Who is Peter Watt?
Updated on 27 November 2007
Find out more about Labour's former general secretary.
Peter Watt resigned from his position as Labour's general secretary last night, a job he was promoted to in November 2005.
Moving on from being Labour's finance director (he led the party's financial and legal compliance taskforce from 2003-5), Watt defeated several trade unionists to succeed Matt Carter. Aged just 36, Watt was the peak of an almost decade-long career within the party.
Watt was promoted by the National Executive Committee after taking charge of campaigning by Cabinet ministers during the 2005 election campaign.
The then prime minister Tony Blair hailed his "excellent record of service" to the party and said he had "no doubt he will lay the right organisational foundations for an unprecedented fourth election victory".
During his time as general secretary, he oversaw a difficult period trying to reverse a membership slump and starting to clear the party's massive debts.
The election of a new leader and deputy leader following Mr Blair's departure were among the biggest administrative tasks overseen by Mr Watt.
But he was almost immediately thrust into dealing with the "cash for honours" controversy which broke shortly after he took up the job. And now he has resigned over "secret" funding accepted while he, as general secretary, was legally responsible for reporting donations.
Watt was educated at Bournemouth University's Institute of Health and went on to become a staff nurse at Poole Hospital from 1992-96.
For the following two years he worked as a Labour Party organiser in Battersea and Wandsworth before switching to the head office working on election delivery and recruitment.
After a spell as Labour's regional director in the East of England he returned to HQ to head the compliance unit.
Apart from spending time with his family - he's married with three children and a foster carer - he lists his recreations as watching sport - he is a fan of Liverpool Football Club - and reading crime novels.
