The Parliamentary Labour Party (PLP) is the parliamentary group of the Labour Party in the British House of Commons. The group comprises the Labour members of parliament as a collective body. Commentators on the British Constitution sometimes draw a distinction between the Labour Party (which was created outside Parliament and later achieved office) and the Conservative and Liberal parties (which began as parliamentary factions). The term Parliamentary Labour Party refers to the party in Parliament, whereas the term Labour Party refers to the entire Labour Party, the parliamentary element of which is the PLP.
An organisation for former members, the PLP in exile, was established following the 2010 general election.
Role The PLP holds regular meetings behind closed doors to question the Leader and to discuss its concerns.
Labour MPs elect three of their number to Labour's National Executive Committee.
Originally, the Leader of the Labour Party was elected by the PLP. Now, however, the party operates on a one member, one vote system, where all members are awarded a single vote, as well as affiliated organizations (trade unions and socialist societies) and temporary registered supporters. Instant-runoff voting (the "Alternative Vote") is used to conduct the election. Labour MPs retain the power to trigger an extraordinary or "special" Labour Party Conference to choose a new leader if they lose confidence in their existing leader.This would require 20% of the PLP to nominate a named member of the PLP prior to the annual party conference.
Chair
The Chair of the PLP chairs meetings of the Parliamentary party. They are elected by Labour MPs at the start of each annual session of Parliament. By tradition, only elections at the start of each Parliament, following a general election, are competitive.
From 1921 to 1970, the Chair of the PLP was also the leader of the party as a whole; before 1921, leadership of the party was arguably split between the Chairman of the PLP, the General Secretary and the Party Chairman. When the leaders of the Labour Party joined coalition governments during the First and Second World Wars, an acting chair was appointed to lead the rump of the party in Opposition. When the Party was in government, a liaison committee was elected to facilitate communications between the cabinet and Labour backbenchers – the chair of this committee also chaired meetings of the PLP as a whole during these periods. In 1970, the positions of Leader of the Labour Party and Chair of the PLP were permanently split. Leader Tenure Liaison Committee Tenure Opposition Tenure Keir Hardie 1906–1908 Arthur Henderson 1908–1910 George Barnes 1910–1911 Ramsay MacDonald 1911–1914Arthur Henderson1914–1917 John Hodge 1915–16 George Wardle 1916–17 William Adamson 1917–1921 J. R. Clynes 1921–1922Ramsay MacDonald1922–1931 Robert Smillie 1924 Harry Snell 1929–30 James Barr 1930–31 Arthur Henderson 1931 George Lansbury 1931–1935Clement Attlee1935–1955 Neil Maclean 1945–46 Hastings Lees-Smith 1940–1941 Maurice Webb 1946–1950 Frederick Pethick-Lawrence 1942 Glenvil Hall 1950–51 Arthur Greenwood 1942–1945 Hugh Gaitskell 1955–1963Harold Wilson1963–1970 Manny Shinwell 1964–1967 Douglas Houghton 1967–1970 Chairman Tenure Douglas Houghton 1970–1974 Ian Mikardo 1974 Cledwyn Hughes 1974–1979 Fred Willey 1979–1981 Jack Dormand 1981–1987 Stan Orme 1987–1992 Doug Hoyle 1992–1997 Clive Soley 1997–2001 Jean Corston 2001–2005 Ann Clwyd 2005–2006 Tony Lloyd 2006–2012 David Watts 2012–2015 John Cryer 2015–2024 Jessica Morden 2024–present
Other roles and groups There is also a deputy chair.
Other groups have been established within the PLP, such as the Women's PLP and the LGBT+ PLP.
Labour and Co-operative MPs form part of the PLP, though they also meet (together with Labour Co-op members of the House of Lords) as the Co-operative Parliamentary Group, which has its own chair.
See also 1922 Committee Parliamentary group
References