The Sunday Showdown: Camilla takes on union boss Mick Lynch
The Daily T
The Telegraph
4.1 • 705 Ratings
🗓️ 24 May 2026
⏱️ 42 minutes
🧾️ Download transcript
Summary
On this special weekend edition of The Daily T, Camilla Tominey goes up against Mick Lynch, the former general secretary of the National Union of Rail, Maritime and Transport Workers.
In a turbulent episode, the two debate strike action on the railways and in our hospitals – which have at times brought the country to a halt – and the role of mass migration in suppressing wages.
Camilla also asks the former union boss whether he backs Andy Burnham as the man to turn Britain’s fortunes around.
Producer: Georgia Coan
Social Media Producer: Conor Clark
Executive Producer: Charlotte Seligman
Senior Producer: John Cadigan
Video Producer: Will Walters
Studio Operator: Meghan Searle
Editor: Camilla Tominey
Highlights
- Camilla Tominey challenges Mick Lynch on strikes and his record as a trade union leader
- Mick Lynch is quizzed on his support of Andy Burnham as a Labour Party leadership candidate
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Transcript
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| 0:00.0 | The Telegraph. |
| 0:09.8 | What happens when a Telegraph journalist on the right, me, takes on a former union boss in Mick Lynch? |
| 0:17.2 | We have a great discussion about the issues, employment, trade unions and the telegraph support of reform. |
| 0:23.6 | Which we don't support, by the way. Welcome to the Daily Team with me, Camilla Tomini. And me, Mick Lynch. |
| 0:42.3 | Mick Lynch, lovely to see you in the Daily Tea Studio. |
| 0:45.4 | Are you feeling all right as a former, can I call you a union baron? |
| 0:46.2 | Is that what you're called? You can't call me a union baron, no. |
| 0:47.6 | I was elected by the members. |
| 0:49.3 | And barons, as we know, are hereditary. |
| 0:51.0 | They are hereditary. |
| 0:51.9 | All right. |
| 0:52.5 | Former union boss, do you feel a bit icky being next to the Telegraph logo? Are you going to lose street cred with your former members? It would probably give me credit. I worked at the Telegraph in the 1980s. Really? What did you do? Because I was an electrician. We installed the presses at West Ferry when we came out of Fleet Street. Well, there you have it. And I worked for a company that specialised in printing presses. Well, you've told me something surprising. I was at the FT? Were you? And the Morning Star. Of course you were. I bet you preferred the Morning Star when it came to reading that. It's all the same to me, I just got dirty every day. Well, you've told me something surprising. Do you want to hear something surprising from me? |
| 1:27.9 | Go on, then. |
| 1:28.4 | I was in a union once, and I went on strike. |
| 1:31.8 | Good. |
| 1:32.3 | I was in the National Union of Journalists, |
| 1:34.2 | went on strike against Richard Desmond's pay cut. |
| 1:37.6 | And I was a little... |
| 1:38.6 | My life in the Union didn't last long, |
| 1:41.9 | because whereas I went on the picket line |
| 1:43.7 | with signs and things, with the mother of the chapel then, Michelle Stanis Street and a couple of others. Indeed. Nobody else came out. They all just worked from home. And I thought, this isn't collectivism. That's not the way it works. No. You've either got a go out and do your thing. If you voted to strike, you physically strike or you don't. |
| 2:02.0 | I thought... |
... |
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