Momentum chief Lansman closes in on NEC after winning place on left slate

The head of Momentum has taken another step towards winning a place on Labour’s ruling body after he was confirmed on the left-wing slate to elect three new officials.

Jon Lansman, founding chair of Momentum and a veteran Bennite, was named among the group of three candidates put forward by the Centre-Left Grassroots Alliance for the new places on Labour’s national executive committee (NEC).

Lansman is joined on the list of recommended candidates by Manchester councillor Yasmine Dar and national policy forum representative Rachel Garnham.

The three were whittled down from four names put forward by Momentum and then considered by the alliance, which is made up of Momentum, the Campaign for Labour Party Democracy and other left-leaning factions.

Cecile Wright, vice-chair of Momentum, was the one who did not make it into the final three.

Now Lansman, Dar and Garnham will go up against the centre-left candidates, who are likely to pitch themselves as “Labour moderates”. They include Gurinder Singh Josan, vice-chair of Sikhs for Labour, as revealed by LabourList earlier this week, and Eddie Izzard, the pro-EU comedian. A third activist is expected to declare their candidacy this week.

Labour’s NEC is being expanded as part of a series of reforms agreed before conference between Jeremy Corbyn and the committee itself.

The left-wing slate will be hopeful of winning the three NEC places up for grabs after the Centre-Left Grassroots Alliance easily triumphed in the elections for Labour’s conference arrangements committee, when Tottenham activist Seema Chandwani and former CWU general secretary Billy Hayes beat MP Gloria de Piero and peer Michael Cashman.

Labour left reveals “slate” for elections to party’s ruling NEC