Bob Crow

No2EU secured 153,236 votes, compared to an RMT membership of 80,000. The party achieved 1% of the popular vote in Britain, giving them the 12th largest share of the vote, behind Scargill's Socialist Labour Party and the far-right British National Party. This was insufficient for a seat in the European Parliament. In London, where Crow was a candidate, the party secured 17,758 votes, equating to the tenth largest share of the vote. In this region, No2EU secured a larger share of the popular vote than the Socialist Labour Party.

Crow died in the early hours of 11 March 2014 at Whipps Cross University Hospital after suffering an aneurysm and heart attack.

He described his political philosophy with a quote from Argentine Marxist–Leninist revolutionary Che Guevara: "Hasta la victoria siempre!" ("Forever onwards until the victory!"). He kept a bust of communist leader Vladimir Lenin in his office. He described the aims of a trade-unionist as to secure "Job security, being safe, best possible pay, best possible conditions, decent pensions, and a world that lives in peace."

Crow faced increasing media scrutiny. He was criticised in April 2013 after the death of former Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher when he stated: "As far as I'm concerned she can rot in Hell." In January 2014 Crow went on a three-week luxury cruise holiday from Bermuda to Brazil in celebration of Hoarau's 50th birthday. Paparazzi photographed him on Copacabana Beach, although in his response to press he asked "What do you want me to do? Sit under a tree and read Karl Marx all day?".

When a Daily Mirror reporter asked him if he felt sorry for commuters, he responded: "Course I feel sorry for them. But they know our fight isn't with them. It's with Transport for London. And what do they expect a trade union to do? If you join one you expect it to fight for your rights and your job – and that's what I'm doing."

Political opponents and sections of the press frequently offered criticism of Crow for what they described as a lavish lifestyle which they consider to be inconsistent with his socialist credentials. The total employment costs figure of £145k was frequently mentioned by the press as "wages" or "salary". It was pointed by a journalist for the Independent that the correct figure for salary was around £96,000, and this was also mentioned by Crow in interview. According to the latest figures available from the Trades Union Certification Officer, as of 2012 Bob Crow's basic salary at the RMT was £89,805. The union also paid £10,313 of National Insurance contributions to the state and £34,429 into his pension pot in 2012. No car or chauffeur was provided. Crow responded to the criticisms by claiming "I'm worth it". In an article commenting on his contribution to the RMT union, the Telegraph agreed that it was a merited figure for Crow who "represented the interests of his members with a single-minded determination". The newspaper concluded Crow "wanted the best deal for the people who paid his salary – and they continued to reward him because he delivered it.".

On one hand, Crow was known for his robust political views and macho interests: described by George Eaton of the New Statesman as "an apologist for Stalinism", he also wished the UK to withdraw from the European Union. Since childhood, he had supported Millwall Football Club, and as RMT leader he kept a photograph of the club on the wall of his office. He was known to be a fan of boxing, and in an interview from 2011, claimed to work out six days a week, and be able to bench-press one hundred and twenty kilos. He also had a pet Staffordshire bull terrier whom he named Castro after the Cuban Marxist–Leninist leader Fidel Castro.

In 2011, lawyers acting for Crow wrote to the Metropolitan Police asking for any evidence or information that they may have uncovered in respect of the News International phone hacking scandal. Crow had suspicions that "journalists may have had access to private information about my movements and my union's activities that date back to the year 2000".

In response to the RMT declaring a 48-hour strike on 10 June 2009, Crow wrote in The Guardian Comment is free section the purpose of the move: "On London Underground, bosses are threatening to tear up an agreement aimed at safeguarding jobs, and have refused to rule out compulsory redundancies. Up to 4,000 jobs are at risk as part of a multibillion-pound cuts package that can be traced directly back to the collapse of Metronet and the failure of the PPP."

In March 2009, Crow announced that the RMT would be fronting the No to EU – Yes to Democracy platform with an array of socialist organisations and individuals for the 2009 European Parliament elections. No2EU – Yes to Democracy stood for a Europe of "independent, democratic states that value its public services and does not offer them to profiteers; a Europe that guarantees the rights of workers and does not put the interests of big business above that of ordinary people".

Speaking at the founding conference of the National Shop Stewards Network in July 2007, Crow called for a new party for the working class.

Crow was a founding member of the Trade Unionist and Socialist Coalition for several years up until his death. Previously he gave his support to the now disbanded Socialist Alliance, and believed all socialist parties should unite. In the 2005 general election, he endorsed Robert Griffiths, the Communist Party of Britain candidate in Pontypridd, calling him "a champion of workers' rights". Griffiths went on to win 233 votes (0.6%), coming last out of the six candidates. In the 2010 Local Election, he publicly supported the directly elected Mayoral candidate in the London Borough of Hackney Monty Goldman and the candidate for Leabridge Ward Mick Carty.

In 1990 the National Union of Railwaymen merged with the National Union of Seamen to form the National Union of Rail, Maritime and Transport Workers (RMT), and the following year Crow became the London Underground representative on the National Executive. In 1991, he became assistant general secretary, and on 14 February 2002 Crow was elected by the membership to succeed Jimmy Knapp as general secretary. He received 12,051 votes in the election – nearly twice as many as the other two candidates put together (Phil Bialyk received 4,512 votes and Ray Spry-Shute received 1,997). Six weeks earlier on 1 January 2002, Crow was attacked outside his home by two men wielding an iron bar. He speculated that he was the victim of hired employer muscle, although it is possible that the culprits were members of far right activist groups who were active in Dagenham at the time. Crow was a member of the General Council of the Trade Union Congress. From 2006 until his death he was a member of the Executive Board of the International Transport Workers Federation, the global trade union for transport workers.

In 1997 he briefly joined Arthur Scargill's Socialist Labour Party (SLP), and was always a strong supporter of Scargill for his commitment to trade unionism. Crow rejected the argument that Scargill was responsible for the defeats of the miners and the union movement more generally.

Crow identified as a "communist/socialist", and between 1983 and 1997, was a member of the Communist Party of Great Britain and then the Communist Party of Britain.

Crow's marriage to Geraldine Horan, on 12 June 1982, by whom he had a daughter, Kerrie-Anne, and two grandsons, Daniel and Jamie Atlee, ended in divorce. He later entered a long-term relationship with Nicola Hoarau, with whom he had another daughter, Tanya. Writing in the New Statesman, George Eaton thought Crow to have been "more hurt than most realise by the press intrusion into his private life".

Crow joined London Transport in 1977 and soon became involved in trade unionism. He was regarded as part of the Awkward Squad, a loose grouping of left-wing union leaders who came to power in a series of electoral victories beginning in 2002. After he became leader, the RMT's membership increased from around 57,000 in 2002 to more than 80,000 in 2008, making it one of Britain's fastest-growing trade unions.

Born at 162 Burrow Road, Epping, Essex to Lillian (née Hutton) and George Crow; his background was working-class, a fact of which he remained proud throughout his life. Crow's father was a docker who taught him to read both the Morning Star and the Financial Times, but to disbelieve everything in the latter. His father also was a lifelong member of the Transport and General Workers Union. His family subsequently moved to Hainault. He left school at 16 and joined London Transport, there becoming involved in union politics. His first job was making the tea, then he worked as part of a tree-felling group in 1977, before moving onto heavy track repairing. In 1983, he was elected as a local representative to the National Union of Railwaymen (NUR) and in 1985 became NUR national officer for track workers.

Robert Crow (13 June 1961 – 11 March 2014) was an English trade union leader who served as the General Secretary of the National Union of Rail, Maritime and Transport Workers (RMT) from 2002 until his death. He was also a member of the General Council of the Trades Union Congress (TUC). A self-described "communist/socialist", he was a leading figure in the No to EU – Yes to Democracy campaign.