2029 Labour Party Leadership Election

2029 Labour Party leadership election

January 2029
Turnout	520,443 (70.7%) 8.2 pp
Candidate Darren Jones Angela Rayner Nadia Whittome Popular vote 201,227 120,209 99,007 Percentage 38.6% 23% 19%
Leader before election Keir Starmer Elected Leader Darren Jones

The 2029 Labour Party Leadership Election was held in January 2029 following the resignation of Labour Party leader and Prime Minister Keir Starmer. In the 2028 election Labour lost their majority, and the Liberal Democrats refused to form an agreement with Starmer as leader.

Three main candidates emerged in the contest, Chief Secretary of the Treasury Darren Jones, Deputy Prime Minister Angela Rayner, and senior member of the Socialist Campaign Group Nadia Whittome. Jones was seen as the Starmerite candidate, being from the right of the party, and Starmer lobbied on his behalf, after Chancellor Rachel Reeves refused to stand. Rayner had a more difficult relationship with Starmer, often pushing for more left wing policy and leaking to the media. Whittome was the token candidate of the Socialist Campaign Group, and a Corbynite, she regularly spoke out against the party leadership.

Starmer was highly criticised for changing the rules of the leadership election, so that the candidate with the plurality rather than a majority of votes would win. Without the rule change Rayner would likely have won.