Labour Party (UK)

The Labour Party is the main centre-left political party in the United Kingdom. It is a social democratic party. It has been one of the UK's two main political parties from the early 20th century to the present day. It is the second largest party in the British House of Commons, with 195 out of 650 seats. It forms the Official Opposition. The current Labour Party leader is Sir Keir Starmer, who took over in April 2020 from Jeremy Corbyn.
The Labour Party was in power in the United Kingdom government from 1997 to 2010. Now it sits in opposition. 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 second largest party in local government.
Political beliefs
Most Labour Party supporters believe in the following things:
The railways in the United Kingdom should be brought back into public ownership (also known as renationalising the railways).
The government should invest money in expanding and upgrading public transport (e.g. buses and trains).
Tax on billion and multi-million-pound businesses should be increased.
Tax on the income of the top 5% of earners should be increased.
The government should do more to tackle tax avoidance.
Support for trade unions.
The government should be able to place limits on how much landlords are able to charge rent (also known as rent controls).
The minimum wage should be increased.
Support workers rights.
Opposition to austerity.
Support the welfare state.
The House of Lords should be abolished
The party leadership does not necessarily support the same policies.
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
References
Notes
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
1900 establishments in the United Kingdom