Grant Shapps: I appear to have been ‘living rent free in Mick Lynch’s head’

Business Secretary Grant Shapps denies remaining involved in the rail strikes (PA Wire)

Cabinet minister Grant Shapps said he appeared to have been “living rent free in Mick Lynch’s head” after the RMT boss accused him of pulling strings behind the scenes about the Government’s stance on rail strikes.

Mr Lynch, general secretary of the Rail, Maritime and Transport workers’ union, claimed last month that Mr Shapps was still involved in the dispute despite no longer being Transport Secretary.

He said: “I think Grant Shapps has still got his hand in it, because they [the Cabinet] do a ‘round robin’ about proposals.

“He’s going to be leading the new wave of anti-trade laws. So I think there are people intervening, and vetoing the Department for Transport’s stand.”

But Mr Shapps, now Business Secretary, denied speaking to his two successors, Mark Harper and Anne-Marie Trevelyan, about the strikes.

Asked if he was in any way involved in the rail dispute as claimed by Mr Lynch, Mr Shapps told LBC Radio: “No, it’s really curious.

“He kept saying this throughout the whole period, even when I was on the backbenches, that I was somehow controlling things behind the scenes.

“I can confirm that I have not had a single conversation with the following two transport secretaries about the way that they handle the strikes.

“I do appear to some extent to have been living rent free in Mick Lynch’s head.”

London’s transport network has been crippled by a series of walkouts by the RMT and train drivers’ union Aslef.

The Government is seeking to bring in “minimum service” laws to force unions to provide a certain level of workers during strikes to run trains to avoid paralysis on the rail network.

Responding to Mr Shapps’ comment, an RMT source said the union was focused on getting a negotiated settlement and not engaging in “tittle tattle”.