Hollie Ridley, an ally of Keir Starmer, has been appointed Labour’s new general secretary. Ridley will replace David Evans, who resigned this month after serving for four and a half years as the party’s most senior official. Ridley has been Labour’s executive director for nations and regions since 2022, a role in which she in effect acted as Evans’ deputy. She is credited with running the party’s field operation during the election campaign. She was the only shortlisted candidate for the general secretary role and her appointment was approved by Labour’s ruling national executive committee on Tuesday. It now needs to be ratified by the party’s annual party conference next week. Senior party officials told the Guardian that the speedy process was drawn up to ensure that an ally of Starmer’s would get the role. The new general secretary will be tasked with safeguarding his internal reforms as well as fundraising and preparing for the local elections next spring. Ridley is close to Morgan McSweeney, Starmer’s strategy chief. She told the NEC on Tuesday that she first became involved with Labour to fight the rise of the British National party in Dagenham, the town in east London where she grew up. She joined Labour staff as a trainee organiser in 2011 aged 22 and rose up the party ranks over the decade that followed, eventually becoming regional director for the east of England. In that role she ran Labour’s campaign in the 2019 Peterborough byelection, which the party won narrowly in a three-way fight with the Tories and Nigel Farage’s Brexit party. Her allies argue that that campaign can be a blueprint for beating Reform UK. “Hollie is a party person through and through. She believes Labour only succeeds if the party machine stays strong,” a source close to her said. Following her appointment Ridley said: “The Labour party is the greatest vehicle for social progress in British history. But we can only do that when we win. Keir has shown that the Labour party is at its best when it is outward facing and focused on the needs of the British people. I look forward to working with him to deliver that in the years ahead.” Starmer said Ridley was “an outstanding leader who played a critical role in the general election campaign. She brings experience, expertise and a clear vision about what is needed for continued electoral success.” John Lehal, another senior party official who had been interested in the general secretary role, did not apply.