As the email below notes, Tony Lloyd has been re-elected unopposed as chair of the PLP.

The last time Labour was in opposition, the “parliamentary committee” was the elected shadow cabinet. Standing orders have now changed, though, such that the parliamentary committee continues to exist as it did in government: six elected backbenchers who meet the leader weekly, with the PLP chair, to represent backbench opinion.

This cements Lloyd’s position as the most powerful and influential PLP chair of the modern era.

He also chairs the weekly meetings of the PLP and mediates the increasingly fractious relationship between MPs and IPSA.

Lloyd ran unsuccessfully for the office he now holds several times over many years. He was then part of the soft-left resistance to the Blairite autocracy. He was loyal to Brown, though, and will be pivotal to Miliband.

FAO Labour MPs

Dear Colleague

At 6pm this evening nominations closed in the election for the Chair of the Parliamentary Labour Party.

Nominations were received for one candidate, Tony Lloyd MP.

Tony Lloyd MP has therefore been duly re-elected to serve as Chair of the PLP.

Best wishes

Martin

Martin O’Donovan
Returning Officer and PLP Secretary