1970 Labour Party Shadow Cabinet election

1970 election

Elections to the Labour Party's Shadow Cabinet (more formally, its "Parliamentary Committee") occurred in July 1970, following the party's defeat in the 1970 general election.

In addition to the 12 members elected, the Leader (Harold Wilson), Deputy Leader (Roy Jenkins), Labour Chief Whip (Bob Mellish), Labour Leader in the House of Lords (Baron Shackleton), and Labour Chief Whip in the Lords (Baron Beswick) were automatically members. The Labour Lords elected one further member, Baron Champion.

The Chair of the Labour Party was elected at the same time as the Shadow Cabinet, and was given a further automatic place in the cabinet. The post was won by Douglas Houghton, who also won one of the twelve places in the Shadow Cabinet election. Ross, who had taken thirteenth place in the Shadow Cabinet election, was given the spare position.

The 12 winners of the election are listed below:

Colour key	Member of Cabinet when Labour Party lost office following 1970 election

Rank	Candidate	Constituency	Votes
1	James Callaghan	Cardiff South East	178
2	Denis Healey	Leeds East	165
3	Anthony Crosland	Great Grimsby	157
4	Douglas Houghton	Sowerby	150
5	Tony Benn	Bristol South East	133
6	Michael Foot	Ebbw Vale	124
7	Shirley Williams	Hitchin	122
8	Harold Lever	Manchester Cheetham	115
9	Edward Short	Newcastle upon Tyne Central	114
10	Fred Peart	Workington	110
11	George Thomson	Dundee East	107
12	Barbara Castle	Blackburn	98
13	Willie Ross	Kilmarnock	93
14	Eric Heffer	Liverpool Walton	78
15	Reg Prentice	Daventry	76
16=	Richard Marsh	Greenwich	69
16=	Elwyn Jones	West Ham South	69
18	Michael Stewart	Fulham	66
19	Ian Mikardo	Poplar	61
20	Cledwyn Hughes	Anglesey	57
21	Willie Hamilton	West Fife	56
22	John Silkin	Deptford	54
23	Douglas Jay	Battersea North	53
24	Roy Mason	Barnsley	52
25	Joan Lestor	Eton and Slough	48
26	Merlyn Rees	Leeds South	44
27	Roy Hattersley	Birmingham Sparkbrook	43
28=	George Thomas	Cardiff West	42
28=	Bill Rodgers	Stockton-on-Tees	42
30	Dick Taverne	Lincoln	40
31	Peter Shore	Stepney	39
32	Stan Orme	Salford West	38
33	Dickson Mabon	Greenock	37
34=	Frank Judd	Portsmouth West	36
34=	Tom Driberg	Barking	36
36	Alf Morris	Manchester Wythenshawe	35
37	John Mendelson	Penistone	34
38=	Robert Sheldon	Ashton under Lyne	33
38=	Hugh Brown	Glasgow Provan	33
40	Fred Mulley	Sheffield Park	31
41	Joel Barnett	Heywood and Royton	28
42	Denis Howell	Birmingham Small Heath	27
43	Joyce Butler	Wood Green	26
44=	Harold Walker	Doncaster	24
44=	Judith Hart	Lanark	24
45	Lena Jeger	Holborn and St Pancras South	23
46	Alex Lyon	York	21
48=	William Molloy	Ealing North	20
48=	Thomas Urwin	Houghton-le-Spring	20
50	Arthur Blenkinsop	South Shields	19
51	John Stonehouse	Wednesbury	14
52	Samuel Silkin	Dulwich	10

References

^ "Parliamentary Labour Party". The Political Companion (8): 64–65. July–September 1971.

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Deputy Leaders	Clynes Graham Attlee Greenwood Morrison Griffiths Bevan Brown Jenkins Short Foot Healey Hattersley Beckett Prescott Harman Watson Rayner
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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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v t e Harold Wilson
Premierships	1964–1970 1974–1976
General elections	1964 1966 1970 February 1974 October 1974
Party elections	1960 leadership 1962 deputy leadership 1963 leadership
Shadow Cabinet elections	1952 1953 1954 1955 1956 1957 1958 1959 1960
Referendum	1975 European Communities membership
Constituencies	Ormskirk Huyton
Resignation Honours	1970 1976
Family	Mary Wilson (wife) Robin Wilson (son) Harold Seddon (Uncle)
Media and popular culture	Mrs. Wilson's Diary Yesterday's Men (TV documentary, 1971) The Lavender List (TV, 2006) Longford (TV, 2006) Made in Dagenham (Film, 2010) The Audience (Play, 2013) The Crown (TV, 2019) Stonehouse (TV, 2023)
Related articles	Rhodesia's Unilateral Declaration of Independence Beira Patrol D-notice affair Gnomes of Zurich Harold Wilson plot allegations Clockwork Orange Harry letters affair In Place of Strife Wilson Doctrine Bibliography
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