Labour Party (UK) leadership election, 1980

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The British Labour Party leadership election of 1980 was held following the resignation of James Callaghan. Callaghan had been Prime Minister 1976—1979 and had stayed on as leader of the Labour Party for eighteen months in order to oversee an orderly transition to his favoured successor, Denis Healey. However, during this period the party had become bogged down in internal arguments about its procedures and future direction.

Initially, the candidates were thought likely to be Denis Healey, Peter Shore and John Silkin, but Michael Foot was persuaded to stand by left-wingers who believed that only he could defeat Healey.

The result of the first ballot of Labour MPs on 4 November was as follows:

First Ballot: 4 November 1980
Candidate		Votes	%
	Denis Healey	112	42.3%
	Michael Foot	83	31.3%
	John Silkin	38	14.3%
	Peter Shore	32	12.1%
Majority		29	11.0%
Turnout		265
	Second Ballot required

In the second ballot, held six days later, there was a run-off between Healey and Foot.

Second Ballot: 10 November 1980
Candidate		Votes	%
	Michael Foot	139	51.9%
	Denis Healey	129	48.1%
Majority		10	3.8%
Turnout		268
	Foot elected

This was the last leadership election to be conducted amongst Members of Parliament only, an electoral college was subsequently introduced for future contests.

Labour Party (UK) leadership elections
1922 (Macdonald) | 1935 (Attlee) | 1955 (Gaitskell) | 1960 | 1961 | 1963 (Wilson) | 1976 (Callaghan) | 1980 (Foot) | 1983 (Kinnock) | 1988 | 1992 (Smith) | 1994 (Blair) | 2007 (Brown)