The Commons members of the Parliamentary Labour Party (PLP) elected 19 members of the Shadow Cabinet from among their number in 2010. This follows the Labour Party's defeat at the 2010 general election, after which the party formed the Official Opposition in the United Kingdom.
A separate election for Opposition Chief Whip, an ex officio member of the Shadow Cabinet, happened at the same time. Rosie Winterton was unopposed in that election; she would serve for the remainder of the Parliament. The results of the Shadow Cabinet election were announced on 7 October 2010, hours after the balloting closed.
The PLP voted to abolish Shadow Cabinet elections at a meeting on 5 July 2011, before the National Executive Committee and the Party Conference followed suit. As a result, the 2010 Shadow Cabinet election was the last.
Background Shadow Cabinet elections typically happened near the beginning of a session, but were delayed until after the leadership election, which ended with the announcement of Ed Miliband as winner on 25 September. Nominations were open from 26 to 29 September, and voting occurred from 4 to 7 October. The leader may choose to assign Shadow Cabinet portfolios to non-members, who are considered to "attend" Shadow Cabinet.
Rule changes On 8 September 2010, the PLP voted to continue electing the Shadow Cabinet and made various changes to the rules for such elections: Shadow Cabinet elections will be held every two years, rather than every year. The Chief Whip will once again be separately elected, reversing a change made before the 1995 Shadow Cabinet election that allowed the Leader of the Labour Party to hand out the position as with any other Shadow Cabinet portfolio. Now, the Chief Whip will be elected by the PLP for the duration of a Parliament. For a PLP member's ballot to be valid, it must contain votes for at least six women and six men, up from four. The Shadow Cabinet will no longer be the Parliamentary Committee when the party is in opposition. Instead, the latter will be a backbench group just as when the party is in government.The Quiet Campaign for Chief WhipTimetable for elections to the PLP Parliamentary Committee
Ex officio members The following are also members of the Shadow Cabinet by virtue of the office listed: Leader of the Labour Party (Ed Miliband) Deputy Leader (Harriet Harman) Opposition Chief Whip in the Commons (Rosie Winterton) Leader of the Opposition in the House of Lords (Baroness Royall of Blaisdon) Opposition Chief Whip in the Lords (Lord Bassam of Brighton)
Candidates Shortly after the 2010 general election, Shadow Chancellor of the Exchequer Alistair Darling announced that he would not be a candidate in the elections, thus ending more than 20 years of frontbench service. In August, both Shadow Justice Secretary Jack Straw and Shadow Defence Secretary Bob Ainsworth announced their retirements from the frontbench. On 29 September, the day nominations closed, Shadow Foreign Secretary David Miliband announced he would step down from the Shadow Cabinet, having been defeated for the Labour leadership days earlier by his brother, Ed.
Forty-nine Labour MPs stood for election, and the results were as follows:
Colourkey Retained in the Shadow Cabinet Joined the Shadow Cabinet Voted out of the Shadow Cabinet
Rank Candidate Constituency Votes Subsequent portfolio 1 Normanton, Pontefract and Castleford 232 Shadow Foreign Secretary 2 It is unclear from the sources (see note 2, below) whether Healey was a full Shadow Cabinet member before the election or merely in attendance, in which case he would be listed as joining rather than having been retained in the Shadow Cabinet. Wentworth and Dearne 192 Shadow Secretary of State for Health 3 Morley and Outwood 179 Shadow Home Secretary 4† Leigh 165 Shadow Secretary of State for Education; Election Co-ordinator 4† Wallasey 165 Shadow Chief Secretary to the Treasury 6 Kingston upon Hull West and Hessle 163 Shadow Chancellor of the Exchequer 7† Paisley and Renfrewshire South 160 Shadow Secretary of State for Work and Pensions 7† East Renfrewshire 160 Shadow Secretary of State for Defence 9 Dulwich and West Norwood 152 Shadow Minister for the Olympics 10 Don Valley 139 Shadow Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government 11 Southampton Itchen 129 Shadow Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills 12† Leeds Central 128 Shadow Leader of the House of Commons 12† Khan was listed on the Labour Party's and Parliament's frontbench lists as attending Shadow Cabinet rather than as a full member. The Shadow Cabinet list at Labour's website, produced earlier than the others, makes no distinction between full members and attendees. Tooting 128 Shadow Secretary of State for Justice; Shadow Lord Chancellor 14 Wakefield 119 Shadow Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs 15 Glasgow North 117 Shadow Secretary of State for Scotland 16 Garston and Halewood 107 Shadow Secretary of State for Transport 17 Hackney South and Shoreditch 106 Shadow Secretary of State for Energy and Climate Change 18 Bury South 104 Shadow Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport 19 Birmingham Hodge Hill 100 Shadow Minister for the Cabinet Office 20 Islington South and Finsbury 99 21 Peter Hain and Shaun Woodward were appointed to the Shadow Cabinet by Ed Miliband to serve as the Shadow Welsh and Northern Irish Secretaries, respectively. Neath 97 Shadow Secretary of State for Wales 22 Slough 88 23 Worsley and Eccles South 87 24 Gedling 85 25 Wolverhampton South East 84 26† Bishop Auckland 80 26† Tottenham 80 28 East Ham 79 29 Rhondda 77 30 St Helens South and Whiston 72 Shadow Secretary of State for Northern Ireland 31 Harrow West 71 32 North Durham 68 33 Cardiff West 64 34 City of Durham 63 35 Hackney North and Stoke Newington 59 36 Liverpool West Derby 55 37 Glasgow South 54 38 Exeter 53 39 Hartlepool 43 40 Brent North 41 41 Delyn 38 42 Wrexham 34 43 Caerphilly 30 44 Ogmore 28 45 Nottingham East 26 46 Stoke-on-Trent South 15 47 Ilford South 12 48 Cardiff South and Penarth 11 49 Falkirk 10
Notes † Multiple candidates tied for position.
Chief Whip election At the same time they elect members of the Shadow Cabinet, the Commons PLP will elect the Opposition Chief Whip. The incumbent Chief Whip, Nick Brown, announced on 29 September that he would not be a candidate, writing in a letter to the new leader, Ed Miliband, that though he had intended to stand for election to the post, he was acceding to Miliband's request that he stand down. According to the BBC, after the announcement, Jim Fitzpatrick, who had also intended to stand for the post, withdrew his candidacy, and Miliband asked Rosie Winterton to stand, and she did so unopposed.
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