4 November 1980 (1980-11-04) 1983 → 31.3% 42.3% 51.9% 48.1% | 83 112 139 129 38 32 | |
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The British Labour Party leadership election of 1980 was held following the resignation of James Callaghan. Callaghan had been Prime Minister from 1976 to 1979 and had stayed on as leader of the Labour Party for eighteen months in order to oversee an orderly transition to his favoured successor, Denis Healey over his own deputy Michael Foot. However, during this period the party had become bogged down in internal arguments about its procedures and future direction.
Contents
Initially, the candidates were thought likely to be Denis Healey, Peter Shore and John Silkin, but Michael Foot was persuaded to stand by left-wingers who believed that only he could defeat Healey.
Candidates
Results
The result of the first ballot of Labour MPs on 4 November was as follows:
In the second ballot, held six days later, there was a run-off between Healey and Foot.
This was the last leadership election to be conducted amongst Members of Parliament only, an electoral college was subsequently introduced for future contests.