1964 United Kingdom general election

United Kingdom general election, 1964

15 October 1964
All 630 seats in the House of Commons 316 seats needed for a majority
Turnout	77%
First party Second party Third party   File:Harold Wilson Number 10 official.jpg Leader Harold Wilson Alec Douglas-Home Jo Grimond Party Labour Conservative Liberal Leader since 14 February 1963 18 October 1963 5 November 1956 Leader's seat Huyton Kinross & Western Perthshire Orkney and Shetland Last election 258 seats, 43.8% 365 seats, 49.4% 6 seats, 5.9% Seats won 317 304 9 Seat change 59 61 3 Popular vote 12,205,808 12,002,642 3,099,283 Percentage 44.1% 43.4% 11.2% Swing 0.2% 6% 5.3%
PM before election Sir Alec Douglas-Home Conservative Subsequent PM Harold Wilson Labour

1955 election • MPs

1959 election • MPs

1964 election • MPs

1966 election • MPs

1970 election • MPs

The United Kingdom general election of 1964 was won by the Labour Party with a majority of four seats. It was held on 15 October 1964, just over five years after the previous election, and 13 years after the Conservative Party had retaken power. Both major parties had changed leaders in 1963: after the sudden death of Hugh Gaitskell, Labour chose Harold Wilson (who was then thought of as being on the party's centre-left) and the Conservatives Sir Alec Douglas-Home (then the Earl of Home) after Harold Macmillan announced his resignation. (Douglas-Home shortly afterwards disclaimed his title under the Peerage Act 1963 in order to lead the party from the Commons.) Macmillan's government had been increasingly unpopular in the mid term, and Douglas-Home faced a difficult task in rebuilding the party's popularity. Wilson had begun to try to tie the Labour Party to the growing confidence of Britain in the 1960s, asserting that the "white heat of revolution" would sweep away "restrictive practices... on both sides of industry". The Liberal Party enjoyed a resurgence and doubled its share of the vote, primarily at the expense of the Conservatives. Although Labour did not increase its vote share significantly, the fall in support for the Conservatives led to Wilson securing a overall majority of four seats. This proved to be unworkable and Wilson called a snap election in 1966.

The election night was broadcast live on the BBC, and was presented by Richard Dimbleby, with Robin Day, Cliff Michelmore and David Butler.

Campaign

The pre-election campaign was prolonged, as Douglas-Home delayed calling a general election to give himself as much time as possible to improve the prospects of his party. The starting gun of the campaign was fired on 15 September 1964 when Douglas-Home saw the Queen and asked for a dissolution of Parliament. The campaign was dominated by some of the more voluble characters on the political scene: George Brown, Deputy Leader of the Labour Party, toured the country making energetic speeches and the occasional gaffe, and Quintin Hogg for the Conservatives responded in kind. The image of Hogg lashing out at a Wilson poster with his walking stick was one of the most striking of the campaign. Many party speakers, especially at televised rallies, had to deal with hecklers: in particular Douglas-Home was treated very roughly at a meeting in Birmingham.

Opinion poll summary

NOP: Lab swing 3.5% (Lab majority of 12)
Gallup: Lab swing 4% (Lab majority of 23)
Research Services: Lab swing 2.75% (Con majority of 30)
Daily Express: Lab swing of 1.75% (Con majority of 60)

Results

The election resulted in a very slim majority of four seats for the Labour Party, and led to their first government since 1951. Labour achieved a swing of just over 3%, although its vote rose by only 0.2%. The main shift was the swing from the Conservatives to the Liberals of 5.7%. The Liberals won nearly twice as many votes as in 1959, partly because they had 150 more candidates. Wilson became Prime Minister, replacing Douglas-Home. The four-seat majority was not sustainable for a full Parliament, and Wilson called another general election in 1966. In particular, the small majority meant the government could not implement party policy of nationalising the steel industry, due to the opposition of two of its backbenchers, Woodrow Wyatt and Desmond Donnelly.

The election was also the only time in Britain's recent history when all seats were won by the three main parties: no minor parties, independents or splinter groups won any seats.

↓

317	304	9
Labour	Conservative	Lib

UK general election 1964
Party		Candidates						Votes
		Stood	Elected	Gained	Unseated	Net	% of total	%	No.	Net %
	Labour	628	317	65	6	+ 59	50.3	44.1	12,205,808
	Conservative	630	304	5	66	- 61	48.3	43.4	12,002,642
	Liberal	365	9	5	2	+ 3	1.4	11.2	3,099,283
	Ind. Republican	12	0	0	0	0		0.4	101,628
	Plaid Cymru	23	0	0	0	0		0.3	69,507
	SNP	15	0	0	0	0		0.2	64,044
	Communist	36	0	0	0	0		0.2	46,442
	Independent	20	0	0	0	0		0.1	18,677
	Independent Liberal	4	0	0	0	0		0.1	16,064
	Republican Labour	1	0	0	0	0		0.1	14,678
	Ind. Conservative	5	0	0	1	- 1		0.0	6,459
	British National	1	0	0	0	0		0.0	3,410
	Ind. Nuclear Disarmament	2	0	0	0	0		0.0	1,534
	Fellowship	1	0	0	0	0		0.0	1,112
	Patriotic Party	2	0	0	0	0		0.0	1,108
	League of Empire Loyalists	3	0	0	0	0		0.0	1,046
	Independent Communist	1	0	0	0	0		0.0	899
	True Conservative	1	0	0	0	0		0.0	709
	Agriculturalist	1	0	0	0	0		0.0	534
	National Democratic	1	0	0	0	0		0.0	349
	Socialist (GB)	2	0	0	0	0		0.0	322
	World Government	1	0	0	0	0		0.0	318
	British and Commonwealth	1	0	0	0	0		0.0	310
	Christian Socialist	1	0	0	0	0		0.0	265

All parties are shown. Conservative total includes Scottish Unionists, Ulster Unionists, and National Liberals.

Government's new majority	4
Total votes cast	27,657,148
Turnout	77%

Votes summary

Popular vote Labour   44.1% Conservative and Allies   43.4% Liberal   11.2% Independent   0.5% Others   0.7%

Headline Swing: 3.1% to Labour

Seats summary

Parliamentary seats Labour   50.3% Conservative and Allies   48.3% Liberal   1.4% Others   0%

Incumbents defeated

Conservative

• Ernest Partridge (Battersea South)
• Sir Douglas Marshall (Bodmin)
• Edwin Taylor (Bolton East)
• Sir William Taylor, 1st Baronet (Bradford North)
• David James(Brighton Kemptown)
• John Bidgood (Bury and Radcliffe)
• Donald McIntosh Johnson (Carlisle)
• Anthony Bourne-Arton (Darlington)
• Anthony Barber (Doncaster) - Minister of Health
• John Arbuthnot (Dover)
• Graeme Finlay (Epping)
• Frank Lilley (Glasgow Kelvingrove)
• Peter Michael Kirk (Gravesend) - Under-Secretary of State for War
• Maurice Macmillan (Halifax)
• Tony Leavey (Heywood and Royton)
• Martin Madden (Hitchin)
• Denys Bullard (King's Lynn)
• Michael Coulson (Kingston upon Hull North) - Parliamentary Private Secretary
• Norman Pannell (Liverpool Kirkdale)
• Reginald Bevins (Liverpool Toxteth) - Postmaster General
• Sir Kenneth Thompson, 1st Baronet (Liverpool Walton)
• John Woollam (Liverpool West Derby)
• Eric Johnson (Manchester Blackley)
• Eveline Hill (Manchester Wythenshawe)
• Geoffrey Rippon (Norwich South)
• John Cordeaux (Nottingham Central)
• Alan Green (Preston South) - Financial Secretary to the Treasury
• Sir Hugh Linstead (Putney)
• Sir Norman John Hulbert DL (Stockport North)
• Sir Harold Macdonald Steward ((Stockport South)
• Paul Williams (Sunderland South)
• Michael Hughes-Young (Wandsworth Central) - Treasurer of the Household
• Frederick Farey-Jones (Watford)
• Colin Turner (Woolwich West)
• Philip Holland (Acton)
• William Compton Carr (Barons Court)
• John Hollingworth (Birmingham All Saints)
• Leslie Seymour (Birmingham Sparkbrook)
• Leonard Cleaver (Birmingham Yardley)
• Sir Alan Glyn (Clapham)
• Wilf Proudfoot (Cleveland)
• Philip Hocking (Coventry South)
• Geoffrey Johnson Smith (Holborn and St Pancras South)
• Marcus Worsley (Keighley)
• Gordon Matthews (Meriden)
• Fergus Montgomery (Newcastle upon Tyne East)
• Peter Tapsell (Nottingham West)
• Julian Critchley (Rochester and Chatham)
• Hugh Rees (Swansea West)
• John Kearns (The Hartlepools)
• Michael Hamilton (Wellingborough) - Lord Commissioner of the Treasury
• Trevor Skeet (Willesden East)
• Neil McLean (Inverness)
• Sir John MacLeod (Ross and Cromarty)

Labour

• Charles Howell (Birmingham Perry Barr)
• Fenner Brockway (Eton and Slough)
• Albert Hilton (South West Norfolk)
• Patrick Gordon Walker (Smethwick) - Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs

Liberal

• Arthur Holt (Bolton West)
• Donald Wade (Huddersfield West) - Deputy Leader of the Liberal Party

Televised declarations

These declarations were covered live by the BBC where the returning officer was heard to say "duly elected".

Constituency	Winning party 1959		Constituency result 1964 by party				Winning party 1964
			Con	Lab	Lib	Others
Cheltenham style="width: 2px; color:inherit; background-color: #0087DC;" data-sort-value="Conservative Party (UK)" |	Conservative	19,797	14,557	7,568	style="width: 2px; color:inherit; background-color: #0087DC;" data-sort-value="Conservative Party (UK)" |	Conservative hold
Salford West style="width: 2px; color:inherit; background-color: #E4003B;" data-sort-value="Labour Party (UK)" |	Labour	16,446	20,490		style="width: 2px; color:inherit; background-color: #E4003B;" data-sort-value="Labour Party (UK)" |	Labour hold
Billericay style="width: 2px; color:inherit; background-color: #0087DC;" data-sort-value="Conservative Party (UK)" |	Conservative	35,347	33,755	10,706	style="width: 2px; color:inherit; background-color: #0087DC;" data-sort-value="Conservative Party (UK)" |	Conservative hold
Exeter style="width: 2px; color:inherit; background-color: #0087DC;" data-sort-value="Conservative Party (UK)" |	Conservative	18,035	16,673	8,815	style="width: 2px; color:inherit; background-color: #0087DC;" data-sort-value="Conservative Party (UK)" |	Conservative hold
Battersea South style="width: 2px; color:inherit; background-color: #0087DC;" data-sort-value="Conservative Party (UK)" |	Conservative	10,615	12,263	3,294	style="width: 2px; color:inherit; background-color: #E4003B;" data-sort-value="Labour Party (UK)" |	Labour gain
Liverpool Exchange style="width: 2px; color:inherit; background-color: #E4003B;" data-sort-value="Labour Party (UK)" |	Labour	7,239	16,985		style="width: 2px; color:inherit; background-color: #E4003B;" data-sort-value="Labour Party (UK)" |	Labour hold
Holborn and St Pancras South style="width: 2px; color:inherit; background-color: #0087DC;" data-sort-value="Conservative Party (UK)" |	Conservative	13,117	15,823		226 style="width: 2px; color:inherit; background-color: #E4003B;" data-sort-value="Labour Party (UK)" |	Labour gain
North Devon style="width: 2px; color:inherit; background-color: #FFD700;" data-sort-value="Liberal Party (UK)" |	Liberal	13,985	4,306	19,031	style="width: 2px; color:inherit; background-color: #FFD700;" data-sort-value="Liberal Party (UK)" |	Liberal hold
Stockport South style="width: 2px; color:inherit; background-color: #0087DC;" data-sort-value="Conservative Party (UK)" |	Conservative	13,718	16,755	7,107	style="width: 2px; color:inherit; background-color: #E4003B;" data-sort-value="Labour Party (UK)" |	Labour gain
Barons Court style="width: 2px; color:inherit; background-color: #0087DC;" data-sort-value="Conservative Party (UK)" |	Conservative	14,800	15,966	2,821	style="width: 2px; color:inherit; background-color: #E4003B;" data-sort-value="Labour Party (UK)" |	Labour gain
Bolton West style="width: 2px; color:inherit; background-color: #FFD700;" data-sort-value="Liberal Party (UK)" |	Liberal	13,522	16,519	10,086	style="width: 2px; color:inherit; background-color: #E4003B;" data-sort-value="Labour Party (UK)" |	Labour gain
Smethwick style="width: 2px; color:inherit; background-color: #E4003B;" data-sort-value="Labour Party (UK)" |	Labour	16,690	14,916		262 style="width: 2px; color:inherit; background-color: #0087DC;" data-sort-value="Conservative Party (UK)" |	Conservative gain
Huyton style="width: 2px; color:inherit; background-color: #E4003B;" data-sort-value="Labour Party (UK)" |	Labour	22,940	42,213		899 style="width: 2px; color:inherit; background-color: #E4003B;" data-sort-value="Labour Party (UK)" |	Labour hold
Orpington style="width: 2px; color:inherit; background-color: #0087DC;" data-sort-value="Conservative Party (UK)" |	Conservative	19,565	4,609	22,637	style="width: 2px; color:inherit; background-color: #FFD700;" data-sort-value="Liberal Party (UK)" |	Liberal win
Torrington style="width: 2px; color:inherit; background-color: #0087DC;" data-sort-value="Conservative Party (UK)" |	Conservative	16,889	5,867	14,831	style="width: 2px; color:inherit; background-color: #0087DC;" data-sort-value="Conservative Party (UK)" |	Conservative hold

• Orpington was won by the Liberals in a by-election in 1962 and held in the general election. When this happens, it is described as a "win" as opposed to a "gain" or "hold".

See also

• MPs elected in the UK general election, 1964

Further reading

• Barberis, Peter. "The 1964 General Election and the Liberals' False Dawn," Contemporary British History, (Sept 2007) 21#3 pp 373–387
• Butler, David E. et al. The British General Election of 1964 (1965) the standard scholarly study

• F. W. S. Craig, British Electoral Facts: 1832-1987
• Denver, David. "The 1964 General Election: Explaining Voting Behaviour Then and Now," Contemporary British History (2007) 21#3 pp 295–307
• Favrettoa, Ilaria. "'Wilsonism' reconsidered: Labour party revisionism 1952–64," Contemporary British History (2000) 14#4 pages 54–80 doi:10.1080/13619460008581603
• Fielding, Steven. "Rethinking Labour's 1964 Campaign," Contemporary British History, (Sept 2007) 21#3 pp 309–324
• Heppell, Timothy. "The Labour Party Leadership Election of 1963: Explaining the Unexpected Election of Harold Wilson," Contemporary British History, (2010) 24#2 pp 151–171
• Morgan, Austen. Harold Wilson (1992) 625pp
• Tomlinson, Jim. "It's the Economy, Stupid! Labour and the Economy, circa 1964," Contemporary British History, (Sept 2007) 21#3 pp 337–349
• Wrigley, Chris. "Trade Unions and the 1964 General Election," Contemporary British History, (Sept 2007) 21#3 pp 325–335
• Young, John W. "International Factors and the 1964 Election," Contemporary British History, (Sept 2007) 21#3 pp 351–371

External links

• United Kingdom election results - summary results 1885-1979

Manifestos

• "PROSPERITY WITH A PURPOSE" - 1964 Conservative manifesto.
• "THE NEW BRITAIN" - 1964 Labour Party manifesto.
• "THINK FOR YOURSELF" - 1964 Liberal Party manifesto.