The Conservatives, Ukip and the Green party are all seeking a new leader. Whether Jeremy Corbyn resigns or not, it seems likely Labour will be having its own election soon too. In a sign of the barmy political times, there is not a single leader of a major UK party who fought the 2015 election that has not subsequently stepped down.
Given this explosion of internal democracy, it is worth pointing out that the formal leadership election is a relatively new invention. It was only in 1965 that the Conservative party (founded in 1834) gave the decision to MPs; previous leaders were picked through consultation. The considerably younger Labour party, founded in 1900, was much quicker to adopt the system, with Ramsay MacDonald becoming the first leader elected by MPs in 1922.
Elections usually come after a leader’s resignation (whether their hand is forced or not) but sometimes challengers take on incumbents and win. One such was Margaret Thatcher, who supplanted Ted Heath in 1975. An attempt to do the same in turn to Thatcher by backbencher Sir Anthony Meyer did not work out in 1989, though she did resign the following year, after yet another challenge by Michael Heseltine.
