Deputy Leader of the Labour Party (UK)

Deputy Leader of the Labour Party
Incumbent Tom Watson since 12 September 2015
Appointer	Labour Party
Inaugural holder	John Robert Clynes
Formation	1922

The Deputy Leader of the Labour Party is a senior politician in the British Labour Party. The post is currently held by Tom Watson, who was elected as deputy on 12 September 2015.

History

Unlike other political party leaders, the Labour leader does not have the power to appoint or dismiss his or her deputy. The post is instead elected using the party's electoral college system; it was elected by Labour MPs before 1981.

Recently, the office of Deputy Prime Minister has been revived and held by senior politicians in the governing party. The 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]

To date, the only Deputy Leaders who have gone on to become the 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	8 October 1931	8 January 1932 Died in office	President of the Board of Trade
3	Clement Attlee (1883–1967)		Limehouse	25 October 1932	25 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 or 2 February 1956	Deputy Prime Minister Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs Leader of the House of Commons
							Himself (acting)
6	Jim Griffiths (1890–1975)		Llanelli	2 February 1956	4 May 1959	None	Gaitskell
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	4 November 1980 Elected Leader	Leader of the House of Commons
12	Denis Healey (1917–2015)		Leeds East	4 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)		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	Incumbent	Shadow minister for the Cabinet Office Labour Party Chair Shadow Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport	Corbyn

Living former deputy leaders

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

See also

• Deputy Leader of the Conservative Party (UK)
• Deputy Leader of the Liberal Democrats

References