Deputy leader of the Labour Party (UK)

The Deputy Leader of the Labour Party is the second highest ranking politician in the British Labour Party who serves as the deputy to the Leader of the Labour Party. The Deputy Leader serves as the deputy chairperson of the Labour Party in the House of Commons and leads the Party in the House when the Leader is unable to.

Deputy Leader of the Labour Party
Incumbent
Angela Rayner
since 4 April 2020
Reports toLeader of Labour
AppointerLabour Party
Inaugural holderJohn Robert Clynes
Formation1922

History

Unlike other political party leaders, 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.

List of deputy leaders of the Labour Party
Portrait Constituency Term began Term ended Concurrent Office(s) Leader(s)
1 John Robert Clynes
(1869–1949)		 Manchester Platting
Lost seat 1931		 22 November 1922 25 October 1932 Home Secretary MacDonald
Henderson
2 William Graham
(1887–1932)
(jointly with Clynes)		 Edinburgh Central
Lost seat 1931		 28 August 1931 8 January 1932
Died in office		 President of the Board of Trade
3 Clement Attlee
(1883–1967)		 Limehouse 25 October 1932 8 October 1935
Elected leader		 None Lansbury
Vacant Attlee
4 Arthur Greenwood
(1880–1954)		 Wakefield 26 November 1935 25 May 1945 Minister without portfolio
5 Herbert Morrison
(1888–1965)		 Lewisham East then
Lewisham South		 25 May 1945 14 December 1955 Deputy Prime Minister
Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs
Leader of the House of Commons
Himself (acting)
Vacant Gaitskell
6 Jim Griffiths
(1890–1975)		 Llanelli 2 February 1956 4 May 1959 None
7 Aneurin Bevan
(1897–1960)		 Ebbw Vale 4 May 1959 6 July 1960
Died in office		 None
Vacant
8 George Brown
(1914–1985)		 Belper 15 July 1960 18 June 1970
Lost seat 1970		 First Secretary of State
Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs
Secretary of State for Economic Affairs
Himself (acting)
Wilson
Vacant
9 Roy Jenkins
(1920–2003)		 Birmingham Stechford 8 July 1970 10 April 1972 Shadow Chancellor of the Exchequer
Vacant
10 Edward Short
(1912–2012)		 Newcastle upon Tyne Central 25 April 1972 21 October 1976 Leader of the House of Commons
Callaghan
11 Michael Foot
(1913–2010)		 Ebbw Vale 21 October 1976 10 November 1980
Elected leader		 Leader of the House of Commons
12 Denis Healey
(1917–2015)		 Leeds East 13 November 1980 2 October 1983 Shadow Foreign Secretary Foot
13 Roy Hattersley
(born 1932)		 Birmingham Sparkbrook 2 October 1983 18 July 1992 Shadow Chancellor of the Exchequer
Shadow Home Secretary		 Kinnock
14 Margaret Beckett
(born 1943)		 Derby South 18 July 1992 21 July 1994 Shadow Leader of the House of Commons Smith
Herself (acting)
15 John Prescott
(born 1938)		 Kingston upon Hull East 21 July 1994 24 June 2007 Deputy Prime Minister of the United Kingdom
First Secretary of State
Secretary of State for the Environment, Transport and the Regions		 Blair
16 Harriet Harman
(born 1950)		 Camberwell and Peckham 24 June 2007 12 September 2015 Leader of the House of Commons
Lord Privy Seal
Minister for Women and Equalities
Labour Party Chair
Shadow Secretary of State for International Development
Shadow Deputy Prime Minister
Shadow Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport
Leader of the Opposition		 Brown
Herself (acting)
Miliband
Herself (acting)
17 Tom Watson
(born 1967)		 West Bromwich East 12 September 2015 12 December 2019 Shadow minister for the Cabinet Office
Chair of the Labour Party
Shadow Secretary of State for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport		 Corbyn
Vacant
18 Angela Rayner
(born 1980)		 Ashton-under-Lyne 4 April 2020 Incumbent Chair of the Labour Party

Shadow First Secretary of State

 Starmer

Living former deputy leaders

There are five living deputy leaders. The most recent deputy leader to die was Denis Healey (1980–1983) on 3 October 2015.

Leader Term of office Date of birth
Roy Hattersley 1983–1992 (1932-12-28) 28 December 1932
Margaret Beckett 1992–1994 (1943-01-15) 15 January 1943
John Prescott 1994–2007 (1938-05-31) 31 May 1938
Harriet Harman 2007–2015 (1950-07-30) 30 July 1950
Tom Watson 2015–2019 (1967-01-08) 8 January 1967

See also

References
  1. Labour Party Rule Book 2013, Chapter 4, clause II.2.E.i and iv.
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