Are the omens good for Jez?

Labour leaders at each General Election, and how they fared.

1922	J R Clynes	Lost
1923	Ramsay MacDonald	Lost
1924	Ramsay MacDonald	Lost
1929	Ramsay MacDonald	Won
1931	Arthur Henderson	Lost
1935	Clement Attlee	Lost
1945	Clement Attlee	Won
1950	Clement Attlee	Won
1951	Clement Attlee	Lost
1955	Clement Attlee	Lost
1959	Hugh Gaitskell	Lost
1964	Harold Wilson	Won
1966	Harold Wilson	Won
1970	Harold Wilson	Lost
Feb 1974	Harold Wilson	Won
Oct 1974	Harold Wilson	Won
1979	James Callaghan	Lost
1983	Michael Foot	Lost
1987	Neil Kinnock	Lost
1992	Neil Kinnock	Lost
1997	Tony Blair	Won
2001	Tony Blair	Won
2005	Tony Blair	Won
2010	Gordon Brown	Lost
2015	Ed Miliband	Lost
2017	Jeremy Corbyn	Lost

Whilst many in Labour ranks celebrated our result in this year’s General Election, it was still a defeat. We did make gains, and our vote share was a significant improvement on recent elections. However, a defeat is still a defeat.

It is now twelve years since our last victory, and if this Government lasts the course it will be on track to match the Thatcher-Major years for longevity.

Interestingly, two Labour leaders went on to become Prime Minister after losing their first General Election, a feat Jeremy Corbyn will want to emulate. However, I doubt he will see Ramsay MacDonald as a role model, and Clement Attlee had a World War separate initial defeat from subsequent success.

We are in an unprecedented run of single election leaders. I am not a big fan of leaders resigning straight after a General election defeat – Gordon Brown should never have gone when he did, although I would have preferred if Ed Miliband had gone before the election. I expect Jeremy to lead us into the next General Election, although if May lasts five years it would certainly test the fitness of a then seventy-three year old Labour leader.