Starmer rejects McCluskey's claim Labour could be finished under his leadership

Sir Keir Starmer has dismissed a warning by the head of one of the UK's biggest trade unions that Labour could "go under" with him as leader.

Len McCluskey, outgoing general secretary of Unite, criticises the Labour leader in his new autobiography.

He claims the party will fail to win back "red wall" seats lost to the Tories at the last general election and accuses Sir Keir of an "anti-democratic-crackdown on the left".

The Labour leader said he was wrong.

"I've a lot of respect for Len McCluskey but I don't agree with him on everything and this is one where I don't agree with him," said Sir Keir.

Asked why he did not agree with the union boss's assessment, Sir Keir replied: "Because I think he's wrong."

Unite has been Labour's largest donor, giving the party millions of pounds in funding every year.

In his book, Always Red. which is published next month, Mr McCluskey questions whether the current Labour leader is a "babe in the woods" or "altogether more calculating".

A close ally of Keir Starmer's predecessor, Jeremy Corbyn, he criticises the decision to suspend the former Labour leader from the party at Westminster.

He writes: "I still hoped and believed that Keir Starmer could be prime minister.

"But I was fearful that if he continued on the course set in his first year of leadership he would not win back the red wall seats.

"If a general election was called early, which seemed possible, Starmer would have little time to rectify his mistakes.

"He still had the opportunity to change course, unite his party around a radical platform and make the promised 'moral case for socialism'.

"But he needed to realise that if the ship he was captaining listed too far to the right, it would go under."

Mr McCluskey also hits out at Labour MPs who tried to depose Mr Corbyn by resigning from the shadow cabinet after the Brexit referendum in June 2016.

He writes: "The 'chicken coup' of Summer 2016 was one of the most extraordinary and shameful episodes in the history of the Labour Party."

He says that watching the resignations he didn't have "a moment's doubt" that he would be doing everything possible to defend Mr Corbyn's leadership.

"The role played by the trade unions was critical," he writes. "This was the moment when, without Unite, Corbyn would have gone under."

The book's publishers promise "explosive revelations about his dealings with Keir Starmer" and some passages in advance copies have been redacted.

Len McCluskey steps down as Unite general secretary later this month, with his successor due to be announced on August 26. There are three candidates to succeed him - Gerard Coyne, Sharon Graham and Steve Turner.