TUC chief Paul Nowak blasts Farage's 'working class cosplay'

This year’s Trade Union Congress (TUC) kicked off yesterday, on Sunday 7 September, and will run through to Wednesday 10 September. It marks the 157th annual meeting of the federation of trade unions. TUC general secretary Paul Nowak took the opportunity to renew his organisation’s calls for a free Palestine and a windfall tax on the wealthy, and to urge Labour to put their money where their mouth is regarding worker’s rights.

On top of this, he also attacked Nigel Farage in interviews and his keynote address, along with the “working class cosplay” of his far-right Reform UK party, and the false patriotism of so-called ‘flaggers’.

Paul Nowak: ‘ignore your wealthy backers’

In his keynote speech to the congress, Nowak wasted no time in naming right-wing populism as one of the biggest threats to working class people in the UK.

He highlighted the two-faced cheek of Reform pretending to be champions of the common people, calling them “right-wing con men lining their own pockets”. In particular, he pointed out the gulf between Farage’s words and actions. Take for example their stance on the Employment Rights Bill:

There is a world of difference between what Nigel says and what Nigel does. Every single Reform MP, including Mr Farage, voted against outlawing fire and rehire, against banning zero hours contracts, and against day one rights for millions of workers.

Then, he issued provocation to the party leader:

So here is my challenge to Nigel Farage – say you stand up for working people? Then ignore your wealthy backers and vote for the Employment Rights Bill.

Say you stand up for British industry? Then stop supporting Donald Trump and his destructive tariffs.

And say you believe in the NHS? Then look the British public in the eye and tell them why you support US-style private healthcare.

From where we’re sitting here at the Canary, we can’t see any of that happening any time soon.

‘Real patriotism’

The TUC chief later turned from Farage and Reform to set his sights on on the wave of racist vandalism and the sea of ratty flags hanging off lamp posts that their ilk helped to inspire – ‘Operation Raise the Colours’ as its supporters term it.

He talked about what actual pride in where you live looks like – helping other people and working together to uplift the community:

As the 1945 generation knew, real patriotism is about building decent homes and ensuring no-one is left behind. It’s about creating good jobs so people aren’t left in poverty and feel pride in their labour – and real patriotism is never about daubing graffiti on people’s homes or shops or intimidating our friends and neighbours.

In an interview ahead of the keynote address, Nowak also addressed the idea of disillusioned voters who might be conned into backing Reform. As in his keynote, he focused on the lie behind the populist veneer of the far-right:

Our job at the TUC is not to tell working class people they’ve got their vote wrong, because they voted Reform or to condescend to them. People are grown ups and they can cast their vote in exactly the way that they want, but I think our job is to expose the gap between the reality and rhetoric around Reform.

He [Farage] says he stands up for British industry – cheeky sod was there with his union placards outside British Steel and then hangs on the coattails of Donald Trump, whose tariffs placed at risk those jobs in steel and in the automotive and other industries.

‘Head in the clouds’

However, Nowak was dismissive of the chances of the Greens or Corbyn’s newly formed ‘Your Party‘ (title pending) in defeating the threat of right-wing populism at the next general election. He pointed to worrying opinion polls that indicated to potential success of Reform in an election if it happened sooner rather than later, but stated that he wanted to focus on Labour’s coming years in power first.

But he did give his opinion on the next potential general election, and the coming fight:

It’s probably going to be a Labour government and a Nigel Farage-led Reform and maybe a rump of the right-wing of the Tory Party. Anybody who thinks that Nigel Farage, Robert Jenrick, Kemi Badenoch or Richard Tice are going to deliver for working people have got their head in the clouds.

Obviously, we here at the Canary differ strongly from Mr. Nowak on our opinion of the Labour Party’s ability to deliver actual left-wing change, or to inspire a real groundswell of support. As the TUC chief put it, “a lot can change in four years” – that applies just as much to the Polanski’s new leadership of the Greens, and Corbyn’s ‘Your Party’.

One thing we can agree on, however – Farage and Reform have no interest in representing worker’s interests, no matter what they say or how they pose themselves. You only need to look at their actions to see the truth: lying snakes, the lot of them.

Featured image via the Canary