Second Shadow Cabinet of Harold Wilson

(Redirected from Shadow Cabinet of Harold Wilson (1970–1974))

Second Shadow Cabinet of Harold Wilson
Shadow Cabinet of the United Kingdom
1970 – 1974

Date formed	19 June 1970
Date dissolved	4 March 1974
People and organisations
Monarch	Elizabeth II
Leader of the Opposition	Harold Wilson
Deputy Leader of the Opposition	Roy Jenkins (1970–72) Edward Short (1972–74)
Member party	Labour Party
Status in legislature	Official Opposition 288 / 630 (46%)
History
Election	1970 United Kingdom general election
Legislature terms	45th UK Parliament
Predecessor	First Shadow Cabinet of Edward Heath
Successor	Second Shadow Cabinet of Edward Heath

Harold Wilson of the Labour Party formed his Second Shadow Cabinet as Leader of Her Majesty's Most Loyal Opposition after losing the 1970 general election to Conservative Edward Heath. He retained leadership of the Opposition for the length of the Heath ministry from 1970 to 1974. In February 1974, his party narrowly won an election. Wilson was then forced to form a minority government that lasted only until another election in October of that year. Following that election, Wilson formed a majority government.

Shadow Cabinet list

June 1970

Portfolio	Shadow Minister	Term
Leader of Her Majesty's Most Loyal Opposition Leader of the Labour Party	The Rt Hon. Harold Wilson	1970 – 1974
Deputy Leader of the Opposition	The Rt Hon. Roy Jenkins	1970 – 1972
Deputy Leader of the Opposition	The Rt Hon. Edward Short	1972 – 1974
Shadow Chancellor of the Exchequer	The Rt Hon. Roy Jenkins	1970 – 1972
Shadow Chancellor of the Exchequer	The Rt Hon. Denis Healey	1972 – 1974
Shadow Foreign Secretary	The Rt Hon. Denis Healey	1970 – 1972
Shadow Foreign Secretary	The Rt Hon. James Callaghan	1972 – 1974
Shadow Home Secretary	The Rt Hon. James Callaghan	1970 – 1971
	Shirley Williams	1971 – 1973
	The Rt Hon. Roy Jenkins	1973 – 1974
Shadow Secretary of State for Employment	The Rt Hon. Barbara Castle	1970 – 1971
	The Rt Hon. James Callaghan	1971 – 1972
	The Rt Hon. Reg Prentice	1972 – 1974
Shadow Leader of the House of Commons	The Rt Hon. Fred Peart	1970 – 1971
	The Rt Hon. Michael Foot	1971 – 1972
	The Rt Hon. Edward Short	1972 – 1974
Shadow Secretary of State for Education and Science	The Rt Hon. Edward Short	1970 – 1972
	Unknown	1972 – 1973
	The Rt Hon. Roy Hattersley	1973 – 1974
Shadow Secretary of State for Trade and Industry	The Rt Hon. Tony Benn	1970 – 1972
Shadow Secretary of State for Trade and Industry	The Rt Hon. Harold Lever	1972 – 1974
Shadow Secretary of State for the Environment	The Rt Hon. Anthony Crosland	1970 – 1974
Shadow Secretary of State for Defence	The Rt Hon. George Thomson	1970 – 1972
Shadow Secretary of State for Defence	The Rt Hon. Fred Peart	1972 – 1974
Shadow Secretary of State for Health and Social Services	Shirley Williams	1970 – 1971
	The Rt Hon. Barbara Castle	1971 – 1972
	John Silkin	1972–1974
Shadow Secretary of State for Scotland	The Rt Hon. William Ross	1970 – 1974
Shadow Secretary of State for Northern Ireland	The Rt Hon. Merlyn Rees	1972 – 1974
Leader of the Opposition in the House of Lords	The Rt Hon.The Lord Shackleton PC	1970 – 1974
Opposition Chief Whip in the House of Commons	The Rt Hon. Bob Mellish	1970 – 1974
Shadow Minister of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food	The Rt Hon. Cledwyn Hughes	1970 – 1971
Shadow Minister of Power	Michael Foot	1970 – 1971
Shadow Minister for Europe	The Rt Hon. Harold Lever	1970 – 1971
	Peter Shore	1971 – 1972
	Michael Foot	1972 – 1974

Changes

1971

James Callaghan replaces Barbara Castle as Shadow Secretary of State for Employment
Barbara Castle replaces Shirley Williams as Shadow Secretary of State for Health and Social Services
Shirley Williams replaces James Callaghan as Shadow Secretary of State for the Home Department
Michael Foot replaces Fred Peart as Shadow Leader of the House of Commons
Fred Peart replaces Cledwyn Hughes as Shadow Minister for Agriculture, Fisheries and Food
Peter Shore joins the shadow cabinet as Shadow Minister for Europe

1972

Reg Prentice joins the shadow cabinet, replacing James Callaghan as Shadow Employment Secretary
James Callaghan replaces Denis Healey as Shadow Foreign Secretary
Denis Healey replaces Roy Jenkins as Shadow Chancellor
Fred Peart replaces George Thomson as Shadow Defence Secretary
Edward Short replaces Roy Jenkins as Deputy Leader of the Opposition and takes Fred Peart's former post, Shadow Leader of the House of Commons
Roy Jenkins is removed from the shadow cabinet
Michael Foot replaces Peter Shore as Shadow Europe Minister
Harold Lever replaces Tony Benn as Shadow Trade and Industry Secretary
Merlyn Rees joins the shadow cabinet with a newly created post: Shadow Secretary of State for Northern Ireland
Barbara Castle is removed from the shadow cabinet

1973

Roy Jenkins returns to the shadow cabinet, replacing Shirley Williams as Shadow Home Secretary
Shirley Williams takes the newly created post of Shadow Secretary of State for Prices and Consumer Protection

References

Patrick Bell (2004), "Principal Labour Shadow Cabinet ... 1970-74", Labour Party in Opposition 1970–1974, Routledge, p. xvii, ISBN 9780714654560

v t e Shadow Cabinets of the United Kingdom
Official Opposition	Wilson I (1963–1964) Douglas-Home (1964–1965) Heath I (1965–1970) Wilson II (1970–1974) Heath II (1974–1975) Thatcher (1975–1979) Callaghan (1979–1980) Foot (1980–1983) Kinnock (1983–1992) Smith (1992–1994) Beckett (1994) Blair (1994–1997) Major (1997) Hague (1997–2001) Duncan Smith (2001–2003) Howard (2003–2005) Cameron (2005–2010) Harman I (2010) Miliband (2010–2015) Harman II (2015) Corbyn (2015–2020) Starmer (2020–2024) Sunak (2024) Badenoch (2024–present)
Liberal Democrats	Ashdown (1997–1999) Kennedy (1999–2006) Campbell (2006–2007) Cable I (2007) Clegg (2007–2010) Farron (2015–2017) Cable II (2017–2019) Swinson (2019) Davey (2020–present)
Scottish National Party	Robertson (2015–2017) Blackford (2017–2022) Flynn (2022–present)
1964 to Present

Labour Party

History

Main

History of the Labour Party

Topics

Leadership

Leaders	Hardie Henderson Barnes MacDonald Henderson Adamson Clynes MacDonald Henderson Lansbury Attlee Morrison^ Gaitskell Brown^ Wilson Callaghan Foot Kinnock Smith Beckett^ Blair Brown Harman^ Miliband Harman^ Corbyn Starmer
Deputy Leaders	Clynes Graham Attlee Greenwood Morrison Griffiths Bevan Brown Jenkins Short Foot Healey Hattersley Beckett Prescott Harman Watson Rayner
General Secretaries	MacDonald Henderson Middleton Phillips Williams Barker^ Nicholas Hayward Mortimer Whitty Sawyer McDonagh Triesman Carter Watt Collins McNicol Formby Evans
Treasurers	Henderson MacDonald Henderson Lathan Greenwood Gaitskell Bevan Nicholas Davies Callaghan Atkinson Varley Booth McCluskie Burlison Prosser Elsby Dromey Holland
Leaders in the Lords	Haldane Cripps Ponsonby Snell Addison Jowitt Alexander Pakenham Shackleton Shepherd Peart Hughes Richard Jay Williams Amos Ashton Royall Smith of Basildon
Scottish Labour Leaders	Dewar McLeish Jamieson^ McConnell Jamieson^ Alexander Jamieson^ Gray Lamont Sarwar^ Murphy Gray^ Dugdale Rowley^ Baillie^ Leonard Baillie^ Sarwar
PLP Chairs	Hardie Henderson Barnes MacDonald Henderson Hodge* Wardle* Adamson Clynes MacDonald Henderson Lansbury Attlee Lees-Smith* Pethick-Lawrence* Greenwood* Gaitskell Wilson Houghton Mikardo Hughes Willey Dormand Orme Hoyle Soley Corston Clwyd Lloyd Watts Cryer Morden
EPLP Leaders	Stewart Prescott Castle Lomas Martin Seal Ford Green David Donnelly Murphy Titley Willmott Corbett
* = wartime, in opposition ^ Interim/Acting

Internal elections and selections

Leadership elections	1922 Ramsay MacDonald 1931 Arthur Henderson 1932 George Lansbury 1935 Clement Attlee 1955 Hugh Gaitskell 1960 1961 1963 Harold Wilson 1976 James Callaghan 1980 Michael Foot 1983 Neil Kinnock 1988 1992 John Smith 1994 Tony Blair 2007 Gordon Brown 2010 Ed Miliband 2015 Jeremy Corbyn 2016 2020 Keir Starmer
Deputy Leadership elections	1952 Herbert Morrison 1953 1956 Jim Griffiths 1959 Aneurin Bevan 1960 George Brown 1961 1962 1970 Roy Jenkins 1971 1972 Edward Short 1976 Michael Foot 1980 Denis Healey 1981 1983 Roy Hattersley 1988 1992 Margaret Beckett 1994 John Prescott 2007 Harriet Harman 2015 Tom Watson 2020 Angela Rayner
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

Party structure

Constitution	Clause IV
Executive	National Executive Committee General Secretary Treasurer
Parliamentary	Parliamentary Labour Party Chief Whip of the Labour Party
Conference	Labour Party Conference
Subnational	Scottish Labour Welsh Labour Labour Party in Northern Ireland
Directly elected city mayoral authorities	London Labour
CLPs	Constituency Labour Party Labour International
Miscellaneous	National Policy Forum Affiliated trade unions Trade Union and Labour Party Liaison Organisation Labour Co-operative Co-operative Party Labour – Federation of Labour Groups

Associated organisations

List	Organisations associated with the Labour Party
Sectional groups	Young Labour Labour International LGBT+ Labour Labour Campaign for Trans Rights Labour Students BAME Labour Disability Labour
Factional groups	Blue Labour Campaign for Labour Party Democracy Christians on the Left Compass Fabian Society Young Fabians Future Britain Centre-Left Grassroots Alliance Jewish Labour Movement Labour Campaign for Electoral Reform Labour CND Labour Friends of Israel Labour Friends of Palestine & the Middle East Labour Growth Group Labour Party Irish Society Labour Representation Committee (2004) Labour Women's Network Momentum Open Labour National Union of Labour and Socialist Clubs Progressive Britain Revolutionary Communist Party Formerly Socialist Appeal Socialist Health Association Socialist Educational Association Socialist Environment and Resources Association Socialist Campaign Group Socialist Youth Network Socialist societies
Media publications	LabourList Tribune

Party alliances

Current	Party of European Socialists Progressive Alliance of Socialists and Democrats Progressive Alliance Socialist International

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