At the 2008 general election, the Fifth Labour Government, led by Helen Clark, was defeated by John Key's National Party.

Following Clark's election-night resignation,[1] Phil Goff was unanimously elected as the party's leader, with Annette King as deputy, and Darren Hughes and Steve Chadwick as the senior and junior whips, respectively.

[2] The party lost more support in the 26 November 2011 general election; its popular vote dipped to 27% – its worst-ever result under the mixed-member proportional representation system[3] – and its number of MPs was reduced from forty-three to thirty-four.

[10] Political commentator Bryce Edwards said that Cunliffe was the more appealing candidate to the public, and described Parker and Robertson as "sort of Phil Goff clones".

The television show held a text message poll in which viewers voted for their preferred leader of the party.

[17] Both also disagreed with the 2008 Employment Relations Amendment Act (90-day workplace trial), and wanted New Zealand to invest further in research and development; Shearer mentioned striving for a more green economy.

[18] On 9 December, Horizon Research released a demographically-weighted survey which found that 35.4% of adult New Zealanders supported Shearer's bid for the leadership, and 19.9% backed Cunliffe.

[19] The election took place on 13 December 2011 and comprised a secret ballot of the thirty-four Labour caucus members, meaning a candidate had to receive the support of eighteen MPs to win.