National Executive Committee

The National Executive Committee or NEC is the chief administrative body of the UK Labour Party. Its composition has changed over the years, and includes representatives of affiliated trade unions, the Parliamentary Labour Party and European Parliamentary Labour Party, Constituency Labour Parties, and socialist societies, as well as ex officio members such as the Party Leader and Deputy Leader and several of their appointees.

During the 1980s, the NEC had a major role in policy-making and was often at the heart of disputes over party policy. In the Tony Blair era, the committee's role declined and its membership was reformed, but it remains the administrative authority of the party. Its former policy development function is now largely carried out by the National Policy Forum. One of its committees has disciplinary powers including the ability to expel members of the party who have brought it into disrepute or to readmit previously expelled members.

Contents

Membership

As of 2009 the NEC had 33 members elected from the following constituencies:

The General Secretary acts as the non-voting secretary to the NEC.

Current members

(As of July 2011)

Source: Labour.org.uk

Chair of the Labour Party

The chair of the party is elected by the NEC from among its own members, and holds office for a calendar year, chairing both NEC meetings and national party conferences.

The name of this post has become confused since 2001 when Labour Party leader Tony Blair appointed Charles Clarke to the courtesy position of "Party Chair" without the NEC or the national conference authorising such a position.[1] The office's name remains "chair of the party" in the Labour Party Constitution, but elsewhere the party presents the position as "Chair of the NEC".[2] Prior to 2001 the position was called "Chair of the Labour Party", and before that "Chairman of the Labour Party".

List of Chairs of the Party

(Information taken from 'British Political Facts 1900-1994', Butler & Butler 1994, PP144-5 for the period down to 1993).

Chairmen of the Annual Conference of the Labour Representation Committee

1900: William Charles Steadman MP
1901: John Hodge
1902: William John Davis
1903: Joseph Nicholas Bell
1904: John Hodge
1905: Arthur Henderson MP

Chairmen of the Annual Conference of the Labour Party

1906: Arthur Henderson MP
1907: James J. Stephenson
1908: Walter Hudson MP
1909: John Robert Clynes MP
1910: Keir Hardie MP
1911: William Cornforth Robinson
1912: Ben Turner
1913: George Henry Roberts MP
1914: Tom Fox
1915: No conference held
1916: William Crawford Anderson MP
1917: George Wardle MP (acting)
1917-18: W. F. Purdy
1918-19: John McGurk
1919-20: William Harold Hutchinson
1920-21: Alexander Gordon Cameron
1921-22: Fred Jowett MP
1922-23: Sidney Webb MP
1923-24: Ramsay MacDonald MP
1924-25: Charles Cramp
1925-26: Robert Williams
1926-27: Frederick Roberts MP[3]
1927-28: George Lansbury MP
1928-29: Herbert Morrison MP
1929-30: Susan Lawrence MP
1930-31: Stanley Hirst
1931-32: George Lathan MP
1932-33: Joseph Compton
1933-34: Walter R. Smith
1934-35: William Albert Robinson
1935-36: Jennie Adamson
1936-37: Hugh Dalton MP
1937-39: George Dallas (no conference in 1938)
1939-40: Barbara Gould
1940-41: James Walker MP
1941-42: Walter Henry Green MP[4]
1942-43: Alfred Dobbs
1943-44: George Ridley MP
1944-45: Ellen Wilkinson MP
1945-46: Harold Laski
1946-47: Philip Noel-Baker MP
1947-48: Emmanuel Shinwell MP
1948-49: Jim Griffiths MP
1949-50: Sam Watson
1950-51: Alice Bacon MP
1951-52: Harry Earnshaw
1952-53: Arthur Greenwood MP
1953-54: Wilfrid Burke MP
1954-55: Edith Summerskill MP
1955-56: Edwin Gooch MP
1956-57: Margaret Herbison MP
1957-58: Tom Driberg
1958-59: Barbara Castle MP
1959-60: George Brinham
1960-61: Richard Crossman MP
1961-62: Harold Wilson MP
1962-63: Dai Davies
1963-64: Anthony Greenwood MP
1964-65: Ray Gunter MP
1965-66: Walter Padley MP
1966-67: John McFarlane Boyd
1967-68: Jennie Lee MP
1968-69: Eirene White MP
1969-70: Arthur Skeffington MP
1970-71: Ian Mikardo MP
1971-72: Tony Benn MP
1972-73: Willie Simpson
1973-74: James Callaghan MP
1974-75: Fred Mulley MP
1975-76: Tom Bradley MP
1976-77: John Chalmers
1977-78: Joan Lestor MP
1978-79: Frank Allaun MP
1979-80: Lena Jeger
1980-81: Alex Kitson (1980–81)

See also

References

  1. ^ Roy Hattersley (26 July 2001). "Blair mistook his Clarke for a chair". The Guardian. http://www.guardian.co.uk/Archive/Article/0,4273,4228365,00.html. Retrieved 24 May 2007. 
  2. ^ "NEC committees". Labour Party. http://www.labour.org.uk/nec_committees. Retrieved 24 May 2007. 
  3. ^ Who's Who
  4. ^ Who's Who

External links