Glenis Willmott is coming to the end of her year as Chair, and after another six-hour meeting I am sure she is looking forward to handing on the gavel. She wished Kezia Dugdale well for her future, welcomed Alex Rowley, the deputy leader of Scottish Labour, and joined all NEC members in mourning the loss […]
The NEC met in unexpectedly good spirits. As one speaker said, we may have lost the election but we certainly won the campaign. From staring into the abyss on 18 April, through 4 May when we lost nearly 400 councillors and trailed by 11% in the national vote, to removing the Tory majority five weeks […]
Thursday’s results surprised the pollsters, the media and almost everyone really, including me. I complained about local members being directed to Reading East because there was no hope of overturning a Tory majority of 6,520. In fact Labour won, and Matt Rodda is the new MP! So congratulations to returning and newly-elected MPs and thanks […]
I was away when the election was called – I mean, what could possibly happen in Easter week? – and have been catching up with meetings, emails and council elections since. Thanks to the wonders of technology I’ve been in on all the relevant discussions, so here is a diary of events during April and […]
The NEC paid tribute to members who had died recently, including Van Coulter, an Oxford city councillor and activist who was only 57 years old and my neighbour and comrade, a sad loss to us all. Giving his leader’s report Jeremy Corbyn said that good behaviour was important in meetings at every level of the […]
The NEC has settled back into its usual routine after last year’s turbulence, under Glenis Willmott’s calm and authoritative leadership. She had secured European committee positions for Labour MEPs despite our impending departure, and they were continuing to work on tax avoidance, air quality, zero-hours contracts and rail privatisation. She criticised Theresa May for putting […]
This meeting followed immediately after the national policy forum in Loughborough and maintained the outward focus on politics and campaigning, with a comradely atmosphere, no rule changes and no votes. Glenis Willmott in the chair also persuaded most of us to keep our contributions relatively brief. Whether the ceasefire is temporary or longer-lasting remains to […]
The national policy forum gathered in Loughborough on 19/20 November 2016. This was the first meeting since July 2014 when we agreed our general election manifesto in a spirit of comradeship and optimism. Ann Cryer was elected as Chair, Shabana Mahmood as vice-chair from the MPs /councillors section, and Mick Whelan of ASLEF from the […]
The first full meeting of the new NEC is not until 22 November, but below is an update on subcommittee meetings in October. As always, questions and comments are welcome. Disputes Panel, 18 October 2016 Usually Panel meetings last under an hour, with maybe 15 or 20 cases, but this was the aftermath of the […]
This is a bumper edition, covering the NEC meeting on 20 September and the NEC meetings at annual conference on 24, 26 and 27 September 2016. As always, comments and questions are welcome. National Executive Committee, Tuesday 20 September 2016 This meeting started at noon and finished at 8:30 p.m. Jeremy Corbyn thanked party staff […]