The 2007 Labour Party deputy leadership election was a British political party election for the position of deputy leader of the Labour Party. John Prescott, the previous deputy leader, announced on 10 May 2007 that he was standing down from that position and that he would be leaving as deputy prime minister about the same time that Tony Blair tendered his resignation as prime minister.[1]
Harriet Harman was elected deputy leader on 24 June 2007 with 50.43% of the final redistributed vote. However Gordon Brown, who was elected leader on the same day, did not subsequently appoint her deputy prime minister, instead leaving the office vacant.
There had been reports that an increasing number of Labour MPs and members of the NEC had been attempting to get the election for the position of deputy leader abandoned in order to save the £2,000,000 it was estimated that the contest would cost.[2][3] There would have had to have been a special conference convened if such an alteration was to be made.
All six declared candidates secured more than the 45 nominations from MPs that was the minimum requirement for them to get onto the ballot paper by close of nominations at 12:30 UTC+1 on 17 May 2007.[14][15]
Results
The election took place using Alternative Vote in an electoral college, with a third of the votes allocated to MPs and MEPs, a third to individual members of the Labour Party, and a third to individual members of affiliated organisations, mainly trade unions.
Harriet Harman won the contest, her victory heavily depending on support from individual party members with preference votes narrowing her opponent's lead and she only led in the final round.[16] The final total percentage votes for the two main candidates after redistribution were almost identical to those of the final round of the 1981 contest.
Jeremy Corbyn announced in December 2006 he was considering running for the Deputy Leadership. However, there was no subsequent statement from him on it and he nominated Hilary Benn for the Deputy Leadership.[17] No other eligible person — i.e. Labour MP — announced they were considering standing for the position except for the six nominated candidates and Jeremy Corbyn. Corbyn would go on to be elected Leader of the Labour Party in the 2015 leadership election, appointing Benn his Shadow Foreign Secretary.
There was some speculation about Ed Balls, Patricia Hewitt,[18]David Miliband[19] and Jack Straw standing for the position, but no sign that they had ever said they were inclined to run and all had ruled themselves out before nominations opened.
Margaret Mary Beckett, Baroness Beckett,, is a British politician. A member of the Labour Party, she was the United Kingdom's first female foreign secretary, and served as a minister under Prime Ministers Harold Wilson, James Callaghan, Tony Blair and Gordon Brown. Beckett was Deputy Leader of the Opposition and Deputy Leader of the Labour Party from 1992 to 1994, and briefly Leader of the Opposition and acting Leader of the Labour Party following John Smith's death in 1994. A member of the Labour Party, she served as Member of Parliament (MP) for Lincoln from 1974 to 1979, and for Derby South from 1983 to 2024. Her 45 years in the House of Commons makes her the longest-serving female MP in British history.
Hilary James Wedgwood Benn is a British politician who has served as Secretary of State for Northern Ireland since 2024. A member of the Labour Party, he has been the Member of Parliament (MP) for Leeds South, formerly Leeds Central, since 1999. He previously served in various ministerial positions under Prime Ministers Tony Blair and Gordon Brown from 2001 to 2010.
Harriet Ruth Harman, Baroness Harman,, is a British politician and solicitor. She was a member of Parliament (MP) for more than 40 years, from 1982 to 2024, making her one of the longest-serving MPs in British history. Harman was MP for Camberwell and Peckham from 1997 to 2024 and MP for Peckham from 1982 to 1997. A member of the Labour Party, she served in various Cabinet and Shadow Cabinet positions. She has been a member of the House of Lords since 2024.
Hazel Anne Blears is a British former Labour Party politician, who served as the Member of Parliament (MP) successively for the constituencies of Salford and Salford and Eccles between 1997 and 2015.
The Socialist Campaign Group, also simply known as the Campaign Group, is a UK parliamentary caucus of the Labour Party including Members of Parliament in the House of Commons. The group also includes some MPs who formerly represented Labour in Parliament but have had the whip withdrawn or been expelled from the party.
Dame Angela Eagle DBE is a British Labour Party politician serving as the Member of Parliament (MP) for Wallasey since 1992. Eagle has served as Minister of State for Border Security and Asylum since July 2024.
Edward Samuel Miliband is a British politician who has served as Secretary of State for Energy Security and Net Zero since July 2024. He has been Member of Parliament (MP) for Doncaster North since 2005. Miliband was Leader of the Labour Party and Leader of the Opposition between 2010 and 2015. Alongside his brother, Foreign Secretary David Miliband, he served in the Cabinet from 2007 to 2010 under Prime Minister Gordon Brown.
Barbara Mary Keeley, Baroness Keeley, is a British Labour Party politician. She served as Member of Parliament (MP) for Worsley and Eccles South, previously Worsley, from 2005 to 2024, and has been a member of the House of Lords since 2024.
This is a timeline of events relating to the final years of Tony Blair's tenure as Leader of the Labour Party and prime minister and the leadership elections to find replacements for him and Deputy Prime Minister John Prescott, from his announcement that he would not lead Labour into a fourth general election, concluding with Gordon Brown becoming prime minister.
The Labour party proxy and undeclared donations was a political scandal involving the British Labour Party in November and December 2007, when it was discovered that, contrary to legislation passed during the Blair Government, the Party had been receiving significant financial donations made anonymously via third parties. The careers of Labour Party treasurer Peter Watt and the leader of the Scottish Labour Party, Wendy Alexander, were curtailed as a consequence. In May 2009 the Crown Prosecution Service decided there was insufficient evidence for any prosecution relating to these events.
Jonathan Cruddas is a British Labour Party politician who served as Member of Parliament (MP) for Dagenham and Rainham, formerly Dagenham, between 2001 and 2024.
The 2010 Labour Party leadership election was triggered on 10 May 2010 by incumbent leader Gordon Brown's resignation following the 2010 general election which resulted in a hung parliament; the first since 1974. Brown resigned as Leader of the Labour Party on 10 May and as Prime Minister on 11 May, following the Conservatives and Liberal Democrats forming a coalition government. The National Executive Committee decided the timetable for the election the result of which would be announced at the annual party conference. On 25 September 2010, Ed Miliband became the new Leader of the Labour Party, narrowly defeating his older brother, David Miliband.
Ed Miliband became Leader of the Labour Party and Leader of the Opposition upon being elected to the former post on 25 September 2010. The election was triggered by Gordon Brown's resignation following the party's fall from power at the 2010 general election, which yielded a Conservative–Liberal Democrat Coalition. Miliband appointed his first Shadow Cabinet in October 2010, following the Labour Party Shadow Cabinet elections. These elections were the last such elections before they were abolished in 2011.
Jonathan Michael Graham Ashworth is a British former Labour and Co-op politician who was the Member of Parliament (MP) for Leicester South from 2011 to 2024. He had served as Shadow Paymaster General from September 2023. Having lost his seat at the 2024 general election, he was appointed chief executive of the Labour Together thinktank.
The 2007 Labour Party leadership election was triggered on 10 May 2007 by incumbent leader Tony Blair's announcement that he would resign as leader on 27 June. At the same time that Blair resigned, John Prescott resigned as Deputy Leader, triggering a concurrent election for the deputy leadership.
The 2015 Labour Party leadership election was triggered by the resignation of Ed Miliband as Leader of the Labour Party on 8 May 2015, following the party's defeat at the 2015 general election. Harriet Harman, the Deputy Leader, became Acting Leader but announced that she would stand down following the leadership election. It was won by Jeremy Corbyn in the first round. Coterminous with the leadership election, in the 2015 Labour Party deputy leadership election, Tom Watson was elected to succeed Harman as deputy leader.
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.
The 2016 Labour Party leadership election was called when a challenge to Jeremy Corbyn as Leader of the Labour Party arose following criticism of his approach to the Remain campaign in the referendum on membership of the European Union and questions about his leadership of the party.
On 26–29 June 2016, 21 members of the Shadow Cabinet resigned from the frontbench. Following the Leave result in the referendum on Britain's membership of the European Union, Jeremy Corbyn faced heavy criticism for the perceived reluctance of his involvement in the campaign to Remain and his perceived weakness as leader of the Labour Party.
Ed Miliband was elected as Leader of the Opposition in September 2010, following the resignation of Gordon Brown after the formation of David Cameron and Nick Clegg's Conservative–Liberal Democrat coalition government in the aftermath of the 2010 general election.
This page is based on this Wikipedia article Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply. Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.
