The Labour Party leadership election of 1922 was the first leadership election for the posts of Chairman and Leader of the Parliamentary Labour Party

Labour Party (UK)

The Labour Party is a centre-left democratic socialist party in the United Kingdom. It surpassed the Liberal Party in general elections during the early 1920s, forming minority governments under Ramsay MacDonald in 1924 and 1929-1931. The party was in a wartime coalition from 1940 to 1945, after...

. Previously the position had been simply the "Chairman of the Parliamentary Labour Party".

The election took place when incumbent Chairman John Clynes was challenged by former leader Ramsay MacDonald

Ramsay MacDonald

James Ramsay MacDonald, PC, FRS was a British politician who was the first ever Labour Prime Minister, leading a minority government for two terms....

. MacDonald opposed the way Clynes ruled the party.

Ballot

The result of the only ballot of Labour MPs on 14 December was as follows:

Only Ballot: 21 November 1922
Candidate		Votes	%
	Ramsay MacDonald Ramsay MacDonald James Ramsay MacDonald, PC, FRS was a British politician who was the first ever Labour Prime Minister, leading a minority government for two terms....	61	52.14
	John Clynes	56	47.86
Majority		5	4.28
Turnout		117	82.39

As Labour leader, MacDonald became prime minister

Prime Minister of the United Kingdom

The Prime Minister of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland is the Head of Her Majesty's Government in the United Kingdom. The Prime Minister and Cabinet are collectively accountable for their policies and actions to the Sovereign, to Parliament, to their political party and...

 in 1924 and from 1929 to 1931, at which point he became head of a National Government

UK National Government

In the United Kingdom the term National Government is an abstract concept referring to a coalition of some or all major political parties. In a historical sense it usually refers primarily to the governments of Ramsay MacDonald, Stanley Baldwin and Neville Chamberlain which held office from 1931...

 that was opposed by the bulk of the Labour Party, and he was succeeded as party leader by Arthur Henderson

Arthur Henderson

Arthur Henderson was a British iron moulder and Labour politician. He was the 1934 Nobel Peace Prize Laureate and he served three short terms as the Leader of the Labour Party from 1908–1910, 1914–1917 and 1931-1932....

. MacDonald was subsequently expelled from the party. In 1932, George Lansbury

George Lansbury

George Lansbury was a British politician, socialist, Christian pacifist and newspaper editor. He was a Member of Parliament from 1910 to 1912 and from 1922 to 1940, and leader of the Labour Party from 1932 to 1935....

 became leader unopposed, as one of the few experienced Labour MPs left in Parliament, but trades union opposition to his pacifism led to his resignation in 1935 and replacement by his deputy Clement Attlee

Clement Attlee

Clement Richard Attlee, 1st Earl Attlee, KG, OM, CH, PC, FRS was a British Labour politician who served as the Prime Minister of the United Kingdom from 1945 to 1951, and as the Leader of the Labour Party from 1935 to 1955...

. A month later Attlee was challenged in a new election

Labour Party (UK) leadership election, 1935

The 1935 Labour Party leadership election took place on 26 November 1935 when Herbert Morrison and Arthur Greenwood challenged Clement Attlee, the incumbent party leader of only one month and one day. Attlee, previously the party's Deputy Leader, had been appointed as an interim leader the previous...

.

Sources

• David Marquand
  David Marquand
  David Ian Marquand FBA, FRHistS, FRSA is a British academic and former Labour Party Member of Parliament .Born in Cardiff, Marquand was educated at Emanuel School, Magdalen College, Oxford, St. Antony’s College, Oxford, and at the University of California, Berkeley...
  
  , Ramsay MacDonald, Jonathan Cape, London 1977; pages 285-287