accused “Red Len” of “pulling the strings” as Mr Corbyn’s puppet master – and disappearing when it all goes wrong.
He said: “He has put his placemen and women into the highest positions, funded Jeremy Corbyn with hundreds of thousands in gifts and cajoled and bullied those who disagreed with his political views.
“But today, while the party faces its biggest crisis in 50 years – with the Labour leader disconnected from its traditional support – he is suddenly nowhere to be seen.
“The silence of Len McCluskey is truly damning. He has driven Labour to the cliff edge – and then disappeared as it tumbles over the edge.”
A Unite spokesman said: “Unite’s political support is a decision for the union’s executive and not one individual.
"Mr Coyne knows this very well, and would indeed be bound by the same rules, and to claim otherwise is to misrepresent his union.”