Something was stirring at the TUC Congress down in Brighton last week, and it wasn't just copious amounts of sugar being used to cover up the awful conference centre coffee.
Nope, a power struggle was emerging at the top of the trade union hierarchy, and it was even uglier than the fight for sandwiches at lunchtime.
The battle evolved throughout the conference. It started when TUC general secretary and current top dog, Brendan Barber, used his opening address to applaud the recent strikes by the prison service and post office workers.
All well and good, but he somehow forgot to mention the tube maintenance strike that ground London to a halt, something that the man behind it, National Union of Rail, Maritime and Transport Workers chief Bob Crow, soon reminded him of.
Crow told delegates at a packed fringe meeting that everyone knew there was a strike in London that day except Barber. He then slated prime minister Gordon Brown's speech, which Barber had supported, and told delegates not to "let your leaders go up on the rostrum in their nice suits on £80k a year and not fight for workers' rights".
Barber told union members that any Labour government was better than the Tories; so Crow threatened to start his own political party rather than support a Labour party that did not repeal anti-union laws passed by Tory ex prime minister Margaret Thatcher.
A few hours later, Crow was voted off the TUC general council.
Now I have a feeling that although Barber may have won the battle....
