A left wing union official is claiming victory in the race to lead Britain's second biggest union.

I will only do what the members of our union want me to do

Derek Simpson

Derek Simpson said he expects to take over as joint general secretary of Amicus from Sir Ken Jackson after a fourth re-count on Thursday.

The result will be a blow to Tony Blair, who counts Sir Ken as his closest ally in the trade union movement.

It would also send shockwaves through the rest of the Labour movement, amid growing unrest in the unions.

Legal team

It is thought Sir Ken polled around 89,000 votes, compared with 88,200 for Mr Simpson, a Derby-based union official, in the first count.

Mr Blair faces a showdown at the TUC conference

But after three recounts on Wednesday, the result was still not clear, even though Mr Simpson claims to have been ahead by 300 votes.

A further recount will be held on Thursday with the two candidates each appointing an independent scrutineer.

Mr Simpson told BBC News Online he believed he should have been declared the winner on Wednesday.

He said he has a legal team standing by in case he has to mount court action.

Super-union

Mr Simpson, a former member of the communist party who has been a Labour member for the past 10 years, has said he is not a "Blairite" but "not anti-Blair either".

He said he wanted parity with the eurozone on employment legislation.

And he planned to press the government for legislation to protect pension schemes.

He said: "I will only do what the members of our union want me to do - not what I want to do, like Sir Ken who came up with an idea and then tried to force it through the union's mechanism."

Sir Ken is the boss of the AEEU part of new super-union Amicus.

He reached the normal retirement age of 65 this year but wants to stay in his post until the end of 2004 to oversee the merger between the AEEU, and the MSF.

The two unions linked up earlier this year to form Amicus, which has a million members, mainly in manufacturing.

Downing Street will be watching the outcome of the contest closely knowing that with this year's TUC conference fast approaching it may need all the friends it can muster in the union movement.

The Labour leadership has an increasingly fractious relationship the unions and a showdown particularly over the government's penchant for using private money in the public sector is widely predicted.

Popularity

Even if Sir Ken wins, the result may be subject to a legal challenge because of a Guardian newspaper allegation of ballot rigging.

The success of Mr Simpson in forcing such a close contest is being seen by some as an example of an increased popularity of the left amid concern of government policies.

Under Sir Ken's leadership the AEEU has been seen as a major backer of the right of the Labour Party.

The union gave �2m to Labour in the run-up to the last general election.

Sir Ken has also been a vociferous supporter of UK entry into the single currency.