Labour left slate dominates race for NEC nominations as deadline looms

Left-wing activists, including the head of Momentum, have established a firm lead in nominations for the new places on Labour’s ruling body.

Jon Lansman, founding chair of the Corbynista organisation, and two other activists, have each racked up more than 100 nominations from constitutional Labour Parties (CLPs).

They are competing against rival activists, including Eddie Izzard, who are seen as coming from the centre-left tradition.

Local parties have until the end of Sunday to nominate candidates for the three new places on Labour’s national executive committee (NEC). The new slots were created as part of attempts to boost member representation in a deal between Corbyn and the committee itself in the run-up to party conference.

Today LabourList can confirm that the Centre-Left Grassroots Alliance slate – made up of Lansman, Manchester councillor Yasmine Dar and national policy forum representative Rachel Garnham – has built up a clear lead over rivals Izzard, former NEC rep Johanna Baxter and Sikhs for Labour vice-chair Gurinder Singh Josan.

The CLGA slate is backed by Momentum and the Campaign for Labour Party Democracy.

Izzard, Baxter and Josan describe themselves as independents and pro-diversity although they appear on the same website. They are expected to pick up votes from members opposed to Corbyn.

Although CLP nominations provide an insight into the strength of individual campaigns they should not be seen as an indicator of the final election, which will be carried out on a one-member-one-vote basis.

The full results of nominations so far are:

Yasmine Dar, Manchester councillor: 141

Rachel Garnham, national policy forum representative: 133

Jon Lansman, founding chair of Momentum: 122

Eddie Izzard, comedian and pro-EU activist: 56

Johanna Baxter, former NEC rep: 53

Gurinder Singh Josan, vice-chair of Sikhs for Labour: 44

Sarah Taylor, disability campaigner: 6

Nick Donovan, pro-single market campaigner: 5.

This article was amended on November 17 to clarify the nature of the website referred to above.