Labour Party (UK) Shadow Cabinet election, 1981

Elections to the Labour Party's Shadow Cabinet (more formally, its "Parliamentary Committee") took place on 19 November 1981. There were 15 posts, rather than 12 as in previous years. In addition to the 15 members elected, the Leader (Michael Foot), Deputy Leader (Denis Healey), Labour Chief Whip (Michael Cocks), Labour Leader in the House of Lords (Lord Peart), and Chairman of the Parliamentary Labour Party (Jack Dormand) were automatically members.

Of the 12 incumbent members, 10 were re-elected. Tony Benn, who was the top loser in 1980 automatically took the William Rodgers when the latter left the party to create the Social Democratic Party. He lost again in this election. It is unclear whether Roy Mason lost re-election or did not stand. The results of the election, though incomplete, are below^[1]

Colour key	Retained in the Shadow Cabinet
	Joined the Shadow Cabinet
	Voted out of the Shadow Cabinet

Rank	Prior rank	Candidate	Constituency	Votes
1	4†	Peter Shore	Stepney and Poplar	147
2	3	Gerald Kaufman	Manchester Ardwick	142
3	1	Roy Hattersley	Birmingham Sparkbrook	135
4	7	John Silkin	Lewisham Deptford	132
5	2	Eric Varley	Chesterfield	131
6	4†	Merlyn Rees	Leeds South	128
7	12	Neil Kinnock	Bedwellty	118
8	8†	Albert Booth	Barrow and Furness	114
9	11	John Smith	North Lanarkshire	111
10	15	Brynmor John	Pontypridd	105
11	6	Stanley Orme	Salford West	104
12	14	Bruce Millan	Glasgow Craigton	92
13	16	Eric Heffer	Liverpool Walton	84
14	?	Peter Archer	Warley West	83
15	?	Gwyneth Dunwoody	Crewe	82
16	18	Norman Buchan	West Renfrewshire	80
17	?	Robin Cook	Edinburgh Central	73
?	13	Tony Benn	Bristol South East	66
?	?	Giles Radice	Chester-le-Street	60
?	?	Jeremy Bray	Motherwell and Wishaw	?
?	?	James Craigen	Glasgow Maryhill	?
?	20	Tam Dalyell	West Lothian	?
?	?	Harry Ewing	Stirling, Falkirk and Grangemouth	?
?	?	Robert Hughes	Aberdeen North	?

References

1. Geoffrey Parkhouse (20 November 2011). "Size of Benn vote a blow to Foot". The Glasgow Herald. p. 1.