A terrible internal war is being waged

Helpful e-mail from Grant Shapps with the information that the Unite union "has this week promised to give Labour millions and millions of pounds of union money.  He'll pay for their posters, their call centres, their leaflets - their campaign to get Ed Miliband into No 10."

As Deep Throat once advised us - follow the money.

What will Unite get in return for all this money, or is it just handed over on the vague expectation that Labour can be trusted to deliver policies that will protect working men and women?

Earlier this week the Unite union called on Labour to commit to a referendum on British membership of the European Union.

As night follows day, as one raindrop on a window merges with another raindrop, is it not inevitable that Unite's call for a referendum will be incorporated within the Labour 2015 manifesto?

Especially as it is a populist measure that will not involve any expenditure commitment.

And note the over-hasty behaviour of Chuka Umuna (Shadow Business Secretary) when interviewed on the Radio 4 Today programme this morning.  Without Sarah Montague even having to mention the subject Mr Umuna worked in a statement (obviously prepared since the language was slightly stilted) that Labour was committed to staying in the European Union.  The Shadow Business Secretary doth protest too much, methinks.  Is this a unilateral pre-emptive strike by Chuka Umuna against the Unite union?  Is he rushing out the established Labour line on an EU referendum before that line is changed as a result of Unite pressure?  Does he suspect that with increasing Unite influence his own political life might be at risk unless he can establish in the public mind how indispensable he is to the Labour pro-business policy?

I am far from knowing what is going on in the Labour party.  But it seems to me that a terrible internal war is being waged, with Sicilian-style razor slashings (of Condition of Britain policies), intimidations of prospective candidates, whispering campaigns against feminist grandees, freezing-outs of BME national treasures, the pulling of NEC rugs from under 82-year-old socialist feet, the poisoning of policy wells from which Shadow Business ministers intend to drink.  And this war is all the more appalling for the Omertà-like silence in which it is being waged - just occasionally a little blood seeps through the white plaster facade and we hear the far-off agony of a suppressed scream.