Filling A Vacancy For Deputy Leader Of The Labour Party

EDM number 2526 in 2005-06, proposed by Gordon Prentice on 06/07/2006.

That this House notes with interest the interview on the Today programme on 6th July when John Humphreys suggested to the Deputy Prime Minister that if he resigned as deputy leader of the party, `there would have to be an election, wouldn't there?'; recalls the response of the Deputy Prime Minister, who stated that if he resigned now there did not have to be an election and that Mr Humphreys was quite wrong; believes there is clearly confusion about the provisions of the Labour Party Rule Book and draws attention to section 4B.2e(iii) (Procedure in a vacancy), which states that when Labour is in Government and the deputy leader, for whatever reason, becomes permanently unavailable, the Cabinet may, in consultation with the National Executive Committee (NEC), appoint one of its members to serve as deputy leader until the next party conference (and that) the Cabinet may, alternatively, in consultation with the NEC, leave the post vacant until the next party conference; and believes that the BBC and the media generally should become thoroughly familiar with the rules to enable them to report with clarity, objectivity and accuracy on developments involving the tenure of the Leader or Deputy Leader of the Labour Party.

This motion has been signed by a total of 8 MPs.