Amy Fode is to be Labour’s new interim director of the party’s London region, it has been reported. Fode’s appointment will be seen as the latest shift towards Blairite centrism under Labour’s new leader Sir Keir Starmer.

Amy Fode with former Labour leader Ed Miliband

Fode is to replace Hazel Flynn, who was known to be a supporter of Jeremy Corbyn, but who has stood down from her job after barely 18 months in post.

Flynn’s decision was announced on the day that former Blair adviser David Evans was named as the party’s new general secretary.

Like Evans, Fode is of the right-wing of the party and is reputed to be a member of Progress, the Blairite party-within-a-party. Senior party members in Croydon who have had dealings with Fode regard her as “sound” and a good administrator.

Her CV shows her to have strong south London roots, having worked as an intern with Sadiq Khan when he was MP for Tooting and being constituency organiser for Mitcham and Morden CLP where the MP is Siobhain McDonagh. She has also worked on the staff at London region previously, including a spell in which she oversaw the selection process in Croydon South in which The Hon Emily Benn became parliamentary candidate.

Fode has been Labour’s south-east regional director since April 2017.

Fode will take up a position with the party’s London regional board dominated by members of Momentum, the organisation established to support Jeremy Corbyn when he was party leader.

The regional board oversees conduct complaints, party discipline and oversaw the candidate shortlists for London Assembly elections, which are now due to be contested in May 2021.

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