Hugh Gaitskell leadership 1957 Brighton Aneurin Bevan made a speech disavowing unilateral
nuclear disarmament, claiming that it would send the government "naked into the conference chamber".
Harold Wilson leadership 1966 Brighton Nicolas Walter shouted "hypocrite" at Wilson in protest against support given by the government to US behaviour in the
Vietnam War. Walter was bundled out of the venue, arrested, charged with "indecency in church" under the
1860 Ecclesiastical Courts Jurisdiction Act because Wilson was speaking in a church, and imprisoned for two months.
James Callaghan leadership 1976 Blackpool Chancellor of the Exchequer Denis Healey announced his plans for a $3.9 billion loan from the IMF to tackle inflation, as well as continuing existing pay policies and public spending restraints.
Michael Foot leadership September 1981 Brighton There was a minute's silence at the Conference in memory of
Bill Shankly, former
Liverpool FC manager and lifelong Labour supporter. The
deputy leadership election took place, with incumbent deputy
Denis Healey narrowly defeating challenger
Tony Benn.
Neil Kinnock leadership 1983 Brighton Neil Kinnock was elected party leader with 71% of the vote, following Labour's defeat in the
June general election, succeeding Michael Foot.
Roy Hattersley joined him as deputy leader. In his speech, Kinnock stated that "we can enjoy fraternity between socialists and we must enjoy fidelity to socialism." The editorial board of
Militant were expelled.
1985 Bournemouth In his speech, Kinnock attacked Militant and their record in the leadership of
Liverpool City Council, leading to a walkout led by
Eric Heffer.
1989 Brighton The rules for the election of the Parliamentary Committee were changed, expanding it to 18 seats, at least three of which were to be filled by women.
John Smith leadership 1992 Blackpool In July 1992,
John Smith succeeded Neil Kinnock, by winning the party's leadership contest with 91% of the vote, against his only remaining leadership opponent,
Bryan Gould.
Margaret Beckett was elected as the party's deputy leader. The contest followed Labour's defeat in the
April general election.
1993 Brighton For 1993, the rules for the Parliamentary Committee were amended again so four of its seats were to be filled by women. Smith abolished the trade union
block vote at Conference and replaced it with the
one member, one vote method. He was praised by
John Prescott for "putting his head on a block" in pushing the reforms through.
Tony Blair leadership 1994 Blackpool Tony Blair won the 1994 Labour Leadership Contest, with 57% of the overall votes, following the death of the former leader, John Smith. His opponents were
John Prescott and
Margaret Beckett. Prescott was elected as the party's deputy leader. The "
New Labour" rebranding was officially unveiled.
October 1995 Brighton Featured Blair's "Young Country" speech.
1996 Blackpool Featured Blair's "Education, Education and Education" speech.
2000 Brighton The 2000 conference was held in Brighton from 24 to 28 September. On 27 September, delegates voted by a majority of nearly three-to-two in favour of a motion calling for the basic state
pension to be linked to average earnings. Blair said that the government would not change its pension policies despite the vote. The international guest speaker was
Nelson Mandela, the former
President of South Africa. Closing the conference on 28 September, he made a speech condemning
poverty and inequality and made an appeal concerning
AIDS in South Africa.
2001 Brighton The 2001 conference took place in Brighton and began on 30 September. On 25 September, Blair had stated he would recall Parliament from the recess for a day in order to keep MPs updated following the
September 11 attacks, meaning the conference was rescheduled to end a day earlier than initially planned, on 3 October. The event was protected by a large security operation, including a five-mile
air exclusion zone. The international guest speaker was
Gerhard Schröder, the
Chancellor of Germany. The conference began with a two-minute silence, an address from the
Chief Fire Officers Association praising firefighters in New York, and a speech from culture secretary
Tessa Jowell. Deputy Prime Minister
John Prescott also gave a speech, with
The Guardian noting that he "dropped his usual party conference knock-about routine." while also paying some focus to a potential referendum on the introduction of the
Euro. It was praised by most U.S. newspapers, while European papers were less supportive;
The New York Times stated that Blair was "America's most passionate and steadfast ally in the fight against terrorism," while Italian paper
La Stampa said that "in some phases Blair has seemed to be tugging at Bush's jacket, so as to appear not so much the trusted friend but more the petulant friend, or even the irritating friend." Blair also spoke of an international "Partnership for Africa", and a potential review of student funding and
tuition fees.
2002 Blackpool The 2002 event took place in the
Winter Gardens complex in Blackpool, and ran from 30 September to 3 October. Attendees included: pressure groups such as the
Countryside Alliance,
League Against Cruel Sports, and
Anti-Nazi League; big business such as
BNFL,
BP, and
BAE Systems; think tanks including the
Fabian Society, 50 people from the
Institute for Public Policy Research, and the
Adam Smith Institute; the
Confederation of British Industry; various media organisations; and observers from other political parties including the
Iraqi National Congress, though the
Socialist Workers Party claimed they were not let in. In Blair's speech on 1 October, he pledged to "quicken the march of progress" in reforming the UK's public services, and said that Labour was "best at its boldest - and so far we've made a good start, but we've not been bold enough." He told the trade unions to "work with us," and said that the
welfare state had led to a "monolithic provision of services," arguing for the use of private finance. He argued for the possibility of
war with Iraq, and reiterated that there would be a referendum on joining the euro if economic tests were met. It ended with a four minute standing ovation.
2003 Bournemouth 2003 was Blair's tenth conference as leader, held in Bournemouth from 28 September to 2 October. It was chaired by
Ian McCartney. On 28 September, Blair stated that he would continue pushing for
foundation hospitals and
university top-up fees, Delegates initially voted to leave the Iraq War off the conference agenda entirely, instead staging emergency debates on the NHS, employment rights and pensions. On 29 September at a fringe event, former House of Commons leader
Robin Cook made a speech criticising Blair's rejection of plans for a partly elected House of Lords. On 30 September,
Gordon Brown was seen to put pressure on Blair in a speech, promising extra spending on public services, without directly attacking him. Culture secretary
Tessa Jowell, announced plans to commemorate the 60th anniversary of the Normandy
D-Day landings, and deputy prime minister
John Prescott announced that 1,600 houses were to be built in the
South East. Blair also made his speech on the 30th, which received a record 7.5 minute standing ovation. During the speech, he listed Labour's achievements, dismissed a new top rate of
income tax, stated that it "wouldn't be fair" if education funding came from the taxpayer, attacked those opposed to foundation hospitals, advocated
pluralism in the public sector, and defended his decision to go to war in Iraq. The party leadership allowed a vote to go ahead concerning a section in a party policy document that recorded the Iraq War's chronology instead, with RMT stating that "the proposed vote will be meaningless". Blair's side won the Iraq vote, but lost two votes on foundation hospitals and the NHS among delegates. Over 86% of delegates also voted in favour of allowing people in
Northern Ireland to become party members. The international guest speaker to address conference on the 1st was
Hamid Karzai, the first
President of the Islamic Republic of Afghanistan. To end the conference on 2 October, Prescott told the party in a speech to stop "tearing ourselves apart," after unions forced ministers to accept a motion on compulsory employer pension contributions.
The Red Flag was sung for the first time at the conference since 1999, alongside
Jerusalem. The conference rejected a call for withdrawal from Iraq, but accepted a resolution calling for renationalisation of the railways; the leadership declared that it would ignore this. During his speech on 29 September, Blair was interrupted shortly after he started speaking by
anti-war protester Hector Christie, who shouted "you've got blood on your hands," speaking of the Iraq War. Blair stated that the protester was lucky to be free to voice the protest. Around 15 to 20 minutes later, about six pro-hunting demonstrators shouted and set off
rape alarms on the balcony above. All protesters were escorted away by police. The conference was addressed on 30 September by the Irish rock star
Bono who called for more action to combat the spread of
AIDS and the debt problems African countries.
2005 Brighton The 2005 conference was held in Brighton from 26 until 29 September and followed Labour's success in the
2005 general election. Over the course of the conference, over 600 people were held under Section 44 of the
Terrorism Act 2000, which allows for
stop and search to be carried out by the police. This included
Walter Wolfgang, an 82-year-old peace activist and refugee from
Nazi Germany who was removed from the conference for shouting the word "nonsense" at a speech on Iraq by
Jack Straw, and later detained under the Act when he tried to get back in. None of those held were arrested nor charged. Labour issued an apology to Wolfgang, and he was cheered when he returned the next day.
2006 Manchester In 2006 the conference was held in
Manchester at the
G-Mex and Manchester International Conference Centre from 24 to 28 September. It was the first time since 1974 that the main Labour conference was not held at a
seaside town and the first time since 1917 the Labour conference had been held in Manchester. This followed Labour's Spring 2004 conference which was held at the G-Mex for the first time. The conference was Blair's last as leader after he stated this would be the case just before the conference and at the conference itself. The start of the conference was marked with
protests against the Iraq War. St Johns C.E. Primary School's steel band performed before Blair came on stage for his last speech to conference as party leader and prime minister. In the speech, he praised the work of the
Chancellor of the Exchequer,
Gordon Brown, though did not explicitly support him as a potential successor. The conference was addressed in a joint session by Labour's
Mayor of London,
Ken Livingstone and the
Mayor of Los Angeles Antonio Villaraigosa on the subject of
climate change.
Bob Geldof and Monica Naggaga from
Oxfam (
Uganda) spoke together about Africa. The main international guest speaker was the former
US President Bill Clinton on 27 September. Another international visitor – but not a speaker to the conference – was
Shimon Peres, the former
Prime Minister of Israel.
Gordon Brown leadership 2007 Bournemouth The 2007 conference was held in the
Bournemouth International Centre from 23 to 27 September. The conference was the first with
Gordon Brown as leader of the Labour Party and
Prime Minister, and he laid out his plans for his premiership. It was a first conference for
Harriet Harman as Deputy Leader.
2008 Manchester The 2008 conference was held between 20 and 24 September in
Manchester at
Manchester Central (formerly G-Mex). The opening day of conference was moved from Sunday to Saturday to allow people who work during the week to attend. The Labour leader and Prime Minister, Gordon Brown, delivered his keynote address on 23 September.
2009 Brighton The 2009 conference was held in Brighton from 27 September to 1 October 2009. It saw an address from
Peter Mandelson, given on 28 September, in which he claimed that Labour was in "the fight of our lives" as the
next general election approached. Gordon Brown gave his keynote address to the conference on the afternoon of 29 September, saying that Labour was "not done yet". Shortly afterwards,
The Sun announced it would withdraw its support for Labour, and gave its backing to the
Conservatives. Union leader and Labour supporter
Tony Woodley responded by tearing up a copy of that edition of
The Sun, telling the audience that "in Liverpool, we learnt a long time ago what to do. I suggest the rest of the country should do exactly the same thing", in reference to the hostility felt in Liverpool towards
The Sun following its controversial allegations about the behaviour of
Liverpool FC supporters in the
Hillsborough disaster 20 years earlier.
Ed Miliband leadership 2010 Manchester Shortly after losing the
2010 general election to the
Conservatives, following a
Liberal Democrat coalition, the 2010 Conference took place at
Manchester Central conference centre between 26 and 30 September. The conference started with the announcement of the results of the
2010 leadership election and was
Ed Miliband's first conference as leader. In his first major speech as leader on 28 September, Miliband told delegates that his "new generation" would return the party to power. The following day
David Miliband announced he would not be serving in his brother's shadow cabinet, although he would continue as an MP. Other highlights of the conference included activists condemning the
coalition government's proposed public spending cuts as "obscene" on 27 September, and a close of conference address from
Harriet Harman in which she told delegates that Ed Miliband would "fortify" the party.
2011 Liverpool The 2011 Conference took place in
Liverpool from 25 to 29 September. It was the first time since 1925 that Labour had held its conference there. On 26 September delegates voted to scrap the tradition of
Shadow Cabinet elections. Miliband's keynote speech on 27 September suffered a five-minute blackout after all media communications were lost.
2012 Manchester The 2012 Conference was held at Manchester Central conference centre, On 2 October, Miliband made his keynote speech themed around the new
One Nation Labour branding. Miliband also made use of
humour in approximately 20% of the speech, more than in his previous speeches. It received an overwhelmingly positive reaction from the press.
2014 Manchester The 2014 Conference was held in
Manchester from 21 to 24 September at Manchester Central conference centre.
Ed Miliband was criticised by his colleagues for not mentioning the deficit and immigration in his Conference address, despite having promised to do so in his pre-speech press release.
Jeremy Corbyn leadership 2015 London (Special Conference) The results of the
leadership and
deputy leadership elections were announced prior to the annual conference on 12 September at a short Special Conference in Westminster, London, in which
Jeremy Corbyn was elected leader of the party.
2015 Brighton The 2015 conference took place in Brighton between 27 September and 30 September. Corbyn reinstated the use of the
Autocue, three years after it had been abandoned by Miliband. It was the first time that Corbyn had used one to deliver a speech.
2016 Liverpool The 2016 Conference took place at
ACC Liverpool; it started on 25 September and ran until Wednesday 28 September. The result of the
2016 leadership election was announced the previous day, with Jeremy Corbyn being re-elected. The conference heard impassioned pleas from Deputy Leader
Tom Watson and Mayor of London
Sadiq Khan for unity and a need for the party to gain power. Part of Corbyn's platform for the second leadership election was accepting the result of the EU referendum that year, though there were motions and debates on Europe and the prospect of a second referendum. The first year of
The World Transformed, a festival hosted by the left-wing grassroots campaigning group
Momentum, took place in the city at the same time as the conference. The conference cut the number of politicians from the program in order to let more regular party members to have slots. Corbyn's keynote speech lasted 75 minutes and included a number of jokes at the expense both of the Conservatives and the
Daily Mail. In terms of policy, Corbyn pledged that a Labour government would give cities the power to bring in
rent controls and introduce restrictions on
gentrification projects, citing the then recent
Grenfell Tower fire. Fringe events at the conference included the second year of
The World Transformed, at which former party leader
Ed Miliband hosted a political pub quiz, focusing on Labour history and current affairs.
Centre for Cities, a think tank focused on cities in the UK, hosted a "the future of urban leadership" event, chaired by Andrew Carter with a panel consisting of
Andy Burnham,
Steve Rotheram, Michelle Dix (Managing Director of
Crossrail 2), Francesca Gains (Head of Politics at
University of Manchester) and David Orr (Chief Executive of the
National Housing Federation).
2018 Liverpool The 2018 Conference took place at the
Arena and Convention Centre Liverpool (ACC Liverpool) from 23 to 26 September, with 13,000 delegates at the event. On 24 September, it was announced that private property tenants would be given more protections, as landlords couldn't evict them without reason.
John McDonnell announced that workers in companies with more than 250 employees would become joint share holders in a structure that the law would oblige to adopt, with each employee receiving a payout at the end of each year. The prospect of a
second referendum on the UK's relationship with the European Union was a heavily discussed topic at the conference. Both Leader
Jeremy Corbyn and Deputy Leader Tom Watson had said should the conference vote for a second referendum they would support it. The motion was discussed by delegates on the Sunday, including MPs and representatives from
People's Vote and other delegates, and after five hours they had written a two-paged motion stating that "If we cannot get a general election Labour must support all options remaining on the table, including campaigning for a public vote". The vote on motion took place on the Tuesday. Party delegates voted on the Member of Parliament reselection process. They lowered the threshold required of local branches and local union branches to express dissatisfaction in an MP's performance from 50% to 33%. Fringe Events also took place at the conference included The World Transformed, at which
2017 French presidential candidate Jean-Luc Mélenchon was a key-note speaker, as well as Corbyn,
Katja Kipping (leader of
Die Linke),
Ralf Stegner (
SPD),
Zitto Kabwe (leader of
Alliance for Change and Transparency) and
Ash Sarkar. Councils against Austerity also took place, organised by a group of 24 Labour council leaders and 12 local Labour group leaders who had signed an open letter sent to Prime Minister Theresa May, criticising austerity's effect on local government. Real Britain, an event hosted by
The Mirror, was chaired by
Kevin Maguire and had speakers such as
John McDonnell,
Len McCluskey and former footballer
Neville Southall. At this event McCluskey stated
Unite's interest in supporting
Labour Party candidates in Northern Ireland, instead of the
SDLP.
2019 Brighton The 2019 Conference took place at the Brighton Centre from 21 to 25 September, and was chaired by Wendy Nichols. Earlier in the year, there was talk of hosting a special conference on a resolution to the deadlock on whether Labour should back a
second referendum on Britain's relationship with the European Union. However, in July 2019 Labour's affiliated trade unions agreed a joint position on Brexit, in which any finalised Brexit deal would be subject to a referendum, with the party to back a Remain vote if a Conservative government had negotiated the deal, and the party’s position to be decided if it was a Labour government's deal. Conference delegates voted on whether Labour should fully support remain in a second referendum, or support the leadership's position of hosting a special conference after securing a majority government of how to campaign in the referendum. A majority of delegates supported the leadership's position. Conference delegates voted on and supported several policy motions, including: supporting a
Green New Deal - which included large investments in windfarms and making the country
carbon neutral by 2030, reducing working hours to 32-hour workweek within a decade, abolish
private schools, free prescriptions in England, the creation of a National Care Service (a care-focused counterpart to the
National Health Service), an extension of voting rights to all residents of the UK regardless of their citizenship, and a large expansion of mental healthcare services aimed at preventing adolescent suicide.
Jeremy Corbyn brought his speech forward by a day due to the
Supreme Court ruling that the
prorogation of Parliament by Prime Minister
Boris Johnson was unlawful.
Keir Starmer leadership 2020 London (cancelled Special Conference) On 4 April, a special conference was due to take place in London in order to announce the results of the
leadership election, the
deputy leadership election and by-elections for two membership election NEC positions, as well as a
BAME (Black, Asian and Minority Ethnic) place on the
National Executive Committee. The conference was cancelled due to the
Coronavirus pandemic, and results were subsequently announced via the Labour Party social media feeds.
Keir Starmer was announced as the 19th
leader of the Labour Party.
2020 Connected (Online Conference) The 2020 Labour Party Conference would have taken place in
Liverpool from Saturday 19 September to Wednesday 23 September, however it was moved to an online format due to the
COVID-19 outbreak. It was Keir Starmer's first conference as leader. Taking place from 19 to 22 September, the virtual conference was renamed Labour Connected and described by the party as focused on "people coming together, to create a fairer and better society". Speakers included deputy leader
Angela Rayner and Shadow Chancellor
Anneliese Dodds. Starmer's speech took place on 22 September, during which he criticised the government's handling of
COVID-19, commenting that "just when the country needs leadership, we get serial incompetence". Starmer also focused on how Labour had changed since his election as party leader earlier that year, emphasising that the party was "under new leadership".
2021 Brighton The 2021 Labour Party conference took place between Saturday 25 September to Wednesday 29 September. It saw members attend in-person for the first time since the 2019 Conference. Prior to the conference, motions were blocked by the Conference Arrangement Committee and party staff which were seen as too "broad". This included both the Labour for a 'Green Jobs Revolution' motion and the 'Build Back Fairer' motion, both backed by the party's left. Instead, less radical but similar motions were allowed to remain. The decision was quickly reversed after an appeal. Controversy emerged due to Starmer wishing to change the voting system for leadership elections. He proposed reverting from a
one member, one vote system, in which each Labour party member and supporter has an equal vote back to the
electoral college where MPs, the membership and trade unions have a third of the vote each. The plan was accused of being anti-democratic, inappropriately timed and lacking consultation. and to stop another left-wing candidate like Jeremy Corbyn from winning the election. Prior to the conference, the media reported opposition from
Unite the Union,
TSSA,
CWU, and
Momentum, and uncertainty from
Unison,
GMB and
Usdaw. Starmer gave up on the electoral college after it failed to gain the support of trade unions. However, the party's executive committee agreed to send a series of more modest reforms to conference, including increasing the percentage of Labour MPs a candidate would need the support of to get on the leadership election ballot, banning the party's newest members from voting, and making it harder for members to deselect MPs. These changes were later passed by a small margin. At the conference party members voted in favour of a £15 an hour minimum wage. The motion calling for a £15 an hour minimum wage was put forward by
the Unite union. Starmer and his leadership team did not indicate a preference either in favour or against the motion.
2022 Liverpool , Shadow Levelling Up Secretary, speaking at the 2022 conference, showing the strong
Union Jack theming at the conference The 2022 conference took place in Liverpool from Sunday 25 to Wednesday 28 September 2022 at
ACC Liverpool, King's Dock, and was chaired by
Anneliese Dodds. To open the conference, Labour held a
minute's silence following the
death of Queen Elizabeth II, and sang
God Save the King for the first time at a Labour conference. Former leader Jeremy Corbyn criticised the decision, stating that it was "very, very odd," and "excessively nationalist," arguing that there was no precedent for doing so.
Keir Starmer was introduced by
Satvir Kaur. Delegates voted in favour of a motion on
proportional representation, which is supported by major trade unions associated with the Labour Party, including Unite, Unison and the
Communication Workers Union (CWU). However, Starmer said that electoral reform is not a priority and ruled out putting electoral reform in the Labour Party's next election manifesto.
2023 Liverpool Unusually, the 2023 conference took place in the same city as it did the previous year, Liverpool, from Sunday 8 October to Wednesday 11 October. It was also unusually held after the Conservative Party conference. The conference saw an increase in stalls from large companies, including for
Google,
Ineos,
Specsavers, with fringe events sponsored by
Deliveroo and
Goldman Sachs. There was an increase in the number of "observers" sent by the
Conservative Party to at least eight, up from the two usually sent between conferences at both parties. Shadow Chancellor
Rachel Reeves made her speech on 9 October, and spoke of a stance of "securonomics," which
The Guardian stated was similar to U.S. President
Joe Biden's language on
economic nationalism. She announced the creation of a "Covid corruption commissioner", enforcement of the
ministerial code on the use of
private jets, and a fiscal lock on ministerial spending. Also on 9 October, Labour MP
Apsana Begum left the conference due to safety concerns after she tweeted a photograph of herself supporting the
Palestine Solidarity Campaign during the
Gaza war. Starmer gave his speech on 10 October, but was interrupted before he began when Yaz Ashmawi, a protester from the new campaign group
People Demand Democracy, poured glitter over him, calling for a "people's house" and for proportional representation, which Starmer had rejected since the previous conference. During his speech, Starmer repeated the phrase "getting Britain building again," and repeated a pledge to build 1.5 million new houses. Starmer did not walk off the stage and through the crowd following his speech, as was usually the norm for party leader speeches at the conference. Labour sold limited edition "sparkle with Starmer" t-shirts for £20 following the incident, and the party launched a security review.
2024 Liverpool The 2024 Conference took place in Liverpool, on 22 September to 25 September for the third time in a row.
2025 Liverpool The 2025 Conference took place in Liverpool, on September 28 to October 1. ==See also==