a win for their candidate on the first ballot. Benn, meanwhile, spoke out against the contest, arguing the leadership should not be decided until new franchise rules which replaced the system of MPs electing the leader with an electoral college could be brought in in 1981. Over the weekend following the announcement of Callaghan's resignation Foot faced pressure to run, including from his wife. Indeed, he commented that if he did not run "my wife might divorce me." Foot also said he believed he could bring peace to the Labour Party, which was badly divided. Political journalist William Russell reported that Foot's intervention meant the prospects of a Healey win on the first ballot went from being "fair" to being "dashed". For Shore the impact was arguably even more significant. Edward Pearce would later write that while Shore had initially been seen as "a serious leadership contender, as candidate of the left against Healey", the nomination of Foot meant that his prospects "went to nothing". Foot's profile was given a boost when Callaghan asked him, in his position as deputy leader, to replace him at Prime Minister's Questions, until a new leader was elected. Candidates This meant that the following four candidates would contest the leadership: Michael Foot, incumbent Deputy Leader of the Labour Party, Member of Parliament for Ebbw Vale Denis Healey, Shadow Chancellor of the Exchequer, Member of Parliament for Leeds East Peter Shore, Shadow Foreign Secretary, Member of Parliament for Stepney and Poplar John Silkin, Shadow Leader of the House of Commons, Member of Parliament for Lewisham Deptford Foot and Healey both had considerable experience in parliament and government. Foot had been Labour's Deputy Leader since 1976 and had been Leader of the House of Commons in the last Labour government. He had stood for election to parliament in 1935 and had first been elected to the House of Commons in 1945, losing his seat in 1955, before returning to the House of Commons at a 1960 by-election. Healey had had two long spells in government, having served as Chancellor of the Exchequer from 1974 to 1979 and as Secretary of State for Defence from 1964 until 1970. He had first stood for parliament in 1945 and had been an MP since 1952. Like Foot he had been an unsuccessful candidate in the last Labour leadership contest Although both Shore and Silkin had served less than 20