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Labour Party

 
Political Dictionary: Labour Party
 
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The principal centre-left party in modern British politics. It was established as the Labour Representation Committee in 1900, becoming the Labour Party in 1906. Labour developed as a mass party, with its origins in late nineteenth-century working-class protest. Its strategy from its formation was electoral, eschewing direct action as a route to political power. Its structure formally placed a high premium on internal party democracy, putting responsibility for policy with the annual Party Conference. A key part of Labour's origins, however, lay in the desire of the trade union movement to seek political representation and throughout its history the trade unions have been the party's principal funder. Up to 1993, the Party constitution offered a unique role for the trade unions, who through the power of the block vote dominated decisions at Party Conference. They played a considerable role in the selection of parliamentary candidates, and had the largest share of the vote in the election of the Party's leader and deputy leader. In practice, though, the parliamentary leadership, especially when the Party is in government, has always enjoyed considerable autonomy on policy issues from both the party and trade unions.

Labour's electoral history makes tortuous reading. After allying with the Liberal Party in pre-1914 electoral pacts, it broke through as a party in its own right after the franchise was widened to the lower working class in 1918. Labour formed minority governments 1924 and 1929-31. However, 1931 Cabinet division over cuts in public spending led to Labour's leader, Ramsay MacDonald, deserting the party to lead a coalition of so-called ‘national’ Conservatives, Liberals, and Labour members. Labour later participated in Churchill's Second World War coalition government and after the Second World War Labour became one of the two parties which dominated government. However, Labour's electoral successes before 1997 were much more limited than the Conservatives', and the Party won a clear governing majority on only two occasions (1945 and 1966). 1950 it won a small majority which it lost the following year. 1964 it won a small majority which it consolidated in 1966, and in February 1974 it became the largest party but without an overall majority. In October 1974 it won a majority of three seats, though by April 1976 by-election defeats had removed the majority. For nine months 1977 the Party governed on the basis of a parliamentary pact with the Liberal Party. Not once did Labour win a genuine two-term tenure on power at Westminster.

After 1918 the Party traditionally presented its policies as ‘socialist’, emphasizing the importance of a large state-controlled sector of the economy, relatively high levels of taxation, and comprehensive state-organized welfare provision. In office, the 1945-50 government of Clement Attlee is widely credited with successful radical reform which epitomized much of this progressive agenda. The Attlee Government created a mixed economy through the nationalization of a number of strategic industries and public utilities, as well as Keynesian ideas of economic management. A welfare state was established involving a commitment to full employment, universal social security, free universal state-funded health care and extensive state-funded social housing. Attlee also laid down a foreign and defence policy based on NATO, bilateral cooperation with the United States, and the development of nuclear weapons. Such approaches set the framework for government for the next twenty to thirty years.

The general picture, however, was that Labour governments were haunted by caution and failure. The inter-war minority governments lacked political power and were heavily influenced by the desire to show that they were fit to govern. Critics of the 1945 Attlee Government highlight that actually it should have gone a lot further in nationalization and in introducing greater industrial democracy. Post-war governments commonly were unable to develop state intervention as they were beset by economic crises. Both the 1945-50 and 1966-70 Labour governments were forced to devalue the pound. The Labour governments 1974-9 presided over the shock-waves from the oil crisis following the Arab-Israeli war and domestic industrial relations problems. Inflation rose to over 25 per cent and unemployment to over 1 million. Labour was forced to seek a loan from the International Monetary Fund in 1976, and left government 1979 tarnished by the image of the winter of discontent, 1978-9, when Britain was hit by a wave of strikes. Labour's common experience was to enter office with big plans and high expectations, only to retreat a few years later overwhelmed by events.

By the time Margaret Thatcher became Conservative Prime Minister 1979 Labour had turned bitterly in upon itself. What emerged initially was a victory for the more radical left, leading to the departure of leading moderates, known as the ‘gang of four’, to establish the Social Democratic Party (SDP) in 1981. The Party entered the 1983 General Election committed to a fully planned socialist economy, defended by protectionism that made withdrawal from the European Community virtually certain, as well as withdrawal from NATO and the unilateral dismantling of nuclear weapons. Leadership and campaigning were shambolic and the policy programme was widely attacked. As Labour's vote plummeted to just above that of the Liberal-SDP alliance, one party figure described the 1983 manifesto as ‘the longest suicide note in history’. The new leader, Neil Kinnock (1983-92), intent on making the party electable again, took on the left in 1985, denouncing the Militant Tendency as an entryist organization that should be expelled. Kinnock's purging of the hard left by the early 1990s and the work of his successor, John Smith (1992-4), paved the way for effective party modernization. This included reform of party organization to reduce the power of the trade unions and to enhance the power of the central leadership to keep discipline in the Party. It also involved an embrace of social democratic policies that gave much more emphasis to market economics and defined a lesser role for the state, based on regulation rather than direct ownership or control of the economy.

The advent of Tony Blair as leader 1994 hastened reform of party organization to move the party even more away from union control and the influence of the left. He also re-branded the Party as New Labour to emphasize its abandonment of doctrinaire policies of state intervention. In a massive symbolic gesture Blair pushed through reform of Clause IV of the 1918 Party constitution, which committed the Party to public ownership. It was replaced by a more general commitment to social justice, although cynics should note that the new Clause IV explicitly termed Labour a democratic socialist party where the original clause did not. From this basis Labour were able to offer themselves unambiguously as a modernized centre-left party, and develop policies that mixed state and market solutions to policy problems relatively free from ideological baggage. Blair talked instead of the politics of community, the third way, and of practical evidence-based approaches to managing the economy and the welfare state. Under Blair Labour became the most pro-business and pro-European Union the party has ever been.

Faced by a heavily factionalized Conservative party Labour won two landslide election victories 1997 and 2001 to establish itself for the first time as a two-term party of government; in 2005 it won a third term with a reduced but substantial majority. Blair's New Labour has already established for itself a place in history comparable to the Attlee Government through its large-scale reforms of the constitution, including House of Lords reform and devolution. The 2001 manifesto set itself the task of the modernization of public services, which perhaps will provide the most substantive evidence for comparison with previous traditions in Labour party history. While advocates suggest Blair and other modernizers from Kinnock onwards have skilfully adapted democratic socialist principles for modern times, critics suggest that they more generally represent a betrayal within the party comparable to that of Ramsey MacDonald's 1931 and the SDP's ‘Gang of Four’ in 1981.

— Jonathan Bradbury

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Britannica Concise Encyclopedia: Labour Party
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British political party whose historic links with trade unions have led it to promote an active role for the state in the creation of economic prosperity and the provision of social services. In opposition to the Conservative Party, it has been Britain's major democratic socialist party since the early 20th century. In 1900 the Trades Union Congress and the Independent Labour Party (founded 1893) established the Labour Representation Committee, which took the name Labour Party in 1906. In 1918 it became a socialist party with a democratic constitution, and by 1922 it had supplanted the Liberal Party as the official opposition party. In 1924 James Ramsay MacDonald formed the first Labour government, with Liberal support. The party was out of power from 1935 until a spectacular recovery in 1945 brought in Clement R. Attlee's government (until 1951), which introduced a system of social welfare, including a national health service, and extensive nationalization of industry. Labour regained power under Harold Wilson (1964 – 70) and later James Callaghan (1974 – 79), but it foundered because of economic problems and worsening relations with its trade-union allies. In 1983 Michael Foot's radical program resulted in a massive Labour defeat. Neil Kinnock moved the party toward the centre, but only in 1997 did Tony Blair and his "New Labour" agenda succeed in returning Labour to power.

For more information on Labour Party, visit Britannica.com.

 
British History: Labour Party
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Labour has been the principal progressive alternative to the Conservative Party since the 1920s, forming governments in 1924, 1929-31, 1945-51, 1964-70, 1974-9, and 1997. The Labour Representation Committee was established in 1900 by a conference of trade unionists and socialists orchestrated by Keir Hardie. Although it won only two seats in the 1900 ‘khaki’ election, the secret electoral pact with the Liberal Party negotiated by Ramsay MacDonald in 1903 helped the rechristened Labour Party enjoy a tally of 30 MPs after the 1906 election.

The First World War proved to be Labour's turning-point. Arthur Henderson (parliamentary chairman after MacDonald's resignation on the outbreak of war) entered the cabinet on the formation of the wartime coalition in 1915 and from August 1917 worked with Sidney Webb in devising a new constitution. In 1918 Labour became formally committed to the socialist objective of ‘public ownership of the means of production’ (clause 4).

Under conditions of manhood suffrage, the 1918 ‘coupon’ election awarded Labour 63 seats. In 1922 Labour gained 142 seats to become the official opposition. Following the inconclusive 1923 election, it briefly formed the government with 191 MPs between January and October 1924, which demonstrated Labour's competence. However the second MacDonald government exposed the financial orthodoxy of ministers in the face of mounting unemployment and the financial crisis of 1931. The resignation of the Labour cabinet in August and the subsequent formation of the National (coalition) Government by MacDonald (with the support of only a handful of Labour figures such as Snowden and J. H. Thomas) caused lasting bitterness within the Labour Party. After the disastrous 1931 election (which reduced Labour from 288 to 52 seats), Labour began a gradual recovery and won 154 seats in 1935 on 38 per cent of the vote. The unassuming Clement Attlee was elected leader before this election. The participation of Labour in Churchill's coalition government from May 1940 rebuilt its image with voters and Bevin, Morrison, and Cripps played highly visible roles on the ‘home front’. The year 1945 heralded an unexpected landslide victory for Labour, which won 393 seats with 48 per cent of the vote. This strong administration, with Bevin at the Foreign Office, Dalton and then Cripps as chancellor, and ‘Nye’ Bevan at Health, was Labour's ‘finest hour’. Despite economic headaches, by 1950 the ‘Attlee consensus’ of a mixed economy with a welfare state was firmly established.

Despite achieving its highest ever poll in 1951, Labour began thirteen years of opposition. The period witnessed faction fighting between left-wing ‘Bevanites’ and right-wing followers of Hugh Gaitskell, elected leader in 1955. In response to three successive (and widening) election defeats, Gaitskell unsuccessfully attempted to persuade the conference to abandon ‘clause 4’ in 1959. The following year, Labour's anti-war tradition resurfaced in conference support for unilateral nuclear disarmament (reversed in 1961).

However, a tottering economy together with Harold Wilson's invigorating leadership allowed Labour to squeeze back into office in October 1964 by a four-seat majority. An easy victory in the 1966 ‘follow-up’ election gave Labour a majority of 97. Despite positive achievements in the field of education and liberalizing social legislation, Wilson's government struggled to cope with the legacy of Britain's relative economic decline and was humbled by the 1967 devaluation of sterling and consequent policy U-turns.

In opposition again after 1970, Labour divided over Britain's entry into the EEC and the left's call for more extensive public ownership. Wilson's two further narrow election victories in 1974 obscured a weakening of Labour's appeal since the 1960s. Left-wing alienation from the government's (under Callaghan from 1976) deflationary response to mounting unemployment and inflation came to a head after Labour began a further lengthy spell in opposition after 1979.

In 1980 and 1981 Tony Benn's supporters won constitutional changes which precipitated the defection of right-wingers to form the Social Democratic Party. Subsequently, Michael Foot led Labour to heavy defeat in the 1983 election. Under Neil Kinnock (1983-92) and John Smith (1992-4) a slow revival of Labour's fortunes occurred as the party shifted back towards the ‘centre’ and purged itself of militant infiltration. Tony Blair's ‘New Labour’ strategy from 1994 accelerated this trend, and, with Major's Conservative government in disarray, secured a massive win at the 1997 general election. Blair's government won further general elections in 2001 and 2005, the latter with a reduced majority.

 
Columbia Encyclopedia: Labour party
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Labour party, British political party, one of the two dominant parties in Great Britain since World War I.

Origins

The Labour party was founded in 1900 after several generations of preparatory trade union politics made possible by the Reform Bills of 1867 and 1884, which enfranchised urban workers. Although the Labour Representation League, organized in 1869, elected parliamentary representatives, they were absorbed into the Liberal party. A Marxist organization, the Social Democratic Federation, was founded by H. M. Hyndman in 1881; but more important for the history of the Labour party was the founding of the Fabian Society (1883) and the Independent Labour party (ILP; 1893). With the help of the Fabian Society and the Trades Union Congress, the ILP in 1900 set up the Labour Representation Committee, renamed the Labour party in 1906. The new party elected 29 members to Parliament in 1906; in the two elections of 1910 it elected 40 and 42. Its strength lay in the industrial North and in Welsh mining areas; the evolutionary socialism espoused by the Fabians was the dominant ideology.

1914 to 1945

At the outbreak of World War I, Ramsay MacDonald led a pacifist wing of the party, but the majority of the party supported the war effort, and the party's leader, Arthur Henderson, served in the wartime coalition governments. Until 1918 the party was distinctly a federation of trade unions and socialist groups and had no individual members. After the war economic depression, the growing political consciousness of the working classes, and the split in the Liberal party gave Labour a national following. In 1918, Labour withdrew completely from the coalition, and in 1922 it became the second largest party in the House of Commons and thus the official opposition.

In 1924 the party formed its first ministry, with MacDonald as prime minister. As Labour was a minority in Parliament and depended on Liberal support, the enactment of legislation proved difficult, and the government's domestic program of unemployment relief and housing differed little from that of its Conservative predecessor. Effective primarily in foreign affairs, the ministry recognized the USSR. The party was turned out of office in Oct., 1924, in an election marked by Conservative exploitation of the Zinoviev letter (see under Zinoviev, Grigori).

In 1929, Labour formed another minority ministry. MacDonald and Philip Snowden reacted to the severe depression with conservative economic policies that involved reducing unemployment relief. When the majority of the cabinet refused to accede, MacDonald formed (1931) a coalition government, but he and the Labour leaders who joined him were expelled from the party. Heavily defeated in the election of 1931, the Labour party moved slightly to the left, advocating nationalization of major industries and more progressive taxation. In the next few years Labour found new leaders in Clement Attlee (later Earl Attlee), Herbert Morrison, and Ernest Bevin.

In the early 1930s the party passed antiwar resolutions and advocated collective security through the League of Nations, but it favored aid to the republican government in the Spanish civil war and eventually came to accept rearmament against the threat from Nazi Germany. After the fall of France to German forces in World War II, Labour agreed to join Winston Churchill's coalition government; Bevin as minister of labor and Attlee as deputy prime minister, together with other Labour ministers, took charge of domestic affairs during the war years.

The Postwar Years

In 1945 the party won an overwhelming electoral victory, and Attlee became prime minister in Labour's first majority government. The new government nationalized the Bank of England, the fuel and power industries (coal, electricity, gas, and atomic energy), transportation, and most of the iron and steel industry. It also enacted a comprehensive social security system, which included a national health service. In the areas of colonial and foreign policy, it granted independence to India and Pakistan, Burma (Myanmar), and Ceylon (Sri Lanka), and allied itself with the United States in a strong anti-Communist posture.

Faced with postwar shortages and the problems of reconstruction, Attlee's government encountered severe financial difficulties, despite American assistance. Rationing continued to be a necessity, economic recovery was slow, and the cost of rearmament increased the strains on the economy. The government barely maintained its majority in the general elections of 1950, and the following year it was defeated by the Conservatives.

During the long period of opposition that followed (the Conservatives were returned to power in 1955 and in 1959), the Labour party argued and almost split on questions of disarmament, aid to developing countries, and furtherance of socialism at home. When Attlee and other elder leaders retired and Hugh Gaitskell became party leader, Aneurin Bevan, leading the left wing of the party, unsuccessfully contested Gaitskell's position. Although Bevan was soon reconciled with the party leadership, his supporters continued to urge a policy of diplomatic neutralism and unilateral disarmament, in addition to a strong socialist program. The party's right-wing, on the other hand, argued that prosperity had diminished the appeal of socialism to the average worker and that the party should adopt a broader, more pragmatic program. Gaitskell consolidated his position as leader in the early 1960s, and the party achieved a new solidarity.

The 1960s to the Present

Harold Wilson, who became leader on Gaitskell's death in 1963, was able to lead the party to victory in 1964. He was prime minister until the Conservative party returned to power in 1970. Wilson's administration was marked by a continued decline in Britain's international political and economic position, which gave little opportunity for social innovation.

After 1970, the Labour party, in opposition, again found it difficult to present a united front. The reversal of the party's position on Britain's entry into the European Community (now the European Union), after having earlier supported it, and a renewed call for further nationalization of industry were indications of a greater left-wing militancy within the party. The party returned to power as a result of the elections of Feb., 1974, but as a minority government. Wilson's second administration began renegotiation of the terms of Britain's membership in the European Community and announced plans for large-scale nationalization. Despite continuing economic difficulties he called new elections in Oct., 1974, and Labour won a small majority. James Callaghan took over as prime minister following Wilson's resignation in 1976.

The party lost power to the Conservatives under Margaret Thatcher in the 1979 elections and remained in the opposition until the late 1990s. Michael Foot became party leader in 1980 but was succeeded by Neil Kinnock in 1983. Kinnock led the party to abandon some of its traditional left-wing positions but proved unable to achieve victory at the polls. He resigned in 1992 after the Conservative victory in the general elections and was succeeded by John Smith. After Smith's untimely death in 1994, moderate Tony Blair was chosen to lead the party. Under Blair's leadership, the party formally abandoned traditional socialism in 1995 and subsequently won (1997, 2001) consecutive resounding victories at the polls. The party's narrower victory in 2005 marked the first time Labour had three consecutive national elections. Blair stepped down as party leader and prime minister in 2007, and was succeeded by Gordon Brown.

Bibliography

See H. Wilson, The Labour Government 1964–1970 (1971); B. Jones and M. Keating, Labour and the British State (1985); K. Laybourn, The Rise of Labour (1988).

 
Wikipedia: Labour Party (UK)
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"New Labour" redirects here. For other uses, see New Labour (disambiguation).
Labour Party
Leader Gordon Brown
Founded 1900
Headquarters 39 Victoria Street
London, SW1H 0HA
Ideology Democratic socialism[1]

Social democracy[2]

Third Way.[citation needed]
International affiliation Socialist International
European affiliation Party of European Socialists
European Parliament Group Progressive Alliance of Socialists and Democrats
Official colours Red
Website
http://www.labour.org.uk/

The Labour Party is a centre-left[3] political party and current ruling party in the United Kingdom. Founded at the start of the 20th century, it has been since the 1920s the principal party of the left in England, Scotland and Wales, but not Northern Ireland, where it has only recently organised again.[4] Under New Labour, the party's position moved towards the centre.

Labour surpassed the Liberal Party as the main opposition to the Conservatives in the early 1920s. It has had several spells in government, first as minority governments under Ramsay MacDonald in 1924 and 1929-31, then as a junior partner in the wartime coalition from 1940-1945, and then as a majority government, under Clement Attlee in 1945-51 and under Harold Wilson in 1964-70. Labour was in government again in 1974-79, under Wilson and then James Callaghan, though with a precarious and declining majority.

The current national Labour government won a landslide 179-seat majority in the 1997 general election under the leadership of Tony Blair, its first general election victory since October 1974 and the first general election since 1970 in which it had exceeded 40% of the popular vote. The party's large majority in the House of Commons was slightly reduced to 167 in the 2001 general election and more substantially reduced to 66 in 2005. Labour is also the leading partner in the coalition Welsh Assembly Government, is the main opposition party in the Scottish Parliament, and has representation in the European Parliament. The current party leader is Gordon Brown.

Contents

Party ideology

The Party grew out of the trade union movement and socialist political parties of the 19th century, and continues to describe itself as a "democratic socialist party".[5] Labour is the longest surviving political party in Great Britain stating that it stands for the representation of the low-paid working class, and it has historically been the working class who were known as the Labour Party grassroots and traditional members and voters.[5] Historically, the party was in favour of socialism, as set out in clause IV of the party constitution, and advocated socialist policies such as public ownership of key industries, government intervention in the economy, redistribution of wealth, increased rights for workers and trade unions and a belief in the welfare state as well as publicly funded healthcare and education.

Beginning in the mid-1980s under the leadership of Neil Kinnock, John Smith and Tony Blair, the party has moved away from its socialist positions towards adopting free market policies, a position some have described as "Third Way", leading many observers to describe the Labour Party as social democratic or even neo-liberal rather than democratic socialist.[6] A new version of Clause IV was agreed in 1995.

The current Labour government has instituted domestic policies such as introducing a minimum wage and increasing the spending on the NHS and education and has introduced new public services such as Sure Start and Train to Gain. However, the party's stated goal of reducing the gap between the rich and poor continues to be pursued.[7] Since 1997 when Labour came to power, 1.8 million children have been lifted out of absolute poverty, and 600,000 children have been lifted out of relative poverty.[8]

The 2008 Labour Party Conference, for some, represented closer ties with big business and away from workers as Gordon Brown proclaimed "we are, we always have been and we always will be a pro business government". This conference was also the first at which affiliated trade unions and constituency Labour Parties did not have the right to submit motions on contemporary issues which would previously have been debated on the floor of conference.[9] Labour Party Conference now includes more keynote addresses, guest speakers and question and answer sessions rather than specific discussion of policy which now takes place in the National Policy Forum.

Party constitution and structure

Main article: Labour Party Rule Book

The Labour Party is a membership organisation consisting of Constituency Labour Parties, affiliated trade unions, socialist societies,(Fabian Society, Co-op and Labour Clubs) and the Co-operative Party, with which it has an electoral agreement. Members who are elected to parliamentary positions take part in the Parliamentary Labour Party (PLP) and European Parliamentary Labour Party (EPLP). The party's decision-making bodies on a national level formally include the National Executive Committee (NEC), Labour Party Conference, and National Policy Forum (NPF) — although in practise the Parliamentary leadership has the final say on policy. Questions of internal party democracy have frequently provoked disputes in the party.

For many years Labour held to a policy of uniting Northern Ireland and the Republic of Ireland by consent, and had not allowed residents of Northern Ireland to apply for membership,[10] instead supporting the nationalist Social Democratic and Labour Party (SDLP) which has often taken the Labour whip at the House of Commons.[11] Yet Labour has a unionist faction in its ranks, many of whom assisted in the foundation in 1995 of the UK Unionist Party led by Robert McCartney.[citation needed] The 2003 Labour Party Conference accepted legal advice that the party could not continue to prohibit residents of the province joining,[12] and whilst the National Executive has established a regional constituency party it has not yet agreed to contest elections there.

The party had 198,026 members on 31 December 2005 according to accounts filed with the Electoral Commission which was down on the previous year. In that year it had an income of about £35 million (£3.7 million from membership fees) and expenditure of about £50 million, high due to the general election.[13]

Party electoral manifestos have not contained the term socialism since 1992, although when Clause 4 was abolished the words "the Labour Party is a democratic socialist party" were added to the party's constitution.

Internationally, the Labour Party is a member of the Socialist International, and in Europe it is member of the Party of European Socialists.

Labour is not strictly a political party, but instead a composition of trade unions and various political organisations. The Labour Party distinguishes between Constituency Labour Parties (CLP), Socialist Societies and Trade Union affiliates and entryist groups like Militant. The Communist Party of Great Britain was refused affiliation between 1921 and 1923.[14] Lenin had argued that the CPGB should support the Labour Party despite it being a bourgeois workers party.[15]

History

Main articles: History of the British Labour Party and History of socialism in Great Britain

Founding of the party

The Independent Labour Party, founded in 1893

The Labour Party's origins lie in the late 19th century when it became apparent that there was a need for a political party to represent the interests and needs of the urban proletariat which had increased in numbers, and of working-class males who had recently been given franchise.[16] Some members of the trade union movement became interested in moving into the political field, and after the extensions of the franchise in 1867 and 1885, the Liberal Party endorsed some trade-union sponsored candidates. In addition, several small socialist groups had formed around this time with the intention of linking the movement to political policies. Among these were the Independent Labour Party, the intellectual and largely middle-class Fabian Society, the Social Democratic Federation and the Scottish Labour Party.

In the 1895 General Election the Independent Labour Party put up 28 candidates but won only 44,325 votes. Keir Hardie, the leader of the party believed that to obtain success in parliamentary elections, it would be necessary to join with other left-wing groups.

Labour Representation Committee

Keir Hardie, one of the Labour Party's founders and first leader

In 1899 a Doncaster member of the Amalgamated Society of Railway Servants, Thomas R. Steels, proposed in his union branch that the Trade Union Congress call a special conference to bring together all the left-wing organisations and form them into a single body which would sponsor Parliamentary candidates. The motion was passed at all stages by the TUC, and this special conference was held at the Memorial Hall, Farringdon Street, London on 26 and 27 February 1900. The meeting was attended by a broad spectrum of working-class and left-wing organisations; trade unions representing about one third of the membership of the TUC delegates. [17]

After a debate the 129 delegates passed Hardie's motion to establish "a distinct Labour group in Parliament, who shall have their own whips, and agree upon their policy, which must embrace a readiness to cooperate with any party which for the time being may be engaged in promoting legislation in the direct interests of labour." This created an association called the Labour Representation Committee (LRC), meant to coordinate attempts to support MPs, MPs sponsored by trade unions and representing the working-class population.[18] It had no single leader. In the absence of one, the Independent Labour Party nominee Ramsay MacDonald was elected as Secretary. He had the difficult task of keeping the various strands of opinions in the LRC united. The October 1900 "Khaki election" came too soon for the new party to effectively campaign; total expenses for the election only came to £33.[19] Only 15 candidatures were sponsored, but two were successful: Keir Hardie in Merthyr Tydfil and Richard Bell in Derby.[20]

Support for the LRC was boosted by the 1901 Taff Vale Case, a dispute between strikers and a railway company that ended with the union ordered to pay £23,000 damages for a strike. The judgement effectively made strikes illegal since employers could recoup the cost of lost business from the unions. The apparent acquiescence of the Conservative government of Arthur Balfour to industrial and business interests (traditionally the allies of the Liberal Party in opposition to the Conservative's landed interests) intensified support for the LRC against a government that appeared to have little concern for the industrial proletariat and its problems.[20]

Labour Party Plaque from Caroone House 8 Farringdon Street (demolished 2004)

In the 1906 election, the LRC won 29 seats — helped by the secret 1903 pact between Ramsay Macdonald and Liberal Chief Whip Herbert Gladstone, which aimed at avoiding Labour/Liberal contests in the interest of removing the Conservatives from office.[20]

In their first meeting after the election, the group's Members of Parliament decided to adopt the name "The Labour Party" (15 February 1906). Keir Hardie, who had taken a leading role in getting the party established, was elected as Chairman of the Parliamentary Labour Party (in effect, the Leader), although only by one vote over David Shackleton after several ballots. In the party's early years, the Independent Labour Party (ILP) provided much of its activist base as the party did not have an individual membership until 1918 and operated as a conglomerate of affiliated bodies until that date. The Fabian Society provided much of the intellectual stimulus for the party. One of the first acts of the new Liberal government was to reverse the Taff Vale judgement.[20]

Early years, and the rise of the Labour Party

The December 1910 General Election saw 42 Labour MPs elected to the House of Commons.

This was a significant victory since a year before the election the House of Lords had passed the Osborne judgment which ruled that Trades Unions in the United Kingdom could no longer donate money to fund the election campaigns and wages of Labour MPs. The governing Liberals were unwilling to repeal this judicial decision with primary legislation. The height of Liberal compromise was to introduce a wage for Members of Parliament, to remove the need to involve the Trade Unions. By 1913, faced with the opposition of the largest Trade Unions, the Liberal government passed the Trade Disputes Act to once more allow Trade Unions to fund Labour MPs.

During the First World War the Labour Party split between supporters and opponents of the conflict and opposition within the party to the war grew as time went on. Ramsay MacDonald, a notable anti-war campaigner, resigned as leader of the Parliamentary Labour Party and Arthur Henderson became the main figure of authority within the Party and was soon accepted into H. H. Asquith's War Cabinet, becoming the first Labour Party member to serve in government.

Despite mainstream Labour Party's support for the Coalition, the Independent Labour Party was instrumental in opposing mobilisation through organisations such as the Non-Conscription Fellowship and a Labour Party affiliate, the British Socialist Party, organised a number of unofficial strikes.

Arthur Henderson resigned from the Cabinet in 1917 amidst calls for Party unity, being replaced by George Barnes. The growth in Labour's local activist base and organisation was reflected in the elections following the War, with the co-operative movement now providing its own resources to the Co-operative Party after the armistice. The Co-operative Party later reached an electoral agreement with the Labour Party.

Following the war, the Liberal Party went into rapid decline. With the party suffering a catastrophic split between supporters of leader David Lloyd George and former leader H. H. Asquith. This allowed the Labour Party to co-opt much of the Liberals' support.

With the Liberals in disarray, Labour won 142 seats at the 1922 General Election making it the second largest political group in the House of Commons and the official opposition to the Conservative Government. After the election, the now rehabilitated Ramsay MacDonald was voted the first official leader of the Labour Party.

First Labour governments under MacDonald (1924 and 1929-1931)

Ramsay MacDonald, the first Labour Prime Minister, 1924, 1929–31 (National from 1931-35)

First Labour government (1924)

The 1923 general election was fought on the Conservatives' protectionist proposals; although they got the most votes and remained the largest party, they lost their majority in parliament, requiring a government supporting free trade to be formed. So with the acquiescence of Asquith's Liberals, Ramsay MacDonald became Prime Minister in January 1924 and formed the first ever Labour government, despite Labour only having 191 MPs (less than a third of the House of Commons).

Because the government had to rely on the support of the Liberals, it was unable to get any socialist legislation passed by the House of Commons. The only significant measure was the Wheatley Housing Act which began a building programme of 500,000 homes for rent to working-class families.

The government collapsed after only nine months when the Liberals voted for a Select Committee inquiry into the Campbell Case, a vote which MacDonald had declared to be a vote of confidence. The ensuing general election saw the publication, four days before polling day, of the notorious Zinoviev letter, which implicated Labour in a plot for a Communist revolution in Britain, and the Conservatives were returned to power, although Labour increased its vote from 30.7% of the popular vote to a third of the popular vote — most of the Conservative gains were at the expense of the Liberals. The Zinoviev letter is now generally believed to have been a forgery.[21]

In opposition, Ramsay MacDonald continued with his policy of presenting the Labour Party as a moderate force in politics. During the General Strike of 1926 he opposed strike action arguing that the best way to achieve social reforms was through the ballot box.

Second Labour government (1929-1931)

At the 1929 general election the Labour Party for the first time became the largest grouping in the House of Commons with 287 seats, and 37.1% of the popular vote (actually slightly less than the Conservatives). However, MacDonald was still reliant on Liberal support to form a minority government.

the original "liberty" logo, in use until 1983

MacDonald appointed the first ever woman cabinet minister; Margaret Bondfield, who was appointed Minister of Labour.

The government however, soon found itself engulfed in crisis; The Wall Street Crash of 1929 and eventual Great Depression occurred soon after the government came to power, and the crisis hit Britain hard. By the end of 1930 the unemployment rate had doubled to over two and a half million.[22]

The government had no effective answers to the crisis. By the summer of 1931, a dispute over whether to introduce large cuts to public spending split the government. With the economic situation worsening, MacDonald agreed to form a "National Government" with the Conservatives and the Liberals.

On 24 August 1931 MacDonald submitted the resignation of his ministers and led a small number of his senior colleagues in forming the National Government with the other parties. This move caused great anger within the Labour Party and MacDonald and his supporters were then expelled from the Labour Party and formed the National Labour Party. The remaining Labour Party, now led by Arthur Henderson, and a few Liberals went into opposition.

Soon after this, a General Election was called. The 1931 election resulted in a landslide victory for the National Government, and was a disaster for the Labour Party which won only 52 seats, 225 fewer than in 1929.

Opposition during the 1930s

Arthur Henderson, who had been elected in 1931 as Labour leader to succeed MacDonald, lost his seat in the 1931 General Election. The only former Labour cabinet member who survived the landslide was the pacifist George Lansbury, who accordingly became party leader.

The party experienced a further split in 1932 when the Independent Labour Party, which for some years had been increasingly at odds with the Labour leadership, opted to disaffiliate from the Labour Party. The ILP embarked on a long drawn out decline.

Lansbury resigned as leader in 1935 after public disagreements over foreign policy. He was replaced as leader by his deputy Clement Attlee. The party experienced a revival at the 1935 General Election, winning a similar number of votes to those attained in 1929 and actually, at 38% of the popular vote, the highest percentage that Labour had ever achieved, securing 154 seats.

With the rising threat from Nazi Germany in the 1930s, the Labour Party gradually abandoned its earlier pacifist stance, and came out in favour of rearmament. This shift largely came about due to the efforts of Ernest Bevin and Hugh Dalton who by 1937 also persuaded the party to oppose Neville Chamberlain's policy of appeasement.[22]

Wartime coalition

The party was brought back into government in 1940 as part of a wartime coalition government: When Neville Chamberlain resigned as Prime Minister after the defeat in Norway in spring 1940, and incoming Prime Minister Winston Churchill decided that it was important to bring the other main parties into the government and have a Wartime Coalition similar to that in the First World War. Clement Attlee became Lord Privy Seal and a member of the War cabinet, and was effectively (and eventually formally) Deputy Prime Minister for the remainder of the duration of the War in Europe.

A number of other senior Labour figures took up senior positions: the trade union leader Ernest Bevin as Minister of Labour directed Britain's wartime economy and allocation of manpower; the veteran Labour statesman Herbert Morrison became Home Secretary; Hugh Dalton was Minister of Economic Warfare and later President of the Board of Trade; and A. V. Alexander resumed the role of First Lord of the Admiralty he had held in the previous Labour government. The party generally performed well in government, and its experience there may have been partly responsible for its post-war success.

Post-War victory under Attlee

With the end of the war in Europe in May 1945, Labour resolved not to repeat the Liberals' error of 1918, and withdrew from the government to contest the 1945 general election (5 July) in opposition to Churchill's Conservatives. Surprising many observers, Labour won a landslide victory, winning just under 50% of the vote with a majority of 145 seats.

Clement Attlee: Labour Prime Minister 1945-51

Clement Attlee's government proved to be one of the most radical British governments of the 20th century. It presided over a policy of selective nationalisation of major industries and utilities, including the Bank of England, coal mining, the steel industry, electricity, gas, telephones, and inland transport (including the railways, road haulage and canals). It developed the "cradle to grave" welfare state conceived by the Liberal economist William Beveridge. To this day, the party still considers the creation in 1948 of Britain's publicly funded National Health Service under health minister Aneurin Bevan its proudest achievement.

Attlee's government also began the process of dismantling the British Empire when it granted independence to India and Pakistan in 1947. This was followed by Burma (Myanmar) and Ceylon (Sri Lanka) the following year.

With the onset of the Cold War, at a secret meeting in January 1947, Attlee, and six cabinet ministers including foreign minister Ernest Bevin, secretly decided to proceed with the development of Britain's nuclear deterrent,[22] in opposition to the pacifist and anti-nuclear stances of a large element inside the Labour Party.

Labour won the 1950 general election but with a much reduced majority of five seats. Soon after the 1950 election, things started to go badly wrong for the Labour government. Defence became one of the divisive issues for Labour itself, especially defence spending (which reached 14% of GDP in 1951 during the Korean War).[23] These costs put enormous strain on public finances, forcing savings to be found elsewhere. The Chancellor of the Exchequer, Hugh Gaitskell introduced prescription charges for NHS prescriptions, causing Bevan, along with Harold Wilson (President of the Board of Trade) to resign over the dilution of the principle of free treatment.

Soon after this, another election was called. Labour narrowly lost the October 1951 election to the Conservatives, despite their receiving a larger share of the popular vote and, in fact, their highest vote ever numerically.

Most of the changes introduced by the 1945-51 Labour government however were accepted by the Conservatives and became part of the "post war consensus", which lasted until the 1970s

The "Thirteen Wasted Years"

Following their defeat in 1951 the party underwent a long period in opposition lasting thirteen years. The party suffered an ideological split during the 1950s, and the postwar economic recovery meant that the public was broadly contented with the Conservative governments of the time. Attlee remained as leader until his retirement in 1955.

His replacement Hugh Gaitskell struggled with internal divisions within the party in the late 1950s and early 1960s, and Labour lost the 1959 general election. Gaitskell's sudden death in 1963 made way for Harold Wilson to lead the party.

The 1960s and 1970s

Labour in government under Wilson (1964-1970)

Harold Wilson, Labour Prime Minister 1964–1970 and 1974-1976

A downturn in the economy, along with a series of scandals in the early 1960s (the most notorious being the Profumo affair), engulfed the Conservative government by 1963. The Labour party returned to government with a wafer-thin 4 seat majority under Wilson in the 1964 election, and increased their majority to 96 in 1966 election.

Events derailed the wave of optimism which swept Labour to power in 1964. Wilson's government inherited a large trade deficit, which led to a currency crisis and an ultimately doomed attempt to stave off devaluation of the pound.

Wilson's government was also responsible for a number of social and educational reforms such as legalisation of abortion and homosexuality. The 1960s Labour government also expanded comprehensive education and created the Open University.

Labour unexpectedly lost the 1970 general election to the Conservatives under Edward Heath. Heath's government however soon ran into trouble over Northern Ireland and a dispute with miners in 1973 which led to the "three-day week".

The 1970s proved to be a very difficult time to be in government for both the Conservatives and Labour due to the 1973 oil crisis which caused high inflation and a global recession.

Labour returned to power again under Wilson a few weeks after the February 1974 general election, forming a minority government with Ulster Unionist support. The Conservatives were unable to form a government as they had fewer seats, even though they had received more votes. It was the first General Election since 1924 in which both main parties received less than 40% of the popular vote, and was the first of six successive General Elections in which Labour failed to reach 40% of the popular vote. In a bid for Labour to gain a majority, a second election was soon called for October 1974 in which Labour, still with Harold Wilson as leader, scraped a majority of three, gaining just 18 seats and taking their total to 319.

Labour in power 1974-1979

In government, the Labour Party's internal splits over Britain's membership of the European Economic Community (EEC) which Britain had entered under Edward Heath in 1972, led to a national referendum on the issue in 1975, in which two thirds of the public supported continued membership.

James Callaghan: Labour Prime Minister from 1976 to 1979.

The Labour Government struggled for much of its time in office with serious economic problems and a precarious and declining majority in the commons. Fear of advances by the nationalist parties, particularly in Scotland, led to the suppression of a report from Scottish Office economist Gavin McCrone which suggested that an independent Scotland would be 'chronically in surplus'[24] and to secret collusion with Margaret Thatcher's Conservatives[citation needed]. Harold Wilson unexpectedly resigned as prime minister in 1976. He was replaced by James Callaghan.

The Wilson and Callaghan governments were hampered by their lack of a workable majority in the commons. At the October 1974 election, Labour won a majority of only three seats. Several by-election losses and defections to the breakaway Scottish Labour Party meant that by 1977, Callaghan was heading a minority government, and was forced to do deals with other parties to survive. An arrangement was negotiated in 1977 with the Liberal leader David Steel known as the Lib-Lab pact, but this ended after one year. After this, deals were made with various small parties, including the Scottish National Party and the Welsh nationalist Plaid Cymru, which prolonged the life of the government slightly longer.

The nationalist parties demanded devolution to their respective countries in return for their support for the government. When referendums for Scottish and Welsh devolution were held in March 1979, the Welsh referendum was rejected outright, and the Scottish referendum had a narrow majority in favour but did not reach the threshold of 40% support of the electorate, a requirement of the legislation. When the Labour Government refused to push ahead with setting up the Scottish Assembly, the SNP withdrew its support for the government, which brought it down when they lost a vote of confidence.

The Wilson and Callaghan governments in the 1970s tried to control inflation (which had reached 26.9% in 1975) by instituting a policy of wage restraint. This policy was initially fairly successful at controlling inflation, which had been reduced to 7.4% by 1978.[20] However it led to increasingly strained relations between the government and the trade unions.

Callaghan had been widely expected to call a general election in the autumn of 1978, when most opinion polls showed Labour to have a narrow lead.[20] However instead, he decided to extend the wage restraint policy for another year in the hope that the economy would be in a better shape in time for a 1979 election. This proved to be a big mistake.

During the winter of 1978-79 there were widespread strikes in favour of higher pay rises which caused significant disruption to everyday life. The strikes affected lorry drivers, railway workers, car workers and local government and hospital workers. These came to be dubbed as the "Winter of Discontent".

The strikes made Callaghan's government unpopular. After the withdrawal of SNP support for the government, the Conservatives put down a vote of no confidence, which was held and passed by one vote on 28 March 1979, forcing a general election.

In the 1979 general election, Labour suffered electoral defeat to the Conservatives led by Margaret Thatcher. The numbers voting Labour hardly changed between February 1974 and 1979, but in 1979 the Conservative Party achieved big increases in support in the Midlands and South of England, mainly from the ailing Liberals, and benefited from a surge in turnout.

The 'Wilderness Years' (1979-1997)

Following their defeat at the 1979 election, the Labour Party underwent a period of bitter internal rivalry as it became increasingly divided between the ever more dominant left wingers under Michael Foot and Tony Benn (whose supporters dominated the party organisation at the grassroots level), and the right under Denis Healey.

The election of Michael Foot as leader in 1980 dismayed many on the right of the party, who believed that Labour was becoming too left-wing. In 1981 a group of four former cabinet ministers from the right and centre of the Labour Party (Shirley Williams, William Rodgers, Roy Jenkins, and David Owen) issued the "Limehouse Declaration" and formed the breakaway Social Democratic Party.

Margaret Thatcher's government was initially deeply unpopular due to high unemployment and inflation but the success of the Falklands War in 1982, her success in controlling inflation and the right to buy revived her popularity, while the formation of the SDP split the opposition vote. The Labour Party was defeated by a landslide in the 1983 general election winning only 27.6% of the vote, their lowest share since 1918. Labour won only half a million votes more than the SDP-Liberal Alliance which had attracted the votes of many moderate Labour supporters.

Michael Foot resigned as leader and was replaced by Neil Kinnock, who progressively moved the party towards the centre. Labour improved its performance at the 1987 general election, gaining 20 seats and reducing the Conservative majority to 102 from 143 in 1983 despite a sharp rise in turnout.

Neil Kinnock was seen as too right wing for much of the Labour Left, especially the so-called Militant Tendency. Kinnock later forced this group out of the party, and they would later become the Socialist Party of England and Wales and Scottish Militant Labour. However, a remnant of Militant continues to operate within the Labour Party through the magazine Socialist Appeal.

Margaret Thatcher was replaced as prime minister by John Major in 1990. By the time of the 1992 general election, the economy was in recession and, despite the personal unpopularity of Neil Kinnock, Labour looked as if it could win. The party had dropped its policy of Unilateral Nuclear Disarmament, and had tried to present itself as a credible government-in-waiting. Most opinion polls showed the party to have a slight lead over the Conservatives, although rarely sufficient for a majority. In the event the Conservatives were returned to power but with a much reduced majority of 20. Although Labour's support was comparable to the February and October 1974 and May 1979 General Elections, the overall turnout was much larger.

Kinnock resigned as leader and was replaced by John Smith. Soon after the 1992 election, the Conservative government ran into trouble, when on Black Wednesday it was forced to leave the European Exchange Rate Mechanism. After this, Labour moved ahead in the opinion polls as the Conservatives declined in popularity. John Smith's sudden death from a heart attack in May 1994 made way for Tony Blair to lead the Party.

New Labour

First Labour party logo in the New Labour era
Recent logo of Labour Party

Tony Blair moved the party further to the centre, abandoning the largely symbolic Clause Four at the 1995 mini-conference in a strategy to increase the party's appeal to "middle England". More than a simple 're-branding', however, the project would draw upon a new political 'third way', particularly informed by the social theory of Anthony Giddens.

Tony Blair, Labour Prime Minister 1997-2007

"New Labour" was first termed as an alternative branding for the Labour Party, dating from a conference slogan first used by the Labour Party in 1994 which was later seen in a draft manifesto published by the party in 1996, called New Labour, New Life For Britain. The rise of the name coincided with a centrist shift of the British political spectrum; for Labour, this was a continuation of the trend that had begun under the leadership of Neil Kinnock. "New Labour" as a name has no official status but remains in common use to distinguish modernisers from those holding to more traditional positions who normally are referred to as "Old Labour". New Labour has been used as a derogative term by some to separate the supposedly "Thatcherite" policies adopted by Tony Blair and Gordon Brown to that of Old Labour and the old Clause 4.

In government

Main articles: Current Labour government (UK), Premiership of Tony Blair, and Premiership of Gordon Brown

The Labour party won the 1997 election with a landslide majority of 179.

Among the early acts of Tony Blair's government were the establishment of the national minimum wage, the devolution of power to Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland, and the re-creation of a city-wide government body for London: the Greater London Authority. Labour went on to win the 2001 election with a similar majority to 1997. Tony Blair controversially allied himself with US President George W. Bush in supporting the Iraq War, which caused him to lose much of his political support.[25] The UN Secretary-General[citation needed]. , among many, considered the war illegal.[26] The Iraq war was unpopular in most western countries, with Western governments divided in their support.[27] At the 2005 election, Labour was returned to power with a much reduced majority.

The party lost power in Scotland after losing the 2007 Scottish Parliament election (although it still held a majority of Scottish seats in the UK parliament). In the same year, Tony Blair stood down as prime minister and was replaced by Gordon Brown. Although the party experienced a brief rise in the polls, the party's popularity soon slumped to its lowest level since under Michael Foot. During May 2008, Labour suffered heavy defeats in the London mayoral election, local elections and the Crewe and Nantwich by-election, culminating in the party registering its worst ever opinion poll result since records began in 1943, of 23%.[28] In June 2008 Labour suffered another poor result in the Henley by-election, coming in fifth place behind the Green Party and the British National Party.[29] In July 2008 Labour lost another by-election in the Glasgow East by-election to SNP by 365 votes but with a swing to the SNP of 22.5%.

Finance has proved a major problem for the Labour Party in recent years. A "cash for peerages" scandal under Tony Blair resulted in the drying up of many major sources of donations. Declining party membership, partially due to the reduction of activists' influence upon policy-making under the reforms of Neil Kinnock and Tony Blair, has also contributed to financial woes. Between January and March 2008, the Labour Party received just over £3 million in donations and are £17 million in debt; compared to the Conservatives' £6 million in donations and £12 million in debt, the Electoral Commission declared on 22 May 2008.[30]

Gordon Brown's Labour government suffered its first significant defeat in the House of Lords on 15 October 2008, when the Lords rejected proposals to allow police to hold terror suspects for 42 days without charge. Brown was accused of a "tax bombshell" by opposition leader David Cameron, who argued that the reduction in VAT from 17.5% to 15% and the overall tax cut package was funded by debt which would lead to future tax increases.[31] The economic crisis in late 2008 boosted Brown's popularity,[32] although this seems to have dropped again as the Conservatives took a six point lead once again with Labour down 1 point in ICM polls.[33]

Northern Ireland

At an historic meeting on 23 February 2009 Labour Members in Northern Ireland adopted new rules and thus became the Labour Party in Northern Ireland. This means that Labour effectively has a new constituency party in NI.

Electoral performance

This chart shows the electoral performance of the Labour Party in general elections since 1900.[34]

A graph showing the percentage of the popular vote received by major parties in general elections, 1832-2005. The rapid rise of the Labour party after its founding during the Victorian era is clear, and the party is now considered as one of the dominant forces in British politics.
Election Number of votes for Labour Share of votes Seats Outcome of election
1900 62,698 1.8% 2 Conservative Victory
1906 321,663 5.7% 29 Liberal Victory
1910 (January) 505,657 7.6% 40 Hung parliament (Liberal minority government)
1910 (December) 371,802 7.1% 42 Hung parliament (Liberal minority government)
1918† 2,245,777 21.5% 57 Liberal/Conservative Coalition Victory
1922 4,076,665 29.7% 142 Conservative Victory
1923 4,267,831 30.7% 191 Hung parliament (Labour minority government)
1924 5,281,626 33.3% 151 Conservative Victory
1929‡ 8,048,968 37.1% 287 Hung parliament (Labour minority government)
1931 6,339,306 30.8% 52 National Government Victory
1935 7,984,988 38.0% 154 National Government Victory
1945 11,967,746 49.7% 393 Labour Victory
1950 13,266,176 46.1% 315 Labour Victory
1951 13,948,883 48.8% 295 Conservative Victory
1955 12,405,254 46.4% 277 Conservative Victory
1959 12,216,172 43.8% 258 Conservative Victory
1964 12,205,808 44.1% 317 Labour Victory
1966 13,096,629 48.0% 364 Labour Victory
1970 12,208,758 43.1% 288 Conservative Victory
1974 (February) 11,645,616 37.2% 301 Hung parliament (Labour minority government)
1974 (October) 11,457,079 39.2% 319 Labour Victory
1979 11,532,218 36.9% 269 Conservative Victory
1983 8,456,934 27.6% 209 Conservative Victory
1987 10,029,807 30.8% 229 Conservative Victory
1992 11,560,484 34.4% 271 Conservative Victory
1997 13,518,167 43.2% 419 Labour Victory
2001 10,724,953 40.7% 413 Labour Victory
2005 9,562,122 35.3% 356 Labour Victory

†The first election held under the Representation of the People Act 1918 in which all men over 21, and most women over the age of 30 could vote, and therefore a much larger electorate.

‡The first election under universal suffrage in which all women aged over 21 could vote.

Leaders of the Labour Party

See also List of United Kingdom Labour Party leaders

Deputy leaders of the Labour Party since 1922

See also Deputy Leader of the Labour Party (UK)

Leaders of the Labour Party in the House of Lords since 1924

See also

References

  1. ^ http://www.labour.org.uk/labour_policies
  2. ^ http://www.parties-and-elections.de/unitedkingdom.html
  3. ^ http://ukpollingreport.co.uk/blog/archives/30
  4. ^ Belfast Telegraph
  5. ^ a b "Labour's policies". http://www.labour.org.uk/labour_policies. Retrieved on 2007-07-21. 
  6. ^ New Labour and Thatcherism: Political Change in Britain, Richard Heffernan, 2001; New Labour has picked up where Thatcherism left off, Stuart Hall, The Guardian, 6 August 2003; From Thatcherism to New Labour: Neo-Liberalism, Workfarism and Labour Market Regulation, Professor Bob Jessop, Lancaster University; New Labour, Economic Reform and the European Social Model, Jonathon Hopkin and Daniel Wincott, British Journal of Politics and International Relations, 2006.
  7. ^ Guardian Unlimited, Wealth Gap Narrows faster in UK
  8. ^ Brewer, Mike; Alastair Muriel; David Phillips; Luke Sibieta (June 2008). "Poverty and Inequality in the UK: 2008" (pdf). Institute for Fiscal Studies. http://www.ifs.org.uk/comms/comm105.pdf. Retrieved on 2009-03-05. 
  9. ^ "Anger over 'union debate limit'". BBC News Website. 2007-09-19. http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk_politics/7002618.stm. Retrieved on 2009-04-13. 
  10. ^ Labour Party membership form at the Internet Archive, ca. 1999. via Internet Archive. Accessed 31 March 2007. "Residents of Northern Ireland are not eligible for membership."
  11. ^ Understanding Ulster by Antony Alcock, Ulster Society Publications, 1997. Chapter II: The Unloved, Unwanted Garrison. Via Conflict Archive on the Internet. Accessed 31 October 2008.
  12. ^ Labour NI ban overturned, BBC News. 1 October 2003. Accessed 31 March 2007.
  13. ^ "The Labour Party — Financial Statements for 2005" (PDF). http://www.electoralcommission.org.uk/files/dms/LabourSOA31-12-2005_22475-16688__E__N__S__W__.PDF. 
  14. ^ http://gdl.cdlr.strath.ac.uk/redclyde/redcly140.htm
  15. ^ http://www.marxists.org/archive/lenin/works/1920/lwc/ch09.htm
  16. ^ See, for instance, the 1899 Lyons vs. Wilkins judgement, which limited certain types of picketing
  17. ^ Mortimer, Jim, ‘The formation of the labour party - Lessons for today’ 2000 Jim Mortimer was a General Secretary of the Labour Party in the 1980s
  18. ^ http://www.labour.org.uk/history_of_the_labour_party
  19. ^ Wright T. & Carter M,(1997) "The People's Party" Thames & Hudson, ISBN 0-500-27956-x
  20. ^ a b c d e f Thorpe, Andrew. (2001) A History Of The British Labour Party, Palgrave, ISBN 0-333-92908-x
  21. ^ "The truth about Churchill's spy chief and the Zinoviev Letter". http://news.independent.co.uk/uk/politics/article1819658.ece. 
  22. ^ a b c Davies, A.J. (1996) To Build A New Jerusalem: The British Labour Party from Keir Hardie to Tony Blair, Abacus, ISBN 0349 108099
  23. ^ Clark, Sir George, Illustrated History Of Great Britain, (1987) Octupus Books
  24. ^ http://www.snpyouth.org/ysi/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=12&Itemid=24
  25. ^ http://www.dw-world.de/dw/article/0,,745536,00.html
  26. ^ http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/middle_east/3661134
  27. ^ http://www.iht.com/articles/2004/08/28/sochi_ed3_.php
  28. ^ Lovell, Jeremy (2008-05-30). "Brown hit by worst party rating". London: Reuters. http://uk.reuters.com/article/wtMostRead/idUKL2944559620080530. Retrieved on 2008-06-28. 
  29. ^ "Labour fifth as Tories win Henley". BBC News (London: British Broadcasting Corporation). 2008-06-27. http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk_politics/7476703.stm. Retrieved on 2008-06-28. 
  30. ^ "New figures published showing political parties’ donations and borrowing". The Electoral Commission. 2008-05-22. http://www.electoralcommission.org.uk/news-and-media/news-releases/electoral-commission-media-centre/news-releases-donations/new-figures-published-showing-political-partiesrsquo-donations-and-borrowing. Retrieved on 2008-07-02. 
  31. ^ http://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/politics/cameron-predicts-1631500-tax-bombshell-1023101.html
  32. ^ Guardian Newspaper December 2008
  33. ^ http://www.guardian.co.uk/politics/2009/jan/26/icm-poll
  34. ^ Source: http://www.election.demon.co.uk/geresults.html

Further reading

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House of Commons (646):
Labour (352, including 29 Labour Co-operative)*   · Conservatives (195)  · Liberal Democrats (63)  · DUP (9)  · SNP (7)  · Sinn Féin† (5)  · Plaid Cymru (3)  · SDLP (3)  · Independent (4)  · Independent Conservative (1)  · Ind KHHC (1)  · Independent Labour (1)  · Respect (1)  · UUP (1)
House of Lords (738):
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DUP (36)  · Sinn Féin (28)  · UUP (18)  · SDLP (16)  · Alliance (7)  · Greens (NI) (1)  · PUP (1)  · Independent (1)
London Assembly (25):
Conservatives (11)  · Labour (8)  · Liberal Democrats (3)  · Greens (E&W) (2)  · British National Party (1)
European Parliament
(72 of 736):
Conservatives (ECR, 26, including 1 UCUNF)  · UKIP (ID, 13)  · Labour (PES, 13)  · Liberal Democrats (ELDR, 11)  · BNP (Non-Inscrit, 2)  · Greens (E&W) (EGP, 2)  · SNP (EFA, 2) • Plaid Cymru (EFA, 1)  · Sinn Féin (EUL-NGL, 1)  · DUP (Non-Inscrit, 1)
Other national and regional parties:
Notes: †Although Sinn Féin have five elected members and have offices at Westminster, they are abstentionist and therefore do not take their seats. *Co-operative Party candidates stand jointly with the Labour Party as “Labour and Co-operative Party” candidates.
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