1987 Labour Party (UK) Shadow Cabinet election stand. Michael Meacher, Robert Hughest, Robin Cook, Frank Dobson, Gordon Brown, Jo Richardson and Jack Straw gained seats. 1987 Labour Party (UK) Shadow Cabinet election The annual election to the Labour Party's Shadow Cabinet (more formally, its "Parliamentary Committee") was conducted in 1987. In addition to the 16 members elected, the Leader (Neil Kinnock), Deputy Leader (Roy Hattersley), Labour Chief Whip (Derek Foster), Labour Leader in the House of Lords (Cledwyn Hughes), and Chairman of the Parliamentary Labour Party (Stanley Orme) were automatically members. Following the 1987 general election, there were significant changes to the cabinet. Barry Jones, Peter Shore,
Labour Party (UK) widen the voting franchise to elect the leader and their deputy. By 1982, the National Executive Committee had concluded that the entryist Militant tendency group were in contravention of the party's constitution. The "Militant" newspaper's five member editorial board were expelled on 22 February 1983. The Labour Party was defeated heavily in the 1983 general election, winning only 27.6% of the vote, its lowest share since 1918, and receiving only half a million votes more than the SDP-Liberal Alliance who leader Michael Foot condemned for "siphoning" Labour support and enabling the Conservatives to greatly increase their majority of parliamentary seats.