2020 Labour Party leadership election (UK)

The 2020 Labour Party leadership election was held between (21 February – 4 April 2020) to elect a leader to replace Jeremy Corbyn. On 13 December 2019, Corbyn announced that he would not lead the Labour Party into the next general election, following the party's poor performance in the December 2019 election.^[2]

2020 Labour Party leadership election

← 2016 24 February – 4 April 2020 (2020-02-24 – 2020-04-04) Next →
Turnout	490,731 (62.58%)[1]
Candidate Keir Starmer Rebecca Long-Bailey Lisa Nandy Popular vote 275,780 135,218 79,597 Percentage 56.2% 27.6% 16.2%
Leader before election Jeremy Corbyn Elected Leader Keir Starmer

It was won by Keir Starmer who received 56.2 per cent of the vote on the first round. It was held alongside the 2020 Labour Party deputy leadership election.

Background

Jeremy Corbyn was elected Labour Party leader in a 2015 leadership election and re-elected leader in 2016 after a challenge from Owen Smith. While Labour gained seats in the 2017 general election, the party lost 60 seats in the 2019 election, its worst result since the 1935 general election. Corbyn announced that he would resign after a "process of reflection".^[3]

Timetable

The timetable for the election was set by the party's National Executive Committee on 6 January 2020.^[4]

• 7 January: Nominations from the PLP and EPLP open
• 13 January: Nominations from the PLP and EPLP close
• 14 January (17:00): Registered supporter applications open
• 15 January: Nominations from CLPs and affiliates open
• 16 January (17:00): Registered supporter applications close
• 20 January (17:00): Party members and affiliate members must join by this date to be eligible to vote
• 14 February: Nominations from CLPs and affiliates close
• 21 February: Voting starts
• 2 April (12:00): Voting closes
• 4 April: Result announced

Candidates

Declared

The following individuals have been nominated as official candidates by the party:

Candidate	Born	Political office	Announced	Nominated	Campaign	Ref.
Rebecca Long-Bailey	22 September 1979 (age 45) Stretford, Greater Manchester, England	Shadow business secretary (2017–present) MP for Salford and Eccles (2015–present) Shadow Chief Secretary to the Treasury (2016–17) Shadow treasury minister (2015–16)	6 January 2020[5]	29 January 2020	Campaign Archived 2020-03-13 at the Wayback Machine	[6]
Lisa Nandy	9 August 1979 (age 46) Manchester, England	MP for Wigan (since 2010) Shadow energy secretary (2015–2016)	4 January 2020[7]	22 January 2020	Campaign Archived 2020-03-06 at the Wayback Machine	[8]
Keir Starmer	2 September 1962 (age 62) Southwark, London, England	Shadow Brexit secretary (since 2017) MP for Holborn and St Pancras (since 2015) Shadow immigration minister (2015-16)	4 January 2020[9]	20 January 2020	Campaign	[10]

Eliminated

Candidate	Born	Political office	Announced	Eliminated	Endorsed	Campaign
Emily Thornberry	27 July 1960 (age 65) Guildford, Surrey	Shadow First Secretary of State (2017–present) Shadow foreign secretary (2016–present) MP for Islington South and Finsbury (2005–present) Shadow Brexit secretary (2016) Shadow defence secretary (2016) Shadow employment minister (2015–16) Shadow Attorney General (2011–2014)	18 December 2019[11]	14 February 2020		Campaign[permanent dead link]

Withdrawn

Candidate	Born	Political office	Announced	Withdrew	Endorsed	Campaign
Clive Lewis	11 September 1971 (age 53) London, England	Shadow treasury minister (2018–present) MP for Norwich South (2015–present) Shadow business secretary (2016–17) Shadow defence secretary (2016)	19 December 2019[12]	13 January 2020[13]		Campaign Archived 2020-02-27 at the Wayback Machine
Jess Phillips	9 October 1981 (age 43) Birmingham, England	MP for Birmingham Yardley (since 2015)	3 January 2020[14]	21 January 2020[15]	Lisa Nandy[16]	Campaign

Declined

The following individuals were discussed in the media as potential leadership candidates, but chose not to stand:

• Diane Abbott, Shadow Home Secretary^[17] (endorsed Long-Bailey)
• Yvette Cooper, chair of the Home Affairs Select Committee since 2016^[18] (endorsed Starmer)^[19]
• Barry Gardiner, shadow international trade secretary^[20] (endorsed Long-Bailey)^[21]
• Dan Jarvis, MP for Barnsley Central, Mayor of the Sheffield City Region^[22][23] (nominated Nandy)
• David Lammy, former universities minister^[24] (endorsed Starmer)^[25]
• Ian Lavery, Chair of the Labour Party^[26] (endorsed Long-Bailey)^[27]
• John McDonnell, shadow chancellor (endorsed Long-Bailey)^[28]
• Angela Rayner, shadow education secretary (running for deputy leader, endorsed Long-Bailey)^[29]

PLP and EPLP Nominations

Candidates first need to be nominated by at least 10% (twenty-two) of current Labour MPs and MEPs, who make up the Parliamentary Labour Party (PLP) and the European Parliamentary Labour Party (EPLP).

The candidates who have passed this threshold need nominations from at least 5% (thirty-three) CLPs, or at least three affiliates including at least two trades unions that together represent at least 5% of affiliated members.

The table below shows the current number of nominations achieved by each candidate.

Candidate	First stage Labour MPs and MEPs			Second stage
				Constituency Labour Parties			Affiliates
	Nominations[30]	%		Nominations[31][32]	%		Nominations[31][32]
Keir Starmer	88 / 212 [a]	41.5%	Y	369 / 647	57%	Y	12 / 32	Y
Rebecca Long-Bailey	34 / 212	16%	Y	159 / 647	24.6%	Y	7 / 32	Y
Lisa Nandy	31 / 212	14.6%	Y	71 / 647	11%	Y	3 / 32	Y
Emily Thornberry	23 / 212	10.8%	Y	30 / 647	4.6%	N	0 / 32	N
Jess Phillips (withdrawn)	23 / 212	10.8%	Y	0 / 647	0%	N	0 / 32	N
Clive Lewis (withdrawn)	5 / 212	2.4%
Total nominations	198 / 212 [b]	93.4%		630 / 647	97.4%		22 / 32

1. Starmer did not formally nominate himself, therefore the Labour Party lists him as having received 88 nominations, whereas some reports of the contest list him as having received 89 nominations
2. Not including Lewis's nominations and not taking Starmer as having nominated himself

List of supporters