Leader of the Opposition (United Kingdom) facts for kids

Quick facts for kids Leader of His Majesty's Most Loyal Opposition
Incumbent Kemi Badenoch since 2 November 2024
Official Opposition Parliament of the United Kingdom Leader of the Opposition's Office
Style	Leader of the Opposition (informal) The Right Honourable (formal)
Member of	House of Commons Shadow Cabinet Privy Council
Appointer	Largest political party in the House of Commons that is not in government, serves at the pleasure of His Majesty.
Term length	While leader of the largest political party in the House of Commons that is not in government
Inaugural holder	The Lord Grenville
Formation	March 1807 1 July 1937 (Statutory)
Deputy	Deputy Leader of the Opposition
Salary	£144,649 (including £91,346 MP salary)
Website	His Majesty's Official Opposition: The Shadow Cabinet: https://members.parliament.uk/Opposition/Cabinet

The Leader of His Majesty's Most Loyal Opposition, usually called the Leader of the Opposition, is the person who leads the main opposition party in the United Kingdom. This important job is seen as being like a "shadow" Prime Minister.

The Leader of the Opposition is usually the head of the biggest political party in the House of Commons that is not part of the government. If one party wins the election clearly, then the leader of the second-largest party becomes the Leader of the Opposition. This role, which started as a tradition, was later made official by law.

The Leader of the Opposition is often thought of as the next possible Prime Minister. They become a member of the Privy Council, a group of important advisors to the King. They also lead a team called the Official Opposition Shadow Cabinet. This team checks what the government's real Cabinet is doing and suggests different ideas and plans.

In the past, before 1911, the leaders of the opposition in the House of Commons and the House of Lords were sometimes seen as equally important. But since the Parliament Act 1911, it has been clear that the leader in the House of Commons is the most important.

The Leader of the Opposition gets an extra salary on top of their pay as a Member of Parliament (MP). For example, in 2019, this extra pay was about £65,181.

The current Leader of the Opposition is Kemi Badenoch. She became the Leader of the Conservative Party after the 2024 Conservative Party leadership election. She took on this role on November 2, 2024.

How the Leader of the Opposition Role Developed

The idea of a "Leader of the Opposition" started to become clear in the early 1800s. One of the first people to act in this role was Charles James Fox. He led the Whig party for many years.

Charles James Fox, a very early Leader of the Opposition (1783–1806)

Early Leaders (1807–1937)

For there to be a clear Leader of the Opposition, there needed to be strong, organized political parties. This started to happen around 1807. The Whig party, for example, decided to have leaders in both the House of Commons and the House of Lords.

After the 1807 election, Lord Grenville led the Whigs in the House of Lords. His colleague, Viscount Howick, was the leader in the House of Commons. When Howick moved to the House of Lords, the Whigs needed a new leader in the Commons.

They chose George Ponsonby to lead the opposition in the House of Commons. He was the first person to hold this specific role. Even though he was not a very strong leader, he stayed in the position until he died in 1817.

After Ponsonby, there was a period where the Whigs struggled to find a strong leader in the Commons. Sometimes the role was empty, or someone acted as leader without full support.

The term "His Majesty's Opposition" was first used in 1827 by John Cam Hobhouse. This showed that the opposition was seen as a loyal part of the political system, even though they disagreed with the government.

By 1830, the main political parties, the Tories (who later became the Conservatives) and the Whigs (who later became the Liberals), took turns being in power and in opposition. This made it easier to identify who the Leader of the Opposition was in each House.

A tradition grew that if the leader of the opposition had been the last Prime Minister, they would be seen as the overall party leader. If not, the leaders in both Houses were considered equal.

In 1846, the Conservative Party split. Lord Stanley led the larger group in the House of Lords. In the House of Commons, it was harder to find a clear leader until Benjamin Disraeli eventually took charge in 1851.

The Parliament Act 1911 changed things a lot. It made the House of Commons much more powerful than the House of Lords. From this point on, the Leader of the Opposition in the House of Commons became the most important opposition leader.

During World War I, the main parties formed a coalition government. This meant there was no real opposition, so the role of Leader of the Opposition was empty for a while. Later, when parties left the coalition, new leaders emerged.

In 1918, the Labour Party became the largest opposition party. However, they didn't have a single leader for a few years. During this time, Sir Donald Maclean and then H. H. Asquith (who returned to Parliament) acted as the opposition leaders for the Liberal Party.

Since 1922, the main government and opposition parties have usually been the Labour Party and the Conservative Party.

Official Leaders (from 1937)

The job of Leader of the Opposition was officially recognized by law in the Ministers of the Crown Act 1937. This law made sure the leader received a salary and defined who the leader should be.

Here are some key points from the law:

• The Leader of the Opposition gets an annual salary.
• The law says the "Leader of the Opposition" is the MP who leads the party with the most members in the House of Commons that is not in government.
• If there's any confusion about who the leader is, the Speaker of the House of Commons makes the final decision.

Later laws also recognized the Leader of the Opposition in the House of Lords. These laws confirm that to be a leader, a person must be a member of the House they lead.

Since 1937, the Leader of the Opposition has received a salary similar to a government minister. They also get a car with a driver for official duties.

During World War II, the main parties formed another coalition government. This meant the role of Leader of the Opposition was put on hold because there was no "alternative party capable of forming a Government." During this time, different Labour MPs acted as spokespeople for the party from the opposition benches.

List of Leaders of the Opposition (1911–present)

List of leaders of the opposition since the Parliament Act

Portrait		Leader of the Opposition	Term of office			Elections	Party	Shadow cabinet
			Start	End	Duration
		Bonar Law	13 November 1911	25 May 1915	3 years, 194 days	—	Conservative (Scot.U.)
		Sir Edward Carson	19 October 1915	6 December 1916	1 year, 49 days	—	Conservative (Irish U.)
		H. H. Asquith	6 December 1916	14 December 1918	2 years, 9 days	1918	Independent Liberal
		Sir Donald Maclean	14 December 1918	12 February 1920	1 year, 61 days	—
		H. H. Asquith	12 February 1920	21 November 1922	2 years, 283 days	1922
		Ramsay MacDonald	21 November 1922	22 January 1924	1 year, 63 days	1923	Labour
		Stanley Baldwin	22 January 1924	4 November 1924	288 days	1924	Conservative
		Ramsay MacDonald	4 November 1924	5 June 1929	4 years, 214 days	1929	Labour
		Stanley Baldwin	5 June 1929	24 August 1931	2 years, 81 days	—	Conservative
		Arthur Henderson	1 September 1931	25 October 1932	1 year, 55 days	1931	Labour
		George Lansbury	25 October 1932	8 October 1935	3 years, 349 days	—
		Clement Attlee	25 October 1935	11 May 1940	4 years, 200 days	1935
		Hastings Lees-Smith	22 May 1940	18 December 1941	1 year, 211 days	—
		Frederick Pethick-Lawrence	21 January 1942	February 1942	12 days	—
		Arthur Greenwood	February 1942	23 May 1945	3 years, 112 days	—
		Clement Attlee	23 May 1945	26 July 1945	65 days	1945
		Winston Churchill	26 July 1945	26 October 1951	6 years, 93 days	1950	Conservative
						1951
		Clement Attlee	26 October 1951	25 November 1955	4 years, 31 days	1955	Labour
		Herbert Morrison	25 November 1955	14 December 1955	20 days	—
		Hugh Gaitskell	14 December 1955	18 January 1963	7 years, 36 days	1959
		George Brown	18 January 1963	14 February 1963	28 days	—
		Harold Wilson	14 February 1963	16 October 1964	1 year, 246 days	1964		Wilson I
		Sir Alec Douglas-Home	16 October 1964	28 July 1965	286 days	—	Conservative (Scot.U.)	Douglas-Home
		Edward Heath	28 July 1965	19 June 1970	4 years, 327 days	1966	Conservative	Heath I
						1970
		Harold Wilson	19 June 1970	4 March 1974	3 years, 259 days	Feb 1974	Labour	Wilson II
		Edward Heath	4 March 1974	11 February 1975	345 days	Oct 1974	Conservative	Heath II
		Margaret Thatcher	11 February 1975	4 May 1979	4 years, 83 days	1979		Thatcher
		James Callaghan	4 May 1979	10 November 1980	1 year, 191 days	—	Labour	Callaghan
		Michael Foot	10 November 1980	2 October 1983	2 years, 327 days	1983		Foot
		Neil Kinnock	2 October 1983	18 July 1992	8 years, 291 days	1987		Kinnock
						1992
		John Smith	18 July 1992	12 May 1994	1 year, 299 days	—		Smith
		Margaret Beckett	12 May 1994	21 July 1994	71 days	—		Beckett
		Tony Blair	21 July 1994	2 May 1997	2 years, 286 days	1997		Blair
		John Major	2 May 1997	19 June 1997	49 days	—	Conservative	Major
		William Hague	19 June 1997	13 September 2001	4 years, 87 days	2001		Hague
		Iain Duncan Smith	13 September 2001	6 November 2003	2 years, 55 days	—		Duncan Smith
		Michael Howard	6 November 2003	6 December 2005	2 years, 31 days	2005		Howard
		David Cameron	6 December 2005	11 May 2010	4 years, 157 days	2010		Cameron
		Harriet Harman	11 May 2010	25 September 2010	138 days	—	Labour	Harman I
		Ed Miliband	25 September 2010	8 May 2015	4 years, 226 days	2015		Miliband
		Harriet Harman	8 May 2015	12 September 2015	128 days	—		Harman II
		Jeremy Corbyn	12 September 2015	4 April 2020	4 years, 206 days	2017		Corbyn
						2019
		Keir Starmer	4 April 2020	5 July 2024	4 years, 93 days	2024		Starmer
		Rishi Sunak	5 July 2024	2 November 2024	346 days	—	Conservative	Sunak
		Kemi Badenoch	2 November 2024	Incumbent	226 days	—	Conservative	Badenoch

Timeline of Leaders (1911–Present)

See also

In Spanish: Anexo:Líder de la oposición (Reino Unido) para niños

• Prime Minister of the United Kingdom
• Leader of the Opposition