Despite a difficult election for Labour, Co-operative Party officials had the satisfaction of seeing a near-record number of 28 Labour/Co-op MPs elected to the new Parliament.

A former senior adviser to ex-Prime Minister Tony Blair has been named as the new General Secretary of the Co-operative Party to succeed Peter Hunt, who announced his decision to quit the post in February. Michael Stephenson, currently Executive Director, Corporate Communications, with NESTA — the National Endowment for Science, Technology and the Arts — was the unanimous choice of a six-strong Co-op Party selection panel which included Party chairman Gareth Thomas, former junior ...