Labour Party (UK) Shadow Cabinet election, 1996

Elections to the Labour Party's Shadow Cabinet took place in July 1996. Under the rules then in effect, the Commons members of the Parliamentary Labour Party elected 19 members of the Official Opposition Shadow Cabinet, who were then assigned portfolios by the leader. The Labour peers elected the Leader of the Opposition in the House of Lords. In addition, the Leader of the Labour Party and Deputy Leader (Tony Blair and John Prescott, respectively) were members by virtue of those offices. The 19 elected members of the Shadow Cabinet were the ones with the largest number of votes. MPs were required to vote for at least four women, but women were not necessarily guaranteed places in the Shadow Cabinet.

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

Rank	Candidate	Constituency	Votes
1	Beckett, MargaretMargaret Beckett	Derby South	251
2	Taylor, AnnAnn Taylor	Dewsbury	250
3	Short, ClareClare Short	Birmingham Ladywood	218
4	Strang, GavinGavin Strang	Edinburgh East	217
5	Cook, RobinRobin Cook	Livingston	215
6	Dewar, DonaldDonald Dewar	Glasgow Garscadden	212
7	Dobson, FrankFrank Dobson	Holborn and St Pancras	211
8	Mowlam, MoMo Mowlam	Redcar	206
9†	Clark, DavidDavid Clark	South Shields	205
9†	Meacher, MichaelMichael Meacher	Oldham West	205
11	Davies, RonRon Davies	Caerphilly	201
12	Cunningham, JackJack Cunningham	Copeland	190
13	Straw, JackJack Straw	Blackburn	189
14†	Brown, GordonGordon Brown	Dunfermline East	188
14†	Smith, ChrisChris Smith	Islington South and Finsbury	148
16	Robertson, GeorgeGeorge Robertson	Hamilton	182
17†	Blunkett, DavidDavid Blunkett	Sheffield Brightside	175
17†	Clarke, TomTom Clarke	Monklands West	175
19	Harman, HarrietHarriet Harman	Peckham	149
20	Clwyd, AnnAnn Clwyd	Cynon Valley	94
21†	Jones, LynneLynne Jones	Birmingham Selly Oak	66
21†	Mullin, ChrisChris Mullin	Sunderland South	66
23	Paul Flynn	Newport West	61
24	Banks, TonyTony Banks	Newham North West	47
25	Canavan, DennisDennis Canavan	Falkirk West	42
26	Corbyn, JeremyJeremy Corbyn	Islington North	37

† Multiple candidates tied for position.

References

• "Shadow Cabinet Elections in the 1992 Parliament".