Conservatives plan trade union movement of their own to win over “moderate” workers

Deputy chairman Rob Halfon argues that militant unionists alienate many members who have sympathy with Tory party policies

On the march: A TUC protest – but the Tories want to see a different face of unionism


The Conservative Party is to launch its own trade union movement in an attempt to win over members unhappy with "militant" union leaders.

Deputy party chairman Rob Halfon said the Conservative Workers and Trade Union Movement would provide a voice for Conservative-minded and moderate trade unionists.

“I think that trade unionism should be for the many, not the few.

“And at the moment, so much of it, you see it through ... the prisms of a few militant leaders who I believe don't represent the thousands of ordinary trade union members," he told Parliament’s The House magazine.

Up the workers: Tory deputy chairman Robert Halfon



“There will be a voice for moderate trade unionists who feel they may have sympathy with the Conservatives or even just feel that they’re not being represented by militant trade union leaders.”

In the past Mr Halfon – a member of the Prospect trade union – has called on his party to stop “bashing” unions.

And he has talked of rebranding the Tories as “the workers’ party” and suggested its emblem should be a ladder.