Deputy Leader of the Labour Party | |
---|---|
Reports to | Leader of the Labour Party |
Appointer | Labour Party |
Inaugural holder | John Robert Clynes |
Formation | 1922 |
The Deputy Leader of the Labour Party is the second highest ranking politician in the British Labour Party. The Deputy Leader also serves as the Deputy Chairperson of the Labour Party, and acts as Leader in the House in events where the leader cannot.
The Labour Leader does not have the power to appoint or dismiss their Deputy. The post is instead directly elected by party members, registered supporters and affiliated supporters on a one-member-one-vote basis; before 2015, it was elected using the party's former electoral college system; and before 1981, it was elected by Labour MPs.
Recently, the office of Deputy Prime Minister has been revived and held by senior politicians in the governing party. A previous Labour Deputy Leader, John Prescott, held this post from 1997 to 2007. However, the Deputy Leader is essentially a party official and there is no constitutional link between the two roles. The former Labour British Prime Minister, Gordon Brown, announced on his formal election as Labour Leader that the newly elected Deputy Leader, Harriet Harman, would instead become Party Chair. Brown subsequently appointed her Leader of the House of Commons in his first cabinet.
In the event of a vacancy in the office of Leader when the Labour Party is in opposition, the Deputy Leader automatically becomes temporary Leader of the Party until a new leader is elected. If a vacancy in the leadership occurs while the Labour Party is in government, then the Cabinet, in consultation with the National Executive Committee of the Labour Party, chooses a new leader, who serves until a new Leader is elected. [1] Such a vacancy has occurred only twice, when Harold Wilson resigned as Leader and Prime Minister in 1976, and when Tony Blair did so in 2007, but each remained in office until, respectively, James Callaghan and Gordon Brown had been elected as successor, and so no Acting Leader was required to take over.
To date, the only Deputy Leaders who have gone on to be elected Leader of the Labour Party are Clement Attlee and Michael Foot. Margaret Beckett briefly served as Labour Leader following the unexpected death of John Smith in 1994. Harriet Harman was Leader after Gordon Brown resigned in 2010 and after Ed Miliband resigned in 2015. Conversely, John Robert Clynes served as Leader prior to becoming Deputy Leader.
Charles Leslie Falconer, Baron Falconer of Thoroton, is a British Labour peer and barrister who served as Lord Chancellor and Secretary of State for Justice under Prime Minister Tony Blair from 2003 to 2007.
Hilary James Wedgwood Benn is a British Labour Party politician who has served as Shadow Secretary of State for Northern Ireland since he was appointed to the Shadow Cabinet of Keir Starmer on 4 September 2023. He has been the Member of Parliament (MP) for Leeds Central since the 1999 by-election. He served in the Cabinet from 2003 to 2010, under both Tony Blair and Gordon Brown. He also served as Shadow Foreign Secretary from 2015 to 2016 and as Chairman of the Brexit Select Committee from 2016 to 2021.
Harriet Ruth Harman is a British politician and solicitor who has served as Member of Parliament (MP) for Camberwell and Peckham, formerly Peckham, since 1982. A member of the Labour Party, she has served in various Cabinet and Shadow Cabinet positions.
Dame Rosalie Winterton, is a British Labour Party politician who has been the Member of Parliament (MP) for Doncaster Central since 1997. In June 2017, Winterton became one of three Deputy Speakers in the House of Commons.
Christopher Michael Leslie is a debt collection executive and a former British politician who served as the Member of Parliament (MP) for Shipley from 1997 to 2005 and Nottingham East from 2010 to 2019. A former member of the Labour Party, he defected to form Change UK and later became an independent politician.
Angela Evans Smith, Baroness Smith of Basildon is a British politician and life peer serving as Leader of the Opposition in the House of Lords since 2015. A member of the Labour and Co-operative parties, she was Member of Parliament (MP) for Basildon from 1997 to 2010.
Patrick Bosco McFadden is a British politician serving as Shadow Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster and Labour National Campaign Coordinator since September 2023. He served as Shadow Chief Secretary to the Treasury between 2021 and 2023. A member of the Labour Party, he has served as Member of Parliament (MP) for Wolverhampton South East since 2005.
Barbara Mary Keeley is a British Labour Party politician who has served as the Member of Parliament (MP) for Worsley and Eccles South, previously Worsley, since 2005.
John Eugene Joseph Dromey was a British politician and trade unionist who served as Member of Parliament (MP) for Birmingham Erdington from 2010 until his death in 2022. A member of the Labour Party, he was deputy general secretary of Unite from 2003 to 2010.
The 1994 Labour Party leadership election was held on 21 July 1994 following the death of the incumbent leader, John Smith, on 12 May. Tony Blair won the leadership and became Prime Minister after winning the 1997 general election.
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.
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.
Gordon Brown formed the Brown ministry after being invited by Queen Elizabeth II to form a new administration following the resignation of the previous Prime Minister of the United Kingdom, Tony Blair, on 27 June 2007. Brown formed his government over the course of the next day, with Jacqui Smith being appointed the United Kingdom's first female Home Secretary.
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 on 4 April 2020, following his victory in the party's leadership election.
Harriet Harman led the Shadow Cabinet during her time as pro tempore Leader of the Labour Party in 2010—from the time Gordon Brown resigned as Labour Leader until Ed Miliband was elected to the leadership.
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 politician who has served as Shadow Paymaster General since September 2023. A member of the Labour and Co-operative parties, he has been the Member of Parliament (MP) for Leicester South since 2011.
Tony Blair was Leader of the Labour Party and Leader of the Opposition from his election as Leader on 21 July 1994 until he became Prime Minister on 2 May 1997. Blair became leader upon the death of John Smith. Under Blair, the Labour Party was rebranded as New Labour to distance itself from previous Labour politics and the traditional idea of socialism. Despite opposition from Labour's left-wing, he abolished Clause IV, the party's formal commitment to the nationalisation of the economy, weakened trade union influence in the party, and committed to the free market and the European Union.
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.
Harriet Harman's second Shadow Cabinet was formed by Harriet Harman in 2015 during her second period as Acting Leader of the Labour Party. She assumed this role after Ed Miliband resigned as party leader and announced she would continue until a new leader was elected on 12 September 2015. Miliband's resignation followed the party's defeat at the 2015 general election.