Treasurer of the Labour Party

The treasurer of the Labour Party is a position on the National Executive Committee of the British Labour Party. ^[1]

Treasurer of the Labour Party
Incumbent Mike Payne
Labour Party
Member of	National Executive Committee
Appointer	Labour Party Conference
Inaugural holder	Arthur Henderson

Although a post with little power, in the past, it was often hotly contested by people who later became big names in British politics: Arthur Greenwood beat Herbert Morrison in 1943, Hugh Gaitskell beat Aneurin Bevan in 1954, who in turn beat George Brown in 1956, while James Callaghan beat Michael Foot in 1967. Since the 1990s, the post has typically been held by a senior member of one of the larger Trade Unions.

Since the Political Parties, Elections and Referendums Act 2000 (PPERA) came into force, the Labour Party has had to register a treasurer to the Electoral Commission, who becomes legally responsible for various returns to the Electoral Commission. It has been the practice of the NEC to register the full-time General Secretary as treasurer under PPERA, rather than the elected volunteer treasurer. This has created two treasurer roles within the party, so to disambiguate these roles the elected treasurer is often called Party Treasurer, and the PPERA treasurer is often called Registered Treasurer. The party accounts are signed by both treasurers using these titles, ^[2] though under PPERA only the General Secretary need sign them.

In 2008 the post was contested by the incumbent Jack Dromey and by human rights lawyer Mark McDonald, with Dromey being re-elected. In 2010, former deputy prime minister John Prescott was defeated by Diana Holland. ^[3]

List of treasurers (1903–present)

Note^: the right-hand column does not allocate height proportional to time in office.

A list of Treasurers since 1903.

Profile			Term began	Term ended	Leader(s)
1	Arthur Henderson (1863–1935) (1st time)		1903	1912		None
						Hardie
						Himself
						Barnes
						MacDonald (himself)
2	Ramsay MacDonald (1866–1937)		1912	1929
						Henderson
						Adamson
						Clynes
						MacDonald (himself)
(1)	Arthur Henderson (1863–1935) (2nd time)		1929	1936
						Himself
						Lansbury
						Attlee
3	George Lathan		1936	1943 (died in office)
4	Arthur Greenwood		1943	1954
5	Hugh Gaitskell		1954	1956
						Morrison (acting)
						Gaitskell
6	Aneurin Bevan		1956	1960
7	Harry Nicholas		1960	1965
						Brown (acting)
						Wilson
8	Dai Davies		1965 [4]	1967
9	James Callaghan		1967	1976
10	Norman Atkinson		1976	1981		Callaghan
						Foot
11	Eric Varley		1981	1983
12	Albert Booth		1983	1984		Kinnock
13	Sam McCluskie		1984	1992
14	Tom Burlison		1992	1996		Smith
						Beckett (acting)
						Blair
15	Margaret Prosser		1996	2001
16	Jimmy Elsby		2001	2004
17	Jack Dromey [5]		2004	2010
18	Diana Holland		2010	2022		Brown
						Harman (acting: 1st time)
						Miliband
						Harman (acting: 2nd time)
						Corbyn
						Starmer
19	Mike Payne		2022	Incumbent

References

1. "Labour Party Rule Book" (PDF). 2026. p. 6. Retrieved 2026-01-26.
2. "The Electoral Commission : Document summary". Archived from the original on 2008-04-05. Retrieved 2008-04-07.
3. "Lord Prescott fails in Treasurer bid". BBC News. 2010-09-26. Retrieved 2026-01-26.
4. "Trades Union Congress - Chapter 16: obituary". www.tuc.org.uk. Archived from the original on 2002-08-30. Retrieved 2026-01-27.
5. "Profile: Labour treasurer Jack Dromey". 2006-03-16. Archived from the original on 2006-05-31. Retrieved 2026-01-26.