The son of Iain and brother of Natasha and Calum, McNicol was raised in Thirdpart, West Kilbride and attended Ardrossan Academy. He studied at Dundee Institute of Technology, where he began his involvement in political organising when being elected as president of the Student Union in 1991.
Early political career
McNicol was elected National Campaigns and Membership Officer for Labour Students, and then acted as a Labour Party organiser and agent in south and east England from 1994 to 1997. Following the 1997 United Kingdom general election at which Labour returned to office, McNicol served as a research, organisation, and political officer with the GMB Union, and in 1998 was appointed a regional organiser for its Southern Region. In 2004, he was promoted to National Political Officer. He served in that capacity through to 2011, coordinating the political strategy of the union and representing its members’ interests in both the public and private sector.
General Secretary
On 19 July 2011, Labour's National Executive Committee selected McNicol to become the party's next General Secretary under leader Ed Miliband. He was seen as the 'change candidate' and chosen against the wishes of Miliband, who supported the alternative candidate Chris Lennie. McNicol's intention to stand down as General Secretary of the Labour Party was announced on 23 February 2018. On 20 March 2018 he was succeeded by Jennie Formby.
In June and July 2016, the Financial Times reported the office of Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn believed McNicol tried to prevent Corbyn from attending a key National Executive Committee meeting and reported McNicol was alleged to be complicit in trying to exclude Corbyn from entering the second leadership election. It reported senior figures in the trade union movement were discussing replacement options for McNicol in his General Secretary role. A civil High Court legal challenge was brought by Labour donor and former parliamentary candidate Michael Foster to contest the decision to allow Corbyn to be a candidate without having to secure any nominations from Labour MPs. The case went to court on 26 July 2016. McNicol was the first defendant on behalf of the members of the Labour Party. Corbyn applied to the court, and was accepted, to be a second defendant with his own legal team as Corbyn was "particularly affected and particularly interested in the proper construction of the rules" and that McNicol was "being expected to vigorously defend a position which he regarded as incorrect prior to the NEC decision". The High Court ruled that the NEC's decision that Corbyn should automatically be on the ballot was a correct interpretation of the Labour Party Rule Book. An additional court case was brought against McNicol in August 2016 regarding the NEC's decision to disallow party members who had joined after 12 January 2016 from voting in the leadership election. The claimants won their case in the High Court but the decision was overturned on appeal.
Handling of antisemitism complaints and other controversies
In May 2019, Jon Lansman the founder of Momentum writing in the LabourList blog accused McNicol and his team of delaying action on handling antisemitism cases while he was General Secretary, and allowing a backlog of cases to build up which would damage the party and Jeremy Corbyn's leadership. In April 2020 a leaked report commissioned by McNicol's successor Jennie Formby, purportedly for submission to the Equality and Human Rights Commission's investigation into anti-semitism within the Labour Party, published various WhatsApp message group transcripts which purported to show that McNicol and members of his office failed to deal with anti-semitism cases, worked against the objectives of the leadership of the Party, worked against Labour's objective of winning the 2017 general election, and made offensive comments about Labour members, staff, and politicians. On 1 May 2020, the members of an investigation panel appointed by the Labour Party to look into various aspects of the report were announced.
Peerage
On 21 June 2018, McNicol was created a life peer as Baron McNicol of West Kilbride, of West Kilbride in the County of Ayrshire. On 4 September 2018, McNicol was appointed an Opposition Whip on the House of Lordsfrontbench. As a result of the disclosures in the April 2020 report, McNicol stepped down from this role while an investigation was carried out.
Personal life
McNicol is married to Shelley and has a son, Hamish, and daughter, Scarlett. He holds a black belt in karate.
