Yesterday, a Labour selection panel chose a shortlist of two for a new general secretary. The panel was carefully chosen to comprise largely those who would, in the bad old New Labour days, have been described as Leadership loyalists. The full executive, which has chosen the party’s chief executive since the party’s early days, may not like being given only two candidates from which to choose, but it certainly clarifies the choice. Chris Lennie, the machine insider, the establishment candidate, backed by the Leader’s advisers, versus Iain McNicol, GMB Political Officer and himself a former party organiser, the candidate most likely to restore to the party machine the civil service principles of integrity, honesty, objectivity and impartiality. Continue reading →