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EXCLUSIVE: Man who wrote Sharon Graham’s first Unite manifesto now supports challenger

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  • Post last modified:18 July 2026
EXCLUSIVE: Man who wrote Sharon Graham’s first Unite manifesto now supports challenger

Sharon Graham’s former Unite election campaign organiser Matt Smith now supports her opponent, Simon Dubbins. Having seen Graham in action as general secretary, Smith believes that another five years of Graham would be “an utter disaster for our union”. But he didn’t only play an extensive role in her 2021 general secretary election campaign. According to senior union insiders, he “wrote her manifesto”. Unite endured five misused years under Graham Smith said that Graham has increased corruption at Unite rather than reduce it. He claimed that she had appointed useless cronies to senior positions and even made up a “ghost job”…

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Former Sharon Graham election organiser tells Unite members: “Vote Dubbins”

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  • Post last modified:17 July 2026
Former Sharon Graham election organiser tells Unite members: “Vote Dubbins”

Unite official Matt Smith played an extensive role in Sharon Graham’s 2021 election campaign to become the union’s general secretary. But in the current general secretary election he is calling on members to back her rival Simon Dubbins for the job. Smith’s commitment to a Graham win was so great that he said “we will all work so hard to get Graham elected as Unite’s next general secretary”: Smith was then promoted in 2022 to Unite’s head of Member Relations: Changed tune But now, after five years of Graham running Unite, Smith has changed his mind completely. Now he has published…

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Another Sharon Graham die-hard asks Unite members to vote for her challenger

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  • Post last modified:6 July 2026
Another Sharon Graham die-hard asks Unite members to vote for her challenger

I now need to put right my wrong. These are the words of long-time Unite executive member and union convenor, Steve Hibbert, in a video he has published for the union’s general secretary election. Hibbert campaigned in 2021 for Sharon Graham to become Unite’s general secretary. Now, like fellow former-diehard Dave Williams, he wants union members to support her challenger, Simon Dubbins. Hibbert cites “grave concerns at the actions taken by the union under Sharon” and the “toxic” environment she (and her husband) have created. https://www.thecanary.co/wp-content/uploads/2026/07/Hibbert-Unite-Subbed-hb.mp4 Unite exec member’s video could have been longer Hibbert’s succinct video could have been far,…

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Die-hard supporter turns publicly on Sharon Graham as Unite election begins

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  • Post last modified:1 July 2026
Die-hard supporter turns publicly on Sharon Graham as Unite election begins

Dave Williams is a Liverpool-based Unite union stalwart and former member of its executive council. When Skwawkbox writer Steve Walker was chair of a Liverpool constituency Labour party (CLP) in the Corbyn era, Williams was the CLP’s ‘TULO’ (trade union liaison officer). He has also been an ardent supporter of Unite’s general secretary Sharon Graham. And when Skwawkbox started to expose Graham’s failings and misdeeds as Unite general secretary, Williams was highly critical of it doing so. Very highly critical. But now he has, very publicly, changed his tune. With Graham in the middle of a highly-criticised re-election campaign and reeling…

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