Skip to main content
. 2021 Feb 24;17(4):369–385. doi: 10.1057/s41293-021-00164-w

Table 3.

Labour Party leadership successions 1963–2010

Year Electorate Winner Criteria Key
Acceptability Electability Competence Criteria
1963 MPs Wilson Wilson Wilson Wilson All
1976 MPs Callaghan Callaghan Callaghan Callaghan All
1980 MPs Foot Foot Healey Healey Acceptability
1983 Electoral College* Kinnock Kinnock Hattersley Hattersley Acceptability
1988 Electoral College* Kinnock Kinnock Kinnock Kinnock All
1992 Electoral College* Smith Smith Smith Smith All
1994 Electoral College** Blair Blair Blair Blair All
2007 Uncontested *** Brown - - - -
2010 Electoral College** E Miliband E Miliband D Miliband D Miliband Acceptability

*Electoral College Block Vote Rules 1981–1993

**Electoral College OMOV Rules 1993–2014

***Gordon Brown was the only candidate to pass the nomination thresholds for entry and thus he was automatically elected leader of the Labour Party without activating the Electoral College

Sources Adapted from Stark (1996), Quinn (2012), Denham and Dorey (2018)