When Mick Lynch was recently invited for an interview with journalist Piers Morgan on TalkTV, the transport union leader expected to be hacked into pay raises, angry travelers and the state of the railroads. But instead Morgan wanted to talk about the Thunderbirds† Lynch’s profile picture on Facebook is, the interviewer had noted, The Hood, the villain in this puppet show. Lynch explained that the avatar is a joke among friends simply because he resembles the character. Morgan, however, continued to fish for a deeper meaning. To which Lynch sighed, “Is this what has become of journalism?”
Morgan was out for a so-called gotcha!moment, when he got hold of the leader of the mighty National Union of Rail, Maritime and Transport Workers (RMT). On Sky TV, presenter Kay Burley tried to trick the union leader into making statements about possible violence if strikebreakers tried to break through the picket line. Bee Good Morning Britain on ITV, Richard Madeley asked if he might be talking to a Marxist who wanted to overthrow capitalism. “Richard, sometimes you sell your absolute nonsense,” was the laughing Lynch’s response.
Then Lynch explained what he is. ‘I am not a Marxist, I am an elected director of the RMT. I’m an ordinary working-class boy who happens to be at the forefront of a conflict over jobs, wages and working conditions, that has nothing to do with Marxism.’ With this answer he has already been able to parry many an attack. In fact, his innocence, faked or otherwise, wins many people’s sympathy, in spite of all the inconveniences he caused with the railway strike. Also because Lynch presents himself as a defender of the entire working class, not just the railway workers.
Mickmania
Until the release of ‘Mickmania’, most Britons had never heard of 60-year-old Lynch, who has only been the foreman of the RMT for a year. Not much is known about the son of Irish immigrants, who grew up in West London. He left school at the age of 16 and started working as an electrician in construction. When he got into trouble as a union member, he went to work for Eurostar and other rail companies. Despite opposition from his employers, he rose within the trade union movement.
His current position makes him an influential Briton. While unions in other sectors have lost a lot of power since the days of Thatcher and Blair, the RMT can still disrupt the economy with strikes. This happened regularly in the 1970s, the heyday of the trade union movement. Conservatives warn of a return to that period, a warning that is more heeded by people over 60 than by younger islanders. When they think of that decade earlier, they think of Roxy Music, cheap housing and wide-leg pants.
Socialist of the old stamp
Lynch presents himself as an old-fashioned socialist, who is concerned about the disappearance of jobs, the feasting of shareholders and the evaporation of purchasing power. He is also a lexitize, a leftist proponent of Brexit. In Lynch’s view, the EU is a capitalist club. He is also a republican, but for practical reasons he can live with the royal family. After all, his supporters appreciate the queen. And he is a lover of The Crownhe told in an interview with The Daily Telegraph†
At the Labor Party headquarters people are more afraid of Lynch than at Buckingham Palace. According to the trade unionist, since the leadership of Tony Blair, the Social Democrats have neglected the working class, opening the door to populists. He sees the fact that the Conservative Boris Johnson managed to demolish the Red Wall in the 2019 parliamentary elections as proof of this. Just like the fact that the moderate Labor leader Keir Starmer did not dare to visit the striking railway workers.
Lynch is more in line with the previous Labor leader, Jeremy Corbyn – with three differences. There is no hint of anti-Semitism about him, he does not engage in identity politics and he does not come from the upper middle class. Moreover, he speaks clear language, with the necessary humor. When a Conservative MP said he should be ashamed that he had shut down the country, his response was: ‘Shame on you for spouting such nonsense’. What he thinks about Starmer’s Labor was revealed when he had no idea who she was during a discussion with a Labor representative.
For Boris Johnson, Mick Lynch is also a left opponent. The Conservative Prime Minister relies heavily on the voice of the working class in central and northern England, voters who had become disappointed in the new Labour. Last year, Johnson had promised these supporters an economy with higher wages. That’s what Lynch is asking for now, but the chances are slim that the Prime Minister will deliver on this promise. That gives Lynch space for the new one working class hero to call out.