Leader of the Labour Party (UK)

The Leader of the Labour Party is the head of the Labour Party of the United Kingdom. The incumbent is Keir Starmer who was elected in April 2020, succeeding Jeremy Corbyn.

Leader of the Labour Party
Incumbent Keir Starmer since 4 April 2020
Member of	National Executive Committee
Precursor	Chair of the PLP
Inaugural holder	Keir Hardie
Formation	17 January 1906

Harriet Harman was the deputy leader of the Labour Party and acting leader since the resignation of Ed Miliband on 8 May 2015 following Labour's defeat at the 2015 general election. On 12 September 2015, she was replaced by Jeremy Corbyn, who won the 2015 Labour leadership election. On the same day, Tom Watson was elected as the deputy leader of the Labour Party, a role he held until the 2019 general election. Corbyn's leadership was challenged in mid-2016, but he was re-elected in that year's leadership election with a larger majority. After a historic election defeat in 2019, Corbyn called for the search of his replacement in the following year. In the 2020 Labour Party leadership election, Keir Starmer was elected as Leader.

History

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, J. R. Clynes became the first leader of the Labour Party to have been born in England; prior to this, all party leaders had been born in Scotland. In 1924, Ramsay MacDonald became the first ever 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.

Selection

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. 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.[2]

Role

When the Labour Party is in opposition, as it currently is, the leader of the Labour Party usually acts 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.

Leaders of the Labour Party (1906–present)

Note: the right-hand column does not allocate height proportional to time in office.

A list of leaders (including acting leaders) since 1906.[3]

No.	Leader (birth–death)	Portrait	Constituency	Took office	Left office	Prime Minister (term)
1	Keir Hardie (1856–1915)		Merthyr Tydfil	17 February 1906	22 January 1908		Campbell-Bannerman 1905–1908
2	Arthur Henderson (1863–1935) (1st time)		Barnard Castle	22 January 1908	14 February 1910
							Asquith 1908–1916
3	George Barnes (1859–1940)		Glasgow Blackfriars and Hutchesontown	14 February 1910	6 February 1911
4	Ramsay MacDonald (1866–1937) (1st time)		Leicester	6 February 1911	5 August 1914
*2	Arthur Henderson (1863–1935) (2nd time)		Barnard Castle	5 August 1914	24 October 1917
							Lloyd George 1916–1922
5	William Adamson (1863–1936)		West Fife	24 October 1917	14 February 1921
6	J. R. Clynes (1869–1949)		Manchester Platting	14 February 1921	21 November 1922
							Law 1922–1923
*4	Ramsay MacDonald (1866–1937) (2nd time)		Aberavon	21 November 1922 (elected)	28 August 1931
							Baldwin 1923–1924
							himself 1924
							Baldwin 1924–1929
							himself 1929–1931
*2	Arthur Henderson (1863–1935) (3rd time)		Burnley (1931) None[lower-alpha 1] (1931–1932)	28 August 1931 (unopposed)	25 October 1932		MacDonald 1931–1935
7	George Lansbury (1859–1940)		Bow and Bromley	25 October 1932 (unopposed)	8 October 1935
							Baldwin 1935–1937
8	Clement Attlee (1883–1967)		Limehouse (1935–1950) Walthamstow West (1950–1955)	8 October 1935 (elected)	7 December 1955[4]
							Chamberlain 1937–1940
							Churchill 1940–1945
							himself 1945–1951
							Churchill 1951–1955
							Eden 1955–1957
[lower-alpha 2]	Herbert Morrison[lower-alpha 3] (1888–1965)		Lewisham South	7 December 1955	14 December 1955
9	Hugh Gaitskell (1906–1963)		Leeds South	14 December 1955 (elected)	18 January 1963 (died in office)
							Macmillan 1957–1963
[lower-alpha 2]	George Brown[lower-alpha 3] (1914–1985)		Belper	18 January 1963	14 February 1963
10	Harold Wilson (1916–1995)		Huyton	14 February 1963 (elected)	5 April 1976
							Douglas-Home 1963–1964
							himself 1964–1970
							Heath 1970–1974
							himself 1974–1976
11	James Callaghan (1912–2005)		Cardiff South East	5 April 1976 (elected)	10 November 1980		himself 1976–1979
							Thatcher 1979–1990
12	Michael Foot (1913–2010)		Ebbw Vale	10 November 1980 (elected)	2 October 1983
13	Neil Kinnock (b. 1942)		Islwyn	2 October 1983 (elected)	18 July 1992
							Major 1990–1997
14	John Smith (1938–1994)		Monklands East	18 July 1992 (elected)	12 May 1994 (died in office)
[lower-alpha 2]	Margaret Beckett[lower-alpha 3] (b. 1943) (acting)		Derby South	12 May 1994	21 July 1994
15	Tony Blair (b. 1953)		Sedgefield	21 July 1994 (elected)	24 June 2007
							himself 1997–2007
16	Gordon Brown (b. 1951)		Kirkcaldy and Cowdenbeath	24 June 2007 (unopposed)	11 May 2010		himself 2007–2010
[lower-alpha 2]	Harriet Harman[lower-alpha 3] (b. 1950) (acting: 1st time)		Camberwell and Peckham	11 May 2010	25 September 2010		Cameron 2010–2016
17	Ed Miliband (b. 1969)		Doncaster North	25 September 2010 (elected)	8 May 2015
[lower-alpha 2]	Harriet Harman[lower-alpha 3] (b. 1950) (acting: 2nd time)		Camberwell and Peckham	8 May 2015	12 September 2015
18	Jeremy Corbyn (b. 1949)		Islington North	12 September 2015 (elected)	4 April 2020
							May 2016–2019
							Johnson 2019–present
19	Keir Starmer (b. 1962)		Holborn and St Pancras	4 April 2020 (elected)	Incumbent

* Arthur Henderson and Ramsay MacDonald were leaders after their initial tenures twice and once more respectively, therefore, their subsequent tenures do not count separately.

Retirement

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.

Living former party leaders

There are seven living former party leaders: five elected and two acting. From oldest to youngest:

Leader	Term of office	Date of birth
Neil Kinnock	1983–1992	(1942-03-28) 28 March 1942
Jeremy Corbyn	2015–2020	(1949-05-26) 26 May 1949
Gordon Brown	2007–2010	(1951-02-20) 20 February 1951
Tony Blair	1994–2007	(1953-05-06) 6 May 1953
Ed Miliband	2010–2015	(1969-12-24) 24 December 1969
Acting leader	Term of office	Date of birth
Margaret Beckett	1994	(1943-01-15) 15 January 1943
Harriet Harman	2010 & 2015	(1950-07-30) 30 July 1950

See also

• History of the Labour Party (UK)
• Leader of the Conservative Party (UK)
• Leader of the Liberal Democrats

Notes

1. 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.
2. As they were not elected or appointed in an official capacity, they are not included in the order count.
3. 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. Herbert Morrison acted as leader for the 7 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

1. Thorpe, Andrew. (2001) A History Of The British Labour Party, Palgrave, ISBN 0-333-92908-X
2. "Labour proposals 'all-but guarantee leftwing Corbyn successor'". www.msn.com. Retrieved 2018-07-01.
3. "Leaders of the Labour Party". election.demon.co.uk. United Kingdom Election Results. Retrieved 30 June 2015.
4. Nicklaus Thomas-Symonds (2010), Attlee: A Life in Politics, London: I B Tauris, p. 260

Further reading

• Clarke, Charles; James, Toby S. (2015). British Labour Leaders. London: Biteback.