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The National Executive Committee (NEC) is the governing body of the UK Labour Party, setting the overall strategic direction of the party and policy development.

Its composition has changed over the years, and includes representatives of affiliated trade unions, the Parliamentary Labour Party and European Parliamentary Labour Party, constituency Labour parties (CLP), and socialist societies, as well as ex officio members such as the Party Leader and Deputy Leader and several of their appointees.

History

During the 1980s, the NEC had a major role in policy-making and was often at the heart of disputes over party policy. In the Tony Blair era, the committee's role declined and its membership was reformed, but it remains the administrative authority of the party. Its former policy development function is now largely carried out by the National Policy Forum. One of its committees has disciplinary powers including the ability to expel members of the party who have brought it into disrepute or to readmit previously expelled members.

Up to 1997 Members of Parliament could stand for CLP section seats on the NEC, but thereafter MPs and MEPs could not stand in this section.^[1]

The 2017 Conference saw the creation of four additional NEC seats: one in the trade union section and three in the CLP section. Although the additional union seat was elected at Conference, the extra CLP seats were not elected until January 2018.

The Labour History Archive and Study Centre at the People's History Museum in Manchester has the full run of the minutes of the National Executive Committee in their collection.^[2][3]

Organisation

NEC Officers

The current Officers of the NEC are:^[4]

• Leader of the Labour Party – Jeremy Corbyn MP


• Deputy Leader of the Labour Party – Tom Watson MP


• Chair of the NEC – Andy Kerr (CWU)


• Vice-Chair of the NEC – Wendy Nichols (Unison)


• Treasurer of the NEC – Diana Holland
  


• Chair of Organisation Committee – Jim Kennedy (Unite)


• NEC Co-Convenor of the JPC – Cath Speight (GMB)


• Chair of the Disputes Panel – Claudia Webbe^[5]
  


• Chair of the National Policy Forum (when a member of the NEC) – Ann Black
  

Joint Policy Committee

The Joint Policy Committee is a joint committee and is the steering group of the National Policy Forum. The JPC has strategic oversight of the party's policy development through the rolling Partnership in Power programme.

Chair: Cath Speight (GMB)

NEC sub-committees

The following are sub-committees of the NEC:^[4]

Equalities Committee

The Equalities Committee responsibilities and roles include:

• Women’s recruitment, retention and participation in the Party in elected office and the development of women’s forums at local level


• Black, Asian and ethnic minority recruitment, retention and participation in the Party


• Lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender representation and participation within the Party


• Disability access and increased representation and participation of members with disabilities


• Considering effective Party responses to Employment Framework Directive based on Article 13 (Treaty on European Union) and the European Union Action Programme to Combat Discrimination


• Responsibility for driving the Party’s equality agenda and the development of an inclusive organisation at all levels


• Link with Organisation Committee and Young Labour Co-ordinating Committee on issues of age discrimination


• Biannual women’s forum


• Biannual ethnic minorities forum

Chair: Keith Birch (UNISON)

Business Board

The Business Board is responsible for overseeing the business functions of the organisation including the management of the finances.

Chair: Diana Holland (Treasurer)

Audit, Risk Management and Compliance Committee

The Audit, Risk Management and Compliance Committee has responsibility for audit and compliance oversight, and is accountable for internal audit procedures providing a systematic approach to risk management in all of the Party’s activities. The Committee ensures that the Labour Party’s financial activities are within the law, and that an effective system of internal control is maintained.

Chair: George Howarth MP

Organisation Committee

The Organisation Committee is responsible for party rules and constitution; ensuring parties are operating effectively throughout the country to the highest standards and has overall responsibility for membership, investigations, selections, Conferences, electoral law, boundaries strategy and internal elections.

Chair: Jim Kennedy (Unite)

Disputes Panel

The NEC Disputes Panel is a panel of the NEC Organisation Committee which hears membership appeals; re-admission applications; party disputes and conciliation; minor investigations and local government appeals where referred to the NEC. It operates in a quasi-judicial fashion, conducting hearings and interviews around the country where necessary.

Chair: Claudia Webbe

Membership

As of Annual Conference 2017, the NEC has 39 members elected from the following constituencies:

• 1: Leader of the Labour Party
  


• 1: Deputy Leader of the Labour Party
  


• 1: Treasurer
  


• 3: Opposition Front Bench (MPs nominated by the Shadow Cabinet)


• 1: EPLP Leader


• 1: Young Labour
  


• 13: Trade Unions


• 2: Socialist Societies and BAME Labour
  


• 9: CLPs
  


• 2: Labour Councillors


• 3: PLP/EPLP (Backbench MPs and/or MEPs elected by all Labour MPs and MEPs)


• 2: Scottish Labour and Welsh Labour
  

In addition, the Chief Whip of the Labour Party (currently Nick Brown MP) and the Chair of the Parliamentary Labour Party (currently John Cryer MP) attend ex officio without a vote.

The General Secretary of the Labour Party acts as the non-voting secretary to the NEC.

Current members

Leader of the Labour Party

• 
  Jeremy Corbyn MP^[6]
  

Deputy Leader of the Labour Party

• 
  Tom Watson MP

Treasurer

• Diana Holland

Opposition Front Bench

• 
  Rebecca Long-Bailey MP


• 
  Jon Trickett MP^[7]
  


• 
  Kate Osamor MP^[8]
  

EPLP Leader

• 
  Richard Corbett MEP^[9]
  

Young Labour

• Lara McNeill

Trade Unions

• Keith Birch (UNISON)


• Joanne Cairns (USDAW)


• Andi Fox (TSSA)


• Jim Kennedy (Unite)^[10]
  


• Andy Kerr (CWU)


• Pauline McCarthy (BFAWU)


• Ian Murray (FBU)


• Cllr Wendy Nichols (UNISON)


• Sarah Owen (GMB)


• Cath Speight (GMB)


• Jayne Taylor (Unite)


• Cllr Michael Wheeler (USDAW)


• 
  Mick Whelan (ASLEF)

Socialist Societies and BAME Labour

• Cllr James Asser (Socialist Societies)


• 
  Keith Vaz MP (BAME Labour)

CLPs

• Cllr Yasmine Dar


• Huda Elmi


• Rachel Garnham


• Ann Henderson


• Jon Lansman


• Navendu Mishra


• Cllr Claudia Webbe^[9]
  


• Darren Williams


• Peter Willsman

Labour Councillors

• Cllr Nick Forbes^[9]
  


• Cllr Alice Perry

PLP/EPLP

• Dame Margaret Beckett MP


• 
  George Howarth MP^[11]
  


• 
  Shabana Mahmood MP

Scottish Labour and Welsh Labour

• 
  Richard Leonard MSP (Leader of the Scottish Labour Party)


• 
  Mark Drakeford AM (Leader of Welsh Labour)^[12]
  

Chair of the National Executive Committee

The chair of the party is elected by the NEC from among its own members, and holds office for a calendar year, chairing both NEC meetings and national party conferences.

The name of this post has become confused since 2001 when Labour Party leader Tony Blair appointed Charles Clarke to the courtesy position of "Party Chair" without the NEC or the national conference authorising such a position.^[13] The office's name remains "chair of the party" in the Labour Party Constitution, but elsewhere the party presents the position as "Chair of the NEC".^[14] Prior to 2001 the position was called "Chair of the Labour Party", and before that "Chairman of the Labour Party".

List of Chairs of the Labour Party NEC

(Information taken from British Political Facts 1900–1994, Butler & Butler 1994, pp. 144–5, the period down to 1993)

Chairmen of the Annual Conference of the Labour Representation Committee^[15]

1900: William Charles Steadman MP

1901: John Hodge

1902: William John Davis

1903: Joseph Nicholas Bell

1904: John Hodge

1905: Arthur Henderson MP

Chairmen of the National Executive Committee of the Labour Representation Committee^[16]

1900: William Charles Steadman MP

1901: Allan Gee

1902: Richard Bell MP

1903: John Hodge

1904: David J. Shackleton

1905: Arthur Henderson MP

Chairmen of the Annual Conference of the Labour Party^[17]

1906: Arthur Henderson MP

1907: J. J. Stephenson

1908: Walter Hudson MP

1909: John Robert Clynes MP

1910: Keir Hardie MP

1911: William Cornforth Robinson

1912: Ben Turner

1913: George Henry Roberts MP

1914: Tom Fox

1915: No conference held

1916: William Crawford Anderson MP

1917: George Wardle MP (acting)

1917–18: W. F. Purdy

1918–19: John McGurk

1919–20: William Harold Hutchinson

1920–21: Alexander Gordon Cameron

1921–22: Fred Jowett MP

1922–23: Sidney Webb MP

1923–24: Ramsay MacDonald MP

1924–25: Charlie Cramp

1925–26: Robert Williams

1926–27: Frederick Roberts MP^[18]

1927–28: George Lansbury MP

1928–29: Herbert Morrison MP

1929–30: Susan Lawrence MP

1930–31: Stanley Hirst

1931–32: George Lathan MP

1932–33: Joseph Compton

1933–34: Walter R. Smith

1934–35: William Albert Robinson

1935–36: Jennie Adamson

1936–37: Hugh Dalton MP

1937–39: George Dallas (no conference in 1938)

1939–40: Barbara Gould

1940–41: James Walker MP

1941–42: Walter Henry Green MP^[19]

1942–43: Alfred Dobbs

1943–44: George Ridley MP

1944–45: Ellen Wilkinson MP

1945–46: Harold Laski

1946–47: Philip Noel-Baker MP

1947–48: Emmanuel Shinwell MP

1948–49: Jim Griffiths MP

1949–50: Sam Watson

1950–51: Alice Bacon MP

1951–52: Harry Earnshaw

1952–53: Arthur Greenwood MP

1953–54: Wilfrid Burke MP

1954–55: Edith Summerskill MP

1955–56: Edwin Gooch MP

1956–57: Margaret Herbison MP

1957–58: Tom Driberg

1958–59: Barbara Castle MP

1959–60: George Brinham

1960–61: Richard Crossman MP

1961–62: Harold Wilson MP

1962–63: Dai Davies

1963–64: Anthony Greenwood MP

1964–65: Ray Gunter MP

1965–66: Walter Padley MP

1966–67: John McFarlane Boyd

1967–68: Jennie Lee MP

1968–69: Eirene White MP

1969–70: Arthur Skeffington MP

1970–71: Ian Mikardo MP

1971–72: Tony Benn MP

1972–73: William Simpson

1973–74: James Callaghan MP

1974–75: Fred Mulley MP

1975–76: Tom Bradley MP

1976–77: John Chalmers

1977–78: Joan Lestor MP

1978–79: Frank Allaun MP

1979–80: Lena Jeger

1980–81: Alex Kitson

1981–82: Judith Hart MP

1982–83: Sam McCluskie

1983–84: Eric Heffer MP

1984–85: Alan Hadden

1985–86: Neville Hough

1986–87: Syd Tierney

1987–88: Neil Kinnock MP

1988–89: Dennis Skinner MP

1989–90: Jo Richardson MP

1990–91: Tom Sawyer

1991–92: John Evans MP

1992–93: Tony Clarke

1993–94: David Blunkett MP

1994–95: Gordon Colling

1995–96: Diana Jeuda

1996–97: Robin Cook MP

1997–98: Richard Rosser

1998–99: Brenda Etchells

1999–00: Vernon Hince

2000–01: Maggie Jones

2001–02: Margaret Wall

2002–03: Diana Holland

2003–04: Mary Turner

2004–05: Ian McCartney MP

2005–06: Jeremy Beecham

2006–07: Michael Griffiths

2007–08: Dianne Hayter

2008–09: Cath Speight

2009–10: Ann Black

2010–11: Norma Stephenson

2011–12: Michael Cashman MEP

2012–13: Harriet Yeo

2013–14: Angela Eagle MP

2014–15: Jim Kennedy

2015–16: Paddy Lillis

2016–17: Glenis Willmott MEP

2017–18: Andy Kerr

2018-19: Wendy Nicolls

See also

• Labour Party Rule Book

References

External links

• National Executive Committee (About Labour)