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The2015 Labour Party deputy leadership election was triggered on 8 May 2015 by the resignation ofHarriet Harman asDeputy Leader of the Labour Party of the United Kingdom following the party's defeat at the2015 General Election. Harman, the Deputy Leader of the Labour Party, became Acting Leader followingLeaderEd Miliband's resignation. Harman announced on the same day that she would step down as Deputy Leader, with her resignation taking effect when the new Leader and Deputy Leader are elected.[1]
Five candidates were successfully nominated to stand in the deputy leadership election:Ben Bradshaw,Stella Creasy,Angela Eagle,Caroline Flint, andTom Watson. The voting process began on Friday 14 August 2015 and closed on Thursday 10 September 2015, with the results being announced on Saturday 12 September 2015. Voting was byLabour Party members and registered and affiliated supporters, using thealternative vote system.
Tom Watson was elected deputy leader with 50.7% of the vote on the third ballot.[2][3] Coterminous with the deputy leadership election, in the2015 Labour Party leadership election,Jeremy Corbyn was elected as leader.
The leadership election, triggered by Harman's resignation, took place under the reformed rules adopted from the proposals of the February 2014 Collins Report, which was led byRay Collins.[4] The plan entailed a shorter election than the one that took place in2010, with a new deputy leader in place beforeLabour's party conference in September 2015.[5]
The review changed the way in which Labour elects leaders. Under the former system, a three-wayelectoral college chose the leader, with one-third weight given to the votes of theParliamentary Labour Party (i.e. Labour members of theHouse of Commons) and Labourmembers of the European Parliament; one-third to individual Labour Party members, and one third to the trade union andaffiliated societies sections.Ed Miliband famously won following a large victory in the third of these colleges.
Following the Collins review, this system was replaced by a "one member, one vote" (OMOV) system. Candidates were elected by members and registered and affiliated supporters, who all received a maximum of one vote. This meant that, for example, members of Labour-affiliated trade unions needed to register as Labour supporters in order to vote.
In order to stand, candidates needed to have been nominated by at least 15% of theParliamentary Labour Party (PLP) – 35MPs. The vote, as in previous elections, was held by thealternative vote (instant-runoff) system. Theleadership election was held under the same rules.
A meeting of Labour'sNational Executive Committee took place on 13 May 2015 to set a timetable and procedure for the two elections.[6]
Flint was viewed as aBlairite, while Watson was viewed as having close links to the trade unions.[16] One party source was anonymously quoted in theFinancial Times as comparing a potential contest between Flint and Watson to the hotly contested1981 deputy leadership election betweenDenis Healey and the leftistTony Benn.[16]
To be placed on the ballot, candidates for deputy leader must have obtained the nominations of 35 MPs. The number of MPs next to the candidate's name includes the actual candidate too, as they can count as one of the 35 MPs needed. Members with bold numbers succeeded to get the 35 nominations needed to make the ballot. Nominations for candidates by MPs were:[15]
Before dropping out of the race on 17 June,Rushanara Ali had the following 24 nominations:Roberta Blackman-Woods,Paul Blomfield,Lyn Brown,Dawn Butler,Julie Cooper,Jeremy Corbyn,Clive Efford,Fabian Hamilton,Helen Hayes,Tristram Hunt,Rupa Huq,Sadiq Khan,Seema Malhotra,John Mann,John McDonnell,Chi Onwurah,Teresa Pearce,Matthew Pennycook,Yasmin Qureshi,Dennis Skinner,Andy Slaughter,Keir Starmer,Chuka Umunna[15]
Before dropping out of the race on 11 June,John Healey had the following 20 nominations:Sarah Champion,Clive Efford,Holly Lynch,Kevin Barron,Andy Slaughter,Clive Betts,Ruth Cadbury,Simon Danczuk,Louise Ellman,Fabian Hamilton,Harry Harpham,Madeleine Moon,Paula Sherriff,Derek Twigg,Paul Blomfield,Ivan Lewis,Gordon Marsden,Chris Leslie,Teresa Pearce[17]
| YouGov/The Times,[18] 17–21 July 2015, 1,054 eligible voters[a] | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| Candidate | First Round | Second Round | Third Round |
| Tom Watson | 41% | 46% | 50% |
| Stella Creasy | 21% | 22% | 26% |
| Caroline Flint | 17% | 19% | 23% |
| Ben Bradshaw | 11% | 13% | — |
| Angela Eagle | 10% | — | — |
| Candidate | Party members | Registered supporters | Affiliated supporters | Total | ||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Votes | % | Votes | % | Votes | % | Votes | % | |||
| Tom Watson | 90,018 | 37.5 | 43,729 | 43.7 | 27,105 | 39.6 | 160,852 | 39.4 | ||
| Stella Creasy | 47,372 | 19.7 | 22,465 | 22.5 | 8,263 | 12.1 | 78,100 | 19.1 | ||
| Angela Eagle | 36,321 | 15.1 | 15,676 | 15.7 | 14,016 | 20.5 | 66,013 | 16.2 | ||
| Caroline Flint | 41,504 | 17.3 | 11,282 | 11.3 | 11,639 | 17.0 | 64,425 | 15.8 | ||
| Ben Bradshaw | 24,738 | 10.3 | 6,839 | 6.8 | 7,503 | 10.9 | 39,080 | 9.6 | ||
| Candidate | Party members | Registered supporters | Affiliated supporters | Total | ||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Votes | % | Votes | % | Votes | % | Votes | % | |||
| Tom Watson | 96,008 | 40.4 | 45,329 | 45.9 | 29,252 | 43.2 | 170,589 | 42.2 | ||
| Stella Creasy | 52,866 | 22.2 | 23,959 | 24.2 | 9,730 | 14.4 | 86,555 | 21.4 | ||
| Caroline Flint | 48,208 | 20.3 | 12,948 | 13.1 | 13,425 | 19.8 | 74,581 | 18.4 | ||
| Angela Eagle | 40,559 | 17.1 | 16,583 | 16.8 | 15,375 | 22.7 | 72,517 | 17.9 | ||
| Candidate | Party members | Registered supporters | Affiliated supporters | Total | ||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Votes | % | Votes | % | Votes | % | Votes | % | |||
Tom Watson Y | 111,465 | 48.1 | 51,815 | 54.5 | 35,682 | 54.5 | 198,962 | 50.7 | ||
| Stella Creasy | 62,875 | 27.1 | 27,874 | 29.3 | 12,997 | 19.8 | 103,746 | 26.4 | ||
| Caroline Flint | 57,305 | 24.7 | 15,434 | 16.2 | 16,799 | 25.7 | 89,538 | 22.8 | ||
Source:[2]
2015 United Kingdom party leadership elections | ||
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