Unions – The Mallory Factor

When the so-called Trade Union Reform Campaign (TURC) sprang up, with its pretence of ending a subsidy that only existed in the minds of anti-Union right-wingers, some in the Union movement may have wondered where those behind this now-defunct body got their inspiration. As with so many of The New Conservatism’s ideas, this can be traced back to the USA.

Mallory Factor - union-demonising inspiration for the new right

Of those involved with the TURC, Mark Clarke, Andre Walker, and the odious flannelled fool Henry Cole all enjoyed some kind of association with the Young Britons’ Foundation (YBF). When the body which co-founder Donal Blaney likes to style the “Conservative Madrasa” had its tenth anniversary conference last year, they welcomed a so-called “Conservative Philanthropist” called Mallory Factor.

A “Conservative Philanthropist”? Isn’t that rather a contradiction in terms? Well, when it comes to dispensing his particular pearls of wisdom, Factor is generosity personified. And, although mainstream media does not often feature his presence, he appears in ideologically like-minded Stateside publications, and is a regular guest on Fox News Channel (fair and balanced my arse).

And Factor is hot not just on Unions, but especially on public sector ones. “Today’s Democratic Party is a subsidiary of the labor movement” he proclaims (this translates easily into a UK version recognisable to anyone who reads the Sun or Mail). He also asserts that “government unions control America and rob taxpayers blind”. Government is “run by government-employee union bosses who spend billions on politics and expect their client politicians to do their bidding”.

In an interview in the right-wing Washington Times, Factor agrees with his interviewer that “The political power of labor unions is based on corruption and thuggery”. To no surprise, voter ID fraud is also, in Factor land, only practised by those who support the Dems. And then there is health care reform.

Yes, Unions are behind the worst excesses here too, if you believe Mallory Factor, who makes creative assertions such as “To solidify union support, Obama agreed to a seven year moratorium on taxing the famed Cadillac health care plans that many union members receive—which increased the cost of Obamacare by $120 billion”. Yes, someone is getting a “Cadillac health care plan” – and you’re not.

This is the kind of “someone’s getting something at your expense” tactic used so widely by the UK tabloid press. But when it comes from an honoured guest to a YBF gathering, that gives it a legitimacy which the “Conservative Madrasa’s” devotees take into their battle against an enemy that is, in reality, nothing more subversive than ordinary working people coming together to better their situation.

Remember his name: Mallory Factor is influential, but he’s not a very nice person.