Parliamentary Labour Party

2025-10-31T11:02:52Z

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{{About|the UK Parliamentary Labour Party|Parliamentary Labour Party in Ireland|Labour Party (Ireland)|the defunct Australian political party|Parliamentary Labor Party}}
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The '''Parliamentary Labour Party''' ('''PLP''') is the [[parliamentary group]] of the [[Labour Party (UK)|Labour Party]] in the British [[House of Commons of the United Kingdom|House of Commons]]. The group comprises the Labour members of parliament as a collective body.<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://www.britishonlinearchives.co.uk/collection.php?cid=9781851171330&sid=&keywords=|title=Parliamentary Labour Party Papers, 1968/69-1993/94 – British Online Archives From Microform Academic Publishers|website=British Online Archives|access-date=2016-09-15}}</ref> Commentators on the [[United Kingdom constitutional law|British Constitution]] sometimes draw a distinction between the Labour Party (which was created outside Parliament and later achieved office) and the [[Conservative Party (UK)|Conservative]] and [[Liberal Party (UK)|Liberal]] parties (which began as parliamentary factions). The term Parliamentary Labour Party refers to the party in Parliament, whereas the term Labour Party refers to the entire Labour Party, the parliamentary element of which is the PLP.

A similar body for the Conservative Party is the [[1922 Committee]].

An organisation for former members, the ''PLP in exile'', was established following the [[2010 United Kingdom general election|2010 general election]].<ref>{{cite book|last1=Roberts|first1=Jane|title=Losing Political Office|date=2017|publisher=Palgrave Macmillan|isbn=9783319397016}}</ref>

==Role==
The PLP holds regular meetings behind closed doors to question the Leader and to discuss its concerns.

Labour MPs elect three of their number to Labour's [[National Executive Committee of the Labour Party (UK)|National Executive Committee]].<ref name=labour-nec>{{cite web |url=http://www.labour.org.uk/pages/labours-national-executive-committee |title=Labour's National Executive Committee |publisher=Labour Party |access-date=19 April 2017 |archive-date=5 October 2017 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20171005171511/http://www.labour.org.uk/pages/labours-national-executive-committee |url-status=dead }}</ref>

Originally, the Leader of the Labour Party was elected by the PLP. Now, however, the party operates on a [[one member, one vote]] system, where all members are awarded a single vote, as well as affiliated organizations ([[affiliated trade unions|trade unions]] and [[socialist societies]]) and temporary registered supporters. [[Instant-runoff voting]] (the "Alternative Vote") is used to conduct the election. Labour MPs retain the power to trigger an extraordinary or "special" [[Labour Party Conference]] to choose a new leader if they lose confidence in their existing leader.<ref>This would require 20% of the PLP to nominate a named member of the PLP prior to the annual party conference.{{cite web |url=http://www.parliament.uk/commons/lib/research/notes/snpc-03938.pdf |title=Archived copy |access-date=2008-02-06 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080227050518/http://www.parliament.uk/commons/lib/research/notes/snpc-03938.pdf |archive-date=2008-02-27 }}</ref>

==Chair==

The Chair of the PLP chairs meetings of the Parliamentary party. They are elected by Labour MPs at the start of each annual session of Parliament. By tradition, only elections at the start of each Parliament, following a [[general election]], are competitive.

From 1921 to 1970, the Chair of the PLP was also the leader of the party as a whole; before 1921, leadership of the party was arguably split between the Chairman of the PLP, the [[Labour Party General Secretary|General Secretary]] and the [[National Executive Committee of the Labour Party|Party Chairman]]. When the leaders of the Labour Party joined coalition governments during the [[World War I|First]] and [[Second World War]]s, an acting chair was appointed to lead the rump of the party in Opposition. When the Party was in government, a liaison committee was elected to facilitate communications between the cabinet and Labour [[backbencher]]s – the chair of this committee also chaired meetings of the PLP as a whole during these periods. In 1970, the positions of Leader of the Labour Party and Chair of the PLP were permanently split.
{| class="wikitable"
|-
! [[Leader of the Labour Party (UK)|Leader]] !! Tenure !! Liaison Committee !! Tenure !! Opposition !! Tenure
|-
| [[Keir Hardie]] || 1906–1908
! colspan=2 rowspan=8|
! colspan=2 rowspan=4|
|-
| [[Arthur Henderson]]
| 1908–1910
|-
| [[George Nicoll Barnes|George Barnes]]
| 1910–1911
|-
| [[Ramsay MacDonald]]
| 1911–1914
|-
| rowspan=2|[[Arthur Henderson]]
| rowspan=2|1914–1917
| [[John Hodge (politician)|John Hodge]]
| 1915–16
|-
| [[George Wardle]]
| 1916–17
|-
| [[William Adamson]]
| 1917–1921
! colspan=2 rowspan=7|
|-
| [[J. R. Clynes]]
| 1921–1922
|-
| rowspan=3|[[Ramsay MacDonald]]
| rowspan=3|1922–1931
| [[Robert Smillie]]
| 1924
|-
| [[Harry Snell]]
| 1929–30
|-
| [[James Barr (politician)|James Barr]]
| 1930–31
|-
|-
| [[Arthur Henderson]]
| 1931
! colspan=2 rowspan=2|
|-
| [[George Lansbury]]
| 1931–1935
|-
| rowspan=3|[[Clement Attlee]]
| rowspan=3|1935–1955
| [[Neil Maclean]]
| 1945–46
| [[Hastings Lees-Smith]]
| 1940–1941
|-
| [[Maurice Webb (politician)|Maurice Webb]]
| 1946–1950
| [[Frederick Pethick-Lawrence]]
| 1942
|-
| [[Glenvil Hall]]
| 1950–51
| [[Arthur Greenwood]]
| 1942–1945
|-
|-
| [[Hugh Gaitskell]]
| 1955–1963
! colspan=2|
! colspan=2 rowspan=3|
|-
| rowspan=2|[[Harold Wilson]]
| rowspan=2|1963–1970
| [[Manny Shinwell]]
| 1964–1967
|-
| [[Douglas Houghton]]
| 1967–1970
|-
! Chairman !! Tenure !! colspan=6|
|-
| [[Douglas Houghton]]
| 1970–1974
! colspan=4 rowspan=14|
|-
| [[Ian Mikardo]]
| 1974
|-
| [[Cledwyn Hughes, Baron Cledwyn of Penrhos]]
| 1974–1979
|-
| [[Fred Willey]]
| 1979–1981
|-
| [[Jack Dormand]]
| 1981–1987
|-
| [[Stan Orme]]
| 1987–1992
|-
| [[Doug Hoyle]]
| 1992–1997
|-
| [[Clive Soley]]
| 1997–2001
|-
| [[Jean Corston]]
| 2001–2005
|-
| [[Ann Clwyd]]
| 2005–2006
|-
| [[Tony Lloyd]]
| 2006–2012
|-
| [[David Watts, Baron Watts|David Watts]]
| 2012–2015
|-
| [[John Cryer]]
| 2015–2024
|-
| [[Jessica Morden]]
| 2024–present
|-
|}

==Other roles and groups==
There is also a deputy chair.

Other groups have been established within the PLP, such as the Women's PLP and the LGBT+ PLP.

[[Labour and Co-operative]] MPs form part of the PLP, though they also meet (together with Labour Co-op members of the House of Lords) as the Co-operative Parliamentary Group, which has its own chair.

==See also==
*[[1922 Committee]]
*[[Parliamentary group]]

==References==
{{Reflist|30em}}

{{Labour Party UK MPs}}
{{UK Labour Party}}
{{Authority control}}

[[Category:Organisation of the Labour Party (UK)]]
[[Category:Parliamentary groups in the United Kingdom]]

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Parliamentary Labour Party