Who is Iain McNicol?

By Mark Ferguson / @markfergusonuk

Today Labour’s NEC selected Iain McNicol to be Labour’s next General Secretary, finishing ahead of Chris Lennie in a hard fought contest for the post. The party were lucky to have two such strong candidates for the position, and as Iain has acknowledged to friends since the result was announced, he would have been happy whatever the outcome today.

Whilst at times this contest was being written off as a done deal, we argued that the party needed to move beyond stitch-ups, and demistify the process. We were delighted that Iain engaged with LabourList readers in the final days of the process, and we’re not alone in believing that Iain’s embracing of online media and membership engagement was vital.

Iain decided to stand for General Secretary because he was inspired by what Ed Miliband is trying to do as Labour leader. He has made no secret of his view that, as Ed Miliband said last summer, we need to change to win.

As a former party organiser in the run up to ’97, Iain is coming home to the Labour Party. Anyone who has ever spoken with him will know of how proud he was to see Tony Blair elected as Prime Minister – now his job is to get the party into a position organisationally where Ed Miliband can do likewise.

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Iain McNicol is currently National Political Officer for the GMB. In this role he has been responsible for the strategic management of the GMB’s political organisation, driving through the union’s political strategy and campaigning.

Iain has been a life-long, active member of the Labour Party and has worked for the GMB in a number of roles for over 14 years.

Among his personal interests, Iain enjoys karate, skiing, snowboarding, swimming and windsurfing.

The new General Secretary will be formally endorsed at the Labour Party’s Annual Conference in September this year, at which point the existing General Secretary, Ray Collins, will formally stand down.

Reacting to his appointment, McNicol said:

“It is an honour and a privilege to be appointed as the Labour Party’s General Secretary. I am delighted to be taking on this role and looking forward to working with members, stakeholders and staff to take the party through its current policy and party reviews and on to success at the next general election. I would like to pay tribute to the excellent work Ray Collins has done over the past few years. The Labour Party is a fantastic organisation to work for and I am very proud to be taking on this position today.”