1964 United Kingdom general election

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1964 United Kingdom general election
← 1959 15 October 1964 1966 →
All 630 seats in the House of Commons
316 seats needed for a majority
Turnout77.1%, Decrease1.7%
  First party Second party Third party
  File:Jo Grimond.jpg
Leader Harold Wilson Sir 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 & Shetland
Last election 258 seats, 43.8% 365 seats, 49.4% 6 seats, 5.9%
Seats won 317 304 9
Seat change Increase59 Decrease61 Increase3
Popular vote 12,205,808 12,002,642 3,099,283
Percentage 44.1% 43.4% 11.2%
Swing Increase0.3% Decrease6.0% Increase5.3%
Colours denote the winning party—as shown in § Results
Composition of the House of Commons after the election
Prime Minister before election

Sir Alec Douglas-Home
Conservative

Prime Minister after election

Harold Wilson
Labour

The 1964 United Kingdom general election was held on 15 October 1964, five years after the previous election, and thirteen years after the Conservative Party, first led by Winston Churchill, had entered power. It resulted in the Conservatives, led by its fourth leader, Sir Alec Douglas-Home, narrowly losing the election to the Labour Party, led by Harold Wilson, with Labour having an overall majority of four seats. It resulted in Labour ending its thirteen years in opposition and led Wilson to become, at the time, the youngest Prime Minister since Lord Rosebery in 1894. In spite of all this, Labour polled fewer votes than they had in 1959 under Hugh Gaitskell.

The Labour Party achieved substantial gains in Scotland, beginning the party's political domination of that country that lasted until the rise of the SNP at the 2015 general election.

Background

Both major parties had changed leadership in 1963; after the sudden death of Hugh Gaitskell early in the year, Labour chose Harold Wilson (who was then thought of as being on the party's centre-left), while Sir Alec Douglas-Home (then the Earl of Home) had taken over as Conservative leader and Prime Minister in the autumn 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 had led the Conservative government since January 1957. Despite initial popularity and a resounding election victory in 1959, he had become increasingly unpopular in the early-1960s, and while it was for a while thought likely that the Conservatives would win the scheduled 1964 general election, albeit with a reduced majority, the emergence of the Profumo affair in March 1963 and Macmillan's handling of the matter all but destroyed the credibility of his government. While he survived a vote of no confidence in June 1963, polling indicated that the Conservatives would lose the next election heavily if Macmillan remained in power, which, along with health issues, caused Macmillan to announce his resignation in the autumn of 1963.

Douglas-Home faced a difficult task in rebuilding the party's popularity with just a year elapsing between taking office and having to face a general election. 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 after a virtual wipeout in the 1950s, 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 an overall majority of four seats.[1] This proved to be unworkable, and Wilson called a snap election in 1966.

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 election campaign formally began on 25 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 of the political scene at the time. While George Brown, deputy leader of the Labour Party, toured the country making energetic speeches (and the occasional gaffe), Quintin Hogg was a leading spokesman for the Conservatives. The image of Hogg lashing out at a Wilson poster with his walking stick was one of the most striking of the campaign.[citation needed]

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. Douglas-Home's speeches dealt with the future of the nuclear deterrent, while fears of Britain's relative decline in the world, reflected in chronic balance of payment problems, helped the Labour Party's case.[2]

The election night was broadcast live by the BBC, and was presented for the fifth and final time by Richard Dimbleby, with Robin Day, Ian Trethowan, Cliff Michelmore and David Butler.[3]

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)[a]

Results

The Conservatives made a surprising recovery from being well behind Labour when Home become prime minister, and would have won if 900 votes in eight seats had changed votes.[4] Labour won a very slim majority of four seats, forming a government for the first time since 1951. Labour achieved a swing of just over 3%, although its vote rose by only 0.3%. 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 its policy of nationalising the steel industry, due to the opposition of two of its backbenchers, Woodrow Wyatt and Desmond Donnelly.

This was the only election 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. It was also the last election in which one party, namely the Conservative Party, contested every single seat. The Conservatives had previously held off on contesting certain Liberal-held seats as per local-level agreements to avoid vote-splitting, but ended that policy at this election. The resultant splitting of votes actually helped grant Labour a majority, by throwing two formerly Liberal-held seats in northern England to Labour; however, the outcome of the election would not have been meaningfully altered had the Liberals retained the seats, as Labour would still have had as many seats as the other two parties combined, and Liberal leader Jo Grimond was not inclined to prop up a minority Conservative government.

Home told D. R. Thorpe that the most important reason for the Conservative loss was Iain Macleod's "The Tory Leadership" article, in which the former cabinet minister claimed that an Etonian "magic circle" conspiracy had led to Home becoming prime minister.[4]

↓ 
style="background:Template:Labour Party (UK)/meta/color; width:50.3%;" | 317 style="background:Template:Conservative Party (UK)/meta/color; width:48.3%;" | 304 style="color:black; background:Template:Liberal Party (UK)/meta/color; width:1.4%;" | 9
Labour Conservative Lib
UK General Election 1964
Candidates Votes
Party Leader Stood Elected Gained Unseated Net % of total % No. Net %
  Labour Harold Wilson 628 317 63 4 +59 50.3 44.1 12,205,808 +0.3
  Conservative Alec Douglas-Home 630 304 4 65 −61 48.3 43.4 12,002,642 −6.0
  Liberal Jo Grimond 365 9 5 2 +3 1.4 11.2 3,099,283 +5.3
  Independent Republican N/A 12 0 0 0 0 0.4 101,628 N/A
  Plaid Cymru Gwynfor Evans 23 0 0 0 0 0.3 69,507 0.0
  SNP Arthur Donaldson 15 0 0 0 0 0.2 64,044 +0.1
  Communist John Gollan 36 0 0 0 0 0.2 46,442 +0.1
  Independent N/A 20 0 0 0 0 0.1 18,677 N/A
  Independent Liberal N/A 4 0 0 0 0 0.1 16,064 N/A
  Republican Labour Gerry Fitt 1 0 0 0 0 0.1 14,678 N/A
  Ind. Conservative N/A 5 0 0 1 −1 0.0 6,459 N/A
  British National John Bean 1 0 0 0 0 0.0 3,410 N/A
  Anti-Common Market League John Paul & Michael Shay 2 0 0 0 0 0.0 3,083 N/A
  Ind. Nuclear Disarmament Pat Arrowsmith 2 0 0 0 0 0.0 1,534 N/A
  Fellowship Ronald Mallone 1 0 0 0 0 0.0 1,112 0.0
  Patriotic Party Richard Hilton 2 0 0 0 0 0.0 1,108 N/A
  League of Empire Loyalists Arthur K. Chesterton 3 0 0 0 0 0.0 1,046 N/A
  Communist Anti-Revisionist Michael McCreery 1 0 0 0 0 0.0 899 N/A
  Christian Progressive N/A 1 0 0 0 0 0.0 865 N/A
  Taxpayers' Coalition Party John E. Dayton 1 0 0 0 0 0.0 709 N/A
  Agriculturalist N/A 1 0 0 0 0 0.0 534 N/A
  Independent Labour N/A 1 0 0 0 0 0.0 458 N/A
  National Democratic David Brown 1 0 0 0 0 0.0 349 N/A
  Socialist (GB) N/A 2 0 0 0 0 0.0 322 0.0
  World Government Gilbert Young 1 0 0 0 0 0.0 318 N/A
  British and Commonwealth Miles Blair 1 0 0 0 0 0.0 310 N/A
  Social Credit Party of Great Britain and Northern Ireland John Hargrave 1 0 0 0 0 0.0 304 N/A
  Christian Socialist N/A 1 0 0 0 0 0.0 265 N/A
All parties shown.[b]
Government's new majority 4
Total votes cast 27,657,148
Turnout 77%

Votes summary

Popular vote
Labour
 
 44.13%
Conservative
 
 43.41%
Liberal
 
 11.21%
Others
 
 1.25%
Headline swing: 3.1% to Labour

Seats summary

Parliamentary seats
Labour
 
 50.32%
Conservative
 
 48.25%
Liberal
 
 1.43%

Regional results

Great Britain

Party Votes % of vote Candidates Seats % of seats +/–
style="background-color: Template:Labour Party (UK)/meta/color;" | Labour 12,103,049 44.8 618 317
Conservative & Unionist 11,600,745 42.9 618 292
Conservative 10,292,974 38.1 599 286
Unionist 981,641 3.6 65 24
National Liberal 326,130 1.2 19 6
style="background-color: Template:Liberal Party (UK)/meta/color;" | Liberal 3,081,929 11.4 361 9
style="background-color: Template:Plaid Cymru/meta/color;" | Plaid Cymru 69,507 0.3 23 0 0.0 Same position
style="background-color: Template:Scottish National Party/meta/color;" | SNP 64,044 0.2 15 0 0.0 Same position
style="background-color: Template:Communist Party of Great Britain/meta/color;" | Communist 46,442 0.2 36 0 0.0 Same position
style="background-color: Template:Independent (politician)/meta/color;" | Other parties and independents 53,116 0.2 47 0 0.0
Total (turnout: 77.2%) 27,018,832 100.0 1,718 618 100.0 Same position
Did not vote 7,984,670
Registered voters 35,003,502
British population 52,608,000
Source: Rallings & Thrasher
England
Party Votes % of vote Candidates Seats % of seats +/–
Conservative & Unionist 10,106,028 44.1 511 262 51.3
Conservative 9,894,014 43.1 500 256 50.1
National Liberal 212,014 0.9 11 6 1.1
style="background-color: Template:Labour Party (UK)/meta/color;" | Labour 9,982,360 43.5 511 246 48.1
style="background-color: Template:Liberal Party (UK)/meta/color;" | Liberal 2,775,752 12.1 323 3 0.6
style="background-color: Template:Communist Party of Great Britain/meta/color;" | Communist 24,824 0.1 22 0 0.0 Same position
style="background-color: Template:Independent (politician)/meta/color;" | Other parties and independents 48,287 0.2 42 0 0.0
Total (turnout: 77.0%) 22,937,251 100.0 1,409 511 100.0 Same position
Did not vote 6,867,376
Registered voters 29,804,627
English population 44,610,500
Source: Rallings & Thrasher
Scotland
Party Votes % of vote Candidates Seats % of seats +/–
style="background-color: Template:Labour Party (UK)/meta/color;" | Labour 1,283,667 48.7 71 43 60.6 +5
Conservative & Unionist 1,069,695 40.6 71 24 33.8 −7
Unionist 981,641 37.3 65 24 33.8 −1
National Liberal 88,054 3.3 6 0 0.0 −6
style="background-color: Template:Scottish Liberal Party/meta/color;" | Liberal 200,063 7.6 26 4 5.6 +3
style="background-color: Template:Scottish National Party/meta/color;" | SNP 64,044 2.4 15 0 0.0 Same position
style="background-color: Template:Communist Party of Great Britain/meta/color;" | Communist 12,241 0.5 9 0 0.0 Same position
style="background-color: Template:Independent (politician)/meta/color;" | Other parties and independents 4,829 0.2 5 0 0.0
Total (turnout: 77.6%) 2,634,539 100.0 197 71 100.0 Same position
Did not vote 759,352
Registered voters 3,393,891
Scottish population 5,209,000
Source: Rallings & Thrasher
Wales
Party Votes % of vote Candidates Seats % of seats +/–
style="background-color: Template:Labour Party (UK)/meta/color;" | Labour 837,022 57.8 36 28 77.8
Conservative & Unionist 425,022 29.4 36 6 16.7
Conservative 398,960 27.6 34 6 16.7
National Liberal 26,062 1.8 2 0 0.0
style="background-color: Template:Liberal Party (UK)/meta/color;" | Liberal 106,114 7.3 12 2 5.6
style="background-color: Template:Plaid Cymru/meta/color;" | Plaid Cymru 69,507 4.8 23 0 0.0 Same position
style="background-color: Template:Communist Party of Great Britain/meta/color;" | Communist 9,377 0.6 5 0 0.0 Same position
Total (turnout: 80.1%) 1,447,042 100.0 112 36 100.0 Same position
Did not vote 358,453
Registered voters 1,805,495
Voting age population 1,805,925
Welsh population 2,676,400
Source: Rallings & Thrasher

Northern Ireland

Party Votes % of vote Candidates Seats % of seats +/–
Conservative & Unionist 401,897 63.0 12 12 100.0 Same position
Ulster Unionist Party
style="background-color: Template:Northern Ireland Labour Party/meta/color;" | Labour 102,759 16.1 10 0 0.0 Same position
style="background-color: Template:Independent Republican (Ireland)/meta/color;" | Independent Republican 101,628 15.9 12 0 0.0
style="background-color: Template:Ulster Liberal Party/meta/color;" | Ulster Liberal 17,354 2.7 4 0 0.0
style="background-color: Template:Republican Labour Party/meta/color;" | Republican Labour 14,678 2.3 1 0 0.0
Total (turnout: 71.7%) 638,316 100.0 12 100.0 Same position
Did not vote 252,236
Registered voters 890,552
Voting age population 891,043
Northern Irish population 1,458,000
Source: Rallings & Thrasher

Transfers of seats

  • All comparisons are with the 1959 election.
    • In some cases the change is due to the MP defecting to the gaining party. Such circumstances are marked with a *.
    • In other circumstances the change is due to the seat having been won by the gaining party in a by-election in the intervening years, and then retained in 1964. Such circumstances are marked with a †.
style="width: 2px; background-color: #AFEEEE;" data-sort-value="National Liberal Party (UK, 1931)" | style="width: 2px; background-color: #0087DC;" data-sort-value="Conservative Party (UK)" | style="width: 2px; background-color: #FFD700;" data-sort-value="Liberal Party (UK)" | style="width: 2px; background-color: #FFD700;" data-sort-value="Liberal Party (UK)" | style="width: 2px; background-color: #AFEEEE;" data-sort-value="National Liberal Party (UK, 1931)" | style="width: 2px; background-color: #0087DC;" data-sort-value="Conservative Party (UK)" | style="width: 2px; background-color: #FFD700;" data-sort-value="Liberal Party (UK)" | style="width: 2px; background-color: #0087DC;" data-sort-value="Conservative Party (UK)" | style="width: 2px; background-color: #DDEEFF;" data-sort-value="Independent Conservative" | style="width: 2px; background-color: #DDEEFF;" data-sort-value="Independent Conservative" | style="width: 2px; background-color: #48A5EE;" data-sort-value="Ulster Unionist Party" | style="width: 2px; background-color: #0087DC;" data-sort-value="Conservative Party (UK)" |
From To No. Seats
rowspan=3 bgcolor="Template:Labour Party (UK)/meta/color" | Labour

style="width: 2px; background-color: #E4003B;" data-sort-value="Labour Party (UK)" |

Labour (HOLD) Aberavon, Aberdare, Aberdeen North, Abertillery, Accrington, Anglesey, Ashton-under-Lyne, Ayrshire Central, Ayrshire South, Barking, Barrow-in-Furness, Bedwellty, Belper, Birkenhead, Bishop Auckland, Blackburn, Blaydon, Bolsover, Bootle, Bosworth, Bothwell, Brecon and Radnor, Brigg, Bristol Central, Bristol South, Bristol South East4, Burnley, Caernarfon, Caerphilly, Cardiff South East, Cardiff West, Carmarthen, Chester-le-Street, Chesterfield, Chorley, Coatbridge and Airdrie, Consett, Crewe, Dagenham, Dartford, Derby North, Derby South, Derbyshire North East, Dudley, Dunbartonshire East, Dunbartonshire West, Dundee East, Dundee West, Dunfermline Burghs, Durham, Durham North West, Easington, East Ham N, East Ham S, Ebbw Vale, Eccles, Edinburgh Central, Edinburgh East, Edinburgh Leith, Erith and Crayford, Falmouth and Camborne, Farnworth, Faversham, Fife West, Flintshire East, Gateshead East, Gateshead West, Glasgow Bridgeton, Glasgow Central, Glasgow Craigton, Glasgow Gorbals, Glasgow Govan, Glasgow Maryhill, Glasgow Provan, Glasgow Scotstoun, Glasgow Shettleston, Glasgow Springburn, Gloucester, Gloucestershire West, Goole, Gower, Greenock, Grimsby, Hamilton, Houghton-le-Spring, Huyton, Ilkeston, Ince, Jarrow, Kilmarnock, Kingston upon Hull East, Kingston upon Hull West, Kirkcaldy Burghs, Lanark, Lanarkshire North, Leicester NE, Leicester NW, Leicester SW, Leigh, Leyton, Lincoln, Liverpool Edge Hill, Liverpool Exchange, Liverpool Scotland, Llanelli, Loughborough, Manchester Ardwick, Manchester Cheetham, Manchester Exchange, Manchester Gorton, Manchester Openshaw, Merionethshire, Merthyr Tydfil, Midlothian, Motherwell, Neath, Nelson and Colne, Newport (Monmouthshire), Newton, Ogmore, Oldbury and Halesowen, Oldham East, Oldham West, Paisley, Pembrokeshire, Pontypool, Pontypridd, Rhondda East, Rhondda West, Rochdale, Romford, Rossendale, Rowley Regis and Tipton, St Helens, Salford East, Salford West, Sedgefield, South Shields, Southampton Itchen, Stalybridge and Hyde, Stirling and Falkirk, Stirlingshire East and Clackmannan, Stirlingshire West, Stockton-on-Tees, Sunderland North, Swansea East, Thurrock, Walthamstow W, Warrington, West Ham North, West Ham South, West Lothian, Western Isles, Westhoughton, Whitehaven, Widnes, Wigan, Workington, Wrexham
National Liberal
Conservative Eton and Slough
rowspan=2 bgcolor="Template:Liberal Party (UK)/meta/color" | Liberal

style="width: 2px; background-color: #E4003B;" data-sort-value="Labour Party (UK)" |

Labour Bolton West, Huddersfield West
Liberal (HOLD) Cardiganshire, Devon North, Montgomeryshire, Orkney and Shetland
rowspan=4 bgcolor="Template:National Liberal Party (UK, 1931)/meta/color | National Liberal

style="width: 2px; background-color: #E4003B;" data-sort-value="Labour Party (UK)" |

Labour Luton†, Renfrewshire West
Liberal Ross and Cromarty
National Liberal (HOLD) Bristol North East, Harwich, Holland with Boston, Huntingdonshire, St Ives
Conservative Angus North and Mearns, Angus South, Bedfordshire South*, Dumfries†, Fife East†, Plymouth Devonport*
rowspan=4 bgcolor="Template:Conservative Party (UK)/meta/color" | Conservative

style="width: 2px; background-color: #E4003B;" data-sort-value="Labour Party (UK)" |

Labour Bolton East, Buckingham, Bury and Radcliffe, Carlisle, Derbyshire South East, Dover, Epping, Glasgow Kelvingrove, Glasgow Pollok, Glasgow Woodside†, Gravesend, The Hartlepools, Heywood and Royton, Hitchin, Kingston upon Hull North, Liverpool Kirkdale, Liverpool Toxteth, Liverpool Walton, Liverpool West Derby, Manchester Blackley, Manchester Wythenshawe, Preston South, Rochester and Chatham, Rutherglen†, Stockport North, Stockport South, Sunderland South, Swansea West, Watford
Liberal Bodmin, Inverness, Orpington†
Conservative (HOLD) Aberdeen South, Aberdeenshire East, Aberdeenshire West, Abingdon, Aldershot, Altrincham and Sale, Argyll, Ashford, Aylesbury, Ayr, Ayrshire North and Bute, Banff, Barnet, Barry, Basingstoke, Bebington, Beckenham, Bedford, Bedfordshire Mid, Berwick and East Lothian, Bexley, Billericay, Blackpool North, Blackpool South, Bournemouth East & Christchurch, Bournemouth West, Bridlington, Bristol North West, Bristol West, Bromley, Bromsgrove, Buckinghamshire South, Cambridge, Cambridgeshire, Canterbury, Cardiff North, Cheadle, Chelmsford, Cheltenham, Chester, Chigwell, Chislehurst, Cirencester and Tewkesbury, Clitheroe, Colchester, Conway, Cornwall North, Crosby, Darlington, Darwen, Denbigh, West Derbyshire, Dorset North, Dorset South3, Dorset West, Eastleigh, Edinburgh North, Edinburgh Pentlands, Edinburgh South, Edinburgh West, Essex SE, Exeter, Flintshire West, Folkestone and Hythe, Fylde North, Fylde South, Gainsborough, Galloway, Gillingham, Glasgow Cathcart, Glasgow Hillhead, Gloucestershire South, Gosport and Fareham, Grantham, Haltemprice, Harborough, Hemel Hempstead, Hereford, Hertford, Hertfordshire E, Hertfordshire SW, High Peak, Honiton, Horncastle, Hornchurch, Howden, Ilford North, Ilford South, Isle of Ely, Isle of Thanet, Isle of Wight, Kidderminster, Kinross and West Perthshire, Knutsford, Lancaster, Leicester South East, Leominster, Liverpool Garston, Liverpool Wavertree, Louth, Macclesfield, Maidstone, Maldon, Manchester Moss Side, Manchester Withington, Melton, Middleton and Prestwich, Monmouth, Moray and Nairn, Morecambe and Lonsdale, Nantwich, New Forest, Newbury, Northwich, Ormskirk, Plymouth Sutton, Penrith and the Border, Perth and East Perthshire, Petersfield, Poole, Portsmouth Langstone, Portsmouth South, Portsmouth West, Preston North, Reading, Renfrewshire East, Roxburgh, Selkirk and Peebles, Runcorn, Rutland and Stamford, Saffron Walden, St Albans, Sevenoaks, Southampton Test, Southend East, Southend West, Southport, Stretford, Stroud, Tavistock, Tiverton, Tonbridge, Torquay, Torrington, Totnes, Truro, Wallasey, Walthamstow East, Wanstead and Woodford, Westmorland, Winchester, Windsor, Wirral, Wokingham, Worcester, Worcestershire South, Wycombe
Ind. Conservative
Ind. Conservative

style="width: 2px; background-color: #FFD700;" data-sort-value="Liberal Party (UK)" |

Liberal Caithness and Sutherland
Ulster Unionist

style="width: 2px; background-color: #48A5EE;" data-sort-value="Ulster Unionist Party" |

Ulster Unionist North Antrim, South Antrim, Armagh, Belfast East, Belfast North, Belfast South, Belfast West, Down North, Down South, Fermanagh and South Tyrone, Londonderry, Mid Ulster
Conservative

style="width: 2px; background-color: black;" data-sort-value="Speaker of the House of Commons (United Kingdom)" |

Speaker Cities of London and Westminster

Incumbents defeated

Conservative

Labour

Liberal

Televised results programmes

Both BBC and ITV provided live televised coverage of the results and provided commentary.

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; background-color: #0087DC;" data-sort-value="Conservative Party (UK)" |

Conservative 19,797 14,557 7,568

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 16,446 20,490

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 35,347 33,755 10,706

style="width: 2px; background-color: #0087DC;" data-sort-value="Conservative Party (UK)" |

Conservative hold
Exeter

style="width: 2px; background-color: #0087DC;" data-sort-value="Conservative Party (UK)" |

Conservative 18,035 16,673 8,815

style="width: 2px; background-color: #0087DC;" data-sort-value="Conservative Party (UK)" |

Conservative hold
Battersea South

style="width: 2px; background-color: #0087DC;" data-sort-value="Conservative Party (UK)" |

Conservative 10,615 12,263 3,294

style="width: 2px; background-color: #E4003B;" data-sort-value="Labour Party (UK)" |

Labour gain
Liverpool Exchange

style="width: 2px; background-color: #E4003B;" data-sort-value="Labour Party (UK)" |

Labour 7,239 16,985

style="width: 2px; background-color: #E4003B;" data-sort-value="Labour Party (UK)" |

Labour hold
Holborn and St Pancras South

style="width: 2px; background-color: #0087DC;" data-sort-value="Conservative Party (UK)" |

Conservative 13,117 15,823 226

style="width: 2px; background-color: #E4003B;" data-sort-value="Labour Party (UK)" |

Labour gain
North Devon

style="width: 2px; background-color: #FFD700;" data-sort-value="Liberal Party (UK)" |

Liberal 13,985 4,306 19,031

style="width: 2px; background-color: #FFD700;" data-sort-value="Liberal Party (UK)" |

Liberal hold
Stockport South

style="width: 2px; background-color: #0087DC;" data-sort-value="Conservative Party (UK)" |

Conservative 13,718 16,755 7,107

style="width: 2px; background-color: #E4003B;" data-sort-value="Labour Party (UK)" |

Labour gain
Barons Court

style="width: 2px; background-color: #0087DC;" data-sort-value="Conservative Party (UK)" |

Conservative 14,800 15,966 2,821

style="width: 2px; background-color: #E4003B;" data-sort-value="Labour Party (UK)" |

Labour gain
Bolton West

style="width: 2px; background-color: #FFD700;" data-sort-value="Liberal Party (UK)" |

Liberal 13,522 16,519 10,086

style="width: 2px; background-color: #E4003B;" data-sort-value="Labour Party (UK)" |

Labour gain
Smethwick

style="width: 2px; background-color: #E4003B;" data-sort-value="Labour Party (UK)" |

Labour 16,690 14,916 262

style="width: 2px; background-color: #0087DC;" data-sort-value="Conservative Party (UK)" |

Conservative gain
Huyton

style="width: 2px; background-color: #E4003B;" data-sort-value="Labour Party (UK)" |

Labour 22,940 42,213 899

style="width: 2px; background-color: #E4003B;" data-sort-value="Labour Party (UK)" |

Labour hold
Orpington

style="width: 2px; background-color: #0087DC;" data-sort-value="Conservative Party (UK)" |

Conservative 19,565 4,609 22,637

style="width: 2px; background-color: #FFD700;" data-sort-value="Liberal Party (UK)" |

Liberal win
Torrington

style="width: 2px; background-color: #0087DC;" data-sort-value="Conservative Party (UK)" |

Conservative 16,889 5,867 14,831

style="width: 2px; background-color: #0087DC;" data-sort-value="Conservative Party (UK)" |

Conservative hold
Kinross and Western Perthshire

style="width: 2px; background-color: #0087DC;" data-sort-value="Conservative Party (UK)" |

Conservative 16,659 4,687 3,649

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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

Notes

  1. ^ This summary of opinion poll findings from the last few days of the campaign is given early in the BBC's election night coverage.
  2. ^ Conservative total includes Scottish Unionists, Ulster Unionists, and National Liberals.

References

  1. ^ 1964: Labour scrapes through, BBC News, 5 April 2005, retrieved 21 May 2018
  2. ^ John W. Young, "International Factors and the 1964 Election." Contemporary British History (2007) 21#3 pp 351-371.
  3. ^ UK General Election 1964 – Results Round-up on YouTube
  4. ^ a b Vernon Bogdanor (18 January 2014). "The Spectator book review that brought down Macmillan's government". The Spectator. Retrieved 30 June 2014.

Further reading

  • Barberis, Peter (September 2007), "The 1964 General Election and the Liberals' False Dawn", Contemporary British History, 21 (3): 373–387, doi:10.1080/13619460600825949
  • Butler, David E.; et al. (1965), The British General Election of 1964, the standard scholarly study{{citation}}: CS1 maint: postscript (link)
  • Craig, F. W. S. (1989), British Electoral Facts: 1832–1987, Dartmouth: Gower, ISBN 0900178302
  • Denver, David (2007), "The 1964 General Election: Explaining Voting Behaviour Then and Now", Contemporary British History, 21 (3): 295–307, doi:10.1080/13619460600825857
  • Favretto, Ilaria (2000), "'Wilsonism' reconsidered: Labour party revisionism 1952–64", Contemporary British History, 14 (4): 54–80, doi:10.1080/13619460008581603
  • Fielding, Steven (September 2007), "Rethinking Labour's 1964 Campaign", Contemporary British History, 21 (3): 309–324, doi:10.1080/13619460600825873
  • Heppell, Timothy (2010), "The Labour Party Leadership Election of 1963: Explaining the Unexpected Election of Harold Wilson", Contemporary British History, 24 (2): 151–171, doi:10.1080/13619461003768264
  • Morgan, Austen (1992), Harold Wilson, p. 625
  • Tomlinson, Jim (September 2007), "It's the Economy, Stupid! Labour and the Economy, circa 1964", Contemporary British History, 21 (3): 337–349, doi:10.1080/13619460600825915
  • Wrigley, Chris (September 2007), "Trade Unions and the 1964 General Election", Contemporary British History, 21 (3): 325–335, doi:10.1080/13619460600825899
  • Young, John W. (September 2007), "International Factors and the 1964 Election", Contemporary British History, 21 (3): 351–371, doi:10.1080/13619460600825931

External links

Manifestos

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