Is Sharon Graham the Unite leader Keir Starmer would’ve wanted?

While the Labour leader is said to have privately favoured the centrist candidate Gerard Coyne, Starmer can expect a much better relationship with Sharon Graham than he had with her predecessor, writes Andrew Grice

Sir Keir may be content with Ms Graham’s victory over Steve Turner (PA)

Sharon Graham’s surprise victory in the race to succeed Len McCluskey as general secretary of the Unite union was probably not the outcome Keir Starmer most desired.

Although he kept out of the contest to lead the party’s biggest union funder, Sir Keir is believed to have favoured the centrist candidate Gerard Coyne, who promised a clean break with the McCluskey era by keeping the 1.2 million-strong union’s nose out of Labour’s affairs.

But Ms Graham becoming Unite’s first female leader is much better than the result Team Starmer privately feared – the election of left-winger Steve Turner, who was McCluskey’s favoured successor. Mr Turner came second and Mr Coyne third.