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{{Infobox British Political Party|party_name = Labour Party|party_articletitle = Labour Party (UK)|party_logo = |leader = Gordon Brown|preceded by = [Tony Blair|foundation = [February 27, 1900 (Official Position)
[Social Democracy
Third Way (centrism)
|position = Centre Right http://www.politicalcompass.org/extremeright]|european = Party of European Socialists|colours = [Red, SW1H 0HA|website = www.labour.org.uk-->

The Labour Party is a [political party in the United Kingdom. Founded in the early 20th century, it has been since the 1920s the principal party of the Left-wing politics in England, Scotland and Wales (but not in Northern Ireland, where the Social Democratic and Labour Party occupies a roughly similar position on the political spectrum). It has formed the national government of the United Kingdom since 1997. It is also the largest party in the Welsh Assembly Government in Wales and the second largest party in the Scottish Parliament. It holds Mayor of London and is represented in the European Parliament. Its current leader is Gordon Brown.

The Labour Party surpassed the Liberal Party (UK) as the main opposition to the Conservative Party (UK) in the early 1920s. It has had several spells in government, first as minority governments under Ramsay MacDonald in 1924 and 1929-31, then as a junior partner in the wartime coalition from 1940-1945, and then as a majority government, under Clement Attlee in 1945-51 and under Harold Wilson in 1964-70. Labour was in government again in 1974-79, under Wilson and then James Callaghan, though with a precarious and declining majority.

Labour won a landslide victory in the United Kingdom general election, 1997 under the leadership of Tony Blair, its first general election victory since United Kingdom general election, 1974 (October) and the first general election since United Kingdom general election, 1970 in which it had exceeded 40% of the popular vote. The Labour Party's large majority in the UK House of Commons was slightly reduced to 167 in the United Kingdom general election, 2001 and more substantially reduced to 66 in United Kingdom general election, 2005.

Party ideology The Labour Party grew out of the trade union movement and socialist political parties of the 19th century, and continues to describe itself as a party of democratic socialism.

The Labour Party traditionally was in favour of socialist policies such as public ownership of key industries, Economic intervention in the economy, Income redistribution of wealth, increased rights for workers and trade unions, and a belief in the welfare state and publically funded healthcare and education.

Since the mid-1980s, under the leadership of Neil Kinnock, John Smith (UK politician) and Tony Blair the party has moved away from its traditional socialist position towards what is often described as the "Third Way (centrism)" adopting some Thatcherite and free market policies after losing in four consecutive general elections.

This has led many observers to describe the Labour Party as social democracy or even neo-liberal rather than democratic socialist.New Labour and Thatcherism: Political Change in Britain, Richard Heffernan, 2001; New Labour has picked up where Thatcherism left off, Stuart Hall, The Guardian, August 6, 2003; From Thatcherism to New Labour: Neo-Liberalism, Workfarism and Labour Market Regulation, Professor Bob Jessop, Lancaster University; New Labour, Economic Reform and the European Social Model, Jonathon Hopkin and Daniel Wincott, British Journal of Politics and International Relations, 2006. Blair himself has described New Labour's political position as a "Third Way (centrism)".

Party constitution and structure The Labour Party is a membership organisation consisting of Constituency Labour Parties, affiliated trade unions, socialist societies, and the Co-operative Party, with which it has an electoral agreement. Members who are elected to parliamentary positions take part in the Parliamentary Labour Party (PLP) and European Parliamentary Labour Party (EPLP). The party's decision-making bodies on a national level formally include the National Executive Committee (NEC), Labour Party Conference, and National Policy Forum (NPF) — although in practice the Parliamentary leadership has the final say on policy. Questions of internal party democracy have frequently provoked disputes in the party.

For many years, Labour has held to a policy of United Ireland Northern Ireland and the Republic of Ireland by consent, and had not allowed residents of Northern Ireland to apply for membership,, ca. 1999. via Internet Archive. Accessed 31 March 2007. "Residents of Northern Ireland are not eligible for membership." instead supporting the Irish nationalism Social Democratic and Labour Party (SDLP) which takes the Labour whip. Yet Labour has a Unionism in Ireland faction in its ranks, many of whom assisted in the foundation in 1995 of the UK Unionist Party lead by Robert McCartney. The 2003 Labour Party Conference accepted legal advice that the party could not continue to prohibit residents of the province joining, Labour NI ban overturned, BBC News. 1 October 2003. Accessed 31 March 2007. but the National Executive has decided not to organise or contest elections there.

The party had 198,026 members on 31 December, 2005 according to accounts filed with the Electoral Commission which was down on the previous year. In that year it had an income of about £35,000,000 (£3,685,000 from membership fees) and expenditure of about £50,000,000.

Party electoral manifestos have not contained the term socialism since 1992, although when Clause 4 was abolished the words "the Labour Party is a democratic socialist party" were added to the party's constitution.

History Early years , founded in 1893The Labour Party's origins lie in the late 19th century numeric increase of the urban proletariat and the extension of the suffrage to working-class males, when it became apparent that there was a need for a political party to represent the interests and needs of those groups.See, for instance, the 1899 Lyons vs. Wilkins judgement, which limited certain types of picketing Some members of the trade union movement became interested in moving into the political field, and after the extensions of the franchise in 1867 and 1885, the Liberal Party (UK) endorsed some trade-union sponsored candidates. In addition, several small socialist groups had formed around this time with the intention of linking the movement to political policies. Among these were the Independent Labour Party, the intellectual and largely middle-class Fabian Society, the Social Democratic Federation and the Scottish Labour Party (1888–1893).

, one of the Labour Party's founders and first leaderIn 1899 a Doncaster member of the Amalgamated Society of Railway Servants, Thomas R. Steels, proposed in his union branch that the Trade Union Congress call a special conference to bring together all the left-wing organisations and form them into a single body which would sponsor Parliamentary candidates. The motion was passed at all stages by the TUC, and this special conference was held at the Memorial Hall, Farringdon Street, London on February 27-28, 1900. The meeting was attended by a broad spectrum of working-class and left-wing organisations; trade unions representing about one third of the membership of the TUC delegates.

The Conference created an association called the Labour Representation Committee (LRC), meant to coordinate attempts to support MPs, MPs sponsored by trade unions and representing the working-class population. It had no single leader. In the absence of one, the Independent Labour Party nominee Ramsay MacDonald was elected as Secretary. He had the difficult task of keeping the various strands of opinions in the LRC united. The October 1900 'Khaki election' came too soon for the new party to effectively campaign. Only 15 candidatures were sponsored, but two were successful: Keir Hardie in Merthyr Tydfil (UK Parliament constituency) and Richard Bell (politician) in Derby (UK Parliament constituency).

Support for the LRC was boosted by the 1901 Taff Vale Case, a dispute between strikers and a railway company that ended with the union ordered to pay £23,000 damages for a strike action. The judgement effectively made strikes illegal since employers could recoup the cost of lost business from the unions. The apparent acquiescence of the Conservative government of Arthur Balfour to industrial and business interests (traditionally the allies of the Liberal Party (UK) in opposition to the Conservative's landed interests) intensified support for the LRC against a government that appeared to have little concern for the industrial proletariat and its problems. The LRC won two by-elections in 1902–1903.

In the United Kingdom general election, 1906, the LRC won 29 seats — helped by the secret 1903 pact between Ramsay Macdonald and Liberal Party (UK) Chief Whip Herbert John Gladstone(the lib/lab pact), 1st Viscount Gladstone, which aimed at avoiding Labour/Liberal contests in the interest of removing the Conservatives from office.

In their first meeting after the election, the group's Members of Parliament decided adopt the name "The Labour Party" (February 15, 1906). Keir Hardie, who had taken a leading role in getting the party established, was elected as Chairman of the Parliamentary Labour Party (in effect, the Leader), although only by one vote over David Shackleton after several ballots. In the party's early years, the Independent Labour Party (ILP) provided much of its activist base as the party did not have an individual membership until 1918 and operated as a conglomerate of affiliated bodies until that date. The Fabian Society provided much of the intellectual stimulus for the party. One of the first acts of the new Liberal government was to reverse the Taff Vale judgement.

The recession of 1908-09 and subsequent rise in unemployment led to increased industrial unrest and the desire for radical change among the working class. There was increasing support both for syndicalism and for change through parliament. In the two 1910 elections, Labour gained 40 seats and then 42 seats. Support grew further for during the 1910–1914 period along with an unprecedented level of industrial action with National Union of Seamen, National Union of Railwaymen, cotton workers, National Union of Mineworkers, Dockers' Union (UK) and many other groups all organising strikes. This was called the period of 'Great Unrest' with many sympathy strikes also occurring. This was no doubt helped by the sometimes heavy-handed measures of the Liberal government (e.g., Winston Churchill's sending troops to the Rhondda valley in 1910 against coal miners, with some fatalities resulting).

World War I and the lead up to the first Labour government (1914-1923) During the World War I the Labour Party split between supporters and opponents of the conflict and opposition within the party to the war grew as time went on. Ramsay MacDonald, a notable anti-war campaigner, resigned as leader of the Parliamentary Labour Party and Arthur Henderson became the main figure of authority within the Party and was soon accepted into H. H. Asquith's War Cabinet.

Despite mainstream Labour Party's support for the Coalition, the Independent Labour Party was instrumental in opposing mobilisation through organisations such as the Non-Conscription Fellowship and a Labour Party affiliate, the British Socialist Party organised a number of unofficial strike action.

Arthur Henderson resigned from the Cabinet in 1917 amidst calls for Party unity, being replaced by George Nicoll Barnes. The growth in Labour's local activist base and organisation was reflected in the elections following the War, with the co-operative movement now providing its own resources to the Co-operative Party after the armistice. The Co-operative Party later reached an electoral agreement with the Labour Party.

The Liberal Party splitting between supporters of leader David Lloyd George and former leader H. H. Asquith allowed the Labour Party to co-opt some of the Liberals' support, and by the United Kingdom general election, 1922 Labour had supplanted the Liberal Party (UK) as the second party in the United Kingdom and as the official opposition to the Conservative Party (UK). After the election, the now rehabilitated Ramsay MacDonald was voted the first official leader of the Labour Party.

Labour's electoral base resided in the industrial areas of Northern England, the Midlands, central Scotland and Wales. In these areas Labour Clubs were founded to provide recreation for working men, with many of these clubs becoming affiliated to The Working Men's Club and Institute Union. Because of the concentrated geographical nature of Labour's support, industrial downturns tended to hit Labour voters directly. Anecdotal evidence suggests that party membership was often working-class but also included many middle-class radicals, former liberals and socialists. Accordingly, the more middle-class branches in London and the South of England tended to be more left-wing and radical than those in the primary industrial areas., the first Labour Prime Minister, 1924, 1929–35 (National Government (United Kingdom))

The first Labour government (1924) The United Kingdom general election, 1923 was fought on the Conservatives' protectionist proposals; although they got the most votes and remained the largest party, they lost their majority in parliament, requiring a government supporting free trade to be formed. So with the acquiescence of Asquith's Liberals, Ramsay MacDonald became Prime Minister in January 1924 and formed the first ever Labour government, despite Labour only having 191 MPs (less than a third of the House of Commons).

The government collapsed after only nine months when the Liberals voted for a Select Committee inquiry into the Patrick Hastings#Campbell Case, a vote which MacDonald had declared to be a vote of confidence. The ensuing United Kingdom general election, 1924 saw the publication, four days before polling day, of the notorious Zinoviev letter, which implicated Labour in a plot for a Communist revolution in Britain, and the Conservatives were returned to power, although Labour increased its vote from 30.7% of the popular vote to a third of the popular vote - most of the Conservative gains were at the expense of the Liberals. The Zinoviev letter is now generally believed to have been a forgery.

The General Strike (1926) The new Conservative government led by Stanley Baldwin faced a number of labour problems most notably the UK General Strike of 1926. Ramsay MacDonald continued with his policy of opposing strike action, including the General Strike, arguing that the best way to achieve social reforms was through the ballot box, although Labour claimed that the BBC was biased in its reporting against the party over the issue. General strike: House of commons, The Guardian, reproduction of 6 May 1926 article The General Strike 1926 BBC Archive Biography of Ramsay MacDonald, British Library of Political and Economic Science

The split under MacDonald The United Kingdom general election, 1929 left the Labour Party for the first time as the largest grouping in the House of Commons with 287 seats, and 37.1% of the popular vote (actually slightly less than the Conservatives). However, MacDonald was still reliant on Liberal support to form a minority government.

The Wall Street Crash of 1929 and eventual Great Depression in the United Kingdom occurred soon after this election, and the crisis hit Britain hard. By 1930 the unemployment rate had doubled to over two and a half million.Davies, A.J. To Build a New Jerusalem (1996) Abacus ISBN 0349 108099 The government found itself struggling to cope with the crisis. Under pressure from its Liberal allies as well as the Conservative opposition, the Labour government appointed a committee headed by Sir George May, 1st Baron May to review the state of public finances. The May Report of July 1931 urged public-sector wage cuts and large cuts in public spending (notably in payments to the unemployed) in order to avoid a budget deficit.

This proposal proved deeply unpopular within the Labour Party grass roots, the trade unions, which along with several government ministers refused to support any such measures. MacDonald, and the Chancellor of the Exchequer, Philip Snowden, insisted that the Report's recommendations must be adopted to avoid incurring a budget deficit.

One junior minister Oswald Moseley put forward a memorandum in January 1930, calling for the public control of imports and banking as well as an increase in pensions to boost spending power. When this was turned down, Moseley resigned from the government and went on to form the New Party (UK), and later the British Union of Fascists.

The dispute over spending and wage cuts split the Labour government; as it turned out, fatally. The resulting political deadlock caused investors to take fright, and a flight of capital and gold further de-stabilised the economy. In response, MacDonald, on the urging of George V of the United Kingdom, decided to form a National Government (United Kingdom), with the Conservative Party (UK) and the The Liberal Party (UK).

On August 24 1931 MacDonald submitted the resignation of his ministers and led a small number of his senior colleagues, most notably Snowden and Dominions Secretary James Henry Thomas, in forming the National Government with the other parties. MacDonald and his supporters were then expelled from the Labour Party and formed the National Labour Party (UK). The remaining Labour Party, now led by Arthur Henderson, and a few Liberals went into opposition. The Labour Party denounced MacDonald as a "traitor" and a "rat" for what they saw as his betrayal.

Soon after this, a General Election was called. The United Kingdom general election, 1931 resulted in a Conservative landslide victory, and was a disaster for the Labour Party which won only 52 seats, 225 fewer than in 1929. MacDonald continued as Prime Minister of the Conservative dominated National Government until 1935.

Opposition during the time of the National Government Arthur Henderson, who had been elected in 1931 as Labour leader to succeed MacDonald, lost his seat in the 1931 General Election. The only former Labour cabinet member who survived the landslide was the pacifist George Lansbury, who accordingly became party leader.

The party experienced a further split in 1932 when the Independent Labour Party, which for some years had been increasingly at odds with the Labour leadership, opted to disaffiliate from the Labour Party. The ILP embarked on a long drawn out decline.

Public disagreements between Lansbury and many Labour Party members over foreign policy, notably in relation to Lansbury's opposition to applying sanctions against Italy for its aggression against Abyssinia, caused Lansbury to resign during the 1935 Labour Party Conference.

He was succeeded by Clement Attlee, who achieved a revival in Labour's fortunes in the United Kingdom general election, 1935, winning a similar number of votes to those attained in 1929 and actually, at 38% of the popular vote, the highest percentage that Labour had ever achieved, securing 154 seats. Attlee was innitially regarded as a caretaker leader, however he turned out to be the longest serving party leader to date, and one of its most successful.

Labour achieved a number of by-election upsets in the later part of the 1930s despite the world depression having come to an end and unemployment falling.

Wartime Coalition When Neville Chamberlain resigned as Prime Minister after the defeat in Norway in spring 1940, incoming Prime Minister Winston Churchill decided that it was important to bring the other main parties into the government and have a Wartime Coalition similar to that in the First World War. Clement Attlee became Lord Privy Seal and a member of the War cabinet, and was effectively (and eventually formally) Deputy Prime Minister for the remainder of the duration of the War in Europe.

A number of other senior Labour figure took up senior positions: the trade union leader Ernest Bevin as Secretary of State for Employment directed Britain's wartime economy and allocation of manpower; the veteran Labour statesman Herbert Morrison became Home Secretary; Hugh Dalton was Minister of Economic Warfare and later President of the Board of Trade; and A. V. Alexander, 1st Earl Alexander of Hillsborough resumed the role of First Lord of the Admiralty he had held in the previous Labour government. The party generally performed well in government, and its experience there may have been partly responsible for its post-war success.

Post-War victory under Attlee With the end of the war in Europe in May 1945, Labour resolved not to repeat the Liberals' error of 1918, and withdrew from the government to contest the United Kingdom general election, 1945 (July 5) in opposition to Churchill's Conservatives. Surprising many observers, Labour won a landslide victory, with a majority of 145 seats. Although the exact reasons for the victory are still debated. During the war, public opinion surveys showed public opinion moving sharply to the left wing and in favour of radical social reformDavies, A.J. To Build a New Jerusalem (1996) Abacus ISBN 0349 108099. There was little public appetite for a return to the poverty and mass unemployment of the interwar years which had become associated with the Conservatives.: Labour Prime Minister 1945-51Clement Attlee's government was one of the most radical British governments of the 20th century. It presided over a policy of selective nationalisation of major industries and utillities, including the Bank of England, National Coal Board, the British Steel, electricity, water, gas, telephones, and inland transport (including the British Railways, road haulage and canals). It developed the "cradle to grave" welfare state conceived by the Liberal economist William Beveridge. To this day, the party still considers the creation in 1948 of Britain's tax-funded National Health Service under health minister Aneurin Bevan its proudest achievement.

Attlee's government also began the process of dismantling the British Empire when it granted independence to India in 1947. This was followed by Burma (Myanmar) and Ceylon (Sri Lanka) the following year.

With the onset of the Cold War, at a secret meeting in January 1947, Attlee, and six cabinet ministers including foreign minister Ernest Bevin, secretly decided to proceed with the development of Britain's nuclear deterrentDavies, A.J. To Build a New Jerusalem (1996) Abacus ISBN 0349 108099, in opposition to the pacifist and anti-nuclear stances of a large element inside the Labour Party.

Labour won the United Kingdom general election, 1950 but with a much reduced majority of five seats. Soon after the 1950 election, things started to go badly wrong for the Labour government. Defence became one of the divisive issues for Labour itself, especially defence spending (which reached 14% of GDP in 1951 during the Korean WarClark, Sir George, Illustrated History Of Great Britain, (1987) Octupus Books). These costs put enormous strain on public finances, forcing savings to be found elsewhere. The Chancellor of the Exchequer, Hugh Gaitskell introduced prescription charges for NHS prescription drug, causing Bevan, along with Harold Wilson (President of the Board of Trade) to resign over the dillution of the principle of free treatment.

Soon after this, another election was called. Labour narrowly lost the United Kingdom general election, 1951 to the Conservatives, despite their receiving a larger share of the popular vote and, in fact, their highest vote ever numerically.

Most of the changes introduced by the 1945-51 Labour government however were accepted by the Conservatives and became part of the "post war consensus", which lasted until the 1970s.

The "Thirteen Wasted Years" Following the defeat in 1951, the party became split over the future direction of socialism. The "Gaitskellite" right of the party led by Hugh Gaitskell and associated with thinkers such as Anthony Crosland wanted the party to adopt a moderate Social Democracy position. Whereas the "Bevanite" left, led by Anuerin Bevan wanted the party to adopt a more radical socialist position. This split, and the fact that the 1950s saw economic recovery and general public contentment with the Conservative governments of the time, helped keep the party out of power for thirteen years

After being defeated at the UK general election, 1955, Attlee resigned as leader and was replaced by Gaitskell. The trade union block vote, which generally voted with the leadership, ensured that the bevanites were eventually defeated.

The three key divisive issues that were to split the Labour party in successive decades emerged first during this period; nuclear disarmament, the famous Clause IV of the party's constitution, which called for the ultimate nationalisation of all means of production in the British economy, and Britain's entry into the European Economic Community (EEC). Tensions between the two opposing sides were exacerbated after Attlee resigned as leader in 1955 and Gaitskell defeated Bevan in the leadership election that followed. The party was briefly revived and unified during the Suez Crisis of 1956. The Conservative party was badly damaged by the incident while Labour was rejuvenated by its opposition to the policy of prime minister Anthony Eden. But Eden was replaced by Harold Macmillan, while the economy continued to improve.

In the UK general election, 1959 the Conservatives fought under the slogan "Life is better with the Conservatives, don't let Labour ruin it" and the result saw the government majority increase. Following the election bitter internecine disputes resumed. Gaitskell blamed the Left for the defeat and attempted unsuccessfully to amend Clause IV. At a hostile party conference in 1960 he failed to prevent a vote adopting unilateral nuclear disarmament as a party policy, declaring in response that he would "fight, fight and fight again to save the party I love". The decision was reversed the following year, but it remained a divisive issue, and many in the left continued to call for a change of leadership.

The Wilson Years , Labour Prime Minister 1964–1970 and 1974-1976Following Gaitskell's sudden death in 1963, Harold Wilson took over leadership of the party.

A downturn in the economy, along with a series of scandals in the early 1960s (the most notorious being the Profumo affair), engulfed the Conservative government by 1963. The Labour party returned to government with a wafer-thin 4 seat majority under Wilson in the United Kingdom general election, 1964, and increased their majority to 96 in United Kingdom general election, 1966 remaining in power until the United Kingdom general election, 1970 which, contrary to expectations during the campaign, they lost.

The 1960s Labour government had a different emphasis from its 1940s predecessor. Harold Wilson put faith in economic planning as a way to solve Britain's economic problems. Wilson famously referred to the "white heat of technology", referring to the modernisation of British industry. This was to be achieved through the swift adoption of new technology, aided by government-funded infrastructure improvements and the creation of large high-tech public sector corporations guided by a Ministry of Technology. Economic planning through the new Secretary of State for Economic Affairs was to improve the trade balance, whilst Labour carefully targeted taxation aimed at "luxury" goods and services.

Labour had difficulty managing the economy under the "Keynesian consensus" and the international markets instinctively mistrusted the party. Events derailed much of the initial optimism, especially a currency crisis which mounted until 1967 when the government was forced into devaluation of the pound and pressure on sterling was intensified by disagreements over US foreign policy. Harold Wilson publicly supported America's Vietnam War but refused to provide British assistance. This infuriated Lyndon B. Johnson who in response felt little obligation to support the pound. For much of the remaining Parliament the government followed stricter controls in public spending and the necessary austerity measures caused consternation amongst the Party membership and the trade unions, unions which by this time were gaining ever greater political power.

Labour in the 1960s under Home Secretary Roy Jenkins introduced a number of liberal social reforms, notably the legalisation of homosexuality and abortion, reform of divorce laws, the abolition of theatre censorship, and capital punishment (except for a small number of offences - notably High treason in the United Kingdom) and various legislation addressing race relations and racial discrimination. Another significant achievement was the creation of the Open University. In Wilson's defence, his supporters also emphasise the easing of means testing for non-contributory welfare benefits, the linking of pensions to earnings, and the provision of industrial-injury benefits.

Wilson's government in 1969 proposed a series of reforms to the legal basis for industrial relations (labour law) in the UK, which were outlined in a White Paper entitled "In Place of Strife", which proposed to give trade unions statutory rights, but also to limit their power. The White Paper was championed by Wilson and Barbara Castle. The proposals however faced stiff opposition from the Trades Union Congress, and some key cabinet ministers such as James Callaghan. The opponents won the day and the proposals were shelved.

The 1970s In the United Kingdom general election, 1970, Edward Heath's Conservatives narrowly defeated Harold Wilson's government reflecting some disillusionment amongst many who had voted Labour in 1966. The Conservatives quickly ran into difficulties, alienating Unionism in Ireland and many Unionists in their own party after signing the Sunningdale Agreement in Ulster. Heath's government also faced the 1973 miners strike which forced the government to adopt a 'Three-Day Week'. The 1970s proved to be a very difficult time for the Heath, Wilson and Callaghan administrations. Faced with a mishandled oil crisis, a consequent world-wide economic downturn, and a badly suffering British economy.

Following the perceived disappointments of the 1960s Labour government. The party moved sharply to the left wing during the early 1970s. 'Labour's Programme 1973', pledged to bring about a 'fundamental and irreversible shift in the balance of power and wealth in favour of working people and their families.' This programme referred to a 'far reaching Social Contract between workers and the Government.' Wilson publicly accepted many of the policies of the Programme but the condition of the economy allowed little room for manoeuvre.

Return to power in 1974 Labour returned to power again under Wilson a few weeks after the United Kingdom general election, 1974 (February), forming a minority government with Ulster Unionist support. The Conservatives were unable to form a government as they had fewer seats, even though they had received more votes. It was the first General Election since 1924 in which both main parties received less than 40% of the popular vote, and was the first of six successive General Elections in which Labour failed to reach 40% of the popular vote. In a bid for Labour to gain a majority, a second election was soon called for United Kingdom general election, 1974 (October) in which Labour, still with Harold Wilson as leader, scraped a majority of three, gaining just 18 seats and taking their total to 319.

European referendum Britain had entered the European Economic Community in 1973 while Edward Heath was Prime Minister. Although Harold Wilson and the Labour party had opposed this, in government Wilson switched to backing membership, but was defeated in a special one day Labour conference on the issue leading to a national referendum on which the yes and no campaigns were both cross-party - United Kingdom European Communities membership referendum, 1975 voted in 1975 to continue Britain's membership by two thirds to one third. This issue later caused catastrophic splits in the Labour Party in the 1980s, leading to the formation of the SDP.

In the initial legislation during the Heath Government, the Bill affirming Britain's entry was only passed because of a rebellion of 72 Labour MPs led by Roy Jenkins and including future leader John Smith (UK politician), who voted against the Labour whip and along with Liberal MPs more than countered the effects of Conservative rebels who had voted against the Conservative Whip.

: Labour Prime Minster 1976-79 Wilson steps down In April 1976 Wilson surprisingly stood down as Labour Party leader and Prime Minister claiming a long-standing desire to retire on his sixtieth birthday. There was immense suspicion of his reason for his resignation but it is now known that he was in the early stages of Alzheimer's disease. He feared following his mother's path who had been a towering, impressive personality but who did not accept her failing abilities and carried on for too long spoiling her reputation. He was replaced by James Callaghan who immediately removed a number of left-wingers (such as Barbara Castle) from the cabinet.

In the same year as Callaghan became leader, the party in Scotland suffered the breakaway of two MPs into the Scottish Labour Party (1976–1981) (SLP). Whilst ultimately the SLP proved no real threat to the Labour Party's strong Scottish electoral base it did show that the issue of Scottish devolution was becoming increasingly contentious, especially after the discovery of North Sea Oil.

Economic and political troubles The 1970s Labour government faced enormous economic problems and a precarious political situation. Faced with a global recession and spiralling inflation. Many of Britain's traditional manufacturing industries were collapsing in the face of foreign competition. Unemployment, and industrial unrest were rising.

In the autumn of 1976 the Labour Government was forced to ask the International Monetary Fund (IMF) for a loan to ease the economy through its financial troubles. The conditions attached to the loan included harsh austerity measures such as sharp cuts in public spending, which were highly unpopular with party supporters. This forced the government to abandon much of the radical program which it had adopted in the early 1970s, much to the anger of left wingers such as Tony Benn.

The 1970s Labour government adopted an economic interventionism approach to the economy, setting up the National Enterprise Board to channel public investment into industry, and giving state support to ailing industries. Struggling companies such as British Aerospace and British Leyland were nationalisation. The Government succeeded in replacing the Family Allowance with the more generous child benefit, and introduced redundancy pay.

The Wilson and Callaghan governments were hampered by their lack of a workable majority in the commons. At the October 1974 election, Labour won a majority of only three seats. Several by-election losses meant that by 1977, Callaghan was heading a minority government, and was forced to do deals with other parties to survive. An arrangement was negotiated in 1977 with the Liberals known as the Lib-Lab pact, but this ended after one year. After this, deals were made with the Scotish National Party and the Wales nationalist Plaid Cymru, which prolonged the life of the government slightly longer.

The "Winter of Discontent" and defeat by Margaret Thatcher The 1973 oil crisis had caused a legacy of high inflation in the British economy which peaked at 26.9% in 1975. The Wilson and Callaghan governments attempted to combat this by entering into a social contract with the trade unions, which introduced wage restraint and limited pay rises to limits set by the government. This policy was initially fairly successful at controlling inflation, which had been reduced to under 10% by 1978.

Callaghan had been widely expected to call a general election in the autumn of 1978, when most opinion polls showed Labour to have a narrow lead. However instead, he decided to extend the wage restraint policy for another year in the hope that the economy would be in a better shape in time for a 1979 election. This proved to be a big mistake. The extension of wage restraint was unpopular with the trade unions, and the government's attempt to impose a '5% limit' on pay rises caused resentment amongst workers and trade unions, with whom relations broke down.

During the winter of 1978-79 there were widespread Strike action in favour of higher pay rises which caused significant disruption to everyday life. The strikes affected lorry drivers, railway workers, car workers and local government and hospital workers. These came to be dubbed as the "Winter of Discontent".

The perceived relaxed attitude of Callaghan to the crisis reflected badly upon public opinion of the government's ability to run the country. A vote of no confidence on the government was held and passed on 28 March 1979, forcing a general election.

In the United Kingdom general election, 1979, Labour suffered electoral defeat to the Conservative Party (UK) led by Margaret Thatcher. The numbers voting Labour hardly changed between February 1974 and 1979, but in 1979 the Conservative Party achieved big increases in support in the Midlands and South of England, mainly from the ailing Liberals, and benefited from a surge in turnout.

The actions of the trade unions during the Winter of Discontent were used by Margaret Thatcher's government to justify anti-trade union legislation during the 1980s.

The 1980s Michael Foot era The aftermath of the 1979 election defeat saw a period of bitter internal rivalry in the Labour Party which had become increasingly divided between the ever more dominant left wingers under Michael Foot and Tony Benn (whose supporters dominated the party organisation at the grassroots level), and the right under Denis Healey. It was widely considered that Healey would win the Labour Party (UK) leadership election, 1980, but he was narrowly defeated by Foot.

The Thatcher government was determined not to be deflected from its agenda as the Heath government had been. A deflationary budget in 1980 led to substantial cuts in welfare spending and an initial short-term sharp rise in unemployment. The Conservatives reduced or eliminated state assistance for struggling private industries, leading to large redundancies in many regions of the country, notably in Labour's heartlands. However, Conservative legislation extending the right for residents to buy council houses from the state proved very attractive to many Labour voters. (Labour had previously suggested this idea in their 1970 election manifesto, but had never acted on it.)

The election of Campaign for Nuclear Disarmament (CND) veteran Michael Foot to the leadership disturbed many Atlanticists in the Party. Other changes increased their concern; the constituencies were given the ability to easily deselect sitting MPs, and a new voting system in leadership elections was introduced that gave party activists and affiliated trade unions a vote in different parts of an electoral college.

The party's move to the left in the early 80s led to the decision by a number of centrist party members led by the Gang of Four (disambiguation) of former cabinet ministers (Shirley Williams, William Rodgers, Roy Jenkins, and David Owen. ) to issue the 'Limehouse Declaration' on January 26, 1981, and to form the breakaway Social Democratic Party (UK). The departure of even more members from the centre and right further swung the party to the left, but not quite enough to allow Tony Benn to be elected as Deputy Leader when he challenged for the job at the September 1981 party conference.

Under Foot's leadership, the party's agenda became increasingly dominated by the politics of the hard left. Accordingly, the party went into the United Kingdom general election, 1983 with the most left wing manifesto that Labour ever stood upon. The manifesto contained pledges for abolition of the House of Lords, unilateral nuclear disarmament, withdrawal from the European Community, withdrawal from NATO and a radical and extensive extension of state control over the economy.

This alienated many of the party's more right-wing supporters. The Bennites were in the ascendency and there was very little that the right could do to resist or water down the manifesto, many also hoped that a landslide defeat would discredit Michael Foot and the hard left of the party moving Labour away from explicit Socialism and towards weaker social-democracy. Labour MP and former minister Gerald Kaufman famously described the 1983 election manifesto as "the longest suicide note in history". Michael Foot has countered, with typical wit, that it is telling about Gerald Kaufman that it is likely that his one oft quoted remark will be all that he is remembered for.

Much of the press attacked both the Labour party's manifesto and its style of campaigning, which tended to rely upon public meetings and canvassing rather than media. By contrast, the Conservatives ran a professional campaign which played on the voters' fears of a repeat of the Winter of Discontent. To add to this, the Thatcher government's popularity rose sharply on a wave of patriotic feeling following victory in the Falklands War, allowing it to recover from it initial unpopularity over unemployment and economic difficulty.

At the 1983 election, Labour suffered a landslide defeat, winning only 27.6% of the vote, their lowest share since United Kingdom general election, 1918. Labour won only half a million votes more than the SDP-Liberal Alliance which had attracted the votes of many moderate Labour supporters.

Neil Kinnock Michael Foot immediately resigned and was replaced by Neil Kinnock, initially considered a firebrand left-winger, he proved to be more pragmatic than Foot and progressively moved the party towards the centre; banning left-wing groups such as the Militant tendency and reversing party policy on EEC membership and withdrawal from NATO, bringing in Peter Mandelson as Director of Communications to 'modernise' the party's image, and embarking on a policy review which reported back in 1985.

At the United Kingdom general election, 1987, the party was again defeated in a landslide, but had at least re-established itself as the clear challengers to the Conservatives and gained 20 seats reducing the Conservative majority to 102 from 143 in 1983, despite a sharp rise in turnout. Challenged for the leadership by Tony Benn in 1988, Neil Kinnock easily retained the leadership claiming a mandate for his reforms of the party. Re-organisation resulted in the dissolution of the Labour Party Young Socialists, which was thought to be harbouring entryist Militant Tendency groups. It also resulted in a more centralised communication structure, enabling a greater degree of flexibility for the leadership to determine policy, react to events, and direct resources.

During this time the Labour Party emphasised the abandonment of its links to high taxation and old-style nationalisation, which aimed to show that the party was moving away from the left of the political spectrum and towards the centre. It also became actively pro-European, supporting further moves to European integration.

John Major and a fourth successive defeat Margaret Thatcher who had led the Conservative Party to three successive victories resigned as Conservative leader in November 1990 following a Conservative Party (UK) leadership election, 1990 from Conservative MP and former cabinet minister Michael Heseltine, eventually leaving Labour facing a new Conservative Prime Minister in John Major.

By the time of the United Kingdom general election, 1992, the party had reformed to such an extent that it was perceived as a credible government-in-waiting. Most opinion polls showed the party to have a slight lead over the Conservatives, although rarely sufficient for a majority. However, the party ended up 8% behind the Conservatives in the popular vote in one of the biggest surprises in British electoral history. Although Labour's support was comparable to the February and October 1974 and May 1979 General Elections, the overall turnout was much larger.

In the party's post mortem on why it had lost, it was considered that the 'Shadow Budget' announced by John Smith (UK politician) had opened the way for Conservatives to attack the party for wanting to raise taxes. In addition, a triumphalist party Sheffield Rally eight days before the election, was generally considered to have backfired. The party had also suffered from a powerfully co-ordinated campaign from the right-wing press, particularly Rupert Murdoch's The Sun (newspaper). Kinnock resigned after the defeat, blaming the Conservative-supporting newspapers for Labour's failure and John Smith (UK politician), despite his involvement with the Shadow Budget, was elected to succeed him.

John Smith Smith's leadership once again saw the re-emergence of tension between those on the party's left and those identified as 'modernisers', both of whom advocated radical revisions of the party's stance albeit in different ways. At the 1993 conference, Smith successfully changed the party rules and lessened the influence of the trade unions on the selection of candidates to stand for Parliament by introducing a one member, one vote system called OMOV — but only barely, after a barnstorming speech by John Prescott which required Smith to compromise on other individual negotiations. However, they benefitted from an increasingly unpopular and divided Conservative government, and soon began leading in opinion polls.

John Smith died suddenly in May 1994 from a heart attack, prompting a Labour Party leadership election, 1994 for his successor, likely to be the next Prime Minister. With 57% of the vote, Tony Blair won a resounding victory in a three-way contest with John Prescott and Margaret Beckett. Prescott became deputy leader, coming second in the poll whose results were announced on 21 July 1994.

New Labour Origins "New Labour" is an alternative branding for the Labour Party dating from a conference slogan first used by the Labour Party in 1994 which was later seen in a draft manifesto published by the party in 1996, called New Labour, New Life For Britain and presented by Labour as being the brand of the new reformed party that had in 1995 altered Clause IV and reduced the Trade Union vote in the electoral college used to elect the leader and deputy leader to have equal weighting with individual other parts of the electoral college.

Peter Mandelson was a senior figure in this process, and exercised a great deal of authority in the party following the death of John Smith (UK politician) and the subsequent election of Tony Blair as party leader.

The name is primarily used by the party itself in its literature but is also sometimes used by political commentators and the wider mass media; it was also the basis of a Conservative Party (UK) poster campaign of 1997, headlined "New Labour, New Danger"

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