Grassroots Alliance - NEC Elections

NEC Elections

At the 2006 NEC elections for the Constituency Labour Parties contingent on the committee, the Grassroots Alliance stood six candidates to fill the six spaces allocated to CLPs.

The candidates must be nominated by at least three Constituency Labour Parties, including their own. However, all candidates will try to get more nominations to improve their chances across the nation. In this division of the NEC elections, each party member has the ability to vote.

In 2006 the six candidates were Mohammed Azam, Ann Black, Gaye Johnston, Christine Shawcroft, Pete Willsman and Walter Wolfgang. Christine Shawcroft was at the time vice-chair of the Labour Representation Committee (LRC).

The selection of Wolfgang, following his high-profile ejection from Labour Party Conference in 2005, may be a sign of a left-wing backlash against the New Labour leadership of the party. These candidates are also supported and endorsed by the Labour Representation Committee, the Socialist Campaign group of Labour MPs, Save the Labour Party, the Labour Black Representation Committee and the Scottish Campaign for Socialism.

It was announced on August 3 that four members of the Grassroots Alliance were elected to the National Executive Committee. These were Christine Shawcroft, Walter Wolfgang, Ann Black and Peter Willsman. This means that Grassroots Alliance controls 4 out of 6 of the CLP division places on the NEC.