1966 United Kingdom general election

1966 United Kingdom general election

31 March 1966
All 630 seats in the House of Commons 316 seats needed for a majority
Turnout	75.8%, 1.3%
First party Second party Third party   File:Jo Grimond.jpg Leader Harold Wilson Edward Heath Jo Grimond Party Labour Conservative Liberal Leader since 14 February 1963 28 July 1965 5 November 1956 Leader's seat Huyton Bexley Orkney & Shetland Last election 317 seats, 44.1% 304 seats, 43.4% 9 seats, 11.2% Seats won 364 253 12 Seat change 47 51 3 Popular vote 13,096,951 11,418,433 2,327,533 Percentage 48.0% 41.9% 8.5% Swing 3.9% 1.5% 2.7%
Colours denote the winning party—as shown in § Results
Prime Minister before election Harold Wilson Labour Appointed Prime Minister Harold Wilson Labour

The 1966 United Kingdom general election on 31 March 1966 was won convincingly by the Labour Party led by incumbent Prime Minister Harold Wilson.

Wilson's decision to call a snap election turned on the fact that his government, elected a mere 17 months previously in 1964, had an unworkably small majority of only 4 MPs. The Labour government was returned following this snap election with a much larger majority of 98 seats.

Background

Prior to the 1966 general election, Labour had performed poorly in local elections in 1965, and lost a by-election, cutting their majority to just two. Labour ran its campaign with the slogan "You know Labour government works".

Shortly after the local elections, Sir Alec Douglas-Home was replaced by Edward Heath as leader of the Conservative Party.

The Conservatives had not much time to prepare their campaign, although it was more professional than previously. There had been little time for Heath to become well known among the British public, having led the party for just eight months before the election. For the Liberals, money was an issue: two elections in the space of just two years had left the party in a tight financial position.

The election night was broadcast live on the BBC, and was presented by Cliff Michelmore, Ian Trethowan, Sir Robin Day, Robert McKenzie and David Butler. The election was replayed on the BBC Parliament channel on the 40th anniversary of the event and again in 2016 to mark the 50th anniversary of the election.

Although the BBC's telecast was in black and white, a couple of colour television cameras were placed in the BBC election studio at Television Centre to allow CBS's Charles Collingwood and NBC's David Brinkley to file live reports from that studio by satellite and in colour for their respective networks' evening news programmes (which were transmitted at 11:30 pm British time, 6:30 pm Eastern Standard Time).

Timeline

The Prime Minister, Harold Wilson, announced on 28 February that Parliament would be dissolved on 10 March, for an election to be held on 31 March. The key dates were as follows:

Thursday 10 March	Dissolution of the 43rd Parliament and campaigning officially begins
Monday 21 March	Last day to file nomination papers; 1,707 candidates enter to contest 630 seats
Wednesday 30 March	Campaigning officially ends
Thursday 31 March	Polling day
Friday 1 April	The Labour Party wins with an improved majority of 98
Monday 18 April	44th Parliament assembles
Thursday 21 April	State Opening of Parliament

National opinion polls summary

• Research Services: 3% swing to Labour (forecast majority of 101)
• National opinion polls: 3.5% swing to Labour (forecast majority of 115)
• Gallup: 4.5% swing to Labour (forecast majority of 150)
• Express (known as Harris): 7.5% swing to Labour (forecast majority of in excess of 255)

Results

↓ 

style="background:Template:Labour Party (UK)/meta/color; width:57.8%;" | 364	style="background:Template:Conservative Party (UK)/meta/color; width:40.2%;" | 253	style="color:black; background:Template:Liberal Party (UK)/meta/color; width:2.0%;"| 12	1
Labour	Conservative	Lib	O

UK General Election 1966

All parties shown.

			Candidates						Votes
Party		Leader	Stood	Elected	Gained	Unseated	Net	% of total	%	No.	Net %
	Labour	Harold Wilson	622	364	49	1	+48	57.8	48.0	13,096,629	+3.9
	Conservative	Edward Heath	629	253	0	52	−52	40.2	41.9	11,418,455	−1.5
	Liberal	Jo Grimond	311	12	5	2	+3	1.9	8.5	2,327,457	−2.7
	SNP	Arthur Donaldson	23	0	0	0	0		0.5	128,474	+0.3
	Independent Republican	N/A	5	0	0	0	0		0.2	62,782	N/A
	Communist	John Gollan	57	0	0	0	0		0.2	62,092	0.0
	Plaid Cymru	Gwynfor Evans	20	0	0	0	0		0.2	61,071	−0.1
	Independent	N/A	15	0	0	0	0		0.1	35,039	N/A
	Republican Labour	Gerry Fitt	1	1	1	0	+1	0.2	0.1	26,292	0.0
	Nationalist	Eddie McAteer	1	0	0	0	0		0.1	22,167	N/A
	Independent Liberal	N/A	3	0	0	0	0		0.0	5,689	N/A
	British National	John Bean	3	0	0	0	0		0.0	5,182	0.0
	Ind. Conservative	N/A	4	0	0	0	0		0.0	4,089	N/A
	Union Movement	Oswald Mosley	4	0	0	0	0		0.0	4,075	N/A
	Independent Labour	N/A	1	0	0	0	0		0.0	1,031	N/A
	Fellowship	Ronald Mallone	1	0	0	0	0		0.0	906	0.0
	National Democratic	David Brown	1	0	0	0	0		0.0	769	N/A
	National Teenage	Screaming Lord Sutch	1	0	0	0	0		0.0	585	N/A
	Ind. Labour Party	Emrys Thomas	1	0	0	0	0		0.0	441	0.0
	Socialist (GB)	N/A	2	0	0	0	0		0.0	333	0.0
	Radical Alliance	Pat Arrowsmith	1	0	0	0	0		0.0	163	N/A
	Patriotic Party	Richard Hilton	1	0	0	0	0		0.0	126	0.0

Government's new majority	98
Total votes cast	27,264,747
Turnout	75.8%

Votes summary

Popular vote Labour   48.0% Conservative and Allies   41.9% Liberal   8.5% Independent   0.4% Others   1.14%

Headline swing: 2.7% to Labour

Seats summary

Parliamentary seats Labour   57.8% Conservative and Allies   40.2% Liberal   1.9% Others   0.2%

Incumbents defeated

Conservative

• Priscilla Buchan, Lady Tweedsmuir (Aberdeen South)
• Forbes Hendry (West Aberdeenshire)
• Geoffrey Howe (Bebington)
• Norman Cole (South Bedfordshire)
• Sir William Anstruther-Gray, 1st Baronet (Berwick and East Lothian), Chairman of the 1922 Committee
• Edward Gardner (Billericay)
• Wyndham Davies (Birmingham Perry Barr)
• Arthur Tiley (Bradford West)
• Dudley Smith (Brentford and Chiswick)
• Alan Hopkins (Bristol North East)
• Martin McLaren (Bristol North West)
• Donald Box (Cardiff North)
• William Shepard (Cheadle)
• Dame Patricia Hornsby-Smith (Chislehurst)
• Peter Thomas (Conwy)
• James Scott-Hopkins (North Cornwall)
• Sir Richard Thompson, 1st Baronet (Croydon South)
• Sir Anthony Meyer (Eton and Slough)
• Sir Rolf Dudley-Williams, 1st Baronet (Exeter)
• Henry Brooke (Hampstead), former Secretary of State for the Home Department
• Anthony Courtney (Harrow East)
• David Walder (High Peak)
• Godfrey Lagden (Hornchurch)
• Albert Cooper (Ilford South)
• Humphry Berkeley (Lancaster)
• Christopher Chataway (Lewisham North)
• Patrick McNair-Wilson (Lewisham West)
• Sir John Barlow, 2nd Baronet (Middleton and Prestwich)
• Peter Thorneycroft (Monmouth), former Secretary of State for Defence
• William Clark (Nottingham South)
• Montague Woodhouse (Oxford)
• Ian Montagu Fraser (Plymouth Sutton)
• Terence Clarke (Portsmouth West)
• Julian Amery (Preston North), former Secretary of State for Air
• Peter Emery (Reading)
• Roy Wise (Rugby)
• Sir Martin Redmayne, 1st Baronet (Rushcliffe)
• Peter Griffiths (Smethwick)
• Sir John Fletcher-Cooke (Southampton Test)
• Sir Samuel Storey, 1st Baronet (Stretford), Chairman of Ways and Means
• William Yates (The Wrekin)
• Charles Curran (Uxbridge)
• John Harvey (Walthamstow East)
• Anthony Fell (Great Yarmouth)
• Charles Longbottom (City of York)

Labour

• Patrick Duffy (Colne Valley)

Liberal

• Roderic Bowen (Ceredigion)
• George Mackie (Caithness and Sutherland)

Televised declarations

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

From BBC Parliament Replay

Constituency	Winning party 1964		Constituency result 1966 by party						Winning party 1966
			Con	Lab	Lib	PC	SNP	Others
Cheltenham style="width: 2px; background-color: #0087DC;" data-sort-value="Conservative Party (UK)" |	Conservative	22,683	19,768				style="width: 2px; background-color: #0087DC;" data-sort-value="Conservative Party (UK)" |	Conservative hold
Wolverhampton North East style="width: 2px; background-color: #E4003B;" data-sort-value="Labour Party (UK)" |	Labour	12,965	21,067				style="width: 2px; background-color: #E4003B;" data-sort-value="Labour Party (UK)" |	Labour hold
Wolverhampton South West style="width: 2px; background-color: #0087DC;" data-sort-value="Conservative Party (UK)" |	Conservative	21,466	14,881				style="width: 2px; background-color: #0087DC;" data-sort-value="Conservative Party (UK)" |	Conservative hold
Salford West style="width: 2px; background-color: #E4003B;" data-sort-value="Labour Party (UK)" |	Labour	13,257	19,237				style="width: 2px; background-color: #E4003B;" data-sort-value="Labour Party (UK)" |	Labour hold
Salford East style="width: 2px; background-color: #E4003B;" data-sort-value="Labour Party (UK)" |	Labour	9,000	18,409				style="width: 2px; background-color: #E4003B;" data-sort-value="Labour Party (UK)" |	Labour hold
Exeter style="width: 2px; background-color: #0087DC;" data-sort-value="Conservative Party (UK)" |	Conservative	18,613	22,189	4,869			style="width: 2px; background-color: #E4003B;" data-sort-value="Labour Party (UK)" |	Labour gain
Devon North style="width: 2px; background-color: #FFD700;" data-sort-value="Liberal Party (UK)" |	Liberal	15,631	6,127	16,797			style="width: 2px; background-color: #FFD700;" data-sort-value="Liberal Party (UK)" |	Liberal hold
Smethwick style="width: 2px; background-color: #0087DC;" data-sort-value="Conservative Party (UK)" |	Conservative	14,550	18,440				508 style="width: 2px; background-color: #E4003B;" data-sort-value="Labour Party (UK)" |	Labour gain
Nelson and Colne style="width: 2px; background-color: #E4003B;" data-sort-value="Labour Party (UK)" |	Labour	13,829	18,406				5,117 style="width: 2px; background-color: #E4003B;" data-sort-value="Labour Party (UK)" |	Labour hold
Leyton style="width: 2px; background-color: #E4003B;" data-sort-value="Labour Party (UK)" |	Labour	18,157	26,803	3,851			441 style="width: 2px; background-color: #E4003B;" data-sort-value="Labour Party (UK)" |	Labour recovery
Huyton style="width: 2px; background-color: #E4003B;" data-sort-value="Labour Party (UK)" |	Labour	20,182	41,132				585 style="width: 2px; background-color: #E4003B;" data-sort-value="Labour Party (UK)" |	Labour hold
Billericay style="width: 2px; background-color: #0087DC;" data-sort-value="Conservative Party (UK)" |	Conservative	38,371	40,013	7,587			style="width: 2px; background-color: #E4003B;" data-sort-value="Labour Party (UK)" |	Labour gain
Preston South style="width: 2px; background-color: #E4003B;" data-sort-value="Labour Party (UK)" |	Labour	17,931	20,720				style="width: 2px; background-color: #E4003B;" data-sort-value="Labour Party (UK)" |	Labour hold
Bexley style="width: 2px; background-color: #0087DC;" data-sort-value="Conservative Party (UK)" |	Conservative	26,377	24,044	4,405			style="width: 2px; background-color: #0087DC;" data-sort-value="Conservative Party (UK)" |	Conservative hold
Brentford and Chiswick style="width: 2px; background-color: #0087DC;" data-sort-value="Conservative Party (UK)" |	Conservative	14,031	14,638	2,063			style="width: 2px; background-color: #E4003B;" data-sort-value="Labour Party (UK)" |	Labour gain
Aberdeenshire West style="width: 2px; background-color: #0087DC;" data-sort-value="Conservative Party (UK)" |	Conservative	13,956	6,008	15,151			style="width: 2px; background-color: #FFD700;" data-sort-value="Liberal Party (UK)" |	Liberal gain
Taunton style="width: 2px; background-color: #0087DC;" data-sort-value="Conservative Party (UK)" |	Conservative	22,359	19,216	5,460			style="width: 2px; background-color: #0087DC;" data-sort-value="Conservative Party (UK)" |	Conservative hold
Monmouth style="width: 2px; background-color: #0087DC;" data-sort-value="Conservative Party (UK)" |	Conservative	25,654	28,619				style="width: 2px; background-color: #E4003B;" data-sort-value="Labour Party (UK)" |	Labour gain

• The 5,117 votes polled for the "Others" in Nelson and Colne were all polled for Patrick Downey, uncle of Lesley Ann Downey, who had been murdered by the Moors Murderers. Downey advocated the return of hanging.

See also

• List of MPs elected in the 1966 United Kingdom general election

Further reading

• Butler, David E.; et al. (1966), The British General Election of 1966, the standard scholarly study{{citation}}: CS1 maint: postscript (link)
• Craig, F. W. S. (1989), British Electoral Facts: 1832–1987, Dartmouth: Gower, ISBN 0900178302

External links

• United Kingdom election results—summary results 1885–1979

Manifestos

• Action Not Words: The New Conservative Programme, 1966 Conservative Party manifesto
• Time for Decision, 1966 Labour Party manifesto
• For All the People: the Liberal Plan of 1966, 1966 Liberal Party manifesto