New general secretary Hollie Ridley tells conference: “Winning is personal to me”

Labour’s new general secretary Hollie Ridley has told delegates at the party’s annual conference in Liverpool that “winning is personal to me”.

Ridley was this afternoon confirmed by delegates as the successor to David Evans, who has served as general secretary since 2020.

Ridley talked about first becoming politically involved campaigning against Nick Griffin in Dagenham, where she is from, before applying to be a Labour Party organiser in 2011.

“At that time, I was living with my parents and working as a cleaner at McDonald’s”, she told delegates: “I didn’t have extensive political networks, but the Labour Party took a chance on me, and I have worked every day to repay their trust, to deliver for communities like mine, because that’s what politics means to me.

“When we lose places like Dagenham are hit hardest. This isn’t a game. Winning is personal to me, and it has to be for all of us.”

READ MORE: Angela Rayner’s address to delegates as it happened

She highlighted the challenges the party faces. “The threat of the far right that got me involved is as real now as it was then.

“They may be better they may be better dressed, but you know what they say about a wolf in sheep’s clothing.”

Ridley said that winning power again in 2029 would be a priority, and also that her “eyes are firmly fixed on the Scottish and Welsh elections in 2026 and the local government elections.”

Speaking before Ridley, Evans praised her as a “tenacious and talented leader”. Ridley is the third woman to serve as permanent general secretary of the Labour Party, following Margaret McDonagh and Jennie Formby.

Ridley in turn paid tribute to Evans for his “commitment to eradicating antisemitism from the party”, and to McDonagh, who passed away last year, as a “force of nature” who had been an inspiration to her.