1995 Labour Party Shadow Cabinet election

Elections to the Labour Party's Shadow Cabinet took place in October 1995, at the beginning of the 1995/6 session of parliament. Under the rules then in effect, the Commons members of the Parliamentary Labour Party elected 19 members of the Official Opposition Shadow Cabinet, who were then assigned portfolios by the leader. The Labour peers elected the Leader of the Opposition in the House of Lords. In addition, the Leader of the Labour Party and Deputy Leader (Tony Blair and John Prescott, respectively) were members by virtue of those offices. With this election, for the first time, the role Opposition Chief Whip was simply another portfolio to be handed out rather than an office separately elected by the PLP. The 19 elected members of the Shadow Cabinet were the ones with the largest number of votes. MPs were required to vote for at least four women, but women were not necessarily guaranteed places in the Shadow Cabinet.

Colour key	Retained in the Shadow Cabinet
	Joined the Shadow Cabinet
	Voted out of the Shadow Cabinet

Rank	Candidate	Constituency	Votes
1	Margaret Beckett	Derby South	187
2	Robin Cook	Livingston	181
3	Gordon Brown	Dunfermline East	159
4	Ron Davies	Caerphilly	157
5	Donald Dewar	Glasgow Garscadden	156
6	Mo Mowlam	Redcar	152
7	Chris Smith	Islington South and Finsbury	148
8	Frank Dobson	Holborn and St Pancras	142
9	David Clark	South Shields	141
10	Ann Taylor	Dewsbury	138
11	David Blunkett	Sheffield Brightside	132
12	Gavin Strang	Edinburgh East	131
13	Jack Straw	Blackburn	128
14	Joan Lestor	Eccles	122
15	Michael Meacher	Oldham West	121
16	Clare Short	Birmingham Ladywood	119
17	George Robertson	Hamilton	116
18	Harriet Harman	Peckham	108
19	Tom Clarke	Monklands West	107
20	Jack Cunningham	Copeland	100
21	Tony Lloyd	Stretford	99
22	Derek Fatchett	Leeds Central	90
23†	Joyce Quin	Gateshead East	88
23†	Brian Wilson	Cunninghame North	88
25	Dawn Primarolo	Bristol South	86
26	Nick Brown	Newcastle-upon-Tyne North	84
27	Stuart Bell	Middlesbrough	82
28	Hilary Armstrong	North West Durham	80
29	John Marek	Wrexham	76
30	Ann Clwyd	Cynon Valley	72
31	Irene Adams	Paisley North	71
32†	Alun Michael	Cardiff West	69
32†	Chris Mullin	Sunderland South	69
34	Alistair Darling	Edinburgh Central	67
35	Richard Caborn	Sheffield Central	65
36	Llin Golding	Newcastle-under-Lyme	64
37	Henry McLeish	Central Fife	50
38	George Foulkes	Carrick, Cumnock and Doon Valley	47
39	Ian McCartney	Makerfield	46
40	Tony Banks	Newham North West	41
41	Peter Kilfoyle	Liverpool Walton	40
42	Kevin Barron	Rother Valley	30

† Multiple candidates tied for position.

References

"Out of the Shadow". Herald Scotland. 17 October 1995. Retrieved 23 May 2010.

"Shadow Cabinet Elections in the 1992 Parliament". Archived from the original on 14 July 2010. Retrieved 24 May 2010.

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