02 July 2004
Members of Britain's largest teaching union, the National Union of Teachers, have chosen the moderate former deputy as its new general secretary.
Steve Sinnott, deputy general secretary since 1994, beat off three challengers to take over from Doug McAvoy, who has led the union for the past 15 years.
McAvoy's favoured candidate, John Bangs, was beaten into third place by Left-winger Ian Murch, but turnout was low at just 21% of the 253,000 membership.
During the campaign, Sinnott sold himself as the unity candidate promising to heal the divisions within the union and across the profession as a whole.
PFjul2004