Lord Iain McNicol was appointed in 2018 to the UK second chamber, the House of Lords, where he currently serves as one of the deputy speakers. Prior to this from 2011-18 he was the General Secretary of the Labour Party and member of the UK’s Shadow Cabinet.
Iain is an experienced and influential chief executive with a considerable strategic, financial and operational skillset. Following his appointment to the House of Lords in 2018, he established an international consultancy and advisory service, focusing on democratic structures, elections and political parties.
Iain specialises in election campaigns and strategic leadership. As GS of the Labour Party, Iain led multidisciplinary teams across the UK regions and nations, and oversaw complex, demanding political and staffing challenges. He was Labour Party National Agent (legal responsibility for the Party’s national operations, compliance and governance) for the 2015 and 2017 general elections.
During Iain’s term of office he oversaw two Party leadership elections, the Scottish Independence and Brexit referenda, and numerous by-elections. Under his stewardship the Party revitalised campaigning techniques, breaking new ground in digital campaigning and fundraising, with modern innovative initiatives.
Recent consultancy includes work across Europe and North Africa for a host of organisations: US National Democratic Institute (NDI), Foundation for European Progressive Studies (FEPS), Party of European Socialists (PES) and the Romanian Social Democrats (PSD).