Johanna Baxter

Johanna Baxter
Alma mater	University of Strathclyde
CLP Representative on the National Executive Committee In office April 2020 - Present Employer Labour Party  CLP Representative on the Scottish Executive Committee In office February 2017 - Present Employer Scottish Labour Party  Regional Officer In office October 2016 - Present Employer UNISON  CLP Representative on the National Executive Committee In office November 2010 - October 2016 Employer Labour Party  National Officer In office August 2005 - July 2016 Employer Prospect union

Johanna Baxter is the Labour Party's CLP Representative on both the National Executive Committee and the Scottish Executive Committee. She is regarded as a Corbynsceptic and has been endorsed by Blairite group Progress and ‘old right’ organisation Labour First.

2016 leadership election

Johanna Baxter, the granddaughter of a Polish miner, revealed that Owen Smith would be getting her vote in the September 2016 leadership election:

“Owen understands places like North Ayrshire. There are not many people who will go out of their way to help a candidate who is fighting a real uphill battle against the SNP with a broken ankle. And he did.

“He visited the constituency and helped us to make a video on our campaign to keep CalMac publicly owned.

“I will vote for Owen in the leadership election because he reaches out beyond those who agree with him. He has come up with policy ideas. He has been an activist.”

Entryism

Johanna Baxter agreed with deputy leader Tom Watson’s assessment that “Trots” driven out of the party decades ago were trying to rejoin. She said she has never spoken publicly before about the business of the NEC:

“With the NEC coming under more scrutiny, it’s important to understand the decisions that have been taken.

"I sit on that vetting panel and I see those applications every day. There are thousands of new members and the vast majority are very well meaning and well intentioned.

“There’s a small minority coming from organisations who have never shared our values. Entryism is still an issue.”

Back at the NEC

On 28 April 2020, Johanna Baxter tweeted: "My report of @UKLabour Emergency NEC mtg held 23rd April 20, incl agreed terms of reference for the independent Leaked Labour Report Inquiry (LLRI)."

Thank you to every one of the 57,181 who voted to elect me again to the NEC, I am very grateful for your support. It's good to be back! I will, as I did when I was on the NEC before, seek to provide you with regular reports to shine a light on the work of this important committee and engage with you on the key issues at hand. The health warning is that these reports are my own notes and reflections of these meetings and should not be taken as an official record.

LLRI terms of reference

Setting out the LLRI terms of reference

There was an emergency meeting of the NEC, set up to discuss the terms of reference of the independent investigation, announced by Keir Starmer and Angela Rayner, about the leaked internal Labour report which contains serious allegations about the behaviour and culture within our Party.

In advance of the meeting, I asked the General Secretary to forward me a number of pieces of information so that I could get up to speed on the serious issues before us. I asked for:

• The current NEC Terms of Reference, NEC Induction Pack and Scheme of Delegation.

• The Party's current organigram.

• A breakdown of our current financial position, so that I can see what staffing, organisation and financial requirements are needed to deliver next year's elections.

• A copy of all documents the Party has submitted to the EHRC Investigation into Antisemitism, copies of the minutes of all NEC and NEC sub-committee meetings that have discussed this matter, any NEC reports that have been compiled on this and any legal advice that has been received on it.

• Details of who commissioned, compiled, was involved in the compilation of and had access to the recent report that was leaked to the press, the Terms of Reference for the internal investigation into that leak and the legal advice advising against submitting it to the EHRC.

• Details of how individuals may seek corrections to inaccurate information contained in that report, noting that a number of the statements contained within it have beenchallenged on their factual accuracy.

• Details of the number of disciplinary cases currently lodged in the Party's system relating to Antisemitism including how many referrals have been made relating to this over the past four years, how many have been investigated, how many resolved, a breakdown of the outcome of those cases, how many are currently being investigated and how many members are currently suspended pending investigation/outcome?

• Details of how many other cases are currently lodged with the Legal and Compliance Department broken down by case type, status and date lodged.

• Details of how many CLPs are currently in special measures and how long they have been so.

• Details of all CLP Secretaries, so that I might be able to communicate with them about the work I am doing as their representative.

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