Labour Party (UK)

The **Labour Party** is a political party in the United Kingdom which sits on the centre-left of the political spectrum. It is made up of social democrats, democratic socialists and trade unionists. The party is one of two historically dominant parties in British politics alongside the Conservative Party, with both having alternated being in government since 1924. Labour has been led by Keir Starmer since 2020, who in 2024 became Prime Minister of the United Kingdom following the party's landslide victory. As of 2025, there have been seven prime ministers from the Labour Party and twelve Labour governments.

The Labour Party has been in power in the United Kingdom government since July 2024. It was in power in the Scottish Parliament (in coalition with the Scottish Liberal Democrats) until 2007. It is the largest group in the London Assembly, although until May 2016 the Mayor of London was a Conservative party member. It is also the largest party in local government.

## History

The party was officially formed in 1906, just after the general election, as a successor of the Labour Representative Committee formed in 1900. In 1918, the party made a new constitution with the commitment to socialism, or the socialization of the industry. This could be found in Clause 4.
The Labour Party won the general election in 1945 for the first time. From 1951 Labour was in opposition for thirteen years, during which there were serious fights between the left and right wings of the party. The leader of the left wing was Aneurin Bevan. His supporters were called the _"Bevanites"_. They wanted a less confrontational policy in foreign affairs and more socialist actions. The leaders of the right wing were Clement Attlee and Hugh Gaitskell. They believed that Western capitalism had changed a lot and that socialism and public ownership was not so important. Gaitskell tried to remove Clause 4 from the party constitution at the 1959 conference, but he could not.

In 1994, Tony Blair forced the Labour Party to drop Clause 4. This was an important step to change the party into **"New Labour"**.

In 2015, dark horse candidate Jeremy Corbyn announced his candidacy for the leadership of the Labour Party. At the beginning, he was thought of as a socialist fringe candidate, but he later became the lead candidate in polls and got the support of the majority of trade unions affiliated to the Labour Party, along with those of three non-affiliated unions. On 12 September 2015, he was elected Leader of the Labour Party, with a majority vote of 59.5% in the first round of the ballot.

### Past Leaders (since 1906)

- Keir Hardie, 1906–1908
- Arthur Henderson, 1908–1910
- George Nicoll Barnes, 1910–1911
- Ramsay MacDonald, 1911–1914
- Arthur Henderson, 1914–1917
- William Adamson, 1917–1921
- John Robert Clynes, 1921–1922
- Ramsay MacDonald, 1922–1931
- Arthur Henderson, 1931–1932
- George Lansbury, 1932–1935
- Clement Attlee, 1935–1955
- Hugh Gaitskell, 1955–1963
- George Brown, 1963 _(Acting)_
- Harold Wilson, 1963–1976
- James Callaghan, 1976–1980
- Michael Foot, 1980–1983
- Neil Kinnock, 1983–1992
- John Smith, 1992–1994
- Margaret Beckett, 1994 _(Acting)_
- Tony Blair, 1994–2007
- Gordon Brown, 2007–2010
- Harriet Harman, 2010 _(Acting)_
- Ed Miliband, 2010–2015
- Harriet Harman, 2015 _(Acting)_
- Jeremy Corbyn, 2015–2020
- Keir Starmer, 2020–present

## Labour Prime Ministers

|Name|Portrait|Country of birth|Time in Office|
| --- | --- | --- | --- |
|Ramsay MacDonald||Scotland|1924; 1929–1931|
|Clement Attlee||England|1945–1951|
|Harold Wilson||England|1964–1970; 1974–1976|
|James Callaghan||England|1976–1979|
|Tony Blair||Scotland|1997–2007|
|Gordon Brown||Scotland|2007–2010|
|Keir Starmer||England|2024-present|

## Other websites

- Official Labour Party website
- Unofficial website with an archive of electoral manifestos and a directory of related websites
- Unofficial history website
- Guardian Unlimited Politics — Special Report: Labour Party

## Infobox (political party)

- **name**: Labour Party
- **logo**: Labour Party Wordmark.svg
- **logo size**: 275px
- **leader1 title**: Leader of the Labour Party (UK), Leader
- **leader1 name**: Keir Starmer
- **leader2 title**: Deputy Leader of the Labour Party (UK), Deputy Leader
- **leader2 name**: Lucy Powell
- **leader3 name**: David Evans (political official), David Evans
- **leader5 title**: Leader of the Labour Party in the House of Lords, Lords Leader
- **leader5 name**: Angela Smith, Baroness Smith of Basildon
- **founded**:
(as the Labour Representation Committee (1900), Labour Representation Committee)
- **youth wing**: Young Labour (UK), Young Labour
- **wing2 title**: LGBT wing
- **wing2**: LGBT+ Labour
- **membership year**: February 2025
- **membership**: 309,000
- **ideology**: Social democracy
- **position**: Centre-left
- **european**: Party of European Socialists
- **international**: Progressive Alliance
Socialist International (observer)
- **affiliation1 title**: Affiliate party
- **affiliation1**: Co-operative Party
(Labour and Co-operative)

- **affiliation2 title**: Other affiliations
- **affiliation2**: Social Democratic and Labour Party (Northern Ireland)
 Gibraltar Socialist Labour Party (Gibraltar)
- **colours**: Red
- **governing body**: National Executive Committee of the Labour Party, National Executive Committee
- **slogan**: "Britain's future" /
 "Let's get Britain's future back" (2024)
- **anthem**: "The Red Flag"
- **blank2 title**: Devolution in the United Kingdom, Devolved or semi-autonomous branches
- **blank3 title**: Parliamentary party
- **blank3**: Parliamentary Labour Party (PLP)
- **seats2 title**: House of Lords
- **seats3 title**: Scottish Parliament
- **seats4 title**: Senedd
- **seats5 title**: Directly elected mayors in England, Regional mayors
- **seats6 title**: London Assembly
- **seats7 title**: Police and crime commissioner, PCCs and PFCCs
- **seats8 title**: Directly elected mayors
- **seats9 title**: Political make-up of local councils in the United Kingdom, Councillors
- **footnotes**: <small>
</small>
- **country**: the United Kingdom