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) the 1980s also began using the pejorative "hard left" to sometimes describe Trotskyist groups such as the Militant tendency, Socialist Organiser and Socialist Action. In 1988, Kinnock was challenged by Tony Benn for the party leadership. Based on the percentages, 183 members of parliament supported Kinnock, while Benn was backed by 37. With a clear majority, Kinnock remained leader of the Labour Party. In November 1990 following a contested leadership election, Margaret Thatcher resigned as leader of the Conservative Party and was succeeded as leader and Prime Minister by John Major. Most opinion polls had shown Labour comfortably ahead of