THE mainstream press has got it all wrong about how the Labour Party conducts a leadership contest. The papers, TV and online media have been barking on about “81 Labour MPs” as if that was all there was to it. It isn’t.
Labour Party Rule Books are hard to get hold of, but we managed to get our hands on a 2022 Rule Book: armed with that trusty document, we are going to try to make sense of it all for you. Just one word of warning: Labour Party officials are used to enhancing the rules as they go along. When their rules cannot be found in the Rule Book, they have been known to refer to what they are proposing as an “unwritten rule”.
The Rules that deal with an election for party Leader are in Chapter 4 of the Rule Books. There are rules for an election which occurs when there is a vacancy and when there is not a vacancy are broadly similar, but differ in some detail.
When there is a vacancy for Leader
If there is a vacancy (when a Leader resigns, or announces their intention to resign; or when something nasty removes the Leader), the General Secretary (the top paid official) will, on behalf of the National Executive Committee (NEC), invite nominations for MPs who would like to become Leader.
Candidates must obtain support from 20% of Labour MPs in the House of Commons; 5% of Constituency Labour Parties (CLPs – the Labour Party members who live in a Westminster parliamentary constituency); three affiliates, at least two of which must be trade unions, where the membership of those organisations amounts to at least 5% of affiliated members. If candidates don’t meet that number of nominations, their nominations are invalid.
Twenty per cent of MPs is 81: that is where the number you see in the media comes from. But 81 MPs is the number of nominations needed from MPs to make a nomination valid, once nominations have been called for. This rule does not mean that 81 MPs can trigger a leadership election.
The rules allow CLPs or affiliates to make valid nominations for candidates – so MPs don’t have a total veto over who can stand in leadership elections when there is a vacancy.
When there is no vacancy (like now)
The Labour Party has an annual Conference in September or October, like most parties. Various elections are held at that conference, and the results of elections conducted by direct ballots of members are announced. Each year CLPs are invited to nominate a candidate for Leader. Many of them nominate the sitting Leader, usually so they can look like well behaved CLPs. The nominations are meaningless, as there is no election as no alternative candidates are trying to stand against the sitting Leader. The long list of nominations looks good, though – showing support for the Leader. The deadline for nominations is around the end of June.
Intervening in this process would be the easiest way for MPs who want to challenge Starmer to do so. Challengers may seek nominations from CLPs and MPs. They must obtain the support of 20% of Labour MPs: this means that Labour MPs have a crucial say in who is allowed to be on the ballot paper. Without support from 20% of the MPs, a nomination is not valid. This can be difficult to obtain. The 20% threshold means that only a maximum of five challengers can obtain valid nominations. If six challengers want to take part in the election of a new Leader, they cannot all obtain valid nominations. If they are not careful, nominations could be spread between candidates – giving MPs that veto over who can stand in the elections.
Where there is no vacancy, the Leader is automatically on the ballot paper, if they wish to stand, so they do not have to obtain nominations from MPs.
Ballot If the Labour Party invites nominations for Leader as part of its conference preparations, the Labour Party General Secretary will see that a postal ballot of all members is organised. The General Secretary will be the Returning Officer and will appoint an Independent Scrutineer to oversee and verify the ballot. The description “independent” in this context is a flagrant abuse of the word, but that is the Labour Party Rule Book for you.
The same “Independent” Scrutineer has to approve the timetable for the election, and the result will be announced at party conference. This means that the actual all-member postal ballot will be held before the conference. Sometimes a special conference is called to hear the result, so the new Leader is ready to shape the actual conference rather than just being announced as the victor at it.
Voting Ballot papers are sent by post to all Labour Party individual members, as well as “affiliate members” – those who are members of an affiliated organisation. Since the Corbyn era ended, the Labour Party membership has shrunk dramatically. It’s the longstanding members, who tend to be Corbyn supporters, who have left – or been expelled by Starmer, who is a bit of a control freak in that regard. The members who remain are predominantly the younger, bright-eyed supporters who thought that the way to electoral success was to ditch Corbyn and embrace Starmer – “Blaire-lite”.
The composition of the voters in a Labour Party leadership election – the party members – is again something that the mainstream media overlooks. This tiny electorate may well stick with Starmer to avoid looking disunited and desperate. If it does decide to switch to Streeting, it will be hard to spot the difference. It may well not be interested in voting for Andy Burnham at all. The recent election results may have turned them against Starmer, but members may also be keen to grasp stability rather than go for radical change.
That is how this leadership thing works. If there are any Labour Party nerds listening, you are welcome to add any additions, disagreements or nuances in the comments. In the meantime, if you hear anyone talking about “81 Labour MPs can oust Starmer”, please put them right.
●Read more about it: Greens win – is it curtains for Starmer? McSweeney falls on sword in desperate move to save Starmer