Labour Party (UK) leadership election, 1994

Labour Party (UK) leadership election

21 July 1994

Candidate Tony Blair John Prescott Affiliated 17.43% 9.47% Constituency 19.4% 8.13% Parliamentary 20.17% 6.53% Total 57.0% 24.13%   Candidate Margaret Beckett Affiliated 6.43% Constituency 5.8% Parliamentary 6.63% Total 18.87%

Leader before election Margaret Beckett (pro tempore) Elected Leader Tony Blair

A leadership election was held on 21 July 1994 for the Labour Party in the United Kingdom, after the sudden death of incumbent leader John Smith. The 1994 election would ultimately decide not only Labour's new leader, but also the next Prime Minister. The election was the first held under the new leadership election rules that had been introduced in 1993, which included an element of one member, one vote. The poll for leader was held simultaneously with a deputy leadership vote.

Margaret Beckett had been the Deputy Leader of the Labour Party, and following Smith's death was serving as acting leader; she was the only female Labour MP ever to stand for the leadership of the Party (and remained so until Diane Abbott announced her candidacy on 20 May 2010). Tony Blair was, at the time of his candidature, the Shadow Home Secretary. It has been widely speculated that Shadow Chancellor Gordon Brown did not stand due to a pact agreed with Blair at the Granita restaurant. In a telephone conversation with Blair, Roy Hattersley informed Blair that Gordon Brown would have to "wait in line" and that Blair should stand for the leadership. Robin Cook, the Shadow Secretary of State for Trade and Industry stated that he would not run, as he did not believe he was attractive enough to the general electorate and that this would damage the party at the next election. John Prescott, who had stood in the 1992 deputy leadership election and lost to Beckett, stood again for both Leader and Deputy Leader.

The "electoral college" system that had been introduced meant that the votes of members of affiliated groups (mostly trades unions), the members of constituency parties, and Labour MPs were all weighted equally.

Candidates

• Margaret Beckett, incumbent Deputy Leader of the Labour Party, Member of Parliament for Derby South
• Tony Blair, Shadow Home Secretary, Member of Parliament for Sedgefield
• John Prescott, Shadow Secretary of State for Employment, Member of Parliament for Hull East

Result

Tony Blair won, and led the party to its first general election victory for 23 years at the 1997 election. Prescott won the deputy leadership poll, and went on to become Deputy Prime Minister during Blair's premiership. Beckett would also serve both in the Shadow Cabinet and then the Cabinet throughout Blair's term as leader, eventually becoming the final of the three Foreign Secretaries of the Blair ministry.

The next leadership election to take place occurred when Blair resigned in 2007; this election was won by Gordon Brown, who ran uncontested.

How each MP voted

^[2]

See also

• Labour Party (UK) deputy leadership election, 1994

References

Bibliography

• Boothroyd, David. "Leaders of the Labour Party". United Kingdom Election Results. Retrieved 16 May 2015.  (unofficial website)

Tony Blair
Born: 6 May 1953 (age 63) Prime Minister of the United Kingdom (1997–2007) Leader of the Labour Party (1994–2007) MP for Sedgefield (1983–2007)
Politics	Premiership Blair ministry Blair–Brown deal Electoral history Shadow Cabinet of Tony Blair 2006 cabinet reshuffle
Ideology	Blairism New Labour Third Way
General elections	1997 2001 2005
Party election	1994
Shadow Cabinet elections	1992 1993
Post-premiership	Quartet on the Middle East Africa Progress Panel Tony Blair Faith Foundation Commission for Africa
Books	A Journey
Family	Cherie Blair (wife) Euan Blair (son) Nicky Blair (son) Kathryn Blair (daughter) Leo Blair (son) Leo Blair (father) Hazel Blair (mother) William Blair (brother)
Cultural depictions	"Tony Blair" (1999) The Deal (2003) "The Regina Monologues" (2004) The Queen (2006) The Blair Years (2007) The Trial of Tony Blair (2007) The Special Relationship (2010) The Hunt for Tony Blair (2011) The Killing$ of Tony Blair (2016)
Related topics	Ugly Rumours Respect agenda Blatcherism Cool Britannia Blair Babes Tony's Cronies Iraq Inquiry
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