Elections to the Labour Party's Shadow Cabinet (more formally, its "Parliamentary Committee") occurred in November 1972. In addition to the 12 members elected, the Leader (Harold Wilson), Deputy Leader (Edward Short), Labour Chief Whip (Bob Mellish), Chairman of the Parliamentary Labour Party (Douglas Houghton), Labour Leader in the House of Lords (Baron Shackleton), and Labour Chief Whip in the Lords (Baron Beswick) were automatically members. The Labour Lords elected one further member, Baron Champion. [1]
The Labour Party is a centre-left political party in the United Kingdom that has been described as an alliance of social democrats, democratic socialists and trade unionists. The party's platform emphasises greater state intervention, social justice and strengthening workers' rights.
The Official Opposition Shadow Cabinet is, in British parliamentary practice, senior members of Her Majesty's Loyal Opposition who scrutinise their corresponding Government ministers, develop alternative policies, and hold the Government to account for its actions and responses. Since May 2010, the Labour Party has been Her Majesty's Loyal Opposition, and its leadership therefore forms the current Shadow Cabinet.
The Leader of the Labour Party is the most senior political figure within the Labour Party in the United Kingdom. Since 12 September 2015, the office has been held by Jeremy Corbyn, who has represented the constituency of Islington North since 1983.
There was a tie for twelfth place, which required a run-off election between Peter Shore and John Silkin. However, Silkin withdrew, leaving Shore to take the final place in the cabinet, without an election. [1]
Peter David Shore, Baron Shore of Stepney, PC was a British Labour politician and former Cabinet Minister, noted in part for his opposition to the United Kingdom's entry into the European Economic Community. His idiosyncratic left-wing nationalism led to comparison with the French politician Jean-Pierre Chevènement. He was described in an obituary by the Conservative journalist Patrick Cosgrave as "Between Harold Wilson and Tony Blair, the only possible Labour Party leader of whom a Conservative leader had cause to walk in fear" and, along with Enoch Powell, "the most captivating rhetorician of the age".
John Ernest Silkin was a British left-wing Labour politician and solicitor.
The 12 winners of the election are listed below: [1]
Colour key | Retained in the Shadow Cabinet |
---|---|
Joined the Shadow Cabinet | |
Voted out of the Shadow Cabinet |
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