Unite’s general secretary, Len McCluskey, is reportedly stepping down from the role earlier than planned. McCluskey, a key ally of the former Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn, became general secretary of the trade union in 2010 and was twice re-elected to the position. His term of office finishes in 2022 but a successor will be chosen a year earlier, according to a report in the Times. It follows an announcement by the Unison leader, Dave Prentis, that he would be stepping down at the end of the year, while Tim Roache stood down as general secretary of the GMB in April citing ill health. The GMB later said it had received an anonymous letter in which “a number of allegations have been made about Tim’s conduct” while he was leader. The race to succeed McCluskey, 69, has already begun. Steve Turner, one of the union’s assistant general secretaries, has submitted his nomination to be the candidate of United Left, a broad-left organisation within the union. The section is holding a hustings on Saturday with Turner and Howard Beckett nominated as candidates. The hustings were announced when it was believed McCluskey’s term would finish in April 2022. At the time the hustings was announced in early July, a Unite spokesman said: “Len McCluskey’s term as Unite general secretary ends in April 2022. There are therefore no present plans for an election for his successor. “Unofficial groups within the union and potential candidates are free to plan for the eventual election as they please, but for the union as a whole the priority, of course, remains protecting members’ jobs, safety and living standards through this dreadful pandemic.”