Labour's back office: McCarten to stay
Matt McCarten is here to stay.
Controversial left wing activist Matt McCarten has been confirmed as keeping his position as chief in the Labour leader’s office.
Mr McCarten was appointed by former Labour leader David Cunliffe in March, in what was seen as a surprise appointment but one which confirmed the left-ward direction Mr Cunliffe wanted to take the party in.
Mr McCarten was one of the leading members of the breakaway group from Labour in the 1980s which decamped with Jim Anderton to form, first, the New Labour Party and, subsequently, the Alliance.
More recently, Mr McCarten has been a high profile organiser for radical union Unite - a union which attracted much attention for its inability to pay its taxes.
Whether Mr McCarten survived under new leader Andrew Little was seen as very much up in the air, but it was confirmed this afternoon he will remain in the job. Mr McCarten’s organisational skills are highly regarded within the Labour movement and it appears these have helped keep him on.
There is still no word on who Mr Little’s new chief press secretary will be, although a current staffer under the last two leaders, former journalist Danya Levy, is understood to be the front runner.
Rob Hosking
Thu, 11 Dec 2014
Thu, 11 Dec 2014
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Labour's back office: McCarten to stay
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