Chief Whip of the Labour Party

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The chief whip of the Labour Party oversees the whipping system in the Labour Party, and is responsible for ensuring that Labour members of Parliament (MPs) or members of the House of Lords attend and vote in Parliament of the United Kingdom in the desired way of the party leadership. The two chief whips, one in the House of Commons and one in the House of Lords, also help to organise their party's contribution to parliamentary business. The chief whip manages a team of whips, whom they may appoint from the Parliamentary Labour Party, to support the work of the whips' office.

The party leadership may allow members to have a free vote, based on their own decision, rather than party policy, which means the chief whip is not required to influence the way members vote.

The role of Chief Whip is regarded as secretive, as the Whip is concerned with the discipline of their own party's Members of Parliament.

By convention, Chief Whips do not sign early day motions or table questions to Ministers. Nor do they give media interviews in their capacity as whip.

This is a list of those people who have served as Chief Whip of the Labour Party in the Parliament of the United Kingdom.

House of Commons

Chief Whip of the Labour Party

Incumbent Alan Campbell since 9 May 2021
Appointer	Leader of the Labour Party
Inaugural holder	David Shackleton
Formation	circa 1906

Year	Name	Constituency
1906	David Shackleton	Clitheroe
1906	Arthur Henderson	Barnard Castle
1907	George Roberts	Norwich
1914	Arthur Henderson	Barnard Castle
1914	Frank Goldstone	Sunderland
1916	George Roberts	Norwich
1919	William Tyson Wilson	Westhoughton
1920	Arthur Henderson	Widnes
1924	Benjamin Spoor	Bishop Auckland
1925	Arthur Henderson	Burnley
1927	Thomas Kennedy	Kirkcaldy Burghs
1931	Charles Edwards	Bedwellty
1942	William Whiteley	Blaydon
1955	Herbert Bowden	Leicester South West
1964	Edward Short	Newcastle upon Tyne Central
1966	John Silkin	Deptford
1969	Robert Mellish	Bermondsey
1976	Michael Cocks	Bristol South
1985	Derek Foster	Bishop Auckland
1995	Donald Dewar	Glasgow Garscadden
1997	Nick Brown	Newcastle upon Tyne East and Wallsend
1998	Ann Taylor	Dewsbury
2001	Hilary Armstrong	Durham North West
2006	Jacqui Smith	Redditch
2007	Geoff Hoon	Ashfield
2008	Nick Brown	Newcastle upon Tyne East
2010	Dame Rosie Winterton	Doncaster Central
2016	Nick Brown	Newcastle upon Tyne East
2021	Sir Alan Campbell	Tynemouth

Current Deputy Chief Whip

Mark Tami

House of Lords

Chief Whip of the Labour Party

Incumbent The Lord Kennedy of Southwark since 1 June 2021
Inaugural holder	The Lord Muir-Mackenzie and The Earl De La Warr
Formation	1924

Year	Name
Feb 1924	The Lord Muir-Mackenzie
Feb 1924	The Earl De La Warr
1930	The Lord Marley
1937	The Lord Strabolgi
1941	The Earl of Listowel
1944	The Lord Southwood
1945	The Lord Ammon
1949	The 1st Lord Shepherd
1954	The Earl of Lucan
1964	The 2nd Lord Shepherd
1967	The Lord Beswick
1973	The Baroness Llewelyn-Davies of Hastoe
1982	The Lord Ponsonby of Shulbrede
1990	The Lord Graham of Edmonton
1997	The Lord Carter
2002	The Lord Grocott
2008	The Baroness Royall of Blaisdon
2008	The Lord Bassam of Brighton
2018	The Lord McAvoy
2021	The Lord Kennedy of Southwark

Current Deputy Chief Whip

Baroness Wheeler (from 2018)

References

Chris Cook and Brendan Keith, British Historical Facts 1830-1900, Macmillan, 1975
David Butler and Gareth Butler, Twentieth-Century British Historical Facts 1900-2000, Macmillan, 2000

v t e Labour Chief Whips (House of Commons)
Shackleton Henderson Roberts Henderson Goldstone Roberts Wilson Henderson Spoor Henderson Kennedy Edwards Whiteley Bowden Short Silkin Mellish Cocks Foster Dewar Brown Taylor Armstrong Smith Hoon Brown Winterton Brown Campbell

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 Baillie^ 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 Morden
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
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 Growth Group Labour Party Irish Society Labour Representation Committee (2004) Labour Women's Network Momentum Open Labour National Union of Labour and Socialist Clubs Progressive Britain 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

Categories:

Hidden categories:

House of Commons

Current Deputy Chief Whip

House of Lords

Current Deputy Chief Whip

See also

References