It is a meeting so secret that participants – in a secret location – are required to hand over their cell phones and any other electronic devices when they arrive.
They receive numbered copies of the agenda, thick packets that are collected from them at the end of the meeting. Security is extremely strict. Nothing is left to chance.
No, this is not a meeting of spies and generals to plot the nation’s secret strategy for going to war. At least not a real war. And the participants are not members of the government. Yet.
This is the Labor Party’s “Clause V” meeting, attended by Sir Keir Starmer and his shadow cabinet, senior MPs, senior trade union leaders and members of the party’s national executive.
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And that happens this Friday, with just one major item on the agenda: approving the manifesto that Sir Keir is expected to present to the country on June 13, three weeks before voting day.
The manifesto will be based on Sir Keir’s five “missions” launched last year – on the economy, the NHS, crime, climate change and education. Work is declaring war – on the Tories.
Friday’s meeting is a far cry from the smoke-filled rooms, beers and sandwiches of labor and union folklore of yesteryear. Nowadays it’s strictly mineral water and even vaporization is prohibited.
Around 80 people will be present, making the task of keeping the manifesto’s contents secret a nightmare. And security will be tighter than ever after the 2017 manifesto leak.
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The Labor Party’s shadow cabinet members, numbering 31, are well known today and include established figures such as Angela Rayner, Rachel Reeves, Yvette Cooper and Ed Miliband.
Then there are the rising stars like Wes Streeting, Bridget Phillipson, Peter Kyle and Shabana Mahmood and veterans of the Blair/Brown era like Pat McFadden, Hilary Benn and John Healey.
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Other attendees on Friday will include Labor Party parliamentary chairman John Cryer, the general secretaries of the 11 unions affiliated with the party and the 40 or so members of the national executive, the NEC.
The NEC is dominated by the unions, which have 11 seats. The local parties have nine, plus two councillors, and veteran former ministers Sir George Howarth, Dame Margaret Beckett and Dame Angela Eagle are also members.
All this makes the Clause V meeting – called Clause V because it is the section of the party rulebook that describes the policy-making process – quite complicated, although it is likely that the manifesto had already been written by the Starmer allies before the meeting.
But it is from the leaders of the big unions that Sir Keir is likely to face the stiffest opposition on Friday. Unions demand we do not roll back workers’ rights and are fighting a proposed ban on oil and gas drilling in the North Sea.
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Sir Keir’s union critics include the no-nonsense Sharon Graham of Unite and the left-wing Matt Wrack of the Fire Brigades Union, Mick Whelan of the Aslef machinists union and Dave Ward of the Communication Workers Union.
Writing in The Guardian this week, Ms Graham stated: “I make no apologies for holding the Labor Party’s feet to the fire over workers’ rights – no matter how uncomfortable it may make some or what criticism is laid on my doorstep. .
“Of course I want a Labor government, but that doesn’t mean I’ll stand on the sidelines and applaud while it caves to the business lobby and backtracks on its commitments.
“The Labor leadership’s tendency to renege on promises has been a theme of its time in opposition.”
And Wrack, current president of the TUC, said on Wednesday, ahead of Friday’s meeting: “We want the next Labor government to be accountable for what is in that manifesto.”
And warning Sir Keir about workers’ rights, he said: “I don’t expect him to back down, it’s a winning vote and will substantially improve the lives of millions of people.”
The Clause V meeting is scheduled to begin at noon on Friday. It is a crucial moment in the Labor Party’s election campaign. Noon, actually.
This story originally appeared on News.sky.com read the full story
