1. Iain Mackenzie McNicol, Baron McNicol of West Kilbride was born on 17 August 1969 and is a British politician, trade unionist and life peer who served as General Secretary of the Labour Party from 2011 to 2018.
17 Facts About Iain McNicol
1. 2.
Iain McNicol was National Political Officer of the GMB trade union from 2004 to 2011.
3.
Iain McNicol studied at Dundee Institute of Technology, where he began his involvement in political organising when being elected as president of the Student Union in 1991.
4.
Iain McNicol served in that capacity through to 2011, coordinating the political strategy of the union and representing its members' interests in both the public and private sector.
5.
On 19 July 2011, Labour's National Executive Committee selected Iain McNicol to become the party's next General Secretary under leader Ed Miliband.
6.
Iain McNicol was seen as the 'change candidate' and chosen against the wishes of Miliband, who supported the alternative candidate Chris Lennie.
7.
In June and July 2016, the Financial Times reported the office of Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn believed Iain McNicol tried to prevent Corbyn from attending a key National Executive Committee meeting and reported Iain McNicol was alleged to be complicit in trying to exclude Corbyn from entering the second leadership election.
8.
Iain McNicol was the first defendant on behalf of the members of the Labour Party.
9.
Corbyn applied to the court, and was accepted, to be a second defendant with his own legal team as Corbyn was "particularly affected and particularly interested in the proper construction of the rules" and that Iain McNicol was "being expected to vigorously defend a position which he regarded as incorrect prior to the NEC decision".
10.
On 21 June 2018, Iain McNicol was created a life peer as Baron Iain McNicol of West Kilbride, of West Kilbride in the County of Ayrshire.
11.
On 4 September 2018, Iain McNicol was appointed an Opposition Whip on the House of Lords frontbench.
12.
Iain McNicol was almost immediately appointed as Deputy Chairman of Committees, a position he held until 26 October 2023.
13.
On 21 March 2025, the House of Lords Commissioners for Standards started an investigation into a possible breach of the House of Lords rules, after Iain McNicol wrote to HM Treasury regarding a cryptocurrency company that was paying him.
14.
In October 2024, Iain McNicol was given a paid trip to Azerbaijan by an Azerbaijani group with connections to the authoritarian regime in Azerbaijan.
15.
Iain McNicol was pictured laying a wreath at the grave of Azerbaijan's dictator Heydar Aliyev.
16.
Iain McNicol is married to Shelley and has a son, Hamish, and daughter, Scarlett.
17.
Iain McNicol holds a black belt in karate, and plays the bagpipes.