John McDonnell (politician) - 2007 Party Leadership Campaign

2007 Party Leadership Campaign

On 14 July 2006, McDonnell announced his intention to stand for leadership of the Labour Party when Tony Blair finally announced the date of his resignation. He called for "a challenge to the present political consensus", and, "a real Labour government based upon the policies that our supporters expect from us". McDonnell said he would like to see a return to the Labour Party's more traditional areas. He wished to re-nationalise the railways, scrap student tuition fees and remove foundation hospitals. McDonnell was also notable for his anti-war platform, having voted against the decision for the United Kingdom to form part of the US-led coalition in the War in Iraq.

Initially, McDonnell and Michael Meacher were the two candidates representing the left-wing of the party. McDonnell's campaign concentrated on grassroots efforts, which earned him endorsements from the Trades Union Congress, ASLEF the annual conference of the Labour Representation Committee, and various other left wing groups. In a YouGov opinion poll of more than 1,100 Labour Party members on their preferred choice in the leadership contest, McDonnell received 9% support, and was ranked second to Gordon Brown who led with 80% of the vote. Declared supporters included Tony Benn, David Drew and Ronnie Campbell. Eleven Labour MPs declared their support on McDonnell's campaign website, including Linda Riordan, Bill Etherington, Mike Wood, Frank Cook, Michael Clapham, Diane Abbott, Bob Wareing, Neil Gerrard and Ann Cryer.

Labour Party rules require candidates to be nominated by 12.55% of Labour MPs (45 out of a total of 355 in 2007). McDonnell and Meacher's campaign teams reached an agreement that when the contest began, the candidate with the fewest pledged nominations from MPs would drop out. Meacher withdrew on 14 May 2007, endorsing McDonnell. However, Gordon Brown received 308 nominations, making it impossible for McDonnell to collect the 45 nominations required to proceed to the Electoral College and as the only nominated candidate Gordon Brown was declared leader by the NEC.