The poor state of the party's finances following the decision by the leadership of the party to finance the General Election campaign in 2005 by loans meant that the auditors of the party had to inform him that his wealth, after a career partly in the City of London, would be at risk if the party did become bankrupt. Ray Collins was appointed in 2008, and was succeeded by Iain McNicol in 2011. McNicol resigned for the post in early 2018, citing a desire to "pursue new challenges". On 20 March 2018, Jennie Formby was appointed as the General Secretary effective from April 2018. She resigned on 4 May 2020, following the election of Keir Starmer as new Labour leader, saying "now we have a new leadership team it is the right time to step down".