Labour Party (UK) leadership election, 2010

Labour Party (UK) leadership election

2007 ← 16 August 2010 (2010-08-16) - 22 September 2010 (2010-09-22)

Candidate Ed Miliband David Miliband Ed Balls First preferences 34.33% 37.78% 11.79% Two-candidate preferred 50.65% 49.35% –   Candidate Andy Burnham Diane Abbott First preferences 8.68% 7.42% Two-candidate preferred – –

Leader before election Harriet Harman (pro tempore) Elected Leader Ed Miliband

The 2010 Labour Party leadership election was triggered by a general election which resulted in a hung parliament. On 10 May, Gordon Brown resigned as Leader of the Labour Party. The following day, he stepped down as Prime Minister. The National Executive Committee decided the timetable for the election the result of which would be announced at the annual party conference. On 25 September, Ed Miliband became the new Leader of the Labour Party.

Procedure

The rules of the Labour Party state that "each nomination [for leader] must be supported by 12.5 per cent of the Commons members of the Parliamentary Labour Party." As the number of Labour MPs is 257 (the 258 returned at the general election minus Eric Illsley, who was suspended from the Parliamentary Labour Party) 33 MPs need to support any nomination. Nominations opened on 24 May and were to close on 27 May, but the deadline was extended to 9 June after complaints from John McDonnell, Diane Abbott and Ed Miliband that the short deadline provided insufficient time to secure the 33 nominations from MPs needed for inclusion on the ballot. The ballot took place between 1 and 22 September, with the results announced on the first day of the party's conference in Manchester on 25 September. There were three distinct electorates, the electors of which cast their votes on a "one member, one vote" basis in each applicable category:

1. Labour members of the House of Commons and the European Parliament
2. Individual members of the party
3. Individual members of affiliated organisations, such as trade unions and socialist societies

Each of the three electorates or sections contributed one third (33.33 per cent) of the total votes and were counted using the Alternative Vote system. The election was run by the National Executive Committee and the results were announced at the annual conference in September 2010.

Union recommendation controversy

Under Labour Party rules, trade unions are allowed to make recommendations to their members, but are barred from doing this in the same communication that contains the ballot paper. During the election, it emerged that both the GMB and Unite had included both an envelope containing the ballot paper, and promotional material for Ed Miliband, their favoured candidate, in the same envelope, attracting criticism that they had breached the spirit of the rules.

Candidates

At a meeting of the Cabinet held on 10 May 2010, it was agreed that no one would announce their candidacy until after formal negotiations in regards to forming a government were resolved. The Conservative Party and Liberal Democrats formed a coalition on 11 May, and David Miliband became the first person to announce his candidacy the following day. A total of six candidates emerged by 20 May:

• Diane Abbott, announced 20 May
• Ed Balls, announced 19 May
• Andy Burnham, announced 20 May
• John McDonnell, announced 18 May; withdrew 9 June
• David Miliband, announced 12 May
• Ed Miliband, announced 14 May

On 9 June John McDonnell withdrew from the contest in favour of Diane Abbott, who eventually made the ballot paper.

Nominations

Candidates must receive nominations from at least 12.5 per cent of the 257 Parliamentary Labour Party members (33) to appear on the ballot. John McDonnell had 16 nominations when he withdrew on 9 June, in favour of Diane Abbott. The final nominations figures were as follows:

Candidate	Constituency	Nominations	Share
Diane Abbott	Hackney North and Stoke Newington	33	12.84%
Ed Balls	Morley and Outwood	33	12.84%
Andy Burnham	Leigh	33	12.84%
David Miliband	South Shields	81	31.52%
Ed Miliband	Doncaster North	63	24.51%

Noteworthy MPs who declined to stand

Some MPs seen as potential candidates decided against doing so:

• Yvette Cooper – supported her husband Ed Balls, former Work and Pensions Secretary
• Jon Cruddas – backbencher who stood for Deputy Leader in 2007; He nominated Diane Abbott, supported David Miliband,
• Alistair Darling – supported David Miliband former Chancellor of the Exchequer
• Peter Hain – supported Ed Miliband, former Wales Secretary, previously Northern Ireland and Work and Pensions Secretary
• Harriet Harman – neutral but nominated Diane Abbott, acting leader following Gordon Brown's departure, former Leader of the House of Commons
• Alan Johnson – supported David Miliband, former Home Secretary, previously Health Secretary and Education Secretary
• Jack Straw – nominated Diane Abbott and supported David Milliband, former Justice Secretary and Lord Chancellor, previously Foreign and Home Secretary

In the months before the 2010 general election, some other notable politicians were mentioned as possible future leadership candidates, but were not sitting MPs at the time the contest took place, and therefore not eligible to stand under Labour Party rules. Those mentioned as possible leaders in this regard were Ruth Kelly, Peter Mandelson and James Purnell. All three of them backed David Miliband.

Televised debates

Title	Date	Moderator	Channel	Information
Newsnight	Tuesday 15 June; 10:30	Jeremy Paxman	BBC Two	As it happened: Newsnight Labour leader hustings
Channel 4 News	Wednesday 1 September; 19:00	Jon Snow	Channel 4	Labour leadership: live Channel 4 debate
Sky News	Sunday 5 September; 10:30	Adam Boulton	Sky News	Labour Leader Debate: Submit Your Question
Question Time	Thursday 16 September; 22:35	David Dimbleby	BBC One	Question Time Labour leadership special

Opinion polling

Section
	First-preference votes						Run-off
	Diane Abbott	Ed Balls	Andy Burnham	David Miliband	Ed Miliband		David Miliband	Ed Miliband
YouGov/The Sun (27-29 July 2010)
Constituency Labour Parties	13%	7%	10%	38%	32%		50%	50%
Affiliated Socialist Societies and Trade Unions	17%	11%	13%	34%	26%		56%	44%
Parliamentary Labour Party	5%	14%	12%	39%	30%		55%	45%
Total	12%	11%	12%	37%	29%	54%	46%
YouGov/The Sun (7-10 September 2010)
Constituency Labour Parties	11%	9%	10%	38%	31%		48%	52%
Affiliated Socialist Societies and Trade Unions	12%	9%	14%	29%	36%		43%	57%
Parliamentary Labour Party	4%	14%	11%	41%	29%		56%	44%
Total	9%	11%	12%	36%	32%	49%	51%

Results

In accordance with the principles of the Alternative Vote system, until one candidate won a majority, the candidate with the fewest votes in each round was eliminated and his or her second preference votes distributed to other candidates.

First round

Candidate		MPs/MEPs		Labour Party members		Affiliated members		Total
		Votes	%	Votes	%	Votes	%	%
	David Miliband	111	13.91%	55,905	14.69%	58,189	9.18%	37.78%
	Ed Miliband	84	10.53%	37,980	9.98%	87,585	13.82%	34.33%
	Ed Balls	40	5.01%	12,831	3.37%	21,618	3.41%	11.79%
	Andy Burnham	24	3.01%	10,844	2.85%	17,904	2.83%	8.68%
	Diane Abbott N	7	0.88%	9,314	2.45%	25,938	4.09%	7.42%

The total of first-round votes for Balls, Burnham, and Abbott (27.89%) was less than Ed Miliband's vote (34.33%). Thus, it was certain after the first round that Balls, Burnham, and Abbott would all be eliminated; if the Party rules permitted, they could have been eliminated together, reducing the contest to two rounds.

Second round

Candidate		MPs/MEPs		Labour Party members		Affiliated members		Total
		Votes	%	Votes	%	Votes	%	%
	David Miliband	111	14.02%	57,128	15.08%	61,336	9.80%	38.89%
	Ed Miliband	88	11.11%	42,176	11.13%	95,335	15.23%	37.47%
	Ed Balls	41	5.18%	14,510	3.83%	26,441	4.22%	13.23%
	Andy Burnham N	24	3.03%	12,498	3.30%	25,528	4.08%	10.41%

Third round

Candidate		MPs/MEPs		Labour Party members		Affiliated members		Total
		Votes	%	Votes	%	Votes	%	%
	David Miliband	125	15.78%	60,375	16.08%	66,889	10.86%	42.72%
	Ed Miliband	96	12.12%	46,697	12.43%	102,882	16.71%	41.26%
	Ed Balls N	43	5.43%	18,114	4.82%	35,512	5.77%	16.02%

Fourth round

Candidate		MPs/MEPs		Labour Party members		Affiliated members		Total
		Votes	%	Votes	%	Votes	%	%
	Ed Miliband Y	122	15.52%	55,992	15.20%	119,405	19.93%	50.65%
	David Miliband	140	17.81%	66,814	18.13%	80,266	13.40%	49.35%

Source: Labour Party website

Results Map

The below map shows the results of the leadership election by constituency. David Miliband took the most constituencies, winning 577 in total. He was followed by Ed Miliband who took sixty-seven constituencies. Andy Burnham won eight seats, all in the north-west, Ed Balls took two constituencies (his own, Morley & Outwood, and that of his wife, Yvette Cooper, Normanton, Pontefract and Castleford), and Diane Abbot won no constituencies. All ties with the exception of Wigan (Andy Burnham and David Miliband) were between David and Ed Miliband. Northern Ireland was counted as one constituency.

Green indicates constituencies won by David Miliband, light blue for Ed Miliband, pink for Andy Burnham, yellow for Ed Balls and white for a tie. (Click to enlarge)

See also

• Labour Party (UK) leadership election, 2007
• Labour Party (UK) deputy leadership election, 2007
• Labour Party Rule Book

External links

News

• Factbox - Rules governing Labour leadership elections Reuters, 10 May 2010
• Labour party leadership The Guardian

Party websites

• Labour Party
• Labour Party Rule Book 2008 (PDF)

Candidates' leadership campaign websites

• Diane Abbott: Diane 4 Leader - Turn the page, change the party
• Andy Burnham - Re-connecting Labour
• Ed Balls for Labour Leader
• David Miliband - Bringing Labour together leading Labour to power
• Ed Miliband for Labour Leader