Elected head of the Labour Party in the United Kingdom
The
leader of the Labour Party
is the highest position within the United Kingdom's
Labour Party
. The current holder of the position is
Keir Starmer
, who was elected to the position as
Jeremy Corbyn
's immediate successor on 4 April 2020, following his victory in the party's
leadership election
.
The post of Leader of the Labour Party was officially created in 1922. Before this, between when Labour MPs were first elected in
1906
and the general election in
1922
, when substantial gains were made, the post was known as Chairman of the
Parliamentary Labour Party
.
[1]
In 1970, the positions of leader of the Labour Party and chairman of the Parliamentary Labour Party were separated.
In 1921,
John R. Clynes
became the first leader of the Labour Party to have been born in
England
; all party leaders before him had been born in
Scotland
. In
1924
,
Ramsay MacDonald
became the first
Labour
prime minister
, leading a minority government which lasted nine months.
Clement Attlee
would become the first Labour leader to lead a majority government in
1945
. The first to be born in
Wales
was
Neil Kinnock
, who was elected in
1983
. The most electorally successful leaders of the Labour Party to date are
Tony Blair
, who won three consecutive electoral victories in
1997
,
2001
(both
landslide victories
), and
2005
, and
Harold Wilson
, who won four general elections out of five contested, in
1964
,
1966
,
February 1974
and
October 1974
. The only Labour leaders not to contest a general election (excluding temporary acting leaders) are
George Lansbury
(who stood down) and
John Smith
(who died in office).
[a]
When the Labour Party is in
opposition
, as it currently is, the leader of the Labour Party usually acts (as the second-largest party) as the
leader of the Opposition
, and chairs the
shadow cabinet
. Concordantly, when the Party is in
government
, the leader would usually become the
Prime Minister of the United Kingdom
,
first lord of the Treasury
and
minister for the civil service
, as well as appointing the
cabinet
.
Selection process
[
edit
]
Unlike other British political party leaders, the Labour leader does not have the power to dismiss or appoint their deputy. Both the leader and deputy leader are elected by an
alternative vote
system.
[2]
From 1980 to 2014 an electoral college was used, with a third of the votes allocated to the Party's
MPs
and
MEPs
, a third to individual members of the Labour Party, and a third to individual members of all affiliated organisations, including
socialist societies
and
trade unions
.
The
2015 leadership election
used a "one member, one vote" system, in which the votes of party members and members of affiliated organisations are counted equally. MPs' and MEPs' votes are not counted separately, although a candidate needs to receive the support of 10% of Labour MPs in order to appear on the ballot.
[3]
Leaders of the Labour Party (1906?present)
[
edit
]
- Note
:
the right-hand column does not allocate height proportional to time in office.
A list of leaders (including acting leaders) since 1906.
[4]
Timeline
[
edit
]
Leaders in the House of Lords
[
edit
]
Retirement
[
edit
]
It is not uncommon for a retired leader of the Labour Party to be granted a
peerage
upon their retirement, particularly if they served as
prime minister
; examples of this include
Clement Attlee
and
Harold Wilson
. However,
Neil Kinnock
was also elevated to the
House of Lords
, despite never being prime minister, and
Michael Foot
declined a similar offer.
See also
[
edit
]
Notes
[
edit
]
- ^
See
Labour's electoral performance
.
- ^
Henderson was defeated in his Burnley seat in the 1931 election, and did not return to Parliament during his third term as leader.
George Lansbury
acted as the Labour parliamentary leader, until formally succeeding Henderson as party leader.
- ^
a
b
c
d
e
Deputy Leaders who assumed the role of party leader temporarily because of the death or resignation of the incumbent, serving until the election of a new leader. As they were not elected or appointed in an official capacity, they are not included in the order count.
Herbert Morrison
acted as leader for the seven days between
Clement Attlee
's resignation and
Hugh Gaitskell
's election as leader.
George Brown
and
Margaret Beckett
acted as leader following deaths of Gaitskell and
John Smith
, respectively.
Harriet Harman
acted as leader twice when
Gordon Brown
and
Ed Miliband
resigned.
References
[
edit
]
- ^
Thorpe, Andrew. (2001)
A History of the British Labour Party
, Palgrave,
ISBN
0-333-92908-X
- ^
Leeds de Melo, J (2003), Primary elections and party conferences ? Democracy in political parties: UK, France, Germany and Italy, Routledge, 202 p.
- ^
"Labour proposals 'all-but guarantee leftwing Corbyn successor'
"
.
www.msn.com
. Retrieved
2018-07-01
.
- ^
Boothroyd, David.
"Leaders of the Labour Party"
.
election.demon.co.uk
. United Kingdom Election Results.
Archived
from the original on 6 August 2020
. Retrieved
30 June
2015
.
- ^
Nicklaus Thomas-Symonds (2010),
Attlee: A Life in Politics
, London: I B Tauris, p. 260
Further reading
[
edit
]
- Clarke, Charles
; James, Toby S. (2015).
British Labour Leaders
. London: Biteback.
|
---|
|
|
Internal elections and selections
|
---|
Leadership elections
| |
---|
Deputy Leadership elections
| |
---|
Shadow Cabinet elections and reshuffles
| |
---|
|
|
Party structure
|
---|
Constitution
| |
---|
Executive
| |
---|
Parliamentary
| |
---|
Conference
| |
---|
Subnational
| |
---|
Directly elected city mayoral authorities
| |
---|
CLPs
| |
---|
Miscellaneous
| |
---|
|
|
Associated organisations
|
---|
List
| |
---|
Sectional groups
| |
---|
Factional groups
| |
---|
Media publications
| |
---|
|
|
|