25 March 1976 (1976-03-25) – 5 April 1976 (1976-04-05) 1980 → 90 56 28.7% 17.8% | 84 90 26.8% 28.7% 176 137 | |
The Labour Party leadership election of 1976 occurred when former leader Harold Wilson resigned as Party Leader and Prime Minister.
Contents
Candidates
In the first ballot, held on 25 March, six candidates vied for the leadership:
Result
As a result of the first ballot, Crosland was eliminated, while Jenkins and Benn withdrew from the contest. The remaining three candidates would face each other in a second ballot, five days later.
Because no candidate achieved an absolute majority, the candidate with the lowest number of votes was eliminated (in this case Healey). A final run-off ballot was held six days later.
Immediately upon his election as Labour leader, Callaghan succeeded Wilson as Prime Minister.
References
Labour Party (UK) leadership election, 1976 Wikipedia(Text) CC BY-SA