McCartney: Party membership 'is recovering'

Labour's membership is now lower than it was when Tony Blair became leader in 1994, Ian McCartney has admitted.

The party now has just 200,000 members, some 65,000 fewer than when the now prime minister took over in 1994.

And the figure is also half the level achieved at the height of his popularity eight years ago.

Disclosing the figures to the Times newspaper, the party chairman insisted the party was recovering from the slump.

"We’re instituting a programme of engagement with people who have left the party and with those who have never joined," he told the paper.

"For the first time in a while we’re recruiting more members than we are losing."

McCartney also said that the days of fixing party business in smoke-filled rooms had ended "not because people are averse to smoke but because they didn't want to go those meetings".

He also pointed to Labour's 'big conversation' exercise as an initiative that could become a permanent feature for Labour policy making.

"For the first time in modern politics members could feel a real sense of ownership over the election manifesto - that was a huge boost," McCartney said.