1961 Labour Party leadership election

none August 2019 1961 Labour Party leadership election Labour_Party_first_logo.png presidential no 1960 Labour Party leadership election 1960 1963 Labour Party leadership election (UK) 1963 1961 11 2 yes Hugh Todd Naylor Gaitskell.jpg 160x160px Hugh Gaitskell 171 74.4% Anthony Greenwood.jpg 160x160px Tony Greenwood 59 25.7% Leader Hugh Gaitskell Hugh Gaitskell The 1961 Labour Party leadership election was held when, for the second year in succession, the incumbent leader was challenged for re-election. Normally the annual re-election of the leader had been a formality. The challenge followed factional in-fighting over issues like nuclear disarmament. The leader favoured the retention of nuclear weapons by the UK, whereas the left wing of the party supported the Campaign for Nuclear Disarmament. Candidates Two candidates were nominated. The left-wing candidate the previous year had been Harold Wilson. In 1961 the candidate was a less well-known political figure, Tony Greenwood (1911–1982), then MP for the Lancashire constituency of Rossendale. He had been an MP since 1946 and was the son of Arthur Greenwood (1880–1954), who had been a Labour leadership candidate in 1935. The incumbent right-wing leader of the party was Hugh Gaitskell (1906–1963), who had been Chancellor of the Exchequer in 1950–51. Gaitskell had been MP for Leeds South since 1945 and party leader since 1955. Ballot The result of the only ballot of Labour MPs on 2 November was as follows: Only ballot: 2 November 1961CandidateVotes% Hugh Gaitskell 171 74.35 Tony Greenwood 59 25.65 Majority 112 48.70 Turnout 230 N/A Hugh Gaitskell re-elected References Twentieth-Century British Political Facts 1900–2000 David Butler Gareth Butler Macmillan Press 8th 2000 Who's Who of British Members of Parliament, Volume IV 1945–1979 M. Stenton S. Lees Harvester Press 1981 collapsed 1961 Labour Party leadership election Labour Party leadership election Category:Hugh Gaitskell Labour Party leadership election