How Mick Lynch accidentally became the best Labour leader the UK has seen in years

Maddy Mussen

Rail workers are feeling directionless, abandoned and failed by all political parties – and they aren’t alone

Robin has voted Conservative for as long as he’s been able to vote. This week, something changed. He cancelled his Tory membership online and cut ties with the party, leaving a lengthy explanation of why in an online cancellation form.

The 42-year-old is fed up with the party that once represented him. He also happens to be a train dispatcher, and a committed member of the RMT (Rail, Maritime and Transport workers’ union), the union which staged the largest national rail strike in 30 years, to the great disdain of the Conservative party.

“Everyone within the railway is like family,” says Robin*, from Wiltshire, who has worked in the rail industry for eight years. “Never in my life have I experienced something like that [in a job] – it’s amazing. But now…”

Robin’s working conditions are worsening, and concerns over hours, pay and increased automation have started to plague him – so he decided to strike. Since then, Robin has become increasingly aware of two things. One, the Conservative party does not support his strike and seems entirely unwilling to negotiate or recognise RMT’s demands as reasonaband twole.

And two, the man leading the action, Mick Lynch. This week, Lynch has gone from relatively unknown union boss to a household name after battling Tories left and right as they once again assert their contempt for unions, and outmanoeuvring media presenters with ease.

Lynch’s ease in these interviews prompted Robin to think, “Mick would make a good political leader”.

Lynch has said he’s not interested, but if this week has proved anything, it is that a lot of people think he’s perfect for the job.

“He’d be great as a politician, and Labour could do with more voices that speak authentically,” Andrew Fisher, the ex-director of policy at the Labour Party told JOE.

“What makes Mick Lynch so effective as a communicator is that he has an argument, not a series of soundbites. He articulates the demands of his members, why they demand it, and why their demands are justified.”

People have called Lynch a hero, a real representative of the working class and the first person to feel on “their side” in a long time. There’s even a thing called “Mick Mania” now, coined to explain all of Lynch’s fancams, tweets and TikTok views (three million just on the hashtag #MickLynch). But like Lynch told Adil Ray when quizzed about becoming a politician on Good Morning Britain on Thursday, he’s not going to get distracted by all of that: “My job is to represent my members and get them a deal in this dispute and I’m focused on that,” he said.

The deal RMT is seeking ensures a guarantee of no compulsory redundancies and a greater pay increase than 4 per cent, which the union says is “underpowered and undervalued” because it fails to address the impact of the cost of living crisis and inflation.

As someone who never thought he’d go on strike in his life, Robin is grateful for Lynch’s leadership: “It’s not what people think, like this big uprising of unions, it’s people literally fighting for what they think they deserve. That’s the saddest part.”

The Conservative party has refused to give in to the RMT’s demands. Grant Shapps dismissed the strike as a “stunt” on Tuesday, and Boris Johnson said industrial action was “unnecessary” and “a terrible idea” on Wednesday. That’s left Tory voters and railway workers, like Robin, feeling cast adrift after being anchored to one political party for all of their adult life.

So who would Robin vote for instead? “I honestly don’t know,” he says, “I would definitely go vote, even if I had to spoil my ballot paper because I feel like I have to do something. And I can’t imagine anyone I work with having any inclination to vote Conservative at the next election either.”

Just a video of Mick Lynch bodying journalists and Tories pic.twitter.com/C1kLroXFZX

— PoliticsJOE (@PoliticsJOE_UK) June 22, 2022

The only leader inspiring Robin, is Lynch, who this week triumphed over experienced media personalities, Kay Burley, Richard Madeley and Piers Morgan, and won praise from Rory Stewart, Martin Lewis and Hugh Laurie.

“It’s completely ironic that a union leader is now more representative of me than the party I used to support,” Robin says. “The Conservatives and certain parts of the media try to portray Mick Lynch as extreme, but he’s wiping the floor with everyone he appears with […] I couldn’t be happier with his TV performances.”

https://www.instagram.com/p/CfHN-ENohw0/

And it’s not just Tories that Lynch is winning over. In a bid to distance the party from the Corbyn era, Labour’s relationship with the unions has become more fractious than ever, coming to a head on Tuesday when Sir Keir Starmer warned Labour frontbenchers to stay away from picket lines. “I’m not exactly a happy Labour voter,” says Tony Collins, an RMT union member and Tube driver living in London who describes the political allegiances of his friends and colleagues in the rail industry as now completely “directionless”.

https://twitter.com/reece_hrs/status/1539562778364608512?s=20&t=Oc_DiKZY9lqtr3Re3LcvAQ

“There is definitely that sense that Labour offers nothing for us,” he explains. “The feeling I get at work is that people feel completely abandoned by all political parties. That there’s no point in voting except to get the Tories out. The general feeling is that no one wants their vote.”

Like Robin, Collins has been taken with Lynch – his leadership and common touch: “He just speaks our truth – he’s not trying to weave a narrative or try to engage particular types of people,” he explained, adding: “I think it’s got to be said that a huge number of people – in the RMT and elsewhere – have really turned away from politics, so there’s definitely a sense that someone from ‘our side’ has finally spoken up.”

Lynch may be the mouthpiece of the RMT primarily, but he is starting to stand for much more than that, even to people who have nothing to do with the railways. Debra, who’s 43 and from south London, has just changed her Twitter handle to “Mick Lynch stan account” (there are hundreds of results for tweets when you search ‘Mick Lynch stan’). Debra says she’s fond of Lynch not just because of how he speaks for members, “but also the entire working class of Britain”.

She believes that in the past week, Lynch has been a better representative for the British working class than Starmer ever has. “Keir comes across as this ‘Conservative-lite’”, she reckons, “and the Labour party hasn’t been the party for labour in years. Keir hasn’t done anything or stood for anything memorable since he’s been the party leader.”

Lynch grew up in Paddington and left school at 16 to train to be an electrician. When he struggled to find work he joined Eurostar and became affiliated with the RMT from there. For all intents and purposes, he is working class.

And if he became Labour leader tomorrow, Debra, who normally votes Lib Dem, says she’d back the party in a general election. Does she think Lynch has provided the leadership to the left that Keir has never been able to muster? “Absolutely,” she says.

Regular Tories, who have nothing to do with the rail industry, agree: “A strong union voice should be an asset to a Labour leader – look at Arthur Scargill and Wilson in the 70s,” says George Myers, a 21-year-old Conservative party member.

“The problem Keir has is that he can’t capitalise on the strength that [Lynch] shows because he knows it will go down poorly in so many of the constituencies that he needs to win back at the next election.” He adds that Lynch’s winning TV persona doesn’t help, because it only serves to “highlight that Keir is a bit dry.”

Myers doesn’t think that Lynch is doing nearly as much damage to Johnson as he is to Starmer, because “people wouldn’t really hold Mick and Boris up against each other” like they would with he and the Labour leader. However, the PM has plenty to worry about without a powerful rail related orator to contend against – he just lost two by-elections.

This should be a huge win for Labour, but when people are currently more invested in a trade union boss who they’ve known for a week than their own political leader, you have to question if really anyone is winning at all. Apart from Lynch, of course.

Robin’s name has been changed to protect his anonymity.