1976 Labour Party deputy leadership election

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21 October 1976 (1976-10-21)

1980 →


Candidate	Michael Foot	Shirley Williams
Popular vote	166	128
Percentage	56.5%	43.5%

Deputy Leader before election

Edward Short

Elected Deputy Leader

Michael Foot

The 1976 Labour Party deputy leadership election occurred when Edward Short stood down from the deputy leadership of the Labour Party. It was won by Michael Foot who had stood unsuccessfully for the position three times before, and had come second to James Callaghan in the leadership election the previous April.

Candidates

Michael Foot, Leader of the House of Commons, Member of Parliament for Ebbw Vale
Shirley Williams, Secretary of State for Education and Science, Member of Parliament for Hertford and Stevenage

Results

Only ballot: 21 October 1976
Candidate		Votes	%
	Michael Foot	166	56.5
	Shirley Williams	128	43.5
Majority		38	13
Turnout		294	N/A
Michael Foot elected

Sources

http://privatewww.essex.ac.uk/~tquinn/labour_party_deputy.htm Archived 17 April 2014 at the Wayback Machine

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Leadership

Leaders	Hardie Henderson Barnes MacDonald Henderson Adamson Clynes MacDonald Henderson Lansbury Attlee Morrison^ Gaitskell Brown^ Wilson Callaghan Foot Kinnock Smith Beckett^ Blair Brown Harman^ Miliband Harman^ Corbyn Starmer
Deputy Leaders	Clynes Graham Attlee Greenwood Morrison Griffiths Bevan Brown Jenkins Short Foot Healey Hattersley Beckett Prescott Harman Watson Rayner
General Secretaries	MacDonald Henderson Middleton Phillips Williams Barker^ Nicholas Hayward Mortimer Whitty Sawyer McDonagh Triesman Carter Watt Collins McNicol Formby Evans
Treasurers	Henderson MacDonald Henderson Lathan Greenwood Gaitskell Bevan Nicholas Davies Callaghan Atkinson Varley Booth McCluskie Burlison Prosser Elsby Dromey Holland
Leaders in the Lords	Haldane Cripps Ponsonby Snell Addison Jowitt Alexander Pakenham Shackleton Shepherd Peart Hughes Richard Jay Williams Amos Ashton Royall Smith of Basildon
Scottish Labour Leaders	Dewar McLeish Jamieson^ McConnell Jamieson^ Alexander Jamieson^ Gray Lamont Sarwar^ Murphy Gray^ Dugdale Rowley^ Baillie^ Leonard Sarwar
PLP Chairs	Hardie Henderson Barnes MacDonald Henderson Hodge* Wardle* Adamson Clynes MacDonald Henderson Lansbury Attlee Lees-Smith* Pethick-Lawrence* Greenwood* Gaitskell Wilson Houghton Mikardo Hughes Willey Dormand Orme Hoyle Soley Corston Clwyd Lloyd Watts Cryer
EPLP Leaders	Stewart Prescott Castle Lomas Martin Seal Ford Green David Donnelly Murphy Titley Willmott Corbett
* = wartime, in opposition ^ Interim/Acting

Internal elections and selections

Leadership elections	1922 Ramsay MacDonald 1931 Arthur Henderson 1932 George Lansbury 1935 Clement Attlee 1955 Hugh Gaitskell 1960 1961 1963 Harold Wilson 1976 James Callaghan 1980 Michael Foot 1983 Neil Kinnock 1988 1992 John Smith 1994 Tony Blair 2007 Gordon Brown 2010 Ed Miliband 2015 Jeremy Corbyn 2016 2020 Keir Starmer
Deputy Leadership elections	1952 Herbert Morrison 1953 1956 Jim Griffiths 1959 Aneurin Bevan 1960 George Brown 1961 1962 1970 Roy Jenkins 1971 1972 Edward Short 1976 Michael Foot 1980 Denis Healey 1981 1983 Roy Hattersley 1988 1992 Margaret Beckett 1994 John Prescott 2007 Harriet Harman 2015 Tom Watson 2020 Angela Rayner
Shadow Cabinet elections and reshuffles	Sep 1931 (Henderson) Nov 1931 1932 (Lansbury) 1933 1934 1935 (Attlee) 1936 1937 1938 1939 1951 1952 1953 1954 1955 1956 (Gaitskell) 1957 1958 1959 1960 1961 1962 1963 (Wilson) 1970 1971 1972 1973 1979 (Callaghan) 1980 (Foot) 1981 1982 1983 (Kinnock) 1984 1985 1986 1987 1988 1989 1990 1991 1992 (Smith) 1993 1994 (Blair) 1995 1996 2010 (Miliband) June 2016 (Corbyn) May 2021 (Starmer) November 2021 2023

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Constitution	Clause IV
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List	Organisations associated with the Labour Party
Sectional groups	Young Labour Labour International LGBT+ Labour Labour Campaign for Trans Rights Labour Students BAME Labour Disability Labour
Factional groups	Blue Labour Campaign for Labour Party Democracy Christians on the Left Compass Fabian Society Young Fabians Future Britain Centre-Left Grassroots Alliance Jewish Labour Movement Labour Campaign for Electoral Reform Labour CND Labour Friends of Israel Labour Friends of Palestine & the Middle East Labour Party Irish Society Labour Representation Committee (2004) Momentum Open Labour National Union of Labour and Socialist Clubs Progress Revolutionary Communist Party Formerly Socialist Appeal Socialist Health Association Socialist Educational Association Socialist Environment and Resources Association Socialist Campaign Group Socialist Youth Network Socialist societies
Media publications	LabourList Tribune

Party alliances

Current	Party of European Socialists Progressive Alliance of Socialists and Democrats Progressive Alliance Socialist International

v t e Michael Foot
Political career	Leader of the Labour Party (1980–1983) Shadow Cabinet Deputy Leader of the Labour Party (1976-1980) Member of Parliament for Plymouth Devonport (1945–1955) Member of Parliament for Ebbw Vale (1960–1983) Member of Parliament for Blaenau Gwent (1983–1992)
Shadow Cabinet elections	1970 1971 1972 1973
Party leadership elections	1976 1980
Party deputy leadership elections	1970 1971 1972 1976
General elections	1983
Family	Isaac Foot (father) Dingle Foot (brother) Hugh Foot, Baron Caradon (brother) John Foot, Baron Foot (brother) Jill Craigie (wife) Paul Foot (nephew) Oliver Foot (nephew) Sarah Foot (niece)
Related topics	Guilty Men Keep Left Campaign for Nuclear Disarmament Tribune 1960 Ebbw Vale by-election 1975 European Communities referendum The longest suicide note in history Michael Foot memorial