Three years after the last conference, in Southampton in 2018, we gathered at Reading University. It was good to meet in person and the weekend felt rather more Covid-secure than annual conference in Brighton. We were welcomed by councillor Rachel Eden (a former co-chair of the Oxford & District Party) and Jason Brock, leader of […]
The first meeting after conference is an opportunity to take stock, and plan for the year ahead. After months of disembodied shouting over Zoom it was worth the early start and jam-packed trains to be able to meet in London and chat over coffee, lunch and an unexpected fire drill (see here and here). Informal […]
The next full NEC meeting is the post-conference awayday on 25 November, but until then here are some notes from subcommittee meetings. As usual please send any comments to annblack50@btinternet.com A pdf version of this report is available here. Equalities committee, 2 November 2021 The national women’s officer reported that the online women’s conference in […]
The run-up to conference was full of gossip about intense negotiations with trade unions, while the rest of us tried to keep up on Twitter. Keir Starmer apparently wanted to bring back the electoral college for choosing party leaders, where MPs, individual members and trade union levy-payers each hold one-third of the votes. One of […]
The meeting again rapidly deviated from the timings on the agenda, and rather than finishing at 4 p.m. we eventually stopped at 7 p.m. Contrary to what newer members were told, NEC meetings do not have to be interminable, and less than five hours used to be normal. Endurance tests are bad for representatives, for […]
NB pdf version available here. This was the last full meeting of the old-style regional board, before the new south-east regional executive committee takes office following the regional conference on 20 / 21 November 2021 at Reading University. Acting regional director Ellie Buck gave an update on the implementation of Organise to Win, as announced […]
NB pdf version available here This was the first regular meeting since January and many of us were keen to share experiences from the council elections and the Chesham & Amersham by-election. However we started with an item of unfinished business from the special meeting in February on rules for the new south-east regional executive committee […]
This meeting ran for more than nine hours, but there were several major presentations and the ratio of genuine questions to set-piece speeches was higher than of late. Part of the problem is that the NEC expanded from 33 members to 35 in 2016 and to 39 in 2018 for various reasons. Our constituents expect […]
The meeting opened with a moment’s silence for comrades who had died recently, including Frank Judd, Maureen Colquhoun and Ian Gibson, former MP for Norwich North. Anneliese Dodds was welcomed as the new party chair, following Angela Rayner’s move to a high-profile voter-facing role, and she and Shabana Mahmood, national campaign co-ordinator, join the NEC […]
As in my previous mail, the full NEC meets on Tuesday 25 May. Thank you to everyone who has already sent thoughts about the elections and the aftermath, more comments are welcome! I will read them all and reply to as many as I can. Justice and Home Affairs Commission, 12 May 2021 Policy commissions […]