I'm told the Labour left have just walked out – digitally – of the first meeting of Labour's new NEC, and Margaret Beckett was elected unanimously as the new chair.
Understand that new disabled rep Ellen Morrison stayed in the meeting but did not take part in the elections.
I'm told the meeting was still quorate after the walk-out, which followed points of order by Howard Beckett and Laura Pidcock. Margaret Beckett and Alice Perry elected as chair and vice-chair.
Told 13 walked out (Howard Beckett, Jayne Taylor, Ian Murray, Andi Fox, Mick Whelan, Andy Kerr, Pauline McCarthy, Lara McNeill, Mish Rahman, Laura Pidcock, Yasmine Dar, Nadia Jama, Gemma Bolton). Margaret Beckett was elected with 24 votes.
Letter has been sent from the 13 NEC member to general secretary David Evans says NEC chair decision "is not protocol and is another example of the leader promoting factional division within Labour".
EXCL – full text of letter to David Evans here: labourlist.org/2020/11/margar…
13 NEC members say: "We have decided not to remain in the NEC meeting today in order to show very clearly how factional the decisions of the current Labour leader have become. We will be returning to future NEC meetings to be the legitimate voice of the membership"
Those backing move to choose Margaret Beckett over FBU's Ian Murray say NEC chair system was changed in 2017, when Jennie Formby was made vice-chair (over Margaret Beckett). Those opposing the move say Corbynites let Wendy Nichols become NEC chair despite left majority.
Another take on when the NEC chair system changed: left source says it changed in 2016, not 2017, as Glenis Willmott became NEC chair instead of Andy Kerr despite Kerr being more senior (Keith Birch also senior but they say he didn't want to stand).

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More from @siennamarla

25 Nov
Understand that legal proceedings have started today and Corbyn's team believe that upcoming release of written correspondence "will remove any ambiguity" that "there was a deal" between them and the leader's office on Corbyn's reinstatement to the party.
Labour source says: "Any accusation that this was a deal or an attempt to determine the outcome of the NEC panel and disciplinary process is wrong."
One account of the situation is that Keir Starmer, Angela Rayner, a LOTO staffer, Len McCluskey and Jon Trickett met the day after Corbyn's suspension, and it was agreed that discussions would be taken forward over what would need to be said to allow reinstatement.
Read 6 tweets
25 Nov
Thread of important bits from Ann Black's characteristically comprehensive NEC report: annblack.co.uk/nec-report-24-…
Chair process now being formalised: "the NEC agreed that custom and practice regarding the election of the vice-chair and chair should be explicitly included in NEC procedures, and also that seniority should be based on total years on the NEC rather than continuous years".
Ann Black is "hoping" that general secretary David Evans issues a statement soon on the Corbyn NEC panel. @aliceperryuk mentioned in her report that Evans offered a "very welcome" clarification in the meeting.
Read 7 tweets
25 Nov
Anneliese Dodds up to respond. This spending review was a moment for the Chancellor to take responsible choices, protect key workers, secure economy, recover jobs, she says. Chancellor clapped for key workers – today his government institutes a pay freeze for many of them.
Pay freeze "takes a sledgehammer" to confidence – and at the same time, during Covid the government has "wasted and mismanaged public finances on an industrial scale".
"Photo calls aren't enough, we need delivery." Dodds name checks Liam Byrne in West Midlands (key mayoral contest next year).
Read 6 tweets
25 Nov
"I cannot justify a significant across the board pay increase for all public sector workers," says Sunak. 1m NHS workers getting pay rise, he says, but pay rises in rest of public sector paused and 2.1m public sector who earn below £24,000 will get pay rise of at least £250.
Increasing national living wage by 2.2% to £8.91 an hour, and extend this to those aged 23 and over, in line with Low Pay Commission recommendations.
Here we go, aid spending cut: "At a time of unprecedented crisis, government must make tough choices." Sunak says "sticking rigidly" to 0.7% is "difficult to justify to the British people".
Read 7 tweets
23 Nov
Rachel Reeves addressed the Parliamentary Labour Party tonight to outline Labour's current thinking on how to vote if a deal comes back to the Commons. Leadership wants to see the detail of any deal before they make the decision.
"Keir and I will read the deal. We are not being bounced into this decision," she told MPs according to a Labour source – but at the moment, the inclination across the board, led by Starmer, is leaning towards voting for a deal, rather than abstaining.
Labour has been pushing for a deal rather than no deal for so long that the thinking at the top is it would be very odd for Labour to then turn around and not vote for one (particularly as it will pass anyway if put to a vote).
Read 5 tweets
23 Nov
Keir Starmer welcomes progress on vaccines. But describes the PM's proposal to return to the three-tier system as "risky". He says: "It didn’t work... We ended up in national lockdown."
Starmer says: "If we’re reintroducing a three-tier system without having fixed test, trace and isolate, that is a major risk. And we all need to acknowledge it."
"Because it begs the million-dollar question: how confident is the PM that the approach he is proposing today will keep the R rate below 1? Because if it doesn’t, infections will go up, back out of control, and we could well be back in a national lockdown."
Read 4 tweets

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