UK teaching union to hold leadership election as challenger emerges

Matt Wrack became head of NASUWT unopposed in March, but the appointment has proved controversial among some members. Photograph: Sarah Lee/The Guardian

The NASUWT teaching union will hold its first contested leadership election for a generation after a challenger to Matt Wrack, the former firefighters’ union general secretary, emerged after Wrack had been appointed to the role unopposed.

Neil Butler, an NASUWT official who won a legal battle against the union’s national executive to run, has passed the threshold required to be a candidate, triggering a members’ vote against Wrack later this year.