Comrade Corbyn

This is the first of a series of blogs highlighting the company that Jeremy Corbyn keeps.  It is too easy to relax and enjoy the prospect of a permanent Conservative government while Corbyn leads the Labour Party but we need to understand the resurgence of a hard left political class, to recognise some of their movers and shakers and to be aware of their tactics in grasping for power at any price.

Bianca Todd

This lady is Bianca Todd, until recently she was one of the so-called “principal speakers” for Left Unity a political grouping of the far, far left.  Their web site announces that she has resigned as principal speaker but intends to stand for re-election. Such tactics are not unusual in left-wing groups of this kind where internal fighting is every bit as bitter as their approach to political opponents and regularly encompasses intimidation and humiliation of the worst kind.

I learned of this lady’s existence and of Left Unity when she appeared on the left-leaning Channel Four news, sharing a slot with a moderate Labour MP who  had been abused by hard-left activists.  Delving deeper, I learn that Miss Todd is the granddaughter of Ron Todd – remember him?  He was a trade union baron in the 1980s, general-secretary of the Transport and General Workers’ Union.  He used the union’s massive block vote to sabotage Neil Kinnock’s efforts to steer Labour into the centre ground. Bianca Todd is a leading light in the Unite union as well as Left Unity.

She seems to have been a founder of an organisation called Community Courtyard in Northampton apparently housed in Ron Todd House.  She is described as being employed as a youth worker in Northampton.

While one would expect her to be a strong advocate for workers in all roles, it is reported that an employment tribunal in 2011 awarded three former staff of a Leicestershire youth organisation, Children: Homes, Advice and Teaching Ltd (C:HAT Room), more than £2,000 in unpaid wages and other monies owed to them. They had worked for C:HAT Room for about six months without being given contracts. The company’s head of service was Bianca Todd – the worker’s champion!

Here is a link to Left Unity’s web site: http://leftunity.org.  This will give you a flavour of the hard left’s views and activities in our country.  I suspect we will hear more from Miss Todd and Left Unity from time to time.