The 2010 Labour Party leadership election was triggered on 10 May 2010 by incumbent leader Gordon Brown's resignation following the 2010 general election which resulted in a hung parliament; the first since 1974. Brown resigned as Leader of the Labour Party on 10 May and as Prime Minister on 11 May, following the Conservatives and Liberal Democrats forming a coalition government. The National Executive Committee decided the timetable for the election the result of which would be announced at the annual party conference. On 25 September 2010, Ed Miliband became the new Leader of the Labour Party, narrowly defeating his older brother, David Miliband.

Andy Burnham, one of the candidates in the leadership election, would be elected leader of the party in 2026.

Procedure The rules of the Labour Party stated in 2010 that "each nomination [for leader] must be supported by 12.5 per cent of the Commons members of the Parliamentary Labour Party." As the number of Labour MPs was 257 (the 258 returned at the general election minus Eric Illsley, who had been suspended from the Parliamentary Labour Party) 33 MPs were needed to support any nomination. Nominations opened on 24 May and closed on 27 May, but the deadline was extended to 9 June after complaints from John McDonnell, Diane Abbott, and Ed Miliband that the short deadline had provided insufficient time to secure the 33 nominations from MPs needed for inclusion on the ballot. The ballot took place between 1 and 22 September, and the results were announced on the first day of the party's conference in Manchester, 25 September. There were three distinct electorates, the electors of which cast their votes on a "one member, one vote" basis in each applicable category: Labour members of the House of Commons and the European Parliament Individual members of the party Individual members of affiliated organisations, such as trade unions and socialist societies Each of the three electorates or sections contributed one third (33.33 per cent) of the total votes and were counted using the alternative vote system"Leadership elections: Labour party". Kelly, R., Lester, P., & Durkin, M. (2010). House of Commons Library Note, 6, pg. 12. Retrieved 14 November 2013. system. The election was run by the National Executive Committee, and the results were announced at the annual conference in September 2010.

Union recommendation controversy

Under Labour Party rules, trade unions were allowed to make recommendations to their members, but were barred from doing this in the same envelope that contained the ballot paper. During the election, it emerged that both the GMB and Unite had included both an envelope containing the ballot paper, and an envelope containing promotional material for Ed Miliband, their favoured candidate, in the same communication. Though the promotional material was in a different envelope from the ballot paper, this nevertheless attracted criticism that they had breached the spirit of the rules.Ed Miliband union backers accused over Labour ballot mail-out The Guardian 24 September 2010.Unite union 'ignored rules in endorsing Ed Miliband' The Independent 10 September 2010

Candidates At a meeting of the Cabinet held on 10 May 2010, it was agreed that no one would announce their candidacy until after formal negotiations on forming a government were resolved. The Conservative Party and Liberal Democrats formed a coalition on 11 May, and David Miliband became the first person to announce his candidacy the following day. A total of six candidates emerged by 20 May:

Diane Abbott, announced 20 May Ed Balls, announced 19 May Andy Burnham, announced 20 May John McDonnell, announced 18 May; withdrew 9 June David Miliband, announced 12 May Ed Miliband, announced 14 May

On 9 June John McDonnell withdrew from the contest in favour of Diane Abbott, who eventually made the ballot paper.

Nominations

Candidates must receive nominations from at least 12.5 per cent of the 257 Parliamentary Labour Party members (33) to appear on the ballot. John McDonnell had 16 nominations when he withdrew on 9 June, in favour of Diane Abbott. The final nominations figures were as follows:

Candidate Constituency Nominations Share Diane Abbott Hackney North and Stoke Newington 33 12.84% Ed Balls Morley and Outwood 33 12.84% Andy Burnham Leigh 33 12.84% David Miliband South Shields 81 31.52% Ed Miliband Doncaster North 63 24.51%

The number of MPs next to the candidate's name below includes the actual candidate too, as they counted as one of the 33 MPs needed (except for David Miliband, as he nominated Diane Abbott to ensure her appearance on the ballot). Public nominations for candidates by MPs were as follows:

David Miliband (81): Bob Ainsworth, Douglas Alexander, Willie Bain, Gordon Banks, Hugh Bayley, Stuart Bell, Ben Bradshaw, Russell Brown, Richard Burden, Liam Byrne, David Cairns, Alan Campbell, Jenny Chapman, Ann Clwyd, Ann Coffey, Rosie Cooper, Mary Creagh, Stella Creasy, Alex Cunningham, Simon Danczuk, Alistair Darling, Gloria De Piero, Brian Donohoe, Gemma Doyle, Angela Eagle, Julie Elliott, Louise Ellman, Chris Evans, Jim Fitzpatrick, Caroline Flint, Paul Flynn, Mike Gapes, Barry Gardiner, Pat Glass, Mary Glindon, Fabian Hamilton, David Hanson, Tom Harris, Mark Hendrick, Margaret Hodge, George Howarth, Tristram Hunt, Alan Johnson, Tessa Jowell, Gerald Kaufman, Liz Kendall, Ivan Lewis, Michael McCann, Gregg McClymont, Siobhain McDonagh, Pat McFadden, Anne McGuire, Ian Mearns, Alun Michael, Jessica Morden, Meg Munn, Jim Murphy, Ian Murray, Pamela Nash, Fiona O'Donnell, Toby Perkins, Bridget Phillipson, Yasmin Qureshi, Nick Raynsford, Jamie Reed, Jonathan Reynolds, Frank Roy, Chris Ruane, Anas Sarwar, Virendra Sharma, Barry Sheerman, Angela Smith, Nick Smith, Peter Soulsby, Graham Stringer, Mark Tami, Gareth Thomas, Valerie Vaz, Phil Wilson, John Woodcock, Shaun Woodward Ed Miliband (63): Adrian Bailey, Margaret Beckett, Anne Begg, Hilary Benn, Luciana Berger, Roberta Blackman-Woods, Paul Blomfield, Karen Buck, Margaret Curran, Wayne David, Geraint Davies, John Denham, Frank Dobson, Jack Dromey, Maria Eagle, Clive Efford, Natascha Engel, Bill Esterson, Frank Field, Hywel Francis, Helen Goodman, Tom Greatrex, Lilian Greenwood, Peter Hain, David Hamilton, Jimmy Hood, Graham Jones, Susan Jones, Sadiq Khan, Ian Lavery, Mark Lazarowicz, Andy Love, Ian Lucas, Shabana Mahmood, John Mann, Gordon Marsden, Jim McGovern, Ann McKechin, Catherine McKinnell, Michael Meacher, Alan Meale, Madeleine Moon, Grahame Morris, Paul Murphy, Lisa Nandy, Sandra Osborne, Albert Owen, Stephen Pound, Rachel Reeves, Emma Reynolds, Lindsay Roy, Joan Ruddock, Alison Seabeck, Jim Sheridan, Andy Slaughter, Owen Smith, Emily Thornberry, Stephen Timms, Chuka Umunna, Alan Whitehead, Christopher Williamson, Rosie Winterton Ed Balls (33): David Anderson, Ian Austin, Tom Blenkinsop, Kevin Brennan, Lyn Brown, Vernon Coaker, Yvette Cooper, David Crausby, Jim Cunningham, Jim Dobbin, Mike Dugher, Andrew Gwynne, John Healey, Stephen Hepburn, Sharon Hodgson, Diana Johnson, Helen Jones, Eric Joyce, Barbara Keeley, Chris Leslie, Khalid Mahmood, Steve McCabe, Kerry McCarthy, Teresa Pearce, John Robertson, Geoffrey Robinson, Marsha Singh, Andrew Smith, John Spellar, Tom Watson, David Wright, Iain Wright Andy Burnham (33): Heidi Alexander, Kevin Barron, Joe Benton, Clive Betts, Hazel Blears, David Blunkett, Tom Clarke, Michael Connarty, Nic Dakin, Thomas Docherty, Frank Doran, Paul Farrelly, Rob Flello, Yvonne Fovargue, Paul Goggins, Kate Green, Julie Hilling, Lindsay Hoyle, Huw Irranca-Davies, Cathy Jamieson, Kevan Jones, Alan Keen, Alison McGovern, Andrew Miller, Austin Mitchell, Steve Rotheram, Gerry Sutcliffe, Karl Turner, Derek Twigg, Joan Walley, Dave Watts, Malcolm Wicks Diane Abbott (33): Rushanara Ali, Chris Bryant, Ronnie Campbell, Katy Clark, Jeremy Corbyn, Jon Cruddas, John Cryer, Ian Davidson, Sheila Gilmore, Nia Griffith, Harriet Harman, Meg Hillier, Kate Hoey, Kelvin Hopkins, Sian James, David Lammy, Tony Lloyd, Denis MacShane, Fiona MacTaggart, John McDonnell, George Mudie, Chi Onwurah, Linda Riordan, Gavin Shuker, Dennis Skinner, Jack Straw, Jon Trickett, Stephen Twigg, Keith Vaz, Mike Wood, Phil Woolas

Before dropping out of the race on 9 June 2010, John McDonnell had the following 16 nominations: Ronnie Campbell, Martin Caton, Katy Clark, Jeremy Corbyn, John Cryer, Ian Davidson, Jim Dowd, Frank Field, Dai Havard, Kate Hoey, Ian Lavery, Graeme Morrice, Linda Riordan, Dennis Skinner, Mike Wood

Notable Labour politicians who declined to stand Some members of parliament were seen as potential candidates but decided against running: Hazel Blears – former Communities and Local Government Secretary; supported Andy Burnham Yvette Cooper – Shadow Work and Pensions Secretary; supported her husband Ed Balls Jon Cruddas – backbencher who stood for Deputy Leader in 2007; he nominated Diane Abbott and supported David Miliband Alistair Darling – Shadow Chancellor of the Exchequer; supported David Miliband Peter Hain – Shadow Wales Secretary, previously Northern Ireland and Work and Pensions Secretary; supported Ed Miliband Harriet Harman – acting leader following Gordon Brown's departure, former Leader of the House of Commons; neutral but nominated Diane Abbott Alan Johnson – Shadow Home Secretary, previously Health Secretary and Education Secretary; supported David Miliband Jack Straw – Shadow Justice Secretary and Lord Chancellor, previously Foreign and Home Secretary; nominated Diane Abbott and supported David Miliband

Televised debates

Title Date Moderator Channel Information Newsnight Tuesday 15 June; 22:30 Jeremy Paxman BBC Two As it happened: Newsnight Labour leader hustings Channel 4 News Wednesday 1 September; 19:00 Jon Snow Channel 4 Labour leadership: live Channel 4 debate Sky News Sunday 5 September; 22:30 Adam Boulton Sky News Labour Leader Debate: Submit Your Question Question Time Thursday 16 September; 22:35 David Dimbleby BBC One Question Time Labour leadership special

Opinion polling

YouGov, 27–29 July 2010 1,102 eligible votersYouGov survey YouGov, 29 July 2010Candidate Members Affiliates PLP Total First RoundDavid Miliband 32%34%37% 37%Ed Miliband 38% 26% 29% 29%Diane Abbott 13% 17% 5% 12%Andy Burnham 10% 13% 12% 12%Ed Balls 7% 11% 11% 11% Final RoundDavid Miliband 50% 44% 55% 54%Ed Miliband 50% 56% 45% 46%

YouGov, 7–10 September 2010 1,011 eligible votersNeck and neck YouGov, 13 September 2010Candidate Members Affiliates PLP Total First RoundDavid Miliband 31% 29% 41% 36%Ed Miliband 38% 36% 29% 32%Andy Burnham 10% 14% 11% 12%Ed Balls 9% 9% 14% 11%Diane Abbott 11% 12% 4% 9% Final RoundEd Miliband 52% 57% 44% 51%David Miliband 48% 43% 56% 49%

Results Each of the three electorates or sections contributed one third (33.33 per cent) of the total votes and were counted using the Alternative Vote system.

Overall result :

+ First round Candidate MPs/MEPs (33.3%) Labour Party members (33.3%) Affiliated members (33.3%) Overall result Votes % Votes % Votes % % David Miliband 111 41.7 55,905 44.1 58,189 27.5 37.8 Ed Miliband 84 31.6 37,980 29.9 87,585 41.5 34.3 Ed Balls 40 15.0 12,831 10.1 21,618 10.2 11.8 Andy Burnham 24 9.0 10,844 8.5 17,904 8.5 8.7 Diane Abbott 7 2.6 9,314 7.3 25,938 12.3 7.4

The combined total of first-round votes for Balls, Burnham, and Abbott (27.89%) was less than Ed Miliband's vote (34.33%). Thus, it was certain after the first round that Balls, Burnham, and Abbott would all be eliminated.

+ Second round Candidate MPs/MEPs (33.3%) Labour Party members (33.3%) Affiliated members (33.3%) Overall result Votes % Votes % Votes % % David Miliband 111 42.0 57,128 45.2 61,336 29.4 38.9 Ed Miliband 88 33.3 42,176 33.4 95,335 45.7 37.5 Ed Balls 41 15.5 14,510 11.5 26,441 12.7 13.2 Andy Burnham 24 9.1 12,498 9.9 25,528 12.2 10.4