1961 Labour Party leadership election

1961 Labour Party leadership election | <- 1960 | 2 November 1961 (1961-11-02) | 1963 ->

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Candidate  | Hugh Gaitskell | Tony Greenwood
Popular vote  | 171 | 59
Percentage  | 74.4% | 25.7%

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| Leader before election

Hugh Gaitskell

| Elected Leader

Hugh Gaitskell

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The 1961 Labour Party leadership election was held when, for the second year in succession, the incumbent leader was challenged for re-election. Normally the annual re-election of the leader had been a formality.

The challenge followed factional in-fighting over issues like nuclear disarmament. The leader favoured the retention of nuclear weapons by the UK, whereas the left wing of the party supported the Campaign for Nuclear Disarmament.

## Candidates

[edit]

Two candidates were nominated.

1. The left-wing candidate the previous year had been Harold Wilson. In 1961 the candidate was a less well-known political figure, Tony Greenwood (1911–1982), then MP for the Lancashire constituency of Rossendale. He had been an MP since 1946 and was the son of Arthur Greenwood (1880–1954), who had been a Labour leadership candidate in 1935.
2. The incumbent right-wing leader of the party was Hugh Gaitskell (1906–1963), who had been Chancellor of the Exchequer in 1950–51. Gaitskell had been MP for Leeds South since 1945 and party leader since 1955.

## Ballot

[edit]

The result of the only ballot of Labour MPs on 2 November was as follows:

Only ballot: 2 November 1961

Candidate  | Votes  | %
Hugh Gaitskell | 171 | 74.35
Tony Greenwood | 59  | 25.65
Majority  | 112  | 48.70
Turnout  | 230  | N/A
Hugh Gaitskell re-elected

## References

[edit]

* Butler, David; Butler, Gareth (2000), Twentieth-Century British Political Facts 1900–2000 (8th ed.), Macmillan Press
* Stenton, M.; Lees, S., eds. (1981), Who's Who of British Members of Parliament, Volume IV 1945–1979, Harvester Press

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Labour Party

History

| Main|

* History of the Labour Party

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Topics|

* Electoral history
* General election manifestos
* History of the socialist movement in the United Kingdom
* European Parliamentary Labour Party
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Leadership

| Leaders|

* Hardie
* Henderson
* Barnes
* MacDonald
* Henderson
* Adamson
* Clynes
* MacDonald
* Henderson
* Lansbury
* Attlee
* Morrison^
* Gaitskell
* Brown^
* Wilson
* Callaghan
* Foot
* Kinnock
* Smith
* Beckett^
* Blair
* Brown
* Harman^
* Miliband
* Harman^
* Corbyn
* Starmer

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Deputy Leaders|

* Clynes
* Graham
* Attlee
* Greenwood
* Morrison
* Griffiths
* Bevan
* Brown
* Jenkins
* Short
* Foot
* Healey
* Hattersley
* Beckett
* Prescott
* Harman
* Watson
* Rayner

General Secretaries|

* MacDonald
* Henderson
* Middleton
* Phillips
* Williams
* Barker^
* Nicholas
* Hayward
* Mortimer
* Whitty
* Sawyer
* McDonagh
* Triesman
* Carter
* Watt
* Collins
* McNicol
* Formby
* Evans

Treasurers|

* Henderson
* MacDonald
* Henderson
* Lathan
* Greenwood
* Gaitskell
* Bevan
* Nicholas
* Davies
* Callaghan
* Atkinson
* Varley
* Booth
* McCluskie
* Burlison
* Prosser
* Elsby
* Dromey
* Holland

Leaders in the Lords|

* Haldane
* Cripps
* Ponsonby
* Snell
* Addison
* Jowitt
* Alexander
* Pakenham
* Shackleton
* Shepherd
* Peart
* Hughes
* Richard
* Jay
* Williams
* Amos
* Ashton
* Royall
* Smith of Basildon

Scottish Labour Leaders|

* Dewar
* McLeish
* Jamieson^
* McConnell
* Jamieson^
* Alexander
* Jamieson^
* Gray
* Lamont
* Sarwar^
* Murphy
* Gray^
* Dugdale
* Rowley^
* Baillie^
* Leonard
* Baillie^
* Sarwar

PLP Chairs|

* Hardie
* Henderson
* Barnes
* MacDonald
* Henderson
* Hodge*
* Wardle*
* Adamson
* Clynes
* MacDonald
* Henderson
* Lansbury
* Attlee
* Lees-Smith*
* Pethick-Lawrence*
* Greenwood*
* Gaitskell
* Wilson
* Houghton
* Mikardo
* Hughes
* Willey
* Dormand
* Orme
* Hoyle
* Soley
* Corston
* Clwyd
* Lloyd
* Watts
* Cryer
* Morden

EPLP Leaders|

* Stewart
* Prescott
* Castle
* Lomas
* Martin
* Seal
* Ford
* Green
* David
* Donnelly
* Murphy
* Titley
* Willmott
* Corbett

* = wartime, in opposition
^ Interim/Acting

Internal elections and selections

| Leadership elections|

* 1922 Ramsay MacDonald
* 1931 Arthur Henderson
* 1932 George Lansbury
* 1935 Clement Attlee
* 1955 Hugh Gaitskell
* 1960
* 1961
* 1963 Harold Wilson
* 1976 James Callaghan
* 1980 Michael Foot
* 1983 Neil Kinnock
* 1988
* 1992 John Smith
* 1994 Tony Blair
* 2007 Gordon Brown
* 2010 Ed Miliband
* 2015 Jeremy Corbyn
* 2016
* 2020 Keir Starmer

* * *

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Deputy Leadership elections|

* 1952 Herbert Morrison
* 1953
* 1956 Jim Griffiths
* 1959 Aneurin Bevan
* 1960 George Brown
* 1961
* 1962
* 1970 Roy Jenkins
* 1971
* 1972 Edward Short
* 1976 Michael Foot
* 1980 Denis Healey
* 1981
* 1983 Roy Hattersley
* 1988
* 1992 Margaret Beckett
* 1994 John Prescott
* 2007 Harriet Harman
* 2015 Tom Watson
* 2020 Angela Rayner

Shadow Cabinet elections and reshuffles|

* Sep 1931 (Henderson)
* Nov 1931
* 1932 (Lansbury)
* 1933
* 1934
* 1935 (Attlee)
* 1936
* 1937
* 1938
* 1939
* 1951
* 1952
* 1953
* 1954
* 1955
* 1956 (Gaitskell)
* 1957
* 1958
* 1959
* 1960
* 1961
* 1962
* 1963 (Wilson)
* 1970
* 1971
* 1972
* 1973
* 1979 (Callaghan)
* 1980 (Foot)
* 1981
* 1982
* 1983 (Kinnock)
* 1984
* 1985
* 1986
* 1987
* 1988
* 1989
* 1990
* 1991
* 1992 (Smith)
* 1993
* 1994 (Blair)
* 1995
* 1996
* 2010 (Miliband)
* June 2016 (Corbyn)
* May 2021 (Starmer)
* November 2021
* 2023

Party structure

| Constitution|

* Clause IV

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Executive|

* National Executive Committee
* General Secretary
* Treasurer

Parliamentary|

* Parliamentary Labour Party
* Chief Whip of the Labour Party

Conference|

* Labour Party Conference

Subnational|

* Scottish Labour
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Directly elected city mayoral authorities|

* London Labour

CLPs|

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Miscellaneous|

* National Policy Forum
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Associated organisations

| List|

* Organisations associated with the Labour Party

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Sectional groups|

* Young Labour
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Factional groups|

* Blue Labour
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Media publications|

* LabourList
* Tribune

Party alliances

| Current|

* Party of European Socialists
* Progressive Alliance of Socialists and Democrats
* Progressive Alliance
* Socialist International

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Hugh Gaitskell

Political career|

* Leader of the Labour Party (1955–1963)
* Chancellor of the Exchequer (1950-1951)
* Member of Parliament for Leeds South (1945–1963)

Shadow Cabinet elections|

* 1951
* 1952
* 1953
* 1954
* 1955

Party leadership elections|

* 1955
* 1960
* 1961

General elections|

* 1959

Family|

* Dora Gaitskell, Baroness Gaitskell (wife)

Related topics|

* Gaitskellism
* Campaign for Democratic Socialism
* Butskellism
* Clause IV debate
* Ann Fleming
* Frognal

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