Jargon Buster

We all know the Labour Party loves a few acronyms and a bit of jargon. You’ll be a pro in no time with our Jargon Buster!

Affiliate
Trade union or socialist society with established formal links with the Labour Party based on common values. Affiliated organisations pay a subscription to the Labour Party on behalf of their members.

AGM
Annual General Meeting. Usually in Dorking and Horley Labour Party Executive Officers are elected in June.

AMM
All Member Meeting. Meeting of the Constituency Labour Party open to all members in that constituency.

AWS
All Women Shortlist. Process to increase representation of women in Parliament by reserving 50% of winnable seats for women candidates.

BAME
BAME stands for Black, Asian and Minority Ethnic.

Back Bencher
A Minister of Parliament (MP) or a councillor with no front bench responsibility.

BLP
Branch Labour Party. All members from a particular geographical area, usually along the local government electoral ward boundaries belong to a branch.

Cabinet
Committee of senior government ministers/shadow ministers. Also the main decision making body of a Council consisting of the Leader/elected Mayor & councillors with portfolio responsibilities.

CAC
Conference Arrangements Committee. The committee that determines the shape of the agenda for Annual Conference, and rules on the validity of contemporary and emergency motions. Acts as the steering committee for Annual Conference. People are elected to the CAC by members periodically.

Canvassing
Also called “door knocking”.  This is a doorstep conversation with a voter; the gold standard of election campaigning. Here we find out the things that are important to voters and encourage our supporters to get out to vote.

CLP
Constituency Labour Party. The CLP is the electoral area for the election of MPs. The CLP is made up of branches and these contain several wards.

EC
Executive Committee. Elected officers at branch and constituency level form the Executive Committee. The elected members of the Dorking and Horley Labour EC are here.

GM
General Meeting. The General Meeting is where decisions are made for the whole constituency.

GOTV
Get Out The Vote. You’ll hear a lot about this around election time. Throughout a campaign we identify Labour voters (through canvassing). We then encourage them to go and cast their vote on polling day.

GOTPV
Get Out The Postal Vote.

Labour Group
The group of Labour councillors on Mole Valley Council, Reigate and Banstead Council or Surrey County Council.

LCF
Local Campaign Forum. A borough or district council wide group of delegates from Dorking and Horley CLP, South West Surrey CLP and Epsom and Ewell CLP, together with delegates from the council formed to discuss campaign issues for the constituency and facilitate the selection of local council candidates.

NEC
National Executive Committee. Find out more here Labour’s National Executive Committee.

NPF
National Policy Forum. Find out more here Labour’s National Policy Forum.

PLP
Parliamentary Labour Party. The group of all sitting Labour MPs.

Quotas
Policy to ensure gender balance. For example, at least 50% of CLP delegates to the GC, EC and Labour Party conference must be women.

Registered Supporter
A supporter who pays for a vote in the leadership contest; this expires a year after the date you joined unless you re-join as an Affiliated Supporter or full Member. You can re-join here.

Short Campaign
A period of time before election day during which all details of expenditure must be sent to the candidate for inclusion in their records.

TULO
Trade Union Liaison Officer. A CLP or BLP officer elected to build links with local trade unions and lead local Labour Party campaigns supporting local trade unions.

Ward
The basic geographical building block of the your local authority and the Labour Party.

Young Member
If you are under 27 you are automatically a member of Young Labour.