by Conrad Landin and Peter Lazenby 

THE contest to succeed Paul Kenny as GMB general secretary heated up last night as the union’s Yorkshire chief became the first candidate to make a public declaration.

Yorkshire and North Derbyshire regional secretary Tim Roache has led high-profile campaigns on issues such as End Foul Play, which demanded football clubs pay their groundstaff a fair wage.

Other candidates said to be seeking nominations from branches include southern region secretary Paul Maloney, north-west and Irish regional chief Paul McCarthy and national secretary for energy Gary Smith.

Each must gain the nominations of 30 union branches before August 17, and they will be vetted by the union’s finance and general purposes committee on September 7, though this is likely to be a formality.

An influential GMB source described Mr Maloney as a “Kennyesque character,” saying he had led a “stonking success story of membership growth in southern region, putting members on year after year.”

They said Mr Roache was the “most political” of the candidates, “probably to the left of Paul Kenny.”

The source praised Mr McCarthy for bringing environmentalists, trade unionists and energy bosses together for talks on fracking but noted that membership was not growing as fast in his region as in others.

Of Mr Smith, they said: “He comes over as a bit more right-wing, but he isn’t. It’s the sector he represents, nuclear power, energy … and he’s not afraid to take a controversial position.”

Mr Roache is chair of the Centre for Labour and Social Studies (Class) and of Yorkshire and Humber TUC.

He said yesterday: “With things set to get even tougher for working people and the most vulnerable with cuts to tax credits and more so-called welfare ‘savings,’ and for our NHS and councils where funding looks set to be slashed again, I’m ready to lead a fighting union that has a very clear message: We won’t stand for it.”

Candidates will be governed by strict rules which prevent canvassing beyond a centrally distributed election address, word of mouth and hustings.