Journalists elect youngest ever leader

The 23,00-strong National Union of Journalists has elected the youngest general secretary in its 94-year history. Jeremy Dear, aged 35, will succeed 10-year incumbent John Foster in February 2002.

He won a five-cornered contest which included Writers' Guild leader Bernie Corbett. In the final round of the count, under an alternative voting system, Dear beat Corbett by 3,427 votes to 2,159.

Dear, a left winger, has been an NUJ official for the last two years leading the union's drive for re-recognition in the newspaper industry.