Labour International vote hands Momentum chief narrow lead in NEC race

The head of Momentum has won a narrow victory in a ballot of 1,000 members of Labour’s international wing for elections to the party’s ruling body.

Jon Lansman, founding chair of the Corbynista group, topped the ballot just ahead of Eddie Izzard. Yasmine Dar, Lansman’s colleague on the left-wing slate and a Manchester councillor, came in third place.

All three will now be nominated by Labour International for the new places on the national executive committee (NEC).

The vote will be studied intensely by rival camps because it comes close to serving as a traditional opinion poll. It showed a more balanced picture than the fight for nominations among constituency Labour Parties (CLPs), where the Momentum-backed Centre Left Grassroots Alliance slate is comfortably ahead of rivals Izzard, Sikhs for Labour vice-chair Gurinder Singh Josan and former NEC rep Johanna Baxter.

Some 1,047 members took part in the Labour International, a turnout of 28 per cent.

The new CLP places on the national executive were agreed as part of a deal this autumn between Jeremy Corbyn and the committee itself. The deadline for nominations for the contest is Sunday.

Labour International ballot for nominations to the NEC 

• Jon Lansman: 565
• Eddie Izzard: 561
• Yasmin Dar: 522
• Gurinder Singh Josan: 449
• Rachel Garnham: 448
• Johanna Baxter: 334