So, the Tories have declared war on Charlie Whelan and Unite - what Eric Pickles calls the "great untold story of British politics". He was joined by no less than two more shadow frontbenchers - Michael Gove and Theresa Villiers - at a briefing attacking the union's political influence this morning. And that's not all: the Tories have produced a document detailing how Unite is ...

Due to the unprecendented industrial problems faced by Unite in the printing and papermaking industry and elsewhere it has been almost impossible to get the time to sit down a do some blogging. But here goes. For those interested - the latest Unite GPM Sector e-bulletin, emailed directly to Unite...

The rebellion in the House of Commons by Liberal Democrat and Conservative MPs was a conduit for growing frustration on both sides at life in the coalition government

The Tories Unite strategy has been so effective, even Peter Mandelson is peddling it. Led by Mandelson, Labour’s isolated right has questioned Unite’s influence over candidate selection. James Purnell’s preferred successor, Jonny Reynolds, was omitted from the Stalybridge and Hyde shortlist, compiled by the NEC, which has two Unite members on its board. Mandelson and Purnell have...

Unite dock workers from ports across the UK attended a conference in London today (Thursday) to...

Hat-tip to The Times’ Sam Coates for spotting the story in Unite’s ad campaign against the Tories (left), which ran in the Guardian (full-page) and the Morning Star yesterday (not sure if it ran in Tribune). Unite are already on shaky ground here, as the Tories aren’t the only...

As expected, the Tories did everything they could to make the benefit cap the subject of PMQs. One Tory MP managed to slip in a question on it just before Miliband got up, allowing Cameron to press the Labour leader on the issue even before he had started speaking. Tory MPs kept coming back to the benefit cap — there were five questions on it in all — allowing Cameron to repeatedly moc...

It is a while since the Tories were worth holding a demonstration against. But yesterday, right outside their conference, the trade union movement was back in town, waving placards and jeering at passing Tories. "Same old Tories, always cheating," ran the chant from members of Unite. Conservatives walking past grinned at the spectacle, rather enjoying being regarded as worthy of attack after a dec...

The wind has changed - and here at PMQs Labour MPs can smell it. Gordon Brown exploited the Tories' impossible position at PMQs This is Gordon Brown's best performance against David Cameron since coming to power - man verses boy. Of course, the Tory leader is in an impossible position, needing to stick to the bi-partisan line while somehow putting himself front and centre of the debate.

I'm now in Ottawa and - as in Washington DC - am constantly asked to explain why Britain's Tories are 'back'. There are a growing number of explanations out there and they tend (in my opinion) to exaggerate the impoprtance...