THE Tories’ election victory means that the National Gallery privatisation dispute can only be settled through direct action, a victimised trade union rep said yesterday.

Sacked shop steward Candy Udwin was given a hero’s welcome at the annual conference of civil servants’ union PCS as she said that the backing she had received from PCS leadership was “a model of how unions can support people who fight back.”

Staff at the gallery in Trafalgar Square, London, are locked in battle with bosses over plans to outsource two-thirds of staff to a private contractor.

Yesterday, workers on their 24th day of strike action were given a standing ovation in the conference hall at Brighton.

“The National Gallery may be the first to get the green light for the government to have a go at us, but it’s not going to be the last,” said Ms Udwin.

“A victory at the National Gallery can be the start of a fightback to kick out the Tories.”

Staff will walk out again next week for 10 days — their longest stint of action so far.

Reps had hoped that an incoming Labour government would be more susceptible to calls to drop the hated scheme, although the party’s front bench had declined to join calls for a moratorium on the plans.

Ms Udwin, who was sacked last week for passing on figures about the cost of outsourcing found on gallery computers, said that the privatisation was motivated by an attempt to “demolish” the union.

“If Labour had pledged to stop the privatisation, it might have been called off and perhaps Labour would even have won the election if they were making these sort of pledges,” she said.

PCS general secretary Mark Serwotka said that Ms Udwin had “done a service to this country.”

And turning to the wider dispute, he said: “Who knows what it means for the privatisation of art and culture.”

And in a barnstorming speech, PCS culture sector president Clara Paillard blasted “millionaire” gallery trustees and ripped into bosses for claiming that the union had been “intimidating” in its campaign tactics.

“We went to (gallery chairman) Mark Getty’s private gallery and gave him a scare. And if he was intimidated, good!” she declared.

The union is now mobilising for a mass demo in Trafalgar Square on May 30 to demand privatisation plans be dropped.