Elections to the Labour Party's Shadow Cabinet (more formally, its "Parliamentary Committee") took place on 4 December 1980, having been delayed due to the October election of new

Party Leader In a governmental system, a party leader acts as the official representative of their political party, either to a legislature or to the electorate. Depending on the country, the individual colloquially referred to as the "leader" of a political ...

Michael Foot. In addition to the 12 members elected, the Leader (Foot), Deputy Leader (

Denis Healey Denis Winston Healey, Baron Healey, (30 August 1917 – 3 October 2015) was a British Labour Party (UK), Labour politician who served as Chancellor of the Exchequer from 1974 to 1979 and as Secretary of State for Defence from 1964 to 1970; he ...

), Labour Chief Whip ( Michael Cocks), Labour Leader in the House of Lords ( Lord Peart), and Chairman of the Parliamentary Labour Party (

Fred Willey Frederick Thomas Willey (13 November 1910 – 13 December 1987) was a British Labour Party politician. He was a Member of Parliament (MP) representing a Sunderland constituency for 38 years, from 1945 to 1983. Early life Willey was educated a ...

) were automatically members. Two winners of the 1979 election were not re-elected: Healey was elected Deputy Leader of the Labour Party, so did not need to run for election to the Shadow Cabinet.

David Owen David Anthony Llewellyn Owen, Baron Owen, (born 2 July 1938) is a British politician and physician who served as Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs as a Labour Party (UK), Labour Party MP under James Callaghan from 1977 t ...

did not return. He informed Michael Foot of his decision not to run in November, after the PLP rejected "one member, one vote" and it became clearer to him that he would be defecting. Not long afterward, he joined Bill Rodgers (who did win a seat in the Shadow Cabinet), Shirley Williams, and

Roy Jenkins Roy Harris Jenkins, Baron Jenkins of Hillhead, (11 November 1920 – 5 January 2003) was a British politician who served as President of the European Commission from 1977 to 1981. At various times a Member of Parliament (MP) for the Lab ...

in founding the

Social Democratic Party The name Social Democratic Party or Social Democrats has been used by many political parties in various countries around the world. Such parties are most commonly aligned to social democracy as their political ideology. Active parties For ...

. Because of Rodgers's defection, Tony Benn joined the Shadow Cabinet in January 1981 by virtue of being the top loser. The 12 winners of the election are listed below:

References

{{John Smith

1980 Events January * January 4 – U.S. President Jimmy Carter proclaims a grain embargo against the USSR with the support of the European Commission. * January 6 – Global Positioning System time epoch begins at 00:00 UTC. * January 9 – ...

Labour Party (UK) Shadow Cabinet election Until they were abolished in 2011 it had been the tradition for the British Labour Party to hold elections to the Shadow Cabinet whenever the Party was in Opposition. Cabinet members would be elected by the MPs within the Parliamentary Labour Par ...