The appointment of David Evans as Labour’s general secretary represents another win for Keir Starmer. The leader was sticking his neck out when it was briefed to the press that he had a preferred candidate for the post – but the gamble has paid off. Jennie Formby, an ally of Jeremy Corbyn, has been replaced by someone who is heavily praised by activists on the right of the party. The Labour left has been thoroughly defeated, and the end of Corbynism is complete.
When it first emerged that the leader’s office had a firm favourite for general secretary and his name was David Evans, most of the members on the left of Labour’s national executive committee – the ruling body that interviews and votes on the applicants – hadn’t heard of him. They were introduced to the former assistant general secretary by journalists who themselves knew him primarily as the author of a 1999 report. This report described local constituency parties as “dysfunctional” and argued for a “radical overhaul” of the party that could “empower modernising forces within the party and marginalise Old Labour”.
Although the intention was apparently to weaken the power of MPs and other stakeholders who had a tight grip on local parties but couldn’t be bothered to show up to meetings, the proposals were interpreted at the time by left activists as “elitist”. The context of the leak was that Margaret McDonagh was at the helm as general secretary; soon after the report was published, Evans became her assistant. According to the left, she brought in a period during which trade unions were “sidelined” and “often treated with contempt”, as expressed in a briefing that circulated among NEC members last week.
Affiliated trade unions on the party’s left were incensed by the news that this man was Starmer’s pick. The Fire Brigades Union general secretary Matt Wrack warned colleagues against Evans, describing him as a “factional figure” and “likely to be extremely divisive”. Since his appointment, one local party representative on the NEC has tweeted that Starmer and Angela Rayner, Labour’s deputy leader, have “shown their pledge to end factionalism to be a sham”, while other furious reactions have been offered as anonymous comments. “If Evans now takes us back to the toxic culture in HQ, purges of leftwing members and stitch-ups of selections exposed in the leaked report, his appointment will be the worst mistake of Keir’s leadership,” one said.
It is worth pointing out that many in the party – across the political spectrum – believe that there is already a toxic culture in HQ, and that parliamentary selections were being stitched up during the Corbyn era too. It is also worth noting that friends of Evans dismiss the portrayal of a Blairite driven by factionalism and anti-union sentiment. They counter that the internal report actually demanded more resources for constituency parties and for members to be empowered. It advocated all-member meetings rather than local committees, for example – a move that would later be championed by the left under Corbyn.
Evans is hailed by former colleagues as an excellent organiser who oversaw the campaigns that enabled Labour to beat the BNP in Barking in 2010 and regain control of Croydon council in 2014. They say he was instrumental in efforts that led to Labour’s 2001 general election win. Like Starmer and his chief of staff, Morgan McSweeney, Evans sees working with local government not as a nice-to-have but as a key way of securing power at a national level. His ability to connect with voters, described by friends such as Barking and Dagenham council leader, Darren Rodwell, will have to manifest itself through party staff and an enthused activist base.
Starmer took a risk and did well to get the finely balanced NEC to approve his first preference – the appointment went through by 20 votes to 16, according to well-placed sources. The two GMB representatives provided the votes that swung in Starmer’s favour, making the trade union a key player under the new leadership. The narrow NEC result also offers a stark reminder to the Labour left that it needs to get its house in order, and fast. If Corbynites had put forward a united slate for the recent by-elections, they would have been well placed to win the two members’ representative places, and Evans would probably not be general secretary now.
It was a close call, but the new leader now has an ally in control of the party machine as well as a clear personal mandate from members. That means he has no reason not to deliver on his key campaign pledges from the leadership election: unity, professionalism, electability. In a recent Zoom meeting alongside Starmer and Rayner, Evans reportedly expressed his desire to professionalise HQ, and said that the party must get back to winning elections. Was picking Evans over a compromise candidate the right decision? The proof will be in whether party culture improves over the coming years, in its ability to respond well to the findings of the Equality and Human Rights Commission investigation expected shortly, and in electoral tests starting with the 2021 local contests.