Starmer lacks election-winning vision, says Len McCluskey

Sir Keir Starmer is "bereft of vision" and needs to let voters know what he stands for, Unite General Secretary Len McCluskey has told the BBC.

Mr McCluskey - who is standing down after 11 years at the head of Britain's biggest union - said he "desperately hopes" Sir Keir will be the next PM.

But he said he was not optimistic about the Labour leader's chances at the next election as things stand.

He advised Sir Keir to learn from Jeremy Corbyn - and Tony Blair.

Although a frequent critic of Mr Blair, the Unite leader said: "Everybody knew what he stood for before he was elected, he offered an alternative, he offered a vision."

And he said Mr Corbyn had the same qualities, which "people bought into".

"At the moment we are bereft of a vision - and that is a real, real problem that Keir has to address," he added.

"I will be accused of not being helpful to Keir, but in actual fact I want to do the opposite by saying to him everybody says 'well, nobody knows what Labour stands for, nobody knows what Keir stands for'.

"And in those situations, the reality is that you don't enthuse people."

He argued that the only way to win back so-called Red Wall seats lost to the Conservatives was to "unite" the party and end attacks on the left.

Mr McCluskey fell out with Sir Keir when the Labour leader suspended his close ally Jeremy Corbyn from the Parliamentary party.

He has accused the party leadership of going back on a deal to reinstate Mr Corbyn - an allegation which Sir Keir's office denies.

He argued that bringing Mr Corbyn back into the Labour fold would help mend what he described as a "broken party" but admitted he was now "pessimistic" about that happening.

He was speaking to the BBC at the launch of his autobiography, Always Red.

The launch party, in a room above a Westminster pub, was packed with leading figures from the Labour left, including former shadow chancellor John McDonnell and ex-communications chief Seumas Milne.

Mr Corbyn gave a speech praising Mr McCluskey's leadership of Unite - and for his "support and friendship during some very difficult times", particularly during the failed "coup" against him in 2016.

In his speech, Mr McCluskey said Labour had come within "touching distance" of power at the 2017 general election, as the country "embraced an unashamedly radical prospectus put forward by Jeremy Corbyn".

Speaking afterwards, he said Labour's failure to "respect" the result of the Brexit referendum at the 2019 general election was the biggest mistake the party had made in recent years.

Sharon Graham is due take over from Mr McCluskey as Unite general secretary after winning a leadership contest in August.

She has said her focus will continue to be on workplace rights rather than internal Labour party politics or "settling old scores" at Westminster.

He is hoping to set a new direction for the party - and his leadership - at its annual conference in Brighton at the end of the month, where he will deliver a keynote speech to delegates in person for the first time.

He has also reportedly written a 14,000 word essay, to be published on the eve of the conference, setting out what he stands for.