1935 Labour Party leadership election

none April 2022 1935 Labour Party leadership election Labour_Party_first_logo.png presidential no 1932 Labour Party leadership election 1932 1955 Labour Party leadership election 1955 First ballot Second ballot 1935 11 26 yes File:Clement Attlee (1938).jpg Clement Attlee 58 (43.0%) 88 (64.7%) File:Herbert Morrison (cropped).jpg Herbert Morrison 44 (32.6%) 48 (35.3%) File:Arthur Greenwood (cropped).jpg Arthur Greenwood 33 (24.4%) Eliminated Leader Clement Attlee (interim) Clement Attlee The 1935 Labour Party leadership election took place on 26 November 1935 when Herbert Morrison and Arthur Greenwood challenged incumbent interim party leader Clement Attlee. Background In early October 1935, at the annual party conference the NEC had tabled a resolution calling for sanctions against Italy who had just invaded Abyssinia. This was opposed by the party's leader George Lansbury but was nevertheless passed with the support of the trade unions. Feeling that a Christian pacifist could no longer lead the party following this defeat, Lansbury resigned as leader on 8 October. Realising the disunity of the opposition, Prime Minister Stanley Baldwin called a general election on 19 October to be held on 14 November. With no time to choose a new leader, Deputy Leader Clement Attlee (who had been acting leader since Lansbury resigned) was appointed as interim leader on 25 October to contest the election. Following the election, with the Labour Party now having roughly three times as many MPs as in the 1931–5 Parliament, both Herbert Morrison and Arthur Greenwood stood in the annual election for leader, feeling that Attlee's appointment had only been intended as an interim measure. Morrison had not been an MP at the time of the October appointment, whilst Greenwood had declined to offer himself as a candidate then because he was strongly associated with trade union leaders such as Ernest Bevin, who were widely regarded as the reasons for forcing Lansbury to resign, a move that the vast majority of Labour MPs opposed. Candidates Clement Attlee, incumbent interim Leader of the Labour Party, Member of Parliament for Limehouse Arthur Greenwood, former Minister for Health, Member of Parliament for Wakefield Herbert Morrison, Leader of the London County Council, Member of Parliament for Hackney South Results The contest took place on 26 November 1935:http://www.election.demon.co.uk/lableader.html Leaders of the Labour Party Election.demon.co.uk 2016-07-16 2018-04-24 https://web.archive.org/web/20180424212647/http://www.election.demon.co.uk/lableader.html dead Round 1 NameVotes%Clement Attlee5843.0Herbert Morrison4432.6Arthur Greenwood 3324.4 As the lowest-placed candidate, Greenwood was eliminated from the race. Round 2 A second round then took place: NameVotes%Clement Attlee 8864.7Herbert Morrison4835.3 With a clear majority, Attlee retained the party leadership. Deputy leadership ballot Greenwood was subsequently elected unopposed as Deputy Leader.Mr Attlee Re-Elected https://books.google.co.uk/books?id=ip9AAAAAIBAJ&pg=PA13&dq=Arthur+Greenwood&article_id=3249,4478032&hl=en&sa=X&ved=2ahUKEwjL5eil_uKTAxVXWEEAHSGALGMQ6AF6BAgLEAM#v=onepage&q=Arthur%20Greenwood&f=false 10 April 2026 The Glasgow Herald 27 November 1935 Westminster 13 Aftermath Herbert Morrison later claimed that he was denied the leadership of the Labour Party in the 1935 election by the votes of Labour MPs who were members of New Welcome Lodge.John Hamill and Andrew Prescott, 'The Masons' Candidate: New Welcome Lodge No. 5139 and the Parliamentary Labour Party' https://web.archive.org/web/20121014122312/http://www.ingentaconnect.com/content/maney/lhr/2006/00000071/00000001/art00002 2012-10-14 , Labour History Review, Volume 71, Number 1, April 2006, pp. 9–41(33), citing H. Morrison, Herbert Morrison: An Autobiography (London, Odhams, 1960), p. 164 Morrison's backer Hugh Dalton made similar claims, and went further than Morrison by claiming to have been shown the summons for the meeting at which the voting was decided.Hugh Dalton, Ben Pimlott, The Political Diary of Hugh Dalton, 1918–40, 1945–60 (London School of Economics and Political Science, 0-224-01912-0), p.224. Dalton believed that the members of New Welcome Lodge backed Arthur Greenwood, who was a member of the lodge, and then backed Clement Attlee in order to block Morrison.Hamill and Prescott, pp. 9–41(33), citing H. Dalton, The Fateful Years, (London: Frederick Muller Ltd., 1957), p. 82 References expanded Category:1935 elections in the United Kingdom Labour leadership election Labour Party leadership election 1935 Category:Clement Attlee Category:Herbert Morrison Category:November 1935 in the United Kingdom