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All change at Victoria Street

November 29, 2011 3:49 pm

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Iain McNicol announced today a “radical reform” of Victoria Street to put it on an election winning footing. It has been announced that Labour’s two Deputy General Secretaries – Alicia Kennedy and Chris Lennie – will be stepping down, following the abolition of their posts. The Charles Allen review, the interim report of which was completed recently, proposed replacing the two deputy GS’s with a team of six “executive directors”, which is intended to

“move away from a multi layered hierarchical organisation towards a flatter, more modern and more efficient executive structure.”

The areas these executive directors will work on are:

  • Communications
  • Rebuttal and Policy
  • Field Operations
  • Commercial
  • Governance and Services
  • Membership and Supporters

In an email to staff this afternoon, General Secretary Iain McNicol said:

“Chris and Alicia have both, in their different ways, been fantastic servants of the Party over many, many years. Chris, in overseeing a difficult period for the Party and for putting the Party finances on a more stable footing. And Alicia in delivering great successes in many elections. Both Alicia and Chris will continue to play important roles for the Party over the transition period. Alicia will work closely with the Deputy Party Chair and Campaigns Co-ordinator, and the Leader’s Office, on building campaigns capacity across the movement. Chris will continue to work with us on developing relations with important stakeholders. In the meantime and over the next few months, I am really grateful for their commitment to helping with implementing the Review and in providing continuity and support as we head towards important elections.”

“Importantly we also intend for the new organisation to provide opportunities for better career paths and for personal development – starting with the opportunity to fill the new Executive Director positions.”

The new structure for Victoria Street should be in place by February 2012.

Related posts:

  1. If Norwich North was anything to go by, CLPs will have to learn to wrest control of their campaigns back from Victoria Street
  2. Victoria Street, and the centralisation of Labour
  3. In praise of Victoria Street webinar training
  4. Does this look like your street corner, Mr Grayling?
  5. A new change in politics
  • Anonymous

    Important stake holders, so I will not be getting a phone called then….

  • http://twitter.com/tommilleruk Tom Miller

    Though obviously it is never nice to hear about anyone losing a job (commiserations to any who did), I think this general restructuring sounds fantastic. Activists have been waiting for this for years.

    Ken Livingstone is right to say that CLPs spend far too long stitching up council group and other internal decisions and not enough time fighting the actual enemy.

    One concern though – finance is key, and we need to see better high-value fundraising. Would be great to hear from Mr McNicol how he intends to get this done.

    • Anonymous

      Ah lets see have a fund raising dinner for Non Dom’s and then tell them if you support labour you will get a job in labour, that’s what happened in the past, has to be over £100,000.

      Lets hope this is about making things better, but getting rid of  two positions and making six, lets hope then ensure the funding is in place., or will the six work for the wages of the two.

  • Pingback: Labour’s clean up begins in earnest | Left Futures

  • LabourVoter

    “better career paths and for personal development” – let’s hope this gets carefully implemented, not so much for individual reward and personal empire-building but to the benefit of the party. 

  • Anonymous

    I assume that all the new appointments will be unionised?

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