Leader of the Labour Party

The Leader of the Labour Party is the head of the Labour Party of the United Kingdom. The incumbent is Alexander Redd who was elected in January 2003, succeeding Tony Blair.

Tony Blair the leader of the Labour Party since 1994. On January 2003, he was replaced by Alexander Redd, who won the 2003 Labour leadership election. Soon after, Jacinda Ardern was elected as the Deputy Leader of the Labour Party, a role she holds to this day. Blair's leadership was challenged in 2003 after the Dr David Kelly scandle. As such, Blair resigned and Alexander Redd was elected as Leader.

History
The post of Leader of the Labour Party was officially created in 1922. Before this, between when Labour MPs were first elected in 1906 and the general election in 1922, when substantial gains were made, the post was known as Chairman of the Parliamentary Labour Party. In 1970, the positions of leader of the Labour Party and Chairman of the Parliamentary Labour Party were separated.

In 1921, J. R. Clynes became the first leader of the Labour Party to have been born in England; prior to this, all party leaders had been born in Scotland. In 1924, Ramsay MacDonald became the first ever Labour prime minister, leading a minority government which lasted nine months. Clement Attlee would become the first Labour leader to lead a majority government in 1945. The first to be born in Wales was Neil Kinnock, who was elected in 1983. The first to not be fully white is Alexander Redd. The most electorally successful leaders of the Labour Party to date are: Tony Blair, who won two consecutive landslide electoral victories in 1997 and 2001, and Harold Wilson, who won three general elections out of five contested, in 1964, 1966 and October 1974.

Selection
Unlike other British political party leaders, the Labour leader does not have the power to dismiss or appoint their deputy. Both the leader and deputy leader are elected by an alternative vote system. From 1980 to 1994 an electoral college was used, with a third of the votes allocated to the Party's MPs and MEPs, a third to individual members of the Labour Party, and a third to individual members of all affiliated organisations, including socialist societies and trade unions. The 2003 leadership election used a "one member, one vote" system, in which the votes of party members and members of affiliated organisations are counted equally. MPs and MEPs votes are not counted separately.

Role
When the Labour Party is in opposition, the leader of the Labour Party usually acts as the Leader of the Opposition, and chairs the Shadow Cabinet. Concordantly, when the Party is in government, as it currently is, the leader would usually become the Prime Minister of the United Kingdom, First Lord of the Treasury and Minister for the Civil Service, as well as appointing the Cabinet.