Former NEC member Mish Rahman to fill vacant CLP rep slot on governing body

Labour has confirmed that the vacant Constituency Labour Party representative slot on the party’s national executive committee (NEC) will be filled by former member of Labour’s governing body Mish Rahman.

Labour announced today that Rahman will fill the vacant slot on the NEC, which was left empty following elected member Naomi Wimborne-Idrissi’s expulsion from the party over alleged “support” for proscribed groups.

Rahman was elected to the NEC as a CLP representative in 2020 but missed out on re-election earlier this year. He takes over from Wimborne-Idrissi as the candidate who received the next highest proportion of the vote, which was conducted using the one-member-one-vote, single-transferable vote system.

Rahman confirmed on Twitter this afternoon that he has rejoined the NEC as one of its nine CLP representatives and shared his contact email.

Rahman stood for re-election on the Momentum-backed Grassroots Voice slate, which also included Yasmine Dar, Gemma Bolton and Jess Barnard, all of whom were elected to the NEC in September.

In his re-election campaign candidate statement, Rahman wrote: “With a general election looming towards the end of this term, I will work to deliver an election-winning party which will radically change the lives of millions for the better.

“That means supporting popular, member-backed policies like a green new deal, public ownership, rolling back privatisation of the NHS, repealing anti-trade union laws, advancing migrants’ rights and internationalist solidarity.”

Writing for LabourList during the campaign, Rahman said he had “fought long and hard” for the publication of the Forde Report during his time on the NEC.

He pledged that, if he was re-elected, he would “hold the leadership to account” on the report’s findings on racism and on Keir Starmer’s “promise to the membership that he would unite the party”

Rahman is currently standing to be Labour’s next candidate for Wolverhampton South West. His campaign endorsements include Unite, the CWU, ASLEF, the TSSA and the FBU, as well as Labour MP Zarah Sultana and Dexys Midnight Runners singer Kevin Rowland.

Rahman was born and grew up in the Black Country. He was the first Labour candidate of Bangladeshi heritage to stand for election to Walsall council and has served as chair of Aldridge-Brownhills CLP.

Rahman was one of the first graduates of the Bernie Grant leadership programme, which seeks to address the under-representation of BAME Labour Party members in elected positions.