1963 Labour Party leadership election (UK)

1963 Labour Party leadership election

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| <- 1961 | 7–14 February 1963 (1963-02-07 – 1963-02-14) | 1976 ->

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Candidate  | Harold Wilson | George Brown | James Callaghan
First ballot  | 115 (47.1%) | 88 (36.1%)  | 41 (16.8%)
Second ballot  | 144 (58.3%) | 103 (41.7%)  | Eliminated

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| Leader before election

George Brown (interim)
Hugh Gaitskell

| Elected Leader

Harold Wilson

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|  |

This article is part of
a series about

Harold Wilson

|

* Labour Party
* MP for Huyton

* * *

Pre-Prime Minister

* 1960 leadership election
* 1963 leadership election
* 1964 general election

* * *

Prime Minister of the United Kingdom

* Premerships
* first
* second

* * *

First term

* Cabinet
* Circular 10/65
* Capital gains tax
* Abolition of death penalty
* Decimalisation announcement
* 1966 general election

* * *

Second term

* Cabinet
* Decriminalisation of homosexuality
* Abortion Act 1967
* Race Relations Act 1968
* Open University
* Divorce Reform Act 1969
* Operation Banner
* 1970 general election

* * *

Third and fourth terms

* February 1974 general election
* Cabinet
* 1973–1975 recession
* October 1974 general election
* 1976 sterling crisis

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* e

The 1963 Labour Party leadership election was held following the death of Hugh Gaitskell, party leader since 1955. He died on 18 January 1963 and was succeeded (on a temporary basis) by deputy leader George Brown.

In 1963 the Labour leader was elected by the Parliamentary Labour Party (the members of the House of Commons in receipt of the Labour whip). To be elected the winning candidate required more than half the votes. If no candidate was elected in a ballot then the last placed candidate was eliminated and a new ballot held contested by the continuing candidates. This process, known as the exhaustive ballot, was repeated until a candidate was elected.

## Candidates

[edit]

Three candidates were nominated.

1. Deputy Leader since 1960, George Brown (born 1914), was the MP for the Derbyshire constituency of Belper from 1945. Brown was popular in the party and stood for the continuation of Gaitskell's policies, but his colleagues were well aware of his propensity to drink excessive amounts of alcohol and behave in an erratic manner – to the extent that fellow right-wing MP Tony Crosland described the selection between him and Wilson as "[choosing] between a crook and a drunk."[1] Brown had been a junior minister before 1951.
2. Shadow Chancellor of the Exchequer James Callaghan (born 1912), an Englishman who had represented part of the Welsh city of Cardiff since 1945, was a well regarded frontbencher. He sat for Cardiff South East in 1963. Callaghan had been a junior minister before 1951. Callaghan was also a Gaitskellite and his campaign split the vote of the right wing of the party. Despite being Shadow Chancellor since 1961, journalist and historian David McKie would later write that Callaghan was "very much the outsider" in the election.[2] Callaghan would later become Leader, and Prime Minister, in the 1970s.
3. A former Bevanite, Shadow Foreign Secretary Harold Wilson (born 1916), had been the MP for the Lancashire constituencies of Ormskirk 1945-1950 and of Huyton since 1950. He had resigned from the cabinet of Clement Attlee in 1951 on the issue of prescription charges in the National Health Service. Wilson was the most credible alternative leader for the left, so he was persuaded to seek the party leadership in a 1960 challenge to Hugh Gaitskell. In that election he received 81 votes (35.37%). He was the only one of the three leadership candidates with cabinet experience.

## Potential candidates who declined to run

[edit]

* Michael Stewart, Shadow Minister of Housing and Local Government, Member of Parliament for Fulham[3]

## Ballots

[edit]

An overall majority was required for election. The results of the ballots of Labour MPs were as follows:

First ballot: 7 February 1963

Candidate  | Votes  | %
Harold Wilson | 115  | 47.1
George Brown | 88  | 36.1
James Callaghan | 41  | 16.8
Majority  | 27  | 11.1
Turnout  | 244  | —
Second ballot required

As a result of the first ballot, Callaghan was eliminated. The Labour Party's rules required that the winner of the contest win more than half of the votes cast. As Wilson fell short of this the remaining two candidates would face each other in a second ballot, seven days later.[4] However it was reported that Wilson was "likely" to prevail and that it was "doubtful" Brown could be able to win the backing of the 35 Callaghan voters he would need to emerge with a majority.[4] Although Brown had defeated Wilson for the deputy leadership the previous year, the political correspondent of The Glasgow Herald reported that the two contests could not be compared, suggesting that Brown had partly won that contest as he was seen as a contrast to the "intellectual" leader Hugh Gaitskell. The same author suggested the fact that Wilson was an "intellectual" was an advantage to him in the contest to be leader. The author also opined that Callaghan supporters, who might assumed to be more likely to back Brown, would take into consideration that Wilson was " a more credible alternative Prime Minister".[4]

Second ballot: 14 February 1963

Candidate  | Votes  | %
Harold Wilson | 144 | 58.3
George Brown | 103  | 41.7
Majority  | 41  | 16.6
Turnout  | 247  | —
Harold Wilson elected

Although Brown had mustered 15 extra votes compared with the first ballot, Wilson increased his total by 29 to win a comfortable victory.[5] According to the following day's The Glasgow Herald while Wilson's win by 41 votes was larger than had been anticipated earlier in the contest, it was not a surprise as "the tide began to run strongly in his [Wilson's] favour" after the previous week's vote ballot. The same article concluded that Labour MP's had picked Wilson as the "more credible alternative Prime Minister", arguing that his performances in the House of Commons and on television were more statesman like than those of "the bluff, outspoken Mr Brown".[5]

At 46, Wilson was Labour's youngest leader until Tony Blair became leader in 1994 at the age of 41.[5]

## References

[edit]

1. ^ Hattersley, Roy (14 February 2013). "Roy Hattersley: Why I was wrong about Harold Wilson". The Guardian. Guardian News & Media Limited. Retrieved 9 August 2023.
2. ^ McKie, David (28 March 2005). "Lord Callaghan". The Guardian. Archived from the original on 4 April 2020. Retrieved 25 February 2020.
3. ^ "Leadership Of Labour Party. Fourth Candidate Possible". The Glasgow Herald. 26 January 1963. p. 25. Retrieved 15 April 2025.
4. ^ a b c "Wilson Labour Leader? Majority of 27 in first Ballot. Callaghan bottom of poll". The Glasgow Herald. No. 181st year No. 11. 8 February 1963. p. 1. Retrieved 23 February 2020.
5. ^ a b c "Harold Wilson Wins the Day. New Labour Leader by 41 Votes. Support from all sections of the party". The Glasgow Herald. No. 181st year No. 17. 15 February 1963. p. 1. Retrieved 24 February 2020.

* 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

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* History of the Labour Party

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Topics|

* Electoral history
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Leadership

| Leaders|

* Hardie
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Deputy Leaders|

* Clynes
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* Greenwood
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* Jenkins
* Short
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* Healey
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* Beckett
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General Secretaries|

* MacDonald
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* Williams
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* Nicholas
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* Mortimer
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* Sawyer
* McDonagh
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* Carter
* Watt
* Collins
* McNicol
* Formby
* Evans

Treasurers|

* Henderson
* MacDonald
* Henderson
* Lathan
* Greenwood
* Gaitskell
* Bevan
* Nicholas
* Davies
* Callaghan
* Atkinson
* Varley
* Booth
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* Prosser
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* 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

Party Chairman|

* Clarke
* Reid
* McCartney
* Blears
* Harman
* Watson
* Lavery
* Rayner
* Dodds
* Reeves

* = 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

* * *

|

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

|

Executive|

* National Executive Committee
* General Secretary
* Treasurer

Parliamentary|

* Parliamentary Labour Party
* Chief Whip of the Labour Party

Conference|

* Labour Party Conference

Subnational|

* Scottish Labour
* Welsh Labour
* Labour Party in Northern Ireland

Directly elected city mayoral authorities|

* London Labour

CLPs|

* Constituency Labour Party
* Labour International

Miscellaneous|

* National Policy Forum
* Affiliated trade unions
* Trade Union and Labour Party Liaison Organisation
* Labour Co-operative
* Co-operative Party
* Labour – Federation of Labour Groups

Associated organisations

| List|

* Organisations associated with the Labour Party

|

Sectional groups|

* Young Labour
* Labour International
* LGBT+ Labour
* Labour for Trans Rights
* Labour Students
* BAME Labour
* Disability Labour

Factional groups|

* Blue Labour
* Campaign for Labour Party Democracy
* Christians on the Left
* Compass
* Fabian Society
* Young Fabians
* Future Britain
* Centre-Left Grassroots Alliance
* Jewish Labour Movement
* Labour Campaign for Electoral Reform
* Labour CND
* Labour Friends of Israel
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* Labour Growth Group
* Labour Party Irish Society
* Labour Representation Committee (2004)
* Labour Women's Network
* Momentum
* Open Labour
* National Union of Labour and Socialist Clubs
* Progressive Britain
* Red Wall Caucus
* Revolutionary Communist Party Formerly Socialist Appeal
* Socialist Health Association
* Socialist Educational Association
* Socialist Environment and Resources Association
* Socialist Campaign Group
* Socialist Youth Network
* Socialist societies

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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1963 Labour Party leadership election

Acting Leader: George Brown

* George Brown
* James Callaghan
* Harold Wilson

* v
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* e

Harold Wilson

Premierships|

* 1964–1970
* 1974–1976

General elections|

* 1964
* 1966
* 1970
* February 1974
* October 1974

Party elections|

* 1960 leadership
* 1962 deputy leadership
* 1963 leadership

Shadow Cabinet elections|

* 1952
* 1953
* 1954
* 1955
* 1956
* 1957
* 1958
* 1959
* 1960

Referendum|

* 1975 European Communities membership

Constituencies|

* Ormskirk
* Huyton

Resignation Honours|

* 1970
* 1976

Family|

* Mary Wilson (wife)
* Robin Wilson (son)
* Harold Seddon (Uncle)

Media and popular culture|

* Mrs. Wilson's Diary
* Yesterday's Men (TV documentary, 1971)
* The Lavender List (TV, 2006)
* Longford (TV, 2006)
* Made in Dagenham (Film, 2010)
* The Audience (Play, 2013)
* The Crown (TV, 2019)
* Stonehouse (TV, 2023)

Related articles|

* Rhodesia's Unilateral Declaration of Independence
* Beira Patrol
* D-notice affair
* Gnomes of Zurich
* Harold Wilson plot allegations
* Clockwork Orange
* Harry letters affair
* In Place of Strife
* Wilson Doctrine
* Bibliography

* Category

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