Wrack confirmed as leader

The former general secretary of the firefighters’ FBU union, Matt Wrack, was recently confirmed as the permanent general secretary of the NASUWT teachers’ union.

The confirmation came in late July following the union’s first contested leadership election in over 30 years.

The union had previously announced that Wrack had been elected unopposed. This followed the surprise endorsement of Wrack’s nomination in April 2025 by its national executive (see Labour Research, April 2025, page 7).

However, the union then faced a High Court challenge from Neil Butler, NASUWT national officer for Wales, which saw it reopening the nomination process. Butler’s challenge centred on a legal objection to the way the union had handled the nomination process.

At this point, Wrack was named acting general secretary in the interim period during the reopening of nominations, which triggered a contested election. An extended nomination period ran until 26 May with only Wrack and Butler receiving sufficient nominations to stand.

Voting was held between 19 June and 23 July. Wrack was declared general secretary with 5,249 votes (63%) against Butler’s 3,126 votes (37%) on a 4.7% turnout.

National president Wayne Broom thanked Butler “for standing in this election and for his ongoing service to NASUWT”. Wrack said he was “immensely honoured to be elected general secretary”.