Inside The Unison General Secretary Race That Could See The PM Lose A Major Ally
Unison's general secretary race between Christina McAnea and Andrea Egan (Artwork by Max Dubiel)
7 min read
The outcome of a crucial battle for the leadership of Britain’s largest trade union will soon be revealed. Sienna Rodgers explores why the Unison general secretary result announced on 17 December matters
The Unison general secretary election has the potential to deliver a seismic upset – one that could deprive Keir Starmer of his closest ally among trade union leaders.
If social worker Andrea Egan unseats incumbent Christina McAnea, the consequences would be far-reaching both in political and industrial terms, changing the balance of factional power across the labour movement and redefining how Britain’s largest trade union approaches pay disputes.
At an already tumultuous time for Starmer, with Downing Street struggling to operate in an unforgiving fiscal environment made more challenging when industrial action strikes, a change at the top of Unison would further destabilise the Prime Minister.
When Labour came under Starmer’s control, some trade unions felt they had returned to the days of being treated like the embarrassing uncle at the family party – merely tolerated. Yet others, like Unison, maintained strong ties with Labour’s centre and could enjoy a meaningful seat at the table.
Of the ‘big three’ among Labour’s 11 affiliated unions, Unite is firmly on the hostile left, the GMB is considered a temperamental friend of the leadership, often acting as a swing voter in internal matters, and only Unison has been regarded as a properly reliable ally. Notably, No 10’s director of trade union relations, Claire Stewart, used to work for McAnea.
But McAnea’s critics in the union argue that she has failed to fully capitalise on this strong relationship; in the words of her rival, Unison has been “taken for a ride”. And as Lucy Powell’s recent deputy leadership win showed, the Labour government’s struggles in office mean that what was once a major advantage – closeness to Starmer – can now be a serious vulnerability. This is the position in which Unison’s general secretary finds herself today.
The outcome of Unison’s internal election is difficult to predict. Both sides fancy their chances. This time, the insurgents have a key advantage: unity.
When McAnea, then an assistant general secretary of Unison, won her inaugural race almost five years ago, she secured almost 48 per cent of the vote against three candidates who were all pitching to her left. In her fight for a second term, however, she now faces a single challenger. Crucially, never before has the leadership of Unison come down to a head-to-head showdown.
The opponent hoping to replace her, Egan, is secretary of Unison’s Bolton branch. The flame-haired social worker, who is neither a paid union official nor a Labour member, is backed by John McDonnell – to whom she is close – and Jeremy Corbyn.
“She launched a campaign within days of his funeral, while I was on bereavement leave”
If Egan wins, it would be the first time a lay member of the union has become general secretary. To reinforce her status as the rank-and-file candidate, she has pledged to take only the wage of a social worker, not the total salary package of £181,000 to which the general secretary is entitled. (The House asked Egan and a member of her campaign after our interview what this salary would be but did not receive a response. The average salary of a social worker is estimated on gov.uk to be between £32,000 and £48,000.)
Egan tells The House she is “very confident” of victory. “In some ways, that does terrify me, because this is a big job,” she admits.
“I don’t think she’s in a position to say that she’s confident about any of this,” McAnea hits back. She is positive about her own prospects but wary of appearing overconfident: “I don’t want to jinx anything. I don’t want to become complacent.” She does not want supportive members to assume that their votes aren’t needed.
In 2021, Unison’s left slate – under the ‘Time For Real Change’ banner – won a majority on the national executive council for the first time in the union’s history and afterwards the presidency too. Nobody quite knows why that happened. More recently, that faction has suffered defeats in internal elections and lost control of the NEC; few claim to thoroughly understand that development either.
“Nobody has a grasp on the selectorate,” says a trade union source. They point out that insiders have been bad at predicting the outcomes of recent contests in other unions – most noticeably, when Sharon Graham confounded expectations by winning the four-way Unite battle in 2021. Low turnout, usually at 10 per cent or lower in Unison internal elections, is a major factor.
The current election started in acrimony and has continued in the same vein. In what one Labour MP describes as the “lowest moment” of the race, Egan launched her campaign at the end of last year while McAnea was still on bereavement leave, her husband Robert having recently died.
“She launched a campaign within days of his funeral, while I was on bereavement leave, with a video that said, ‘Where’s our general secretary?’ We haven’t seen her’. It’s shocking,” McAnea tells The House. “She’s run a very nasty campaign, I would say.”
Egan defends the move by explaining that as the lesser-known candidate she could not afford to delay: “I did a bit of a soft launch in December, and I’ve had a lot of backlash about that from Christina supporters, because her husband had passed away, but we’d already been in those planning stages.
“These are five-year elections – you know what’s coming up, you can’t sit around. I had postponed my soft launch, which was just an online launch, but I postponed that because of her husband’s funeral. But you think, well, how long do I postpone this? I’ve got to get my name out there.”
She similarly alleges that “personal attacks” against her have been “a bit below the belt”. Notably, both women describe each other’s campaigns as “desperate”.
McAnea accuses Egan of “selling people a pup” with her pledge to review Unison’s Labour affiliation
The left has accused McAnea of rushing to criticise Starmer at the eleventh hour. Against his wishes, for example, the general secretary successfully moved a motion at Labour conference that described Israel’s actions in Gaza as a “genocide” and called on the government to “do more”, including fully suspending its arms trade with Israel. One frontbencher complains that she may have done it “for naught” anyway as not enough people noticed. An ally of McAnea says her position on Gaza is genuine.
At the same time, McAnea accuses Egan of “selling people a pup” with her pledge to review Unison’s Labour affiliation. To review and change the official link is basically impossible, the general secretary says, as it would have to be done via a conference rule change or agreement with the Labour Link committee that runs its political fund.
“She makes these claims that there are blank cheques. It’s total nonsense. We pay the Labour Party the affiliation fee that these members have said they want us to pay, and that’s what they get,” says McAnea.
“I will unpick that,” Egan insists. “We have to be transparent. So, the deputy leader nomination came from a committee of less than 20 people. How is that right? I don’t know how it was done, and I’m a Labour Link member.” For her, the opacity of the rules and the difficulty in getting around them is exactly why the affiliation needs reviewing.
So, could a united left putting up a female candidate against a backdrop of widespread dissatisfaction with the Labour government combine to deliver an Egan win?
It is unusual for one-term incumbents with good name recognition and the machinery of the union behind them to lose such elections – but nobody is ruling out the possibility of just that.
Voting among Unison’s more than 1.3 million members ended on 25 November, and the results are set to be published on 17 December. Then we will have our answer.
