We now have the Labour Party NEC results in detail, courtesy of Ann Black:
Ann Black 19491 ELECTED
Christine Shawcroft 17974 ELECTED
Pete Willsman 15759 ELECTED
Walter Wolfgang 14129 ELECTED
Peter Wheeler 13961 ELECTED
Ellie Reeves 13850 ELECTED
Mohammed Azam 13435
Lorna Fitzsimons 13093
Bill Thomas 12830
Gaye Johnston 12498
Helen Jackson 11443
Louise Baldock 11118
Azhar Ali 10493
Philomena Muggins 7982
Naz Sarkar 7303
Mehboob Khan 5567
Ballot papers distributed 178889
Ballot papers received 36316
Spoilt ballot papers 400
Turnout: 20.3% (down from 22% in 2004)
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In the 1998 NEC elections, the person that came top – Mark Seddon – got over 75,000 voters. If the persont that topped the poll this time, had got this many in 1998, they’d have been next to bottom. Just goes to show how membership and participation has collapsed totally in the last few years.
Interesting results – particularly with 4 GRA candidates taking top 4 places. A few questions to open the debate:
Why didn’t Azam and Johnston not succeed? And why did Reeves and Wheeler succeed and the others from the Labour First slate not? Did Compass win it for them? Perhaps because they showed broader politics than you usually get from the old right – Reeves is a Compass member for example. Wheeler was heavily union-backed and Amicus has played a prominent role in backing Compass. Reeves has many networks existing from her time as Labour Students Chair.
The independents really struggled this time. I’d be interested in what people thing the implications of this will be for future years. We’ve certainly lost a couple of good people from last year.
For the candidates who also stood in 2004, the changes are:
Black -1096 votes
Shawcroft + 452
Willsman + 25
Azam -956
Wheeler -2540
Baldock -4716
I don’t think Compass won it for Reeves and Wheeler. Helen Jackson’s actually on the Compass management committee and she was nowhere near getting on.
I would say that Azam and Johnston had slightly lower profiles than the others on the CLGA slate – Azam had been on the NEC for a while but only due to existing members resigning; the four who made it are all higher profile for different reasons.
It’s a bit more arguable on the other side of the fence – Wheeler was an incumbent and pretty high profile throughout the labour movement due to his position with Amicus, so it’s not surprising that he was the Labour First slate’s top performer.
Ellie Reeves is also plugged in to that same machine, but nonetheless hers is perhaps the most impressive personal performance. She is a member of Compass (Wheeler isn’t to my knowledge) but I’d be surprised if that was a major factor, though Henry G is quite correct to say that her politics are broader than many of those in the old right faction with whom she’d probably be most commonly associated.
Perhaps trade union people appealed to the electorate more than the parliamentary and local govt gbackgrounds of Fitzsimmons and Thomas respectively?
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