Chair of the Labour Party
Incumbent Anneliese Dodds since 9 May 2021
Style	Party Chair (informal)
Appointer	Leader of the Labour Party
Formation	9 June 2001
First holder	Charles Clarke

The Chair of the Labour Party is a position in the Labour Party of the United Kingdom. The Chair is responsible for administration of the party and overseeing general election campaigns, and is typically held concurrently with another position.

History

Established by Tony Blair in the aftermath of the 2001 general election, the chair of the Labour Party was a Cabinet position held alongside the minister without portfolio post during his tenure as prime minister.^[1] The position is not to be confused with that of Chair of the Labour National Executive Committee, described as 'chair of the party' in the Labour Party Constitution. The role had a larger portfolio for organising election campaigning under Jeremy Corbyn, with Ian Lavery working alongside the co-national campaign coordinator, Andrew Gwynne.^[2]

From June 2007 to June 2017 and again from April 2020 to May 2021, the seat was held concurrently by the party's deputy leader. The position was held by Angela Rayner, who was appointed by Sir Keir Starmer following her election as deputy leader, until 2021 when she was sacked after Labour performed poorly at the local elections and the Hartlepool by-election.^[3]

List of chairs

Name	Term of office		Length of Term	Concurrent office(s)	Party Leader
Charles Clarke	9 June 2001	24 October 2002	1 year, 137 days	Minister without Portfolio	Tony Blair
John Reid	24 October 2002	4 April 2003	162 days
Ian McCartney	4 April 2003	5 May 2006	3 years, 31 days
Hazel Blears	5 May 2006	24 June 2007	1 year, 50 days
Harriet Harman	24 June 2007	12 September 2015	8 years, 80 days	Deputy Leader of the Labour Party Leader of the House of Commons (2007–10) Lord Keeper of the Privy Seal (2007–10) Minister for Women and Equality (2007–10)	Gordon Brown
				Leader of the Opposition (2010)	Herself (acting)
				Shadow Deputy Prime Minister of the United Kingdom (2010–15) Shadow Secretary of State for International Development (2010–11) Shadow Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport (2011–15)	Ed Miliband
				Leader of the Opposition (2015)	Herself (acting)
Tom Watson	12 September 2015	14 June 2017	1 year, 275 days	Deputy Leader of the Labour Party Shadow Minister for the Cabinet Office Shadow Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport	Jeremy Corbyn
Ian Lavery	14 June 2017	5 April 2020	2 years, 296 days	Shadow Minister without Portfolio National Campaign Coordinator	Jeremy Corbyn
Angela Rayner	5 April 2020	8 May 2021	1 year, 33 days	Deputy Leader of the Opposition Shadow First Secretary of State National Campaign Coordinator	Sir Keir Starmer
Anneliese Dodds	9 May 2021	Incumbent	2 years, 362 days	Chair of the Labour Policy Review Shadow Secretary of State for Women and Equalities	Sir Keir Starmer

References

^ Hattersley, Roy (26 July 2001). "Blair mistook his Clarke for a chair". The Guardian. Retrieved 24 May 2007.
^ "The Latest from Labour Shadow Cabinet Appointments". Labour Party. 15 June 2017. Retrieved 9 January 2021.
^ Way, Fran (9 May 2021). "Oxford MP Anneliese Dodds sacked as Labour's Shadow Chancellor". Oxford Mail. Retrieved 10 May 2021.

Labour Party

History

Main

History of the Labour Party

Topics

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
Executive	National Executive Committee General Secretary Treasurer
Parliamentary	Parliamentary Labour Party Chief Whip of the Labour Party
Conference	Labour Party Conference
Subnational	Scottish Labour Welsh Labour Labour Party in Northern Ireland Yorkshire and the Humber Labour Party
Directly elected city mayoral authorities	London Labour
CLPs	Constituency Labour Party Labour International
Miscellaneous	National Policy Forum Affiliated trade unions Trade Union and Labour Party Liaison Organisation Labour Co-operative Co-operative Party Labour – Federation of Labour Groups

Associated organisations

List	Organisations associated with the Labour Party
Sectional groups	Young Labour Labour International LGBT+ Labour Labour Campaign for Trans Rights Labour Students BAME Labour Disability Labour
Factional groups	Blue Labour Campaign for Labour Party Democracy Christians on the Left Compass Fabian Society Young Fabians Future Britain Centre-Left Grassroots Alliance Jewish Labour Movement Labour Campaign for Electoral Reform Labour CND Labour Friends of Israel Labour Friends of Palestine & the Middle East Labour Party Irish Society Labour Representation Committee (2004) Momentum Open Labour National Union of Labour and Socialist Clubs Progress Revolutionary Communist Party Formerly Socialist Appeal Socialist Health Association Socialist Educational Association Socialist Environment and Resources Association Socialist Campaign Group Socialist Youth Network Socialist societies
Media publications	LabourList Tribune

Party alliances

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