2015 Labour Party deputy leadership election

The 2015 Labour Party deputy leadership election was triggered on 8 May 2015 by the resignation of Harriet Harman as Deputy Leader of the Labour Party of the United Kingdom following the party's defeat at the 2015 General Election. Harman, the Deputy Leader of the Labour Party, became Acting Leader following Leader Ed Miliband's resignation. Harman announced on the same day that she would step down as Deputy Leader, with her resignation taking effect when the new Leader and Deputy Leader are elected.[1]

2015 Labour Party deputy leadership election
14 August – 12 September 2015 (2015-08-14 – 2015-09-12)
 
Candidate Tom Watson Stella Creasy Caroline Flint
First pref. 160,852 (39.4%) 78,100 (19.1%) 64,425 (15.8%)
Final round 198,962 (50.7%) 103,746 (26.4%) 89,538 (22.8%)
 
Candidate Angela Eagle Ben Bradshaw
First pref. 66,013 (16.2%) 39,080 (9.6%)
Final round — —
Deputy Leader before election

Harriet Harman

 Elected Deputy Leader

Tom Watson

Five candidates were successfully nominated to stand in the deputy leadership election: Ben Bradshaw, Stella Creasy, Angela Eagle, Caroline Flint, and Tom Watson. The voting process began on Friday 14 August 2015 and closed on Thursday 10 September 2015, with the results being announced on Saturday 12 September 2015. Voting was by Labour Party members and registered and affiliated supporters, using the alternative vote system.

Tom Watson was elected deputy leader with 50.7% of the vote on the third ballot.[2][3]

Procedure

The leadership election, triggered by Harman's resignation, took place under the reformed rules adopted from the proposals of the February 2014 Collins Report, which was led by Ray Collins.[4] The plan entailed a shorter election than the one that took place in 2010, with a new deputy leader in place before Labour's party conference in September 2015.[5]

The review changed the way in which Labour elects leaders. Under the former system, a three-way electoral college chose the leader, with one-third weight given to the votes of the Parliamentary Labour Party (i.e. Labour members of the House of Commons) and Labour members of the European Parliament; one-third to individual Labour Party members, and one third to the trade union and affiliated societies sections. Ed Miliband famously won after a large victory in the third of these colleges.

Following the Collins review, this system was replaced by a "one member, one vote" (OMOV) system. Candidates were elected by members and registered and affiliated supporters, who all received a maximum of one vote. This meant that, for example, members of Labour-affiliated trade unions needed to register as Labour supporters in order to vote.

In order to stand, candidates needed to have been nominated by at least 15% of the Parliamentary Labour Party (PLP) – 35 MPs. The vote, as in previous elections, was held by the alternative vote (instant-runoff) system. The leadership election was held under the same rules.

A meeting of Labour's National Executive Committee took place on 13 May 2015 to set a timetable and procedure for the two elections.[6]

  • Tuesday 9 June 2015 – Nominations open
  • Monday 15 June 2015 (12:00) – Nominations for the Leader close
  • Wednesday 17 June 2015 (12:00) – Nominations for the Deputy Leader close
  • Wednesday 17 June 2015 (12:00) – Hustings period open
  • Friday 31 July 2015 (12:00) – Supporting nominations close
  • Wednesday 12 August 2015 (12:00) – Last date to join as member, affiliated support or registered supporter and be able to vote
  • Friday 14 August 2015 – Ballot papers sent out
  • Thursday 10 September 2015 (12:00) – Ballot closes
  • Saturday 12 September 2015 – Special Conference announce the results

Candidates for Deputy Leader

Declared

Withdrawn
  • John Healey, former Shadow Secretary of State for Health, former Minister of State for Housing and Planning and MP for Wentworth and Dearne[12]
  • Rushanara Ali, former Shadow Minister for Education and MP for Bethnal Green and Bow[13]

Declined

Flint was viewed as a Blairite, while Watson was viewed as having close links to the trade unions.[16] One party source was anonymously quoted in the Financial Times as comparing a potential contest between Flint and Watson to the hotly contested 1981 deputy leadership election between Denis Healey and the leftist Tony Benn.[16]

MP nominations for candidates

To be placed on the ballot, candidates for deputy leader must have obtained the nominations of 35 MPs. The number of MPs next to the candidate's name includes the actual candidate too, as they can count as one of the 35 MPs needed. Members with bold numbers succeeded to get the 35 nominations needed to make the ballot. Nominations for candidates by MPs were:[15]

Before dropping out of the race on 17 June, Rushanara Ali had the following 24 nominations: Roberta Blackman-Woods, Paul Blomfield, Lyn Brown, Dawn Butler, Julie Cooper, Jeremy Corbyn, Clive Efford, Fabian Hamilton, Helen Hayes, Tristram Hunt, Rupa Huq, Sadiq Khan, Seema Malhotra, John Mann, John McDonnell, Chi Onwurah, Teresa Pearce, Matthew Pennycook, Yasmin Qureshi, Dennis Skinner, Andy Slaughter, Keir Starmer, Chuka Umunna[15]

Before dropping out of the race on 11 June, John Healey had the following 20 nominations: Sarah Champion, Clive Efford, Holly Lynch, Kevin Barron, Andy Slaughter, Clive Betts, Ruth Cadbury, Simon Danczuk, Louise Ellman, Fabian Hamilton, Harry Harpham, Madeleine Moon, Paula Sherriff, Derek Twigg, Paul Blomfield, Ivan Lewis, Gordon Marsden, Chris Leslie, Teresa Pearce[17]

Opinion polling
YouGov/The Times,[18] 17–21 July 2015,
1,054 eligible voters[lower-alpha 1]
Candidate First
Round		 Second Round Third
Round
Tom Watson 41% 46% 50%
Stella Creasy 21% 22% 26%
Caroline Flint 17% 19% 23%
Ben Bradshaw 11% 13% —
Angela Eagle 10% — —
  1. Labour Party members, registered supporters and signed up trade unionists who are eligible to vote in the leadership election

Result
First round
Candidate Party members Registered supporters Affiliated supporters Total
Votes % Votes % Votes % Votes %
Tom Watson 90,018 37.5 43,729 43.7 27,105 39.6 160,852
39.4
Stella Creasy 47,372 19.7 22,465 22.5 8,263 12.1 78,100
19.1
Angela Eagle 36,321 15.1 15,676 15.7 14,016 20.5 66,013
16.2
Caroline Flint 41,504 17.3 11,282 11.3 11,639 17.0 64,425
15.8
Ben Bradshaw 24,738 10.3 6,839 6.8 7,503 10.9 39,080
9.6
Second round
Candidate Party members Registered supporters Affiliated supporters Total
Votes % Votes % Votes % Votes %
Tom Watson 96,008 40.4 45,329 45.9 29,252 43.2 170,589
42.2
Stella Creasy 52,866 22.2 23,959 24.2 9,730 14.4 86,555
21.4
Caroline Flint 48,208 20.3 12,948 13.1 13,425 19.8 74,581
18.4
Angela Eagle 40,559 17.1 16,583 16.8 15,375 22.7 72,517
17.9
Third round
Candidate Party members Registered supporters Affiliated supporters Total
Votes % Votes % Votes % Votes %
Tom Watson Y 111,465 48.1 51,815 54.5 35,682 54.5 198,962
50.7
Stella Creasy 62,875 27.1 27,874 29.3 12,997 19.8 103,746
26.4
Caroline Flint 57,305 24.7 15,434 16.2 16,799 25.7 89,538
22.8

Source: [2]

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gollark: My reactors do something like 70kRF/t total.
gollark: ```FUSIONU OS II SO UNOISUF```
gollark: Can't you use OpenComputers' recipe?

See also

References
  1. Cathy Owen (8 May 2015). "General Election 2015: Harriet Harman announces that she will be standing down as deputy leader of the Labour Party". Wales Online. Media Wales.
  2. "Results of the Labour Leadership elections". 12 September 2015. Archived from the original on 21 July 2016. Retrieved 13 September 2015.
  3. Wilkinson, Michael (12 September 2015). "Jeremy Corbyn set to win Labour leadership election – live results coverage". The Telegraph. Retrieved 12 September 2015.
  4. Ray Collins, Building a One Nation Labour Party: The Collins Review into Labour Party Reform Labour Party, February 2014
  5. Pope, Conor (8 May 2015). "How will the leadership election work?". LabourList. Retrieved 8 May 2015.
  6. "Labour leadership: Cooper and Burnham bids ahead of September election". BBC News. 13 May 2015. Retrieved 13 May 2015.
  7. "Ben Bradshaw announces Labour party deputy leadership bid". The Guardian. Press Association. 15 May 2015. Retrieved 15 May 2015.
  8. Hayward, Stephen (16 May 2015). "Stella Creasy confirms she's running for Labour deputy leader: 'Party must return to fighting poverty, inequality and injustice'". Mirror Online. MGN. Retrieved 16 May 2015.
  9. Liam Murphy (18 May 2015). "Wallasey MP Angela Eagle joins race to be Labour's deputy leader". Liverpool Echo. Reach.
  10. "Bradshaw and Flint both announce deputy leadership campaigns". LabourList. 16 May 2015. Retrieved 27 September 2016.
  11. Anoosh Cakelian (10 May 2015). "Tom Watson MP sets up crowdfunding site for his deputy Labour leadership bid". New Statesman. NS Media Group.
  12. "John Healey withdraws from deputy leadership race". LabourList. 11 June 2015.
  13. Frances Perraudin (17 June 2015). "Rushanara Ali pulls out of Labour deputy leadership contest". The Guardian. Guardian News and Media. Retrieved 3 January 2020.
  14. Todd Fitzgerald (20 May 2015). "Rochdale MP Simon Danczuk rules out standing for Labour Party deputy leader". Manchester Evening News. MEN Media.
  15. Labour’s leadership contest Archived 3 July 2015 at the Wayback Machine, Labour Party, 9 June 2015
  16. Pickard, Jim (8 May 2015). "General election: Battle for Labour's soul". Retrieved 8 May 2015. (subscription required)
  17. New Statesman Archived 12 June 2015 at the Wayback Machine 9 June 2015
  18. Peter Kellner (22 July 2015). "Comment: Corbyn takes early lead in Labour leadership race". YouGov. Retrieved 8 August 2017.
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