United Kingdom general election, 1951

1945 election United Kingdom general election, 1945 The United Kingdom general election of 1945 was a general election held on 5 July 1945, with polls in some constituencies delayed until 12 July and in Nelson and Colne until 19 July, due to local wakes weeks. The results were counted and declared on 26 July, due in part to the time it took to... • MPs MPs elected in the United Kingdom general election, 1945 This is a complete list of Members of Parliament elected to the 38th Parliament of the United Kingdom at the 1945 general election, held on 5 July 1945....
1950 election United Kingdom general election, 1950 The 1950 United Kingdom general election was the first general election ever after a full term of a Labour government. Despite polling over one and a half million votes more than the Conservatives, the election, held on 23 February 1950 resulted in Labour receiving a slim majority of just five... • MPs MPs elected in the United Kingdom general election, 1950 This is a complete list of Members of Parliament elected to the 39th Parliament of the United Kingdom at the 1950 general election, held on 23 February 1950....
1951 election • MPs MPs elected in the United Kingdom general election, 1951 This is a complete list of Members of Parliament elected to the 40th Parliament of the United Kingdom at the 1951 general election on 25 October 1951.Notable newcomers to the House of Commons included Anthony Barber, Lord Lambton and Ted Short....
1955 election United Kingdom general election, 1955 The 1955 United Kingdom general election was held on 26 May 1955, four years after the previous general election. It resulted in a substantially increased majority of 60 for the Conservative government under new leader and prime minister Sir Anthony Eden against Labour Party, now in their 20th year... • MPs MPs elected in the United Kingdom general election, 1955 This is a list of Members of Parliament elected to the 41st Parliament of the United Kingdom at the 1955 general election, held on 26 May 1955. A total of 630 MPs were elected.Notable newcomers to the House of Commons included William Whitelaw and Geoffrey Rippon....

The 1951 United Kingdom general election was held eighteen months after the 1950 general election

United Kingdom general election, 1950

The 1950 United Kingdom general election was the first general election ever after a full term of a Labour government. Despite polling over one and a half million votes more than the Conservatives, the election, held on 23 February 1950 resulted in Labour receiving a slim majority of just five...

, which the Labour Party

Labour Party (UK)

The Labour Party is a centre-left democratic socialist party in the United Kingdom. It surpassed the Liberal Party in general elections during the early 1920s, forming minority governments under Ramsay MacDonald in 1924 and 1929-1931. The party was in a wartime coalition from 1940 to 1945, after...

had won with a slim majority of just five seats. Labour called the election for 25 October 1951 hoping to increase their majority.

Attlee had decided to call the election after the King's concerns over leaving the country to go on his Commonwealth tour in 1952 with a government that had such a slim majority. The Labour government, which by now had achieved most of what it had set out to do, was now beginning to lose many cabinet ministers such as Ernest Bevin

Ernest Bevin

Ernest Bevin was a British trade union leader and Labour politician. He served as general secretary of the powerful Transport and General Workers' Union from 1922 to 1945, as Minister of Labour in the war-time coalition government, and as Foreign Secretary in the post-war Labour Government.-Early...

due to old age. The Conservatives however, due to the recent election, looked more fresh with more new MPs. As Labour began to have some policy splits during the election campaign, the Conservatives ran an efficient campaign that was well funded and orchestrated. As for the Liberals, the poor election results in 1950 only got worse.

In the event, despite Labour polling almost a quarter of a million votes more than the Conservative Party

Conservative Party (UK)

The Conservative Party, formally the Conservative and Unionist Party, is a centre-right political party in the United Kingdom that adheres to the philosophies of conservatism and British unionism. It is the largest political party in the UK, and is currently the largest single party in the House...

(and its National Liberal

National Liberal Party (UK, 1931)

The National Liberal Party, known until 1948 as the Liberal National Party, was a liberal political party in the United Kingdom from 1931 to 1968...

allies) - and more votes than in the 1950 election - it was the Conservatives who went on to form the next government. This was largely because, unlike in 1950, not every seat had a Liberal

Liberal Party (UK)

The Liberal Party was one of the two major political parties of the United Kingdom during the 19th and early 20th centuries. It was a third party of negligible importance throughout the latter half of the 20th Century, before merging with the Social Democratic Party in 1988 to form the present day...

candidate, and those that did tended to be Conservative rather than Labour seats. In addition (but less significantly) under the first past the post electoral system, the Labour votes translated into increased majorities for MPs in already safe seats, rather than into gaining new seats.

This was one of three elections where this happened (a party losing the popular vote but winning the most seats), the others being 1929

United Kingdom general election, 1929

-Seats summary:-References:*F. W. S. Craig, British Electoral Facts: 1832-1987*-External links:***...

and February 1974

United Kingdom general election, February 1974

The United Kingdom's general election of February 1974 was held on the 28th of that month. It was the first of two United Kingdom general elections held that year, and the first election since the Second World War not to produce an overall majority in the House of Commons for the winning party,...

. It was also the last general election in which some candidates were elected unopposed, in this case four Conservatives, although there have since been unopposed by-election

By-election

A by-election is an election held to fill a political office that has become vacant between regularly scheduled elections....

s.

The Conservatives, under Winston Churchill

Winston Churchill

Sir Winston Leonard Spencer-Churchill, was a predominantly Conservative British politician and statesman known for his leadership of the United Kingdom during the Second World War. He is widely regarded as one of the greatest wartime leaders of the century and served as Prime Minister twice...

, formed the next government with the help of the National Liberals - giving the Government a majority of 16 seats over all other parties.

Results

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Total votes cast: 28,596,594. All parties shown. Conservative result includes the Ulster Unionist
Ulster Unionist Party
The Ulster Unionist Party – sometimes referred to as the Official Unionist Party or, in a historic sense, simply the Unionist Party – is the more moderate of the two main unionist political parties in Northern Ireland...

s.

¹ The National Liberals were in alliance with the Conservatives, bringing total Conservative strength to 321 seats (51.36%); votes total 13,717,850 (47.97%).

Government's new majority	17
Total votes cast	28,596,594
Turnout	83.9%

Votes summary

Headline Swing: 1.13% to Conservative

Seats summary

Seats changing hands

From Conservative to Liberal (0 seats):
From Labour to Conservative (21 seats): Barry, Battersea South, Bedfordshire South, Berwick and East Lothian, Bolton East, Buckingham, Conway, Darlington, Doncaster, Dulwich, King's Lynn, Manchester Blackley, Middlesbrough West, Norfolk South West, Oldham East, Plymouth Sutton, Reading North, Rochdale, Rutherglen, Wycombe and Yarmouth
From Labour to Liberal (1 seat): Bolton West
From Liberal to Conservative (2 seats): Eye and Roxburgh
From Liberal to Labour (2 seats): Anglesey and Meirioneth
From Ulster Unionist to Irish Labour (1 seat): Belfast West

Manifestos

CONSERVATIVE PARTY: 1951- 1951 Conservative manifesto.
Labour Party Election Manifesto - 1951 Labour Party manifesto.
The Nation's Task - 1951 Liberal Party manifesto.

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Results

Votes summary

Seats summary

Seats changing hands

See also

Manifestos