1983 Labour Party leadership election (UK)

1983 Labour Party leadership election | <- 1980 | 2 October 1983 (1983-10-02) | 1988 ->

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|  |  |

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Candidate  | Neil Kinnock | Roy Hattersley
Overall result  | 71.3% | 19.3%
Affiliated unions | 72.6% | 27.2%
Party members | 91.5% | 1.9%
Labour MPs | 49.3% | 26.1%

* * *

|  |
Candidate  | Eric Heffer | Peter Shore
Overall result  | 6.3%  | 3.1%
Affiliated unions | 0.1%  | 0.1%
Party members | 6.6%  | —
Labour MPs | 14.3%  | 10.3%

* * *

| Leader before election

Michael Foot

| Elected Leader

Neil Kinnock

|

The 1983 Labour Party leadership election was an election in the United Kingdom for the leadership of the Labour Party. It occurred when then leader Michael Foot resigned after winning only 209 seats at the 1983 general election, a loss of 60 seats compared to their performance at the previous election four years earlier. This was the worst showing for Labour since 1935 until 2019.

Neil Kinnock was elected Leader with 71% of the Electoral College vote; runner-up Roy Hattersley stood simultaneously for Deputy Leader and was elected as Deputy.[1]

The election took place at the Labour Party Conference, with affiliated trade unions holding 40% of the votes, delegates from Constituency Labour Parties holding 30% of the votes, and the Parliamentary Labour Party holding the final 30% of the votes.

## Background

[edit]

Soon after the 1983 election defeat it became clear that there was pressure on Foot to resign, with David Basnett, chairman of Trade Unions for Labour Victory which funded the campaign, arguing for a quick announcement on the future of the leadership saying "the sooner it is done the better". On 12 June 1983, three days after the general election, Clive Jenkins announced, on behalf of the Association of Scientific, Technical and Managerial Staffs, that his union had nominated Foot for re-election. This allowed Foot to refuse and declare his intention to stand down.

Early speculation days after the election saw the possible candidates as Denis Healey, Neil Kinnock, Roy Hattersley, Gerald Kaufman and Peter Shore. However, almost immediately after Foot announced his intention to resign, Clive Jenkins announced that his union had switched its nomination to Kinnock, which he accepted. Other union leaders contributed support for Kinnock and Hattersley. Basnett stated on Channel 4 "I will tell you who I think ought to be the leadership team – it ought to be Kinnock and Hattersley" while Gavin Laird, general secretary of the Amalgamated Union of Engineering Workers, backed Hattersley as leader, Kinnock as his deputy.

Shortly after Foot's decision to stand-down became known, Denis Healey, the Deputy Leader of the Party, announced he too would resign from his position and would not seek to become party leader. However he confirmed he intended to continue to play a leading role in the House of Commons and that he would seek election to the Shadow Cabinet.[2] Another potential candidate, Tony Benn was ruled out of the running as only MPs were eligible to stand for the position. Benn was out of Parliament, having lost his seat at the General Election a few days earlier.[2]

## Candidates

[edit]

* Roy Hattersley, Shadow Home Secretary, Member of Parliament for Birmingham Sparkbrook
* Eric Heffer, Shadow Minister for Europe, Member of Parliament for Liverpool Walton
* Neil Kinnock, Shadow Secretary of State for Education, Member of Parliament for Islwyn
* Peter Shore, Shadow Chancellor of the Exchequer, Member of Parliament for Bethnal Green and Stepney

## Results

[edit]

Of the four contenders who stood to replace Foot, Kinnock was favoured to win. The results of the election, held at the Labour Party Conference, were:

Candidate  | Affiliated block votes
(40%)[3] | CLP block votes
(30%)  | PLP votes
(30%)  | Overall result

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|
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Votes  | %  | Votes  | %  | Votes  | %  | %
Neil Kinnock Y | 4,389 | 72.6 | 571 | 91.5 | 100 | 49.3 | 71.3
Roy Hattersley | 1,644  | 27.2  | 12  | 1.9  | 53  | 26.1  | 19.3
Eric Heffer | 7  | 0.1  | 41  | 6.6  | 29  | 14.3  | 6.3
Peter Shore | 5  | 0.1  | 0  | 0.0  | 21  | 10.3  | 3.1

Neil Kinnock won the election with an outright majority and Roy Hattersley became his deputy, beating Michael Meacher. Kinnock remained leader until 1992. Kinnock fought in two further elections, both unsuccessfully. He failed to beat Margaret Thatcher in the 1987 general election despite gaining some seats. Kinnock resigned as leader following a fourth successive Labour defeat at the hands of John Major in the 1992 election. He resigned as leader shortly afterwards, paving the way for John Smith.

## See also

[edit]

* 1983 Labour Party deputy leadership election

## Notes

[edit]

1. ^ "Labour Deputy Leader Elections". privatewww.essex.ac.uk. Archived from the original on 19 August 2016. Retrieved 27 March 2018.
2. ^ a b Russell, William (13 June 1983). "Race is on for Labour Leader". The Glasgow Herald. Archived from the original on 9 March 2021. Retrieved 15 December 2019.
3. ^ Under the rules at the time of the contest, block votes were cast by delegates and the Parliamentary Party at the Labour Party Conference. Affiliated Unions held 40% of the votes, CLPs 30% and the PLP 30%.

## External links

[edit]

* Labour Party Archived 1 February 2017 at the Wayback Machine

* v
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Labour Party

History

| Main|

* History of the Labour Party

|

Topics|

* Electoral history
* General election manifestos
* History of the socialist movement in the United Kingdom
* European Parliamentary Labour Party
* Scottish Labour Party (1888)
* Independent Labour Party
* Labour Representation Committee
* Gladstone–MacDonald pact
* National Labour Organisation
* Labour Independent Group
* Campaign for Democratic Socialism
* Lib–Lab pact
* Formation of SDP
* Gang of Four
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* Militant tendency
* The longest suicide note in history
* One more heave
* New Labour
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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

|

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

* * *

|

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
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Factional groups|

* Blue Labour
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* Future Britain
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* Labour Party Irish Society
* Labour Representation Committee (2004)
* Labour Women's Network
* Momentum
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* National Union of Labour and Socialist Clubs
* Progressive Britain
* 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

|

* v
* t
* e

Neil Kinnock

Political career|

* Leader of the Labour Party (1983–1992)
* Shadow Cabinet
* Member of Parliament for Bedwellty (1970–1983)
* Member of Parliament for Islwyn (1983–1995)

Shadow Cabinet elections|

* 1980
* 1981
* 1982

Party elections|

* 1983
* 1988

General elections|

* 1987
* 1992

Family|

* Glenys Kinnock (wife)
* Stephen Kinnock (son)
* Helle Thorning-Schmidt (daughter-in-law)

Related topics|

* Sheffield Rally
* War of Jennifer's Ear

* v
* t
* e

1983 Labour Party leadership election

Outgoing Leader: Michael Foot

* Roy Hattersley
* Eric Heffer
* Neil Kinnock
* Peter Shore

See also 1983 Labour Party deputy leadership election

* v
* t
* e

1983 Labour Party deputy leadership election

Outgoing Deputy Leader: Denis Healey

Elected|

* Roy Hattersley

Defeated|

* Denzil Davies
* Gwyneth Dunwoody
* Michael Meacher

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