1963 Labour Party leadership election (UK)

1963 Labour Party leadership election

← 1961 7–14 February 1963 (1963-02-07 – 1963-02-14) 1976 →

Candidate Harold Wilson George Brown James Callaghan First ballot 115 (47.1%) 88 (36.1%) 41 (16.8%) Second ballot 144 (58.3%) 103 (41.7%) Eliminated

Leader before election George Brown (interim) Elected Leader Harold Wilson

This article is part of a series about Harold Wilson
Labour Party MP for Huyton Pre-Prime Minister 1960 leadership election 1963 leadership election 1964 general election Prime Minister of the United Kingdom First term Cabinet Circular 10/65 Capital gains tax Abolition of death penalty Decimalisation announcement 1966 general election Second term Cabinet Decriminalisation of homosexuality Abortion Act 1967 Race Relations Act 1968 Open University Divorce Reform Act 1969 Operation Banner 1970 general election Third and fourth terms February 1974 general election Cabinet 1973–1975 recession October 1974 general election 1976 sterling crisis
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The 1963 Labour Party leadership election was held following the death of Hugh Gaitskell, party leader since 1955. He died on 18 January 1963 and was succeeded (on a temporary basis) by deputy leader George Brown.

In 1963 the Labour leader was elected by the Parliamentary Labour Party (the members of the House of Commons in receipt of the Labour whip). To be elected the winning candidate required more than half the votes. If no candidate was elected in a ballot then the last placed candidate was eliminated and a new ballot held contested by the continuing candidates. This process, known as the exhaustive ballot, was repeated until a candidate was elected.