1981 Labour Party deputy leadership election

The 1981 Labour Party deputy leadership election took place on 27 September 1981 when Tony Benn unsuccessfully challenged the incumbent deputy leader Denis Healey at the party conference. Healey had been elected unopposed as deputy leader in the previous year.

1981 Labour Party deputy leadership election
27 September 1981 (1981-09-27)
 
Candidate Denis Healey Tony Benn John Silkin
First ballot 45.4% 36.6% 18.0%
Second ballot 50.4% 49.6% Eliminated
Deputy Leader before election

Denis Healey

 Elected Deputy Leader

Denis Healey

The election took place at 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.

Candidates

It was the first election to take place using the party's electoral college. At this time 40% of the votes were given to affiliated unions and societies, and 30% each to the Parliamentary Labour Party and the individual members and activists of the party. When this plurality in favour of the unions was first introduced, it received considerable criticism from the more social democratic wing of the party. It transpired that if the unions had had an equal share to the PLP and the membership then Healey's narrow majority would have been wiped out and the more left-wing Benn would have won the contest. The challenge for the deputy leadership of the party came a year after the election of Michael Foot as leader, which had seen the party shift to the left and resulted in a split which had created the SDP, who in turn had formed an alliance with the Liberal Party to appeal to centrist voters.

Results
First round[1]
Candidate Affiliated block
votes (40%)[2]		 CLP block votes (30%) PLP votes
(30%)		 Overall result
Votes % Votes % Votes % %
Denis Healey 3,968 61.7 112 17.9 125 51.0 45.4
Tony Benn 1,030 16.0 490 78.3 55 22.4 36.6
John Silkin N 1,429 22.2 24 3.8 65 26.5 18.0
Second round[1]
Candidate Affiliated block
votes (40%)		 CLP block votes (30%) PLP votes
(30%)		 Overall result
Votes % Votes % Votes % %
Denis Healey Y 3,969 62.5 118 18.9 137 65.9 50.4
Tony Benn 2,383 37.5 506 81.1 71 34.1 49.6

A documentary This Week: Benn's Bandwagon was first shown on 28 April 1981, in the second month of the contest and at the point when it began to dawn on the pundits that Tony Benn was going to come close to winning.

References
  1. Pointer, Graham (11 May 2015). "Should Tony Benn Have Been The Winner Of The 1981 Labour Deputy Leadership Election?". Graham Pointer's Blog. Retrieved 17 January 2016.
  2. Under the rules at the time of the contest, block votes were cast by delegates and the Parliamentary Party at Labour Party Conference. Affiliated Unions held 40% of the votes, CLPs 30% and the PLP 30%.

Sources


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