In a statement issued on August 19th, Desmond Donnelly, one of the steel "rebels" and Labour(!) M.P. for Pembrokeshire said:
"The decision of the Haverfordwest Union of Post Office Workers to disaffiliate from the Pembrokeshire Labour Party because I criticised in a news-~ paper article some weeks ago the Post Office in granting last April's 20% over-three-years award to postal workers spotlights in local form the national challenge facing the Labour Party and the country."
He said he was not criticising the union for taking the money. "Who can blame them? My warning was against a repetition in the coming months of a case where one government department, or indeed, any large employer, undermined the basis of the Government's whole wages policy. In short we have got to get people on both sides of industry to see beyond the ends of their noses. Otherwise the economywill crash and we may soon be using pound notes for wallpaper.
"Purthermore, the Haverfordwest case raises in microcosm the future relationship of the Labour Party and the trade unions. I believe the time is coming when we must work gradually towards a more loose association, We can learn lessons from the German S.P.D. In America, too, the Democratic Party, while receiving support from certain unions, retains its independence and objectivity. Again, I wish to make clear that I recognise and respect the political stability that the unions have given to Labour,"