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Left-leaning candidates have swept the boards in elections to Labour's ruling body, in a major boost for leader Jeremy Corbyn .

Six spaces on the National Executive Committee (NEC) were up for grabs, all of which were filled by candidates Momentum, the left wing pressure group set up to bolster Mr Corbyn's leadership, had urged his supporters to vote for.

Comedian Eddie Izzard missed out on a place on the 33-strong NEC, as did several more centrist current members.

The six new members are Ann Black, Christine Shawcroft, Claudia Webbe, Darren Williams, Rhea Wolfson, and Peter Willsman.

The NEC governs the Labour Party , but its relationship with the leader's office has been under strain in recent months.

Today's election comes as NEC launched an appeal against a High Court decision to overrule their plan to block new Labour members from voting in the party's leadership contest.

Shadow Chancellor John McDonnell branded the decision to appeal "absurd".

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He accused a "small clique of people behind closed doors" of "trying to use Labour members' money to fund what they think is a further attack on Jeremy."

Responding to the election, a spokesman for the Jeremy for Labour campaign said: "Our campaign would like to congratulate those new members to the Labour Party 's NEC, and thank those former members who have served our party, and also thank those members who stood unsuccessfully.

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"This result clearly shows that there is a desire for real and genuine change in our party under the continued leadership of Jeremy Corbyn , but we are not going to take anything for granted and we will be campaigning for every vote in the leadership contest."

The NEC consists of the Labour leader, deputy leader, frontbenchers, trade union representatives, constituency party representatives, councillors and members of the Parliamentary Labour Party .