Mr Cameron's comments came after he was asked to praise the unions for their role in boosting British car manufacturing. He said: "I think the Automotive Council has been extremely successful and, where trade unions play a positive role, I'll be the first to praise them. But where, frankly, we have a real problem with a rogue trade unionist at Grangemouth who nearly brought the Scottish petrochemical industry to its knees, w e need to have a proper inquiry, a Labour inquiry." Referring to the Labour frontbench, Mr Cameron added: "If they had any courage, any vision, any strength of decision-making, they'd recognise they need to have that inquiry and get to the bottom of what happened."
Mr Deans has resigned from his job at Grangemouth, saying he was treated as the "enemy within" by management. Unite threw down the gauntlet to the Prime Minister as he, they say "continues to rail against Unite and Stevie Deans." A Unite spokesperson commenting on Mr Cameron's remarks said: "The Bullingdon bully who used parliamentary privilege to hound a decent trade unionist yesterday should not be lecturing others. He should make those comments outside of the Commons and then see what the courts make of them. The Prime Minister's continued smearing of a decent man, Stevie Deans, who has lost his job and whose family are under siege - and who has done nothing wrong - shames his office.
Concluding the Unite Spokesperson said: "David Cameron should know that it was not union action which shut down the Grangemouth refinery, but management decision. Unite is working to give that plant a future - statesmanship would involve trying to calm the situation, not to wind it up with provocative comments just because his attack dog advisor Lynton Crosby tells him that's the advantageous thing to do."
