Labour Party (UK)
centrist social democratic political party in the United Kingdom
The Labour Party, commonly Labour, is a political party in the United Kingdom. It sits on the centre-left of the left–right political spectrum, and has historically been an alliance of democratic socialists, social democrats and trade unionists. It has been the governing party since the 2024 general election. Andy Burnham became Leader of the Labour Party and Prime Minister of the United Kingdom in 2026, succeeding Keir Starmer, who had been elected party leader in 2020 and led Labour into government. There have been twelve Labour governments and eight Labour prime ministers. The party meets annually during Autumn for the Labour Party Conference, during which delegates from local parties and trade unions vote on party policy, and senior figures address the audience from the Conference platform.
The Labour Party was founded in 1900, having emerged from the trade union movement and socialist parties of the 19th century. In 1918 it became guided by socialism and a commitment to "common ownership" via nationalisation. It was electorally weak before the First World War, but in the early 1920s overtook the Liberal Party to become the main opposition to the Conservative Party, and briefly formed a minority government under Ramsay MacDonald in 1924. In 1929 Labour became the largest party in the House of Commons for the first time, with 287 seats, but fell short of a majority, forming another minority government.
This brief starts where responsible research should: with the source description of “Labour Party (UK)” as centrist social democratic political party in the United Kingdom. Everything that follows is an evidence route, not borrowed authority.
Why this record matters
The subject matters to the general reference register because the source frames it as centrist social democratic political party in the United Kingdom. Its deeper value depends on whether names, dates, institutions and citations support that framing.
Named sources, stable identifiers and responsible institutions provide the strongest route from overview to verifiable evidence. The source revision retrieved here is dated Sep 23, 2026. The linked authority identifier is Q9630. VIAF identifies the subject as 54145970320132252353. The Library of Congress control number is n79018534. 2 of 4 selected statements include explicit references; 1 carry qualifiers and 0 use preferred rank. The first chronological checks are 2024, 2026, 2020 and 1900.
A concise general-reference account can conceal disagreements about scope, terminology or the weight assigned to individual sources. The lead is largely declarative, so disagreement and counter-evidence require a deliberate search beyond the opening account. Authority statements aid reconciliation but still require their own references, qualifiers and ranks to be checked.
How to read it
Use the entry as an orientation point, then follow its citations and revision history. Names, dates and institutional relationships should be checked against the original record.
- Subject orientation
- Search vocabulary
- Locating named sources
The closest primary source, responsible institution and strongest cited specialist reference.
Three-step research path
- Establish the record: confirm the title “Labour Party (UK)”, its source revision and the description used here.
- Expand the search: follow Labour Party (UK) primary sources, Labour Party (UK) archive and Labour research across catalogues and specialist indexes.
- Test the account: compare the strongest cited source with the responsible institution’s current record and note any disagreement.
Questions for further research
- Which source most directly establishes the central claim about “Labour Party (UK)”?
- Which cited source is closest to the event, object or claim?
- What terminology or title could unlock a more precise catalogue search?
Search terms from this dossier
This entry incorporates text from “Labour Party (UK)” on English Wikipedia. Contributors are listed in the page history. Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Selected authority identifiers and statements are retrieved from Wikidata under CC0; their references and qualifiers remain part of the verification path.