United Kingdom general election, 1951
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The 1951 United Kingdom general election was held eighteen months after the 1950 general election, which the Labour Party 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 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.[1]
The subsequent Labour defeat is significant for several reasons: the party polled almost a quarter of a million votes more than the Tories and their National Liberal allies combined, won the most votes that Labour had ever won (and has ever won as of 2013), and won the most votes of any political party in any election in British political history, a record only surpassed in 1992. Despite this, it was the Conservatives who formed the next government with a majority of 16. This was largely because, unlike in 1950, not every seat had a Liberal candidate, and those that did tended to be Conservative rather than Labour seats.[citation needed] 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 the second of three elections where a party lost the popular vote but won the most seats, the others being 1929 and February 1974.
Finally, an additional factor that almost certainly boosted the margin of Labour's victory in the popular vote was the unopposed return of four Conservative Party candidates. This was the last general election in which any candidates were returned unopposed,[2] although there have since been unopposed by-elections.
Results[edit]
| UK General Election 1951 |
|
Candidates |
Votes |
| Party |
Standing |
Elected |
Gained |
Unseated |
Net |
% of total |
% |
No. |
Net % |
| |
Labour |
617 |
295 |
2 |
22 |
- 20 |
47.20 |
48.78 |
13,948,883 |
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| |
Conservative |
562 |
302 |
20 |
1 |
+ 19 |
48.32 |
44.27 |
12,659,712 |
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| |
Liberal National |
55 |
191 |
3 |
0 |
+ 3 |
3.041 |
3.701 |
1,058,1381 |
|
| |
Liberal |
109 |
6 |
1 |
4 |
- 3 |
0.96 |
2.55 |
730,546 |
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| |
Independent Nationalist |
3 |
2 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
0.32 |
0.32 |
92,787 |
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| |
Irish Labour |
1 |
1 |
1 |
0 |
+1 |
0.16 |
0.12 |
33,174 |
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| |
Communist |
10 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
0.00 |
0.08 |
21,640 |
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| |
Independent |
6 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
0.00 |
0.07 |
19,791 |
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| |
Plaid Cymru |
4 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
0.00 |
0.04 |
10,920 |
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| |
SNP |
2 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
0.00 |
0.03 |
7,299 |
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| |
Independent Conservative |
1 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
0.00 |
0.02 |
5,904 |
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| |
Ind. Labour Party |
3 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
0.00 |
0.014 |
4,057 |
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| |
British Empire |
1 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
0.00 |
0.006 |
1,643 |
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| |
Anti-Partition |
1 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
0.00 |
0.005 |
1,340 |
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| |
United Socialist |
1 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
0.00 |
0.001 |
411 |
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Total votes cast: 28,596,594. All parties shown. Conservative result includes the Ulster Unionists.
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[edit]
| Popular vote |
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| Conservative |
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47.97% |
| Labour |
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48.78% |
| Liberal |
|
2.55% |
| Independent |
|
0.43% |
| Others |
|
0.26% |
Headline Swing: 1.13% to Conservative
Seats summary[edit]
| Parliamentary seats |
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| Conservative |
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51.36% |
| Labour |
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47.2% |
| Liberal |
|
0.96% |
| Others |
|
0.48% |
Seats changing hands[edit]
- 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
See also[edit]
References[edit]
Further reading[edit]
Manifestos[edit]
