Sir Keir Starmer is poised to strengthen his grip on Labour on the day of the King’s Speech in elections to key party posts taking place at Westminster.
A leading Starmer loyalist, Jessica Morden, is tipped for victory in the election for Parliamentary Labour Party chair, a post she says is Labour MPs’ “shop steward”.
And more loyalists to the prime minister, including two newly elected MPs, are also expected to win the three seats reserved for MPs on Labour’s National Executive Committee.
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New MPs Gurinder Josan and Luke Akehurst, previously constituency party representatives, and Melanie Onn, back in the Commons after defeat in 2019, are tipped to be elected.
Labour’s 411 MPs will also be voting for members of the party’s parliamentary committee – a group of MPs that regularly meets the party leader, usually on a Wednesday after Prime Minister’s Questions.
The PLP post is vacant after left-winger John Cryer, who was chair from 2015 until the 4 July general election, stood down as an MP and has since been awarded a peerage.
Ms Morden, MP for Newport East since 2005, is a former general secretary of Welsh Labour. She nominated Sir Keir for leader in 2020 and was his parliamentary private secretary before becoming a shadow minister.
The PLP hopeful used to work for the now Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer. Pic: PA
Her rival in the election for PLP chair is Clive Efford, MP for Eltham and Chislehurst, who nominated Jeremy Corbyn for leader in 2015 but then supported Sir Keir in 2020.
He chairs the Tribune group of Labour MPs and is a former London taxi driver.
In an appeal to Labour MPs on the eve of the election, Ms Morden wrote on the Labour List website: “John was a brilliant chair of the PLP, taking the message from the backbenches to the party’s leadership, and keeping all channels of communication open to ensure everyone was heard.
“I’m asking colleagues to consider voting for me as the new chair of the Parliamentary Labour Party – a role often described as the shop steward of the PLP, and a role that a woman hasn’t served for many years.”
Pointing to her time in the whips’ office – and working for Sir Keir – she said colleagues had described her as “open and fair, discreet and able to convey a range of concerns and offer quiet support where needed”.
And she promised to be a “strong, constructive voice for all backbenchers”.
Mr Cryer was an official with the Unite union before becoming an MP. He is the son of former Labour MPs Bob and Anne Cryer, and was a member of the Socialist Campaign Group of Labour MPs.
He is married to Rachel Reeves’ sister Ellie, who was appointed as Labour Party chair and minister without portfolio after Labour’s election victory. She was previously the party’s deputy campaign chief.
The three MPs’ seats on the national executive are vacant after Labour veterans Dame Margaret Beckett and Sir George Howarth stood down at the election, and Dame Angela Eagle was appointed a Home Office minister.
Also standing for the executive is left-wing MP Kim Johnson, who is leading the Labour backbench revolt against the two-child benefit cap, which opponents are urging Sir Keir and Ms Reeves to overturn.