Ahmad Shahzad was elected its first chair and the name was changed with Chuka Umunna, BAME Labour Executive Member at the time, writing that the rationale was that "'black' is no longer used as a political term as widely as it once was" and that "different people have different understandings of the nature and meaning of 'socialism': some associate the word with notions of wholesale nationalization, a centrally controlled economy etc.

[4] Vaz is its directly elected representative on the Labour Party's ruling and governing National Executive Committee (NEC).

Similar to Socialist Societies, it has an autonomous status, a separate constitution, joining fee, processes and admits people who are not Labour Party members.

Whereas, like a Section, it is granted a fully independent NEC representative – regardless of how low its membership drops – and it is entirely administered by Labour Party staff.

Candidates who receive the support of a socialist society or trade union need fewer signatures, however, the same rules about how they are collected apply.

[1] The then-general secretary of the Fabian Society Sunder Katwala noted the low turnout in the BAME Labour election.

[13] It was reported by the New Statesman that BAME Labour members "felt shut out by an archaic election process, which they say favoured an establishment within the society.

"[4] In January 2018, for the first track of the Labour Party Democracy Review, Momentum proposed submissions to update the way the NEC's BAME representative is chosen, with a one member, one vote election replacing the current system where a small party group decides the post.