The union man and the missing £30m — new details in Unite’s Birmingham hotel saga revealed
Plus, the national press discovers cheese and onion cobs
Dear Patchers — over the weekend documents became public that relate to an ongoing case which has blighted Britain’s biggest union, Unite, for the past few years. What they showed was explosive: a senior figure in British trade unionism, who led the 2017 Birmingham bin strikes and oversaw the construction of a hotel on Woodcock Street on the eastside of Birmingham that went massively over budget, is under criminal investigation for fraud.
It has now been revealed that Howard Beckett was suspended from Unite the Union for allegedly lying to its governing body about how much was spent on the hotel, and for signing a seven-year contract with a company without prior authority. He has since resigned but took Unite to an employment tribunal in June and lost.
Some crucial, never-before-heard details have now come out in the judgement from that hearing which was published on Friday. Beckett’s former boss, Unite general secretary Sharon Graham, has also recently said that she is determined to root out what she thinks is “corruption” in relation to the hotel project. That’s today’s Big Story.
Catch up: On Saturday, new Dispatch writer Samuel McIlhagga made his debut with an excellent article exploring the West Midlands Khalistan movement and its detractors. A “fine piece of reporting” was the assessment of one (very astute) reader. Check it out at the link below.
Editor’s note: Our first birthday is fast approaching! And so is our target of 1,000 paying members. If you want to join us for an evening of celebration, sparkling conversation, or at the very least a few pints, you can buy a ticket to our event at 1000 Trades for £6. You will have to be a Dispatch member to do so — but signing up also gets you access to all of our work plus eight extra, beautifully written articles a month. It’s a win-win.
From today’s sponsor: Time is running out to get 50% off an annual digital subscription to the Financial Times. We link to FT stories in this newsletter every week because its writers produce some of the best long reads and incisive political coverage in the UK. With this offer, which ends this Thursday, you can stay informed for just £4.40 per week, enjoy trusted news reporting, and dive into fantastic essays and cultural writing. Click here to claim the offer before it’s gone. Thanks to the FT for sponsoring today’s edition.
Sunny patches all round
🌥️Tuesday: Sunny patches and a small breeze. Max 15°C.
☁️Wednesday: Sunny at first, cloudy later. Max 14°C.
☔Thursday: Light rain and quite windy. Max 15°C.
🍃Friday: Bright with some more wind. Max 12°C.
🌧️Weekend: Light rain and a gentle breeze. Max 13°C.
We get our weather from the Met Office.
Big story: The union man and the missing £30m — new details in Unite’s Birmingham hotel saga revealed
Top line: Explosive details about a union official suspected of bribery, fraud and money-laundering, and his potential misconduct during the construction of a Birmingham hotel, have been revealed in court documents over the weekend. Some of these details are being reported for the first time in The Dispatch today.
Context: The Aloft hotel on Woodcock Street, on the eastside of Birmingham city centre, opened in 2021 and is owned by the country’s biggest union, Unite. However, since construction of the hotel (and its conference centre) began in 2015, under the leadership of former Unite general secretary Len McCluskey, it has been at the centre of a massive controversy blighting the union. What was meant to be a £7 million project became £35m, then ballooned to almost £100m. What’s more, it is thought to be worth £30m less than it cost to build.
The hotel was built by a Liverpool-based construction company that had a very close relationship with Unite during the years McCluskey was at the helm: The Flanagan Group. Head of the firm, Paul Flanagan, was arrested in 2021 as part of a police inquiry into the sale of council-owned land in Liverpool to developers, but he has denied any wrongdoing.
Corruption in Birmingham? In 2021, newly elected Unite general secretary Sharon Graham commissioned two inquiries into the hotel — one by Martin Bowdery KC and one by auditors Grant Thornton. Later, she handed the findings over to the police. In a recent interview with Politics Home magazine, Graham revealed a £30m overspend on the hotel could not be accounted for. She said:
“I’m uncovering what I believe to be corruption in terms of the Birmingham inquiry…I’m wrestling it to the ground, and it’s coming out, literally, in the next couple of weeks.”
The police raid: What Graham didn’t say, for legal reasons, was that for the past few years she has been dealing with a personnel issue. In 2022, South Wales Police raided several addresses in different parts of the country — including the office of a senior Unite employee at the union’s HQ in London. That raid has been reported in the press, but until this weekend, it was not known that the employee in question was Howard Beckett, former assistant general secretary of Unite — and Len McCluskey’s right hand man.
Who is Howard Beckett? Beckett was legal director of Unite from 2011 and in this role, was responsible for relationships with its service providers. He is close to McCluskey who it is widely understood wanted Beckett to succeed him to become the union’s next leader. In 2017, McCluskey made Beckett his assistant general secretary — a very senior role — and sent him to the West Midlands. Beckett was the man who led the 2017 Unite bin strike and who then-leader of Birmingham City Council John Clancy tried to make an ill-fated ‘beer and sandwiches’ deal with.
In 2020, McCluskey made Beckett finance director on top of his role as legal director. He had oversight of the hotel project when the costs were spiralling. After the raid, Graham suspended Beckett, who later resigned before taking Unite to an employment tribunal where he claimed unfair dismissal. That hearing took place across 11 days in June and July — and Beckett lost. The judgement was published on Friday.
New information: The judgement shows that Beckett, along with three unnamed people, is under criminal investigation for bribery, fraud and money laundering and, separately, that he is suspected of misleading Unite’s governing body — the executive committee — about the cost and valuation of the hotel. It also suggests:
Unite contracts were awarded to companies that were connected to Beckett.
Between 2012 and 2015, Beckett was paid £1.1m by the owner of a company that Unite had a contract with. During this time, Beckett also paid the same amount of money to another associate.
The judgement shows that Beckett has claimed that the information provided to the executive committee about the hotel spend was part of a presentation that was not prepared by him. In his evidence to the tribunal he maintained he had resigned in response to “a campaign of politically motivated mistreatment which was intended to destroy his reputation, career and livelihood”. McCluskey gave evidence in support of Beckett during the hearing.
Bottom line: While the tribunal judgement provides more detail than ever before about Unite and the police inquiry, the full story about the hotel is yet to come out. What we do know is that Beckett is under criminal investigation for bribery, fraud and money laundering in relation to his role negotiating service provider contracts while he was legal director of Unite. The Dispatch has been busy speaking with sources close to this story, so you can expect a detailed update soon.
Photo of the week
The insectoid ceiling of New Street Station recently captured by Jess Parker (@jessemilyparker on instagram) on 24 Kentmere 400 35mm Olympus Mju-II
Brum in brief
🍅 79 recently dismissed Hello Fresh employees who worked at a warehouse in Nuneaton have protested their terminations, claiming the company made them wait hours for toilet breaks and wouldn’t let them pray during shifts. The Dispatch joined the workers, many of whom are Muslim, at a demo in Small Heath with their Community Union representatives on Friday. Gavin Miller, Regional Secretary for the Midlands at Community Union, said: “HelloFresh's mass dismissal of workers who had spoken out against the dire working conditions on site is an outrage and a disgrace.” In a statement, Hello Fresh said “all team members have the time and facilities to observe any religious practices and take breaks as needed,” and claimed that some workers had been dismissed because they had refused to work.
👮 Counter-terrorism police are investigating whether Russian spies planted an incendiary device in a parcel that was flown to Britain and later caught fire in a DHL warehouse in Birmingham. The fire occurred at the Minworth site on 22 July — nobody was hurt. A similar incident occurred in Germany, also in late July, when a suspect package bound for a flight caught fire at another DHL facility in Leipzig, and investigators are looking at links between the two.
🚄 Construction has started on Birmingham's HS2 station at Curzon Street from which travel time to London will be reduced to just over 49 minutes by the mid-2030s. The work includes the installation of two thousand vertical concrete columns for the foundation, described by officials as a critical milestone for the project. Stations executive director for HS2, Huw Edwards, told BBC Radio WM that the new station would be “an absolutely stunning building in the heart of Birmingham”. Need a bigger fix of HS2 analysis — read this excellent recent Dispatch piece from rail expert Gareth Dennis.
📖 A blue plaque commemorating poet and activist Benjamin Zephaniah has been unveiled at Birmingham Museum and Art Gallery. Commissioned by the Nubian Jak Community Trust, the plaque honours the Handsworth-born writer who passed away in December, aged 65. “He would have been proud because his work has got recognised by the society, by people,” his wife said.
Home of the week
The Old Caretaker’s Lodge in the heart of Kings Norton is traditional on the outside and modern on the inside. It’s available for £495,000.
Media picks
🎧 The tragic news of pop star Liam Payne’s death last week has prompted reflections from people who knew him — far and wide, famous and unknown. John Carpenter, who went to school with Payne in Wolverhampton, shared his memories with the BBC.
📰 Birmingham pub the Jewellers Arms gets a shout-out in this Independent article in which journalist Josh Barrie goes in search of the quintessential cheese and onion cob (we’ll forgive him for going to Derbyshire). Barrie is converted, if his description of the snack is anything to go by: “The pluck of the cheese, heavy on the mouth, and the sharp tang of onion combine to become true beer food, to be devoured after more than one pint.” (Editor’s note: get the best Birmingham cheese and onion cobs at Norton’s or the Craven Arms).
Things to do
Tuesday
📽️ The UK premiere of Argentinian cult filmmakers Luciano and Nicolás Onetti’s 1978 is on at Birmingham Odeon at 8pm. The film is set against the backdrop of the 1978 World Cup, which occurred during an especially dark period of Argentina’s military dictatorship.
🎂 The campaigners behind Save Smallbrook — the fight to save the Ringway Centre on Smallbrook Queensway — are throwing a party. Expect cake, live music and dancing from 6-8 pm. Tickets from £7.50.
Wednesday
✍️ Join a panel of experts to discuss notions of voice, region and place, their values and roles in writing, and their pressures or limitations at this BCU event at 6 pm. Free to attend — but you should register at the link.
☕ Hanged, Drawn and Jewellery Quarter is a new exhibition of Halloween-themed pyrography portraits, representing a decade of horror movies at the Hive Cafe and Bakery. Enjoy one of their far less frightening baked goods while you look.
Thursday
🖼️ It’s your first chance to see Joe Lycett’s painting of Steps star, The Mona Lisa Scott Lee, hanging in Birmingham Museum and Art Gallery. Take a gander any day, Wednesday-Sunday, until the end of January.
📽️ Head to Pan Pan for the premiere of “Our Story” A Digbeth Kids Documentary, a film by Tarju Le'Sano that explores how Digbeth culture has influenced creatives and pioneers from Birmingham. Dress code: smart, influenced by 1950s Windrush, 1980s Rudeboys. Tickets from £4.
Thanks to the FT for sponsoring today’s edition — get your discounted subscription now.
Edit: For accuracy, the ‘new information’ section of the Big Story has been edited to show that the tribunal judgement suggests the information detailed in the bullet points.
Wow. Another awesome edition of the Dispatch, heavy on impact but neighbourly in tone. This is what we need from local journalism. Great Howard Beckett story - thank you for staying on top of this one - plus HelloFresh, Joe Lycett, HS2 and cheese and onion cobs! Every Dispatch makes me more glad to be a paid subscriber. Hat in the air, people.
Great article and i was shocked by brother becketts actions and the impact on our city . i now know McKluskey was shall we say cut on the same team... but what a poor reflection on a union wasting workers funds so badly. Aboslute power corrupts abosulutley.