The 2020 Labour Party leadership election was triggered after Jeremy Corbyn announced his intention to resign as the leader of the Labour Party following the party's defeat at the 2019 general election. It was won by Sir Keir Starmer, who received 56.2 per cent of the vote on the first round and went on to become Prime Minister after winning the 2024 general election. It was held alongside the deputy leadership election, in which Angela Rayner was elected to succeed Tom Watson as deputy leader after Watson retired from Parliament in November 2019, in advance of the election.
Background
Jeremy Corbyn was elected Labour Party leader in a 2015 leadership election, succeeding Ed Miliband after he resigned following the party's defeat at the general election that year, and re-elected leader in 2016 following a challenge from Owen Smith. While Labour gained 30 seats in the 2017 general election, it lost 60 seats in the 2019 election, resulting in the party having its fewest seats in the House of Commons since 1935.
Former Labour Prime Minister Tony Blair said that Corbyn's Brexit policy "alienated both sides of the debate" and that he personified "a brand of quasi-revolutionary socialism — mixing far-left economic policy with deep hostility to Western foreign policy". Blair also highlighted the handling of antisemitism in the party as a key issue. Political scientist John Curtice said that "the bond between Labour and its traditional working-class base is now badly strained" after a substantial swing of votes from Labour to the Conservatives in leave-voting areas.
Corbyn took responsibility for the defeat but said he remained proud of his party's campaign. In The Observer, Corbyn claimed that Labour's election campaign had successfully re-set the terms of debate and his manifesto would be seen as "historically important". Corbyn's Shadow Chancellor and ally John McDonnell also took responsibility for the defeat but also cited the media's portrayal of Corbyn as a factor in the defeat. Corbyn subsequently announced that he would resign as Labour Party leader following a "process of reflection".
Procedure
The election was conducted under a pure one member, one vote (OMOV) system, using the instant-runoff voting electoral system with preferential balloting to calculate the result. Votes were cast using postal ballots and online voting forms. Candidates were elected by members and registered and affiliated supporters, who all received a maximum of one vote, and all votes were weighted equally. This meant that, for example, members of Labour-affiliated trades unions needed to register as affiliated Labour supporters to vote. Members who joined before 20 January were eligible to vote.
To stand, candidates needed to be nominated by at least 10 per cent of the combined membership of the Parliamentary Labour Party (PLP) and European Parliamentary Labour Party (EPLP), meaning 22 MPs and MEPs at the time. As a result, a maximum of nine candidates could stand. They also needed to be nominated by at least 5 per cent of Constituency Labour Parties (CLPs), meaning at least 33 CLPs, or at least three party affiliates that consist of at least 5 per cent of affiliate members including at least two trades unions. Affiliates consist of affiliated trades unions and socialist societies.
The timetable for the election was set by the party's National Executive Committee (NEC) on 6 January 2020.
Nominations from the Parliamentary Labour Party and European Parliamentary Labour Party opened on 7 January and closed on 13 January. Between 15 January and 15 February, constituency parties and affiliate organisations could nominate their preferred candidate. Applications to become a registered supporter opened on 14 January and closed on 16 January. Voting in the membership ballot opened on 24 February and closed at midday on 2 April. The result of the leadership election was announced on 4 April. The special conference planned for the announcement of the election result was "scaled-back" on 12 March because of the COVID-19 pandemic.
Campaign
Announcements
Immediately following the 2019 general election, Keir Starmer, the Shadow Secretary of State for Exiting the European Union, was considered favourite to win the leadership election by the online gambling company Betfair. Rebecca Long-Bailey, the shadow business secretary, was considered another front runner. Various other figures were considered as possible leadership candidates, including Lisa Nandy, the MP for Wigan, who said on 15 December 2019 that she was "seriously thinking" about standing for the leadership. On 29 December, Long-Bailey wrote an article for The Guardian declaring her interest in standing and laying out her strategy for a "progressive patriotism".
Some party figures, including the former MP Caroline Flint and the MP Wes Streeting, argued for a "clean break" from the previous leadership. However, Len McCluskey, general secretary of Unite the Union, said that the next leader should "carry on the tradition", describing Long-Bailey and Angela Rayner as his preferred candidates. Party figures affiliated with Long-Bailey and MPs such as Corbyn, as well as centrist figures like Alastair Campbell, encouraged supporters of their preferred candidates to join the party to vote in the leadership election. Roy Hattersley, a former deputy leader of the party, wrote on 21 December that MPs should refuse to accept Long-Bailey if she were elected leader.
The shadow foreign secretary, Emily Thornberry, was the first to announce, on 18 December, that she was standing for the leadership. She laid out her pitch in an article for The Guardian. She said that her first priority would be to deal with antisemitism in the party by implementing recommendations from the Board of Deputies of British Jews, the Jewish Labour Movement and the Equality and Human Rights Commission. She criticised Corbyn's senior advisers for overruling her as the shadow foreign secretary and for their strategic decisions in the 2019 general election.
Clive Lewis, the shadow minister for sustainable economics, announced on 19 December that he would stand. He said that as leader, he would give more democratic power in the party to its members. He argued that the party should work more with other political parties on the left, and proposed constitutional reforms including supporting proportional representation and reform of the House of Lords. In January 2020, he proposed a referendum about the future of the British royal family. He was criticised for his response to claims against him of sexual harassment, for which he had been cleared by a disciplinary body within Labour, which "seemed unapologetic".
Jess Phillips announced her candidacy in Grimsby on 3 January 2020. She criticised the party's approach to Brexit and Scottish independence, saying that she was opposed to a second referendum on Scottish independence. She said that she would be open to arguing for the UK to rejoin the European Union. Criticising the party's manifesto at the 2019 general election, Phillips said that she would support nationalising railways but would not prioritise further nationalisation.
Nandy announced that she would stand in a letter to the Wigan Post on the same day as Phillips. She argued that the party needed a "bridge" to join areas in northern England where the party was losing seats and metropolitan areas where the party was gaining support.
Starmer, who a poll had indicated was the most popular potential candidate heading into the leadership election, announced his candidacy with a video posted to social media on 4 January followed by a launch in Stevenage.
Long-Bailey announced that she would stand in an article for Tribune magazine on 6 January. Long-Bailey was seen by many observers and party colleagues as the continuity candidate, who would have continued to take the party in the same direction as Corbyn. While she disputed the description, her campaign stressed ideological continuity with Corbyn. She attracted attention for rating Corbyn "ten out of ten" as a politician, and called for constitutional reform to spread power more evenly across the country, including abolishing the House of Lords.
Nominations stage
Candidates first needed to receive nominations from at least 5 per cent of the party's MPs and MEPs to progress to the second round of nominations. Starmer won the support of enough MPs and MEPs to progress to the next round of nominations on 8 January, when he was also endorsed by the trade union Unison. The following day, Long-Bailey, Nandy and Phillips gained enough MP and MEP nominations to progress.
The deadline for PLP and EPLP nominations was 2.30 pm on 13 January. Lewis, with only five nominations including himself, withdrew from the contest shortly before the deadline. Thornberry was also short of the required nominations at the beginning of the day, but managed to obtain enough to qualify less than ten minutes before the deadline, helped by MPs who had formerly nominated Lewis. After the close of nominations, the party announced that Long-Bailey, Nandy, Phillips, Starmer and Thornberry would proceed to the next stage of the election. Starmer received 88 nominations, more than any other candidate, followed by Long-Bailey with 33 and Nandy with 31. Phillips and Thornberry were each nominated by 23 MPs and MEPs, one more than the minimum requirement of 22. Shortly after these nominations were published, Starmer was heavily favoured in the betting odds.
Corbyn-supporting group Momentum balloted its members on a proposal that the group endorse Long-Bailey (alongside Angela Rayner for deputy). Of the 7,395 respondents 70 per cent backed Long-Bailey, but the organisation was criticised by commentators and by some Momentum members for not giving the option to endorse other candidates.
Starmer became the first candidate to qualify for the ballot on 20 January with his third affiliate nomination, from the Union of Shop, Distributive and Allied Workers; by that point, he was also leading in nominations from Constituency Labour Parties (CLPs). Phillips withdrew from the election on 21 January, saying that she was unable to unite the party. Nandy became the second candidate to qualify for the ballot on 22 January, having received backing from the GMB and National Union of Mineworkers unions and the Chinese for Labour socialist society. Long-Bailey was the third candidate to qualify, following further trade union support.
However, Thornberry failed to achieve enough nominations, falling just short of the required number of constituency party nominations and being eliminated on 15 February 2020.
The Labour Party reported an alleged breach of data protection rules by Starmer's campaign to the Information Commissioner's Office in early February, which it said was in accord with the statutory obligation to report suspected data breaches. The campaign described the complaint as "nonsense". The Starmer campaign chair suggested that the allegations were a result of the Starmer team alerting party officials the week before to a possible data breach by Long-Bailey's campaign, though there was no evidence that this occurred.
Membership ballot
The first public hustings to feature the final three candidates was held in Glasgow, Scotland on 15 February.
Candidates
To qualify for the ballot, candidates needed nominations from 10 per cent (22) of the party's Members of Parliament (MPs) and Members of European Parliament (MEPs), followed by support from either 5 per cent (33) of Constituency Labour Parties (CLPs), or from at least three affiliated groups, including two trade unions and representing at least 5 per cent of affiliated members. Five candidates (Rebecca Long-Bailey, Lisa Nandy, Jess Phillips, Keir Starmer and Emily Thornberry) received sufficient nominations to proceed to the second round of nominations. Starmer had the most nominations from MPs and MEPs at 88, followed by Long-Bailey and Nandy with 33 and 31 nominations respectively. Phillips and Thornberry each received 23 nominations, one above the minimum threshold to proceed.