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The1992 Labour Party leadership election followed theLabour Party's failure to win the1992 general election and the subsequent resignation of party leaderNeil Kinnock.
There were only two candidates in the election, withJohn Smith always the clear favourite to win.[1] The ballot took place on 18 July 1992 at the Labour Party conference. Affiliated organisations had 40% of the vote, while Constituency Labour Parties and the Parliamentary Labour Party had 30% each in theelectoral college.Gordon Brown andRobin Cook were both seen as potential candidates, but did not stand.
John Smith was elected in alandslide victory with 91% of the vote. This was the last Labour Party leadership election which used thetrade union block vote; the system was reformed under Smith's leadership to aone member, one vote system which was in place for the1994 leadership election held two years later when Smith died suddenly of a heart attack.
The contest took place simultaneously with the1992 Labour Party deputy leadership election.
| Candidate[2] | Affiliated block votes (40%)[3] | CLP block votes (30%) | PLP votes (30%) | Overall result | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Votes | % | Votes | % | Votes | % | % | |||
John Smith Y | 4,822 | 96.3 | 597 | 98.0 | 229 | 77.1 | 91.1 | ||
| Bryan Gould | 187 | 3.7 | 12 | 2.0 | 68 | 22.9 | 9.0 | ||
John Smith was elected leader of the Labour Party with a clear majority.
Shortly afterBlack Wednesday in September 1992, Labour's lead in theopinion polls began to rise. By the time of his sudden death, Smith was widely predicted and expected to become prime minister at the next general election.
In the event, he would only serve two years before his death, which precipitatedanother leadership election.
The Sunday Times describedTony Blair, theShadow Employment Secretary at the time, as "The Leader Labour Missed" following Smith's win.[4][better source needed] Blair would go on to be leader between 1994 and 2007.
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