The Labour Party General Secretary is appointed by the National Executive Committee. As a member of the NEC, I took part in the processes to select Jenny Formby and David Evans, under the leadership of Jeremy Corbyn and Keir Starmer.
The NEC will agree the procedures, but in my experience, this is how the process worked.
Who can apply?
While anyone can apply, serious applicants need a combination of political, campaigning, legal and organisational experience. They need a deep understand of the Labour Party and wider labour movement.
They obviously need to demonstrate a commitment to delivering Labour values. Strong candidates in recent years have typically been senior party staff or trade union officials.
How does the process work?
The NEC agrees the process, which usually includes a long listing and shortlisting meeting. The longlisting tends to be done by NEC officers and perhaps additional representatives. For example, in 2018 I was part of the long listing committee to ensure local government was represented on the longlisting committee.
The longlisting committee will agree which applicants to interview. In my experience, these interviews were like a combination of a political selection interview and a job interview as the role is both political and operational. Questions will explore candidate’s CVs and suitability for the role. They will also test political judgment and Labour values.
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Once the committee agrees a shortlist, this will be put to the full NEC at a special meeting. The shortlisted candidates will give presentations setting out their vision and then will answer questions from NEC members.
The NEC may decide to ask all candidates the same questions. The NEC members will then vote for their preferred candidate via a secret ballot. In 2018 there was strict rules about who could enter and leave the room during the shortlisting meeting, whereas the 2021 meeting took place during the pandemic so everything was run via Zoom.
How do the NEC decide who to vote for?
Ultimately this is a job interview so people will vote for the person they view to be the best candidate, but anyone shortlisted should be capable of doing the job.
The NEC is a coalition of different stakeholder groups for individual NEC members often chat to front running candidates to see how well they will support the groups they represent. The Party Leader may have a preferred candidate and that will noted by NEC members.
Good luck to everyone standing and the NEC members choosing the next General Secretary.
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