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Tony Blair and Lord Owen praise Labour leader's union link attack

Gloating lord who tried to destroy the party donates 'over £7,500' in celebration

Avowed enemies of socialism Tony Blair and Lord Owen heaped praise on Labour leader Ed Miliband at the weekend for attacking the party’s trade union link.

Lord Owen was so delighted at Mr Miliband’s rushed and dangerous party rule changes that he donated “over £7,500” to the Labour Party.

The noble lord was one of the infamous “gang of four” who set up the rival Social Democratic Party in 1981 in a failed attempt to destroy the Labour Party.

But yesterday he announced the cash donation because he was worried that Mr Miliband’s “very desirable” rule changes “threatened to weaken Labour’s financial support at a critical time.”

Lord Owen said he now wanted to support Labour in the peers’ chamber by sitting on the cross-benches as an “independent social democrat.”

Warmly welcoming the peer’s support, Mr Miliband proclaimed: “This is a testament to how far we have come as a movement.”

Super-rich globe-trotting warmonger Mr Blair declared that “Ed has shown real courage and leadership on this issue.”

Mr Blair added that he should have introduced such changes himself when he was prime minister.

A Labour Party special conference in London on Saturday overwhelmingly approved sweeping rule changes proposed in a report drawn up by former general secretary Lord Collins.

Party democracy campaigners warned that the attack on Labour’s traditional union link continued the demolition job launched by Mr Blair nearly 19 years ago when a special conference abandoned the party’s traditional clause four commitment to public ownership.

Constituency parties voted three to one in favour, while trade union support was overwhelming alongside stark warnings from union leaders that Labour must adopt radical policies if it is to win members and supporters.

A card vote produced an overall majority of 86.29 per cent to 13.71 per cent in support of the entire Collins report, with only one and a half hours allowed for speeches from the floor — and no amendments permitted.

Among changes adopted in one fell swoop were the requirement for trade union members to opt-in as individuals to become affiliated supporters, instead of unions affiliating members en bloc.

Leadership and deputy leadership elections will be conducted on the basis of one member, one vote, with people who are not party members allowed to vote as registered supporters upon payment of a small fee of around £3.

And the idea of primary elections will be introduced — at first only to choose Labour’s candidate for London mayor.

Bedford constituency party delegate Richard Johnson issued a grave warning from the rostrum that attacking the union link would create “severe” financial problems for the party.

“According to realistic projections, we could lose up to 60 per cent of our funds from trade unionists,” he said.

The “unpalatable” alternatives were donations from wealthy individuals or state funding.

Labour leader Ed Miliband denied that the rule changes were “a distraction” from the campaign to “change our country.”

But former deputy leader Margaret Beckett declared that the public did not like “navel-gazing” by political parties.

“So my plea to this conference is, let’s deal with these issues, let’s settle them, let’s put them behind us and concentrate on the fight to get rid of this government.”

Unison general secretary Dave Prentis supported the changes, but warned that “the country does not want to hear about our internal structures.”

The Collins report was not going to put food on the table of people forced to use food banks, he said.

And it would not inspire party activists who wanted to campaign against poverty and privatisation of public services.

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