Labour Party (UK): Difference between revisions

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{{use British English|date=January 2020}}

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| youth_wing = [[Young Labour (UK)|Young Labour]]

| wing2_title = LGBT wing

| wing2 = [[LGBT+ Labour]]

|[[Social democracy]]

}}

| european = [[Party of European Socialists]]

| international = [[Progressive Alliance]]<br />[[Socialist International]] (observer)

| affiliation1 = [[Co-operative Party]]<br />([[Labour and Co-operative]]) <br />{{collapsible list|title = Former affiliates:|[[Independent Labour Party]]<br>(1906–1932)||[[British Socialist Party]]<br>(1916–1920)|[[National Socialist Party (UK)|National Socialist Party]]<br>(1918–1939/1942)}}

| affiliation2_title = Other affiliations

| governing_body = [[National Executive Committee of the Labour Party|National Executive Committee]]

| slogan = "Change" (2024)

{{labour|sp=uk|expanded=parties}}

{{Socialism in the UK}}

 

The Labour Party was founded in 1900, having grown out of the [[Labour movement#Trade unions|trade union movement]] and [[History of the socialist movement in the United Kingdom|socialist parties of the 19th century]], and formed an alliance with the [[Co-operative Party]] in 1927. It overtook the [[Liberal Party (UK)|Liberal Party]] to become the main opposition to the [[Conservative Party (UK)|Conservative Party]] in the early 1920s, forming two minority governments under [[Ramsay MacDonald]] in the 1920s and early 1930s. Labour served in the [[Churchill war ministry|wartime coalition]] of 1940–1945, after which [[Attlee ministry|Clement Attlee's government]] established the [[National Health Service]] and expanded the [[welfare state]] from 1945 to 1951. Under [[Harold Wilson]] and [[James Callaghan]], Labour again governed [[Labour government, 1964–1970|from 1964 to 1970]] and [[Labour government, 1974–1979|from 1974 to 1979]]. In the 1990s, [[Tony Blair]] took Labour to the [[Centrism|political centre]] as part of his [[New Labour]] project, which governed under Blair and then [[Gordon Brown]] from 1997 to 2010. In the 2020s, [[Keir Starmer]] again took Labour to the centre and has governed since 2024.

{{Main|Second MacDonald ministry}}

With Liberal help again MacDonald became prime following the successful [[1929 United Kingdom general election|1929 election]]. There were some promising achievements in foreign policy, notably the [[Young Plan]] that seemed to resolve the issue of German reparations, and the [[London Naval Treaty]] of 1930 that limited submarine construction.<ref>Paul W. Doerr, ''British Foreign Policy, 1919–1939'' (1998) pp.106–107, 119–120.</ref> Some minor legislation was passed, notably a [[Housing Act 1930|noncontroversial expansion of new public housing]]. Overnight in October 1929 the world economy plunged into the [[Great Depression in the United Kingdom|Great Depression]], and no party had an answer as tax revenue plunged, unemployment doubled to 2.5 million (in late 1930), prices fell, and government spending on unemployment benefits soared. Conditions became much worse in 1931 as the banks became unable to loan the government enough to cover the growing deficit. In an era before Keynesian economics, the strong consensus among experts was for the government to balance its budget. <ref>Hugh Dalton, ''Principles of public finance'' (1954) p. 213–220 [https://archive.org/details/principlesofpubl0000dalt/page/213/mode/1up online]. </ref> Spending was cut again and again but MacDonald and his [[Chancellor of the Exchequer]] [[Philip Snowden, 1st Viscount Snowden|Philip Snowden]] argued that the only way to get an emergency loan from New York banks was to cut unemployment benefits by 10%. They pointed out that cost of food was down 15% and overall prices were down 10%. But in the cabinet most Labour members were vehemently opposed--they demanded new taxes on the rich instead. MacDonald gave up and on 23 August went to King [[George V]] and resigned the government. Unexpectedly the monarch insisted that the only patriotic solution was for MacDonald to stay and form an all-party "national government" with the Conservatives, which he did the next day. The Labour Party felt betrayed and expelled MacDonald and Snowden.

 

=== Wartime coalition (1940–1945) ===

{{see also|Churchill war ministry}}

 

=== Attlee government (1945–1951) ===

{{main|Attlee ministry}}

[[File:Person attlee2.jpg|thumb|left|upright|[[Clement Attlee]], Prime Minister (1945–1951)]]

 

Attlee's government proved one of the most radical British governments of the 20th century, enacting [[Keynesian]] economic policies, presiding over a policy of nationalising major industries and utilities including the [[Bank of England]], coal mining, the steel industry, electricity, gas and inland transport (including railways, road haulage and canals). It developed and implemented the "cradle to grave" [[welfare state]] conceived by the economist [[William Beveridge]].<ref>{{cite book |first=Nicholas |last=Marsh |title=Philip Larkin: The Poems |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=zAsdBQAAQBAJ&pg=PA190 |date=11 May 2007 |publisher=[[Palgrave Macmillan]] |isbn=978-1-137-07195-8 |page=190 |access-date=7 June 2016 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20161215143236/https://books.google.com/books?id=zAsdBQAAQBAJ&pg=PA190 |archive-date=15 December 2016 |url-status=live |via=[[Google Books]]}}</ref><ref>{{cite book |first=Wintle |last=Justin |title=New Makers of Modern Culture|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=Wdl75x6iql4C&pg=PA309 |date=13 May 2013 |publisher=[[Routledge]] |isbn=978-1-134-09454-7 |page=309 |access-date=7 June 2016 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20161215080433/https://books.google.com/books?id=Wdl75x6iql4C&pg=PA309 |archive-date=15 December 2016 |url-status=live |via=[[Google Books]]}}</ref><ref>{{cite book |first=Michael |last=Jago |title=Clement Attlee: The Inevitable Prime Minister |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=dRyuAwAAQBAJ&pg=PT87 |date=20 May 2014 |publisher=Biteback Publishing |isbn=978-1-84954-758-1 |page=87 |access-date=7 June 2016 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20161215100040/https://books.google.com/books?id=dRyuAwAAQBAJ&pg=PT87 |archive-date=15 December 2016 |url-status=live |via=[[Google Books]]}}</ref> To this day, most people in the United Kingdom see the 1948 creation of Britain's [[National Health Service]] (NHS) under health minister [[Aneurin Bevan]], which gave publicly funded medical treatment for all, as Labour's proudest achievement.<ref>{{cite book |first=Robert |last=Pearce |title=Attlee's Labour Governments 1945–51 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=hdGHAgAAQBAJ&pg=PA33 |date=7 April 2006 |publisher=[[Routledge]] |isbn=978-1-134-96240-2 |page=33 |access-date=7 June 2016 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20161215191652/https://books.google.com/books?id=hdGHAgAAQBAJ&pg=PA33 |archive-date=15 December 2016 |url-status=live |via=[[Google Books]]}}</ref> Attlee's government also began the process of dismantling the [[British Empire]] when it granted independence to India and Pakistan in 1947, followed by Burma (Myanmar) and Ceylon (Sri Lanka) the following year. At a secret meeting in January 1947, Attlee and six cabinet ministers, including Foreign Secretary [[Ernest Bevin]], decided to proceed with the development of Britain's [[Nuclear weapons and the United Kingdom|nuclear weapons programme]],<ref name="To Build A New Jerusalem">Davies, A. J. (1996) ''To Build A New Jerusalem: The British Labour Party from Keir Hardie to Tony Blair'', Abacus.</ref> in opposition to the pacifist and anti-nuclear stances of a large element inside the Labour Party.

Labour improved its performance in [[1987 United Kingdom general election|1987]], gaining 20 seats and so reducing the Conservative majority from 143 to 102. They were now firmly re-established as the second political party in Britain as the Alliance had once again failed to make a breakthrough with seats. A merger of the SDP and Liberals formed the [[Liberal Democrats (UK)|Liberal Democrats]]. Following the 1987 election, the National Executive Committee resumed disciplinary action against members of Militant, who remained in the party, leading to further expulsions of their activists and the two MPs who supported the group. During the 1980s radically socialist members of the party were often described as the "[[loony left]]", particularly in the [[print media]].<ref name="Julian Petley 2005 85–107">{{cite book |title=Culture wars: the media and the British left |editor1-first=James |editor1-last=Curran |editor2-first=Julian |editor2-last=Petley |editor3-first=Ivor |editor3-last=Gaber |publisher=[[Edinburgh University Press]] |year=2005|isbn=978-0-7486-1917-7 |chapter=Hit and Myth |pages=85–107 |first=Julian |last=Petley}}</ref> The print media in the 1980s also began using the pejorative "hard left" to sometimes describe [[Trotskyist]] groups such as the [[Militant tendency]], [[Socialist Organiser]] and [[Socialist Action (UK)|Socialist Action]].{{sfn|Shaw|1988|p=267}} In 1988, [[1988 Labour Party leadership election (UK)|Kinnock was challenged]] by [[Tony Benn]] for the party leadership. Based on the percentages, 183 members of parliament supported Kinnock, while Benn was backed by 37. With a clear majority, Kinnock remained leader of the Labour Party.<ref name="kinnockchallenge">{{cite news |last1=Webster |first1=Philip |title=Kinnock stunned by size of his election victory |url=http://find.galegroup.com/ttda/infomark.do?&source=gale&prodId=TTDA&userGroupName=wes_ttda&tabID=T003&docPage=article&searchType=BasicSearchForm&docId=IF500534823&type=multipage&contentSet=LTO&version=1.0 |access-date=5 April 2015 |work=[[The Times]] |issue=63202 |date=3 October 1988 |page=4 |url-access=subscription |via=The Times Digital Archive}}</ref>

 

The "yo-yo" in the opinion polls continued into 1992, though after November 1990 any Labour lead in the polls was rarely sufficient for a majority. Major resisted Kinnock's calls for a general election throughout 1991. Kinnock campaigned on the theme "It's Time for a Change", urging voters to elect a new government after more than a decade of unbroken Conservative rule. However, the Conservatives themselves had undergone a change of leader from Thatcher to Major and replaced the Community Charge.

The [[1992 United Kingdom general election|1992 general election]] was widely tipped to result in a hung parliament or a narrow Labour majority, but in the event, the Conservatives were returned to power, though with a much-reduced majority of 21.<ref name="1992: Tories win again against odds">{{cite news |url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk_politics/vote_2005/basics/election4/past_elections/4393317.stm |title=1992: Tories win again against odds |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170908173422/http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk_politics/vote_2005/basics/election4/past_elections/4393317.stm |archive-date=8 September 2017 |work=[[BBC News]] |date=5 April 2005}}</ref> Despite the increased number of seats and votes, it was a disappointing result for the Labour party. For the first time in over 30 years there was serious doubt among the public and the media as to whether Labour could ever return to government.Kinnock resigned as leader and was succeeded by [[John Smith (Labour Party leader)|John Smith]].<ref>{{cite news|url=https://www.theguardian.com/politics/2005/apr/04/electionspast.past3 |title=Pollsters taxed |author=Martin Kettle |work=The Guardian |date=4 April 2005 |access-date=28 November 2023}}</ref> Once again the battle erupted between the old guard on the party's left and those identified as "modernisers". The old guard argued that trends showed they were regaining strength under Smith's strong leadership. The new Liberal Democrats seemed to pose a major threat to the Labour base. [[Tony Blair]], the Shadow Home Secretary, had a different vision to traditional Labour politics. Blair, the leader of the "modernising" faction, argued that the long-term trends had to be reversed, arguing that the party was too locked into a base that was shrinking, since it was based on the working-class, on trade unions and on residents of subsidised council housing. Blair argued that the rapidly growing middle class was largely ignored, as well as more ambitious working-class families. Blair said that they aspired to become middle-class and accepted the Conservative argument that traditional Labour was holding ambitious people back to some extent with higher tax policies. To present a fresh face and new policies to the electorate, [[New Labour]] needed more than fresh leaders; it had to jettison outdated policies, argued the modernisers.<ref>David Butler and Dennis Kavanagh, ''The British general election of 1997'' (1997), pp 46–67.</ref> The first step was procedural, but essential. Calling on the slogan, "[[One Member, One Vote]]" Blair (with some help from Smith) defeated the union element and ended [[voting bloc|block voting]] by leaders of [[labour unions]].{{sfn|Rentoul|2001|pp=206–218}} Blair and the modernisers called for radical adjustment of Party goals by repealing "Clause IV", the historic commitment to nationalisation of industry. This was achieved in 1995.{{sfn|Rentoul|2001|pp=249–266}}

 

 

=== New Labour (1994–2010) ===

{{see also|Premiership of Tony Blair|Premiership of Gordon Brown}}

{{further|Shadow Cabinet of Tony Blair|First Blair ministry|Second Blair ministry|Third Blair ministry|Brown ministry}}[[File:New Labour new Britain logo.svg|thumb|New Labour logo]]Blair continued to move 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]]". The political philosophy of New Labour was influenced by the party's development of [[Anthony Giddens]]' [[Third Way]] which attempted to provide a synthesis between [[capitalism]] and [[socialism]].

[[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]]''. It 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, normally referred to as "Old Labour".

 

A perceived turning point was when 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.<ref name="Deutsche Welle">{{cite news |url=http://www.dw-world.de/dw/article/0,,745536,00.html |title=European Opposition To Iraq War Grows &#124; Current Affairs |work=[[Deutsche Welle]] |date=13 January 2003 |access-date=13 April 2010 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120123164522/http://www.dw-world.de/dw/article/0,,745536,00.html |archive-date=23 January 2012 |url-status=live}}</ref> The [[Kofi Annan|UN Secretary-General]], among many, considered the war illegal and a violation of the [[UN Charter]].<ref name="Tucker2015">{{cite book |first=Spencer C. |last=Tucker |title=U.S. Conflicts in the 21st Century: Afghanistan War, Iraq War, and the War on Terror &#91;3 volumes&#93;: Afghanistan War, Iraq War, and the War on Terror |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=d8EnCwAAQBAJ&pg=PA83|date=14 December 2015 |publisher=[[ABC-CLIO]] |isbn=978-1-4408-3879-8 |page=83 |access-date=7 June 2016 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20161215101037/https://books.google.com/books?id=d8EnCwAAQBAJ&pg=PA83 |archive-date=15 December 2016 |url-status=live |via=[[Google Books]]}}</ref>{{sfn|McClintock|2010|p=150}} The Iraq War was deeply unpopular in most western countries, with Western governments divided in their support<ref name="Bennhold">{{cite web|last=Bennhold |first=Katrin |url=http://www.iht.com/articles/2004/08/28/sochi_ed3_.php |title=Unlikely alliance built on opposition to Iraq war now raises questions |work=International Herald Tribune |date=28 August 2004 |access-date=13 April 2010 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20081207073550/http://www.iht.com/articles/2004/08/28/sochi_ed3_.php |archive-date=7 December 2008}}</ref> and under pressure from [[Protests against the Iraq War|worldwide popular protests]].<ref>{{cite news |last1=Fishwick |first1=Carmen |title='We were ignored': anti-war protesters remember the Iraq war marches |url=https://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2016/jul/08/we-were-ignored-anti-war-protestors-remember-the-iraq-war-marches |access-date=10 October 2017 |work=[[The Guardian]] |date=8 July 2016 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20171011022219/https://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2016/jul/08/we-were-ignored-anti-war-protestors-remember-the-iraq-war-marches |archive-date=11 October 2017 |url-status=live}}</ref> The decisions that led up to the Iraq war and its subsequent conduct were the subject of the [[Iraq Inquiry]].<ref>{{cite news |author=<!--Staff writer(s); no by-line.--> |title=Chilcot report: key points from the Iraq inquiry |url=https://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2016/jul/06/iraq-inquiry-key-points-from-the-chilcot-report |access-date=10 October 2017 |work=[[The Guardian]] |date=6 July 2016 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20171011022052/https://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2016/jul/06/iraq-inquiry-key-points-from-the-chilcot-report |archive-date=11 October 2017 |url-status=live}}</ref>

 

 

In the [[2010 United Kingdom general election|2010 general election]] on 6 May that year, Labour with 29.0% of the vote won the second largest number of seats (258).<ref>{{cite news|url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/shared/election2010/results/ |title=Election 2010 results |publisher=BBC News |access-date=16 June 2023}}</ref> The Conservatives with 36.5% of the vote won the largest number of seats (307), but [[hung parliament|no party had an overall majority]], meaning that Labour could still remain in power if they managed to form a coalition with at least one smaller party.<ref name="guardian.co.uk">{{Cite news |url=https://www.theguardian.com/news/datablog/2010/may/07/uk-election-results-data-candidates-seats |title=UK election results: data for every candidate in every seat |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170328091628/https://www.theguardian.com/news/datablog/2010/may/07/uk-election-results-data-candidates-seats |archive-date=28 March 2017 |work=[[The Guardian]] |location=London |date=7 May 2010}}</ref> However, the Labour Party would have had to form a coalition with more than one other smaller party to gain an overall majority; anything less would result in a minority government.<ref name="Wintour">{{cite news |url=https://www.theguardian.com/politics/wintour-and-watt/2010/may/07/gordon-brown-rainbow-coalition |title=General election 2010: Can Gordon Brown put together a rainbow coalition? |date=7 May 2010 |work=[[The Guardian]] |location=London |first=Patrick |last=Wintour |access-date=15 December 2016 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170328094703/https://www.theguardian.com/politics/wintour-and-watt/2010/may/07/gordon-brown-rainbow-coalition |archive-date=28 March 2017 |url-status=live}}</ref> On 10 May 2010, after talks to form a coalition with the [[Liberal Democrats (UK)|Liberal Democrats]] broke down, Brown announced his intention to stand down as Leader before the Labour Party Conference but a day later resigned as both Prime Minister and party leader.<ref name="The Independent">{{cite news |url=https://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/politics/gordon-brown-to-resign-as-labour-leader-1970273.html |title=Gordon Brown to resign as Labour leader |date=10 May 2010 |work=[[The Independent]] |location=London |first1=Trevor |last1=Mason |first2=Jon |last2=Smith |access-date=2 September 2017 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100513014237/http://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/politics/gordon-brown-to-resign-as-labour-leader-1970273.html |archive-date=13 May 2010 |url-status=live}}</ref>

On 4 April 2020, [[Keir Starmer]] was elected as Leader of the Labour Party amidst the [[COVID-19 pandemic in the United Kingdom|COVID-19 pandemic]].<ref>{{Cite news |date=4 April 2020 |title=Keir Starmer elected as new Labour leader |url=https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-politics-52164589 |url-status=live |access-date=4 April 2020 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200425080229/https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-politics-52164589 |archive-date=25 April 2020}}</ref> During [[Keir Starmer's tenure as Leader of the Opposition|his tenure as opposition leader]], Starmer repositioned the party from the [[Labour left|left]] toward the [[Centre-left politics|centre-left]] and [[political centre]], and emphasised the importance of eliminating [[Antisemitism in the British Labour Party|antisemitism within the party]]. Starmer led Labour to victory in the local elections in [[2023 United Kingdom local elections|2023]] and [[2024 United Kingdom local elections|2024]]. In 2023, Starmer set out five missions for [[Starmer ministry|his government]], targeting issues such as economic growth, health, clean energy, crime and education.<ref>{{Cite news |last1=Mason |first1=Chris |last2=Whannel |first2=Kate |date=23 February 2023 |title=Keir Starmer unveils Labour's five missions for the country |url=https://www.bbc.com/news/uk-politics-64739371 |access-date=5 July 2024 |work=[[BBC News]]}}</ref>

 

 

== Ideology ==

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|{{yes2|Labour}}

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[[File:Popular vote.jpg|thumb|A graph showing the percentage of the popular vote received by major parties in general elections (1832–2005).|400x400px]]

* Driver, Stephen; and Luke Martell. ''New Labour: Politics after Thatcherism'' ([[Polity Press]], wnd ed. 2006).

* Foote, Geoffrey. ''The Labour Party's Political Thought: A History'' (Macmillan, 1997).

* Kavanagh, Dennis. ''The Politics of the Labour Party'' (Routledge, 2013).

* Pelling, Henry; and Alastair J. Reid. '' A Short History of the Labour Party'' (12th ed. 2005) [https://archive.org/details/shorthistoryofla0000reid/page/n4/mode/1up online]

* Pimlott, Ben, and Chris Cook, eds. ''Trade unions in British politics: the first 250 years'' (2nd ed. Longman, 1991)

* Rogers, Chris. "'Hang on a Minute, I've Got a Great Idea': From the Third Way to Mutual Advantage in the Political Economy of the British Labour Party." ''British Journal of Politics and International Relations'' 15#1 (2013): 53–69.

* Rosen, Greg, ed. ''Dictionary of Labour Biography''. (Politicos Publishing, 2001), 665pp; 300 short biographies by experts. [https://archive.org/details/dictionaryoflabo0000unse_i5y2/page/n6/mode/1up online]

* Rosen, Greg. ''Old Labour to New'', [[Politicos Publishing]], 2005.

* Shaw, Eric. ''The Labour Party since 1979: Crisis and Transformation'' (Routledge, 1994). [https://books.google.ca/books?id=CFSIAgAAQBAJ&printsec=frontcover#v=onepage&q&f=false online]

* Shaw, Eric. "Understanding Labour Party Management under Tony Blair." ''Political Studies Review'' 14.2 (2016): 153–162. https://doi.org/10.1177/1478929915623296