McCluskey's former love tipped for top Labour Job!

Jennie Formby - Unite Political Director

UNITE union boss, Jennie Formby, is in the running to be the next Labour General Secretary following the resignation of current General Secretary, Ian McNicholl.

Before marrying Frederick Formby in 2004, she was the ex-partner of Len McCluskey - now the General Secretary of Unite - and was then known as Jennifer Louise Sandle.  In 1991, she gave birth to McCluskey's son at the Princess Anne Hospital, Southampton.  In February, Formby was given the job as Unite's Political Director on a salary of £75,000.

Although amiable and avuncular, McCluskey's love life has been the subject of a great deal of gossip since he stood for re-election as General Secretary of Unite in 2017.  When Formby gave birth to his child in 1991, McCluskey had been married to Ann his first wife, for 28-years, and had a son.  He was also living in union subsidised property, while his wife continued to live in Liverpool.  He then set up home with another lover called Paula Lace, in a union-subsidised property.

During last years election for Unite General Secretary, which McCluskey won by a narrow margin, there were allegations that he had used union funds to help him buy properties in London.   The union said that the "purchase agreement" was not a loan of £400,000 but "an equity share arrangement."  His re-election is now the subject of an official probe by the Certification Officer.

Apart from being a close friend of Len McCluskey, Jennie Formby is also a close friend of Karie Murphy, a former Unison union official who was embroiled in the "Falkirk Fix Scandal."   A former nurse from Glasgow, Murphy is said to be the director of the Labour leader's office. 

When the New Statesman called Karie Murphy the "courtesan in the court of Corbyn" and revealed that she was Len's 'partner', they received a legal letter insisting on a correction to the effect that she was merely "a close friend of Len McCluskey" and nothing else.

Whatever attracted many of these women to the ageing libidinous Liverpudlian, is something that will always remain a mystery.  But power is said to be one of the most potent of aphrodisiacs, even though it is said to corrupt.  Personally,  I think Telemaque, sums the situation up most succinctly - "Services! talents! merit! bah! - join a clique."