Brighton love-in sees Jeremy Corbyn tell the trade unions what they want to hear
Opponents will no doubt claim the Labour leader is handing out goodies in return for unions funding the party's election campaign.
Tuesday 10 September 2019 16:18, UK
Jeremy Corbyn was among friends. He likes Brighton and he likes the trade unions.
He's from the unions. His first job was with a trade union; NUPE, now part of Unison.
And, for good measure, the weather in Brighton on the day of his big Trades Union Congress (TUC) speech here was absolutely glorious.
His first Labour conference as party leader, in 2015, was in Brighton and he told me then that it was his favourite conference town.
And unlike Tony Blair, who viewed his visits to the TUC as a disagreeable chore, Mr Corbyn enjoys the company of trade union leaders.
These days the leaders of most of the big unions are more left-wing than their predecessors.
They are also staunch Corbyn allies; such as Len McCluskey of Unite, his chief cheerleader in the union movement, Dave Ward of the Communication Workers Union, and Mark Serwotka of the PCS, who is this year's TUC president.
When Mr Blair was Labour leader it was claimed that when he spoke at the TUC or the party's Scottish conference he was so desperate to get away quickly that he asked his driver to leave the car engine running.
A joke, obviously, but Mr Blair did say when he announced in 2006 that he was quitting: "The next TUC conference next week will be my last, probably to the relief of both of us."
Mr Corbyn, on the other hand, like his left-wing ally John McDonnell, has been coming to the TUC for years, speaking at fringe meetings in support of strikes and marches and declaring solidarity with left-wing governments and workers' struggles all over the world.
So it was no surprise that Mr Corbyn came here with a general election probably only weeks away and promised his union friends "the biggest extension of rights for workers that our country has ever seen".
He promised a new Ministry of Employment Rights; repealing the Tory trade union laws within 100 days of Labour taking office; a living wage of at least £10 per hour for all workers from the age of 16; action on the gender pay gap; equal rights for all workers from day one; the end of zero-hour contracts; and no more working until 75 before getting a pension.
The unions have been campaigning against zero-hour contracts for years and Mr Corbyn won loud cheers and an instant standing ovation for his pledge to abolish them.
He also promised a Workers Protection Agency with "real teeth" and the power to prosecute firms that pay less than the minimum wage; workers on company boards; and a 10% stake in large companies for workers, with a dividend of up to £500 a year.
Mr Corbyn's Tory opponents will no doubt claim he was handing out the goodies to his trade union friends in return for them bank-rolling Labour's general election campaign.
After his speech Mr Corbyn did spend 90 minutes in a meeting of a group called TULO, the Trade Union and Labour Party Liaison Organisation, whose members include his close ally Mr McCluskey.
It was all very friendly and comradely, a real love-in. In the old days we would have had talked about beer and sandwiches and smoke-filled rooms.
Not now. Mr Corbyn doesn't drink beer and smoking in venues like the Brighton Centre, where Labour's conference takes place in a fortnight, is strictly illegal.
In his speech here, Mr Corbyn said "a general election is coming", but Labour would not allow Boris Johnson to dictate the terms.
Labour's priority was to stop a no-deal Brexit and then to trigger a general election, he said.
"And I can tell you this: we're ready for that election," Mr Corbyn added. "We're ready to unleash the biggest people-powered campaign we've ever seen.
"And in that election we will commit to a public vote with a credible option to leave and the option to remain."
So not only did Mr Corbyn tell the unions what they wanted to hear on workers' rights, but also on an EU referendum as well.
He also delighted his trade union audience by attacking their favourite pantomime villains, Donald Trump and Jacob Rees-Mogg.
"A no-deal Brexit is really a Trump deal Brexit," he said, "leading to a one-sided US trade deal negotiated from a position of weakness."
And later Mr Corbyn said: "I'm told that the last decade has seen the biggest squeeze on wages since the Napoleonic Wars.
"Personally I can't remember that far back. So I tried to contact Jacob Rees-Mogg this morning to check.
"But he was fast asleep again... on the government benches."
Mr Rees-Mogg, the new leader of the Commons, is a favourite Corbyn target.
At Labour's conference in Liverpool last year, delegates booed loudly when Mr Corbyn mentioned him.
So I expect we'll hear him lampoon him again in his speech to his party here in a fortnight.
Labour activists love Mr Corbyn. But left-wing union delegates here possibly love him even more.
Especially when he tells them what they want to hear on workers' rights.