1985 Labour Party Shadow Cabinet election

The results of elections to the Labour Party's Shadow Cabinet (more formally, its "Parliamentary Committee") were announced on 30 October 1985.^[1] In addition to the 15 members elected, the Leader (Neil Kinnock), Deputy Leader (Roy Hattersley), Labour Chief Whip (Derek Foster), Labour Leader in the House of Lords (Cledwyn Hughes), and Chairman of the Parliamentary Labour Party (Jack Dormand) were automatically members.

As a result of the election, Gwyneth Dunwoody lost her place in the cabinet. Hughes and Dobson tied for 15th place, so a run-off election was conducted, in which Hughes beat Dobson by 102 votes to 75.^[1]

Rank	Prior rank	Candidate	Constituency	Votes
1	1	Gerald Kaufman	Manchester Gorton	122
2	3=	Stan Orme	Salford East	115
3=	2	Denis Healey	Leeds East	112
3=	8=	John Prescott	Kingston upon Hull East	112
5	15	Robin Cook	Livingston	106
6	6	Peter Shore	Bethnal Green and Stepney	100
7	5	John Smith	Monklands East	99
8	12=	Giles Radice	North Durham	98
9	3=	Jack Cunningham	Copeland	95
10=	7	Peter Archer	Warley West	94
10=	8=	Barry Jones	Alyn and Deeside	94
12	11	Michael Meacher	Oldham West	93
13	12=	Denzil Davies	Llanelli	90
14	14	Donald Dewar	Glasgow Garscadden	88
15=		Robert Hughes	Aberdeen North	87
15=		Frank Dobson	Holborn and St Pancras	87
17		David Clark	South Shields	80
18		Brynmor John	Pontypridd	76
19		Jo Richardson	Barking	71
20=		Tam Dalyell	Linlithgow	70
20=	10	Gwyneth Dunwoody	Crewe and Nantwich	70
20=		Gavin Strang	Edinburgh East	70
23		Tony Benn	Chesterfield	63

Footnotes

Notes

References

^ ^a ^b Keesing's Contemporary Archives, Volume 32

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Leadership

Leaders	Hardie Henderson Barnes MacDonald Henderson Adamson Clynes MacDonald Henderson Lansbury Attlee Morrison^ Gaitskell Brown^ Wilson Callaghan Foot Kinnock Smith Beckett^ Blair Brown Harman^ Miliband Harman^ Corbyn Starmer
Deputy Leaders	Clynes Graham Attlee Greenwood Morrison Griffiths Bevan Brown Jenkins Short Foot Healey Hattersley Beckett Prescott Harman Watson Rayner
General Secretaries	MacDonald Henderson Middleton Phillips Williams Barker^ Nicholas Hayward Mortimer Whitty Sawyer McDonagh Triesman Carter Watt Collins McNicol Formby Evans
Treasurers	Henderson MacDonald Henderson Lathan Greenwood Gaitskell Bevan Nicholas Davies Callaghan Atkinson Varley Booth McCluskie Burlison Prosser Elsby Dromey Holland
Leaders in the Lords	Haldane Cripps Ponsonby Snell Addison Jowitt Alexander Pakenham Shackleton Shepherd Peart Hughes Richard Jay Williams Amos Ashton Royall Smith of Basildon
Scottish Labour Leaders	Dewar McLeish Jamieson^ McConnell Jamieson^ Alexander Jamieson^ Gray Lamont Sarwar^ Murphy Gray^ Dugdale Rowley^ Baillie^ Leonard Sarwar
PLP Chairs	Hardie Henderson Barnes MacDonald Henderson Hodge* Wardle* Adamson Clynes MacDonald Henderson Lansbury Attlee Lees-Smith* Pethick-Lawrence* Greenwood* Gaitskell Wilson Houghton Mikardo Hughes Willey Dormand Orme Hoyle Soley Corston Clwyd Lloyd Watts Cryer
EPLP Leaders	Stewart Prescott Castle Lomas Martin Seal Ford Green David Donnelly Murphy Titley Willmott Corbett
* = wartime, in opposition ^ Interim/Acting

Internal elections and selections

Leadership elections	1922 Ramsay MacDonald 1931 Arthur Henderson 1932 George Lansbury 1935 Clement Attlee 1955 Hugh Gaitskell 1960 1961 1963 Harold Wilson 1976 James Callaghan 1980 Michael Foot 1983 Neil Kinnock 1988 1992 John Smith 1994 Tony Blair 2007 Gordon Brown 2010 Ed Miliband 2015 Jeremy Corbyn 2016 2020 Keir Starmer
Deputy Leadership elections	1952 Herbert Morrison 1953 1956 Jim Griffiths 1959 Aneurin Bevan 1960 George Brown 1961 1962 1970 Roy Jenkins 1971 1972 Edward Short 1976 Michael Foot 1980 Denis Healey 1981 1983 Roy Hattersley 1988 1992 Margaret Beckett 1994 John Prescott 2007 Harriet Harman 2015 Tom Watson 2020 Angela Rayner
Shadow Cabinet elections and reshuffles	Sep 1931 (Henderson) Nov 1931 1932 (Lansbury) 1933 1934 1935 (Attlee) 1936 1937 1938 1939 1951 1952 1953 1954 1955 1956 (Gaitskell) 1957 1958 1959 1960 1961 1962 1963 (Wilson) 1970 1971 1972 1973 1979 (Callaghan) 1980 (Foot) 1981 1982 1983 (Kinnock) 1984 1985 1986 1987 1988 1989 1990 1991 1992 (Smith) 1993 1994 (Blair) 1995 1996 2010 (Miliband) June 2016 (Corbyn) May 2021 (Starmer) November 2021 2023

Party structure

Constitution	Clause IV
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Media publications	LabourList Tribune

Party alliances

Current	Party of European Socialists Progressive Alliance of Socialists and Democrats Progressive Alliance Socialist International

v t e Neil Kinnock
Political career	Leader of the Labour Party (1983–1992) Shadow Cabinet Member of Parliament for Bedwellty (1970–1983) Member of Parliament for Islwyn (1983–1995)
Shadow Cabinet elections	1980 1981 1982
Party elections	1983 1988
General elections	1987 1992
Family	Glenys Kinnock (wife) Stephen Kinnock (son) Helle Thorning-Schmidt (daughter-in-law)
Related topics	Sheffield Rally War of Jennifer's Ear

v t e John Smith
Politics	Labour Party North Lanarkshire Monklands East Shadow Cabinet of John Smith One more heave
Shadow Cabinet elections	1979 1980 1981 1982 1983 1984 1985 1986 1987 1988 1989 1990 1991
Party elections	1992
Family	Elizabeth Smith Sarah Smith
Related topics	John Smith House Prawn Cocktail Offensive