1931 United Kingdom general election
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All 615 seats in the House of Commons 308 seats needed for a majority | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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Turnout | 76.4%, 0.1% | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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Colours denote the winning party—as shown in § Results | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Composition of the House of Commons after the 1931 General Election | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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The 1931 United Kingdom general election was held on Tuesday 27 October 1931. It saw a landslide election victory for the National Government, a three-party coalition which had been formed two months previously after the collapse of the second Labour government, led by Ramsay MacDonald.[1] Journalist Ivor Bulmer-Thomas described the result as "the most astonishing in the history of the British party system".[2]
Unable to secure support from his own party for his preferred policy responses to the economic and social crises brought about by the Great Depression, MacDonald split from Labour to form a new national government in coalition with the Conservative Party, as well as a number of Liberals. MacDonald subsequently campaigned for a "Doctor's Mandate" to do whatever was necessary to fix the economy, running as the leader of a new party called National Labour within the coalition. Disagreement over whether to join the new government also resulted in the Liberal Party splitting into three separate factions, including one led by former Prime Minister David Lloyd George.
Collectively, the parties forming the National Government won 67% of the popular vote and 554 (90.1%) of 615 seats in the House of Commons. Although the bulk of the National Government's support came from the Conservative Party, which won 470 seats, MacDonald remained Prime Minister. The Labour Party suffered its greatest ever defeat—losing four-fifths of its seats, including the seat of leader Arthur Henderson—and became the official opposition with just 52 MPs. The election also confirmed the collapse of the Liberals as a significant force in British politics, which would last until the 1970s. The breakaway National Liberals, meanwhile, were eventually absorbed into the Conservatives in 1947.
It is the most recent election in which any single party (the Conservatives) received an absolute majority of the votes cast, and the last UK general election not to take place on a Thursday. It was also the last election until 1997 in which any party won more than 400 seats.
Background[edit]
After battling with the Great Depression for two years, the Labour government of Ramsay MacDonald was faced with a budget crisis in August 1931. The cabinet deadlocked over its response, with several influential members, such as Arthur Henderson, unwilling to support the budget cuts (in particular a cut in the rate of unemployment benefit) which were pressed by the civil service and opposition parties. Then, Chancellor of the Exchequer Philip Snowden refused to consider deficit spending or tariffs as alternative solutions.
When the government resigned, MacDonald was encouraged by King George V to form an all-party National Government to deal with the immediate crisis.
The initial hope that the government would hold office for a few weeks, and then dissolve to return to ordinary party politics, were frustrated when the government was forced to remove the pound sterling from the gold standard; meanwhile the Labour Party expelled all those who were supporting the government.
The Conservatives began pressing for the National Government to fight an election as a combined unit, and MacDonald's supporters from the Labour Party formed a National Labour Organisation to support him; MacDonald came to endorse an early election to take advantage of Labour's unpopularity. However the Liberals were sceptical about an election and had to be persuaded. Former Liberal leader David Lloyd George firmly opposed the decision to call an election and urged his colleagues to withdraw from the National Government.
A main issue was the Conservatives' wish to introduce protectionist trade policies. This issue not only divided the government from the opposition but also divided the parties in the National Government: the majority of Liberals, led by Sir Herbert Samuel, were opposed and supported free trade, but on the eve of the election a faction known as Liberal Nationals under the leadership of Sir John Simon was formed who were willing to support protectionist trade policies.
In order to preserve the Liberals within the National Government, the government itself did not endorse a policy but appealed for a "Doctor's Mandate" to do whatever was necessary to rescue the economy. Individual Conservative candidates supported protective tariffs.
Labour campaigned on opposition to public spending cuts, but found it difficult to defend the party's record in government, especially in light of the fact that most of the cuts had been agreed under its tenure.
Historian Andrew Thorpe argues that Labour lost credibility by 1931 as unemployment soared, especially in coal, textiles, shipbuilding and steel. The working class increasingly lost confidence in the ability of Labour to solve the most pressing problems facing the country.[3]
The 2.5 million Irish Catholics in England and Scotland were a major component in the Labour base in many industrial areas. The Catholic Church had previously tolerated the Labour Party, and denied that it represented true socialism. However, the bishops by 1930 had grown increasingly alarmed at Labour's policies towards Communist Russia, towards birth control and especially towards funding Catholic schools. They warned its members. The Catholic shift against Labour and in favour of the National Government played a major role in Labour's losses.[4]
Parliament was dissolved on 7 October.[5]
Outcome[edit]
The election was a landslide for the National Government coalition, which won 67.2% of the popular vote and 518 seats out of 615 in the House of Commons—for both, it stands as the largest share ever secured in a British general election since the passage of the Reform Act 1832. (The next-best results were both was secured by the Whigs in 1832, who won 67.01% of the vote and 67.02% of seats under a substantially different electoral system with a much smaller electorate.) However, by far the largest share of the government's seats was won by the Conservatives, and the party's 470 seats also remains the record for the largest share of the total seats in Parliament (76.4%) won by any single party.
By contrast, the mainstream Labour vote fell sharply, whereas the 20 seats contested by National Labour saw 13 gains. Despite the dominance of the Conservatives within the coalition MacDonald remained Prime Minister. The coalition's overwhelming majority gave it a clear mandate to enact its policy platform, intended to pull the economy out of the doldrums of the Great Depression through targeted state investments while avoiding high taxation, large budget deficits, superinflation, or currency devaluation.
The main group of Liberals lacked the funds to contest all viable seats yet won almost as many as the Labour Party. More MPs (72) were elected under a Liberal ticket (ballot description) of some type than the tally of Labour and National Labour MPs (65), but the three-way split in their party meant that the main Labour group was the second-largest in the House of Commons.
Results[edit]
- Note: Seat changes are compared with the 1929 election result.
Candidates | Votes | ||||||||||
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Party | Leader | Stood | Elected | Gained | Unseated | Net | % of total | % | No. | Net % | |
National Government | |||||||||||
Conservative | Stanley Baldwin | 518 | 470 | 210 | 0 | +210 | 76.4 | 55.0 | 11,377,022 | +16.9 | |
Liberal | Herbert Samuel | 112 | 33 | 15 | 42 | −27 | 5.4 | 6.5 | 1,346,571 | −17.1 | |
National Liberal | John Simon | 41 | 35 | 35 | 0 | +35 | 5.7 | 3.7 | 761,705 | N/A | |
National Labour | Ramsay MacDonald | 20 | 13 | 13 | 0 | +13 | 2.1 | 1.5 | 316,741 | N/A | |
National | N/A | 4 | 4 | 4 | 0 | +4 | 0.7 | 0.5 | 100,193 | N/A | |
National Government (total) | Ramsay MacDonald | 694 | 554 | +236 | 90.1 | 67.2 | 13,902,232 | +5.5 | |||
Labour Opposition | |||||||||||
Labour | Arthur Henderson | 490 | 46 | 2 | 243 | −241 | 7.5 | 29.4 | 6,081,826 | −7.7 | |
Ind. Labour Party | Fenner Brockway | 19 | 3 | 3 | 0 | +3 | 0.5 | 1.2 | 239,280 | N/A | |
Other unendorsed Labour | N/A | 6 | 3 | 3 | 1 | +2 | 0.5 | 0.3 | 64,549 | N/A | |
NI Labour | Jack Beattie | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0.0 | 0.0 | 9,410 | N/A | |
Labour (total) | Arthur Henderson | 516 | 52 | −235 | 8.5 | 30.6 | 6,395,065 | −6.5 | |||
Other opposition parties | |||||||||||
Independent Liberals | David Lloyd George | 6 | 4 | 4 | 0 | +4 | 0.7 | 0.5 | 106,106 | N/A | |
Nationalist | Joseph Devlin | 3 | 2 | 0 | 1 | −1 | 0.3 | 0.4 | 72,530 | +0.3 | |
Communist | Harry Pollitt | 26 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0.3 | 69,692 | +0.1 | |
Independent | N/A | 7 | 3 | 0 | 3 | −3 | 0.5 | 0.2 | 44,257 | N/A | |
New Party | Oswald Mosley | 24 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0.2 | 36,377 | N/A | |
National (Scotland) | Roland Muirhead | 5 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0.1 | 20,954 | +0.1 | |
Independent Labour | N/A | 3 | 0 | 0 | 1 | −1 | 0 | 0.1 | 18,200 | 0.0 | |
Scottish Prohibition | Edwin Scrymgeour | 1 | 0 | 0 | 1 | −1 | 0 | 0.1 | 16,114 | 0.0 | |
Liverpool Protestant | H. D. Longbottom | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0.0 | 7,834 | N/A | |
Agricultural Party | J. F. Wright | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0.0 | 6,993 | N/A | |
Independent Nationalist | N/A | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0.0 | 3,134 | N/A | |
Independent Liberal | N/A | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0.0 | 2,578 | −0.1 | |
Plaid Cymru | Saunders Lewis | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0.0 | 2,050 | 0.0 | |
Commonwealth Land | N/A | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0.0 | 1,347 | N/A |
Votes summary[edit]
Seats summary[edit]
Transfers of seats[edit]
This differs from the above list in including seats where the incumbent was standing down and therefore there was no possibility of any one person being defeated. The aim is to provide a comparison with the previous election. In addition, it provides information about which party gained the seat.
- All comparisons are with the 1929 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 1931. Such circumstances are marked with a †.
- 1 Sitting MP had defected to the New Party
- 2 Sitting MP had defected to National Labour
- 3 Sitting MP had defected to Labour
- 4 Sitting MP had defected to Independent Labour
Results by constituency[edit]
These are available at the PoliticsResources website, a link to which is given below.
See also[edit]
- List of MPs elected in the 1931 United Kingdom general election
- 1931 United Kingdom general election in Scotland
- 1931 United Kingdom general election in Northern Ireland
Footnotes[edit]
- ^ The seat and vote count figures for the Conservatives given here include the Speaker of the House of Commons
References[edit]
- ^ Macmahon, Arthur W. (1932). "The British General Election of 1931". American Political Science Review. 26 (2): 333–345. doi:10.2307/1947117. ISSN 0003-0554. JSTOR 1947117. S2CID 143537799.
- ^ Bulmer-Thomas, Ivor (1967), The Growth of the British Party System Volume II 1924–1964, p. 76
- ^ Thorpe, Andrew (1996), "The Industrial Meaning of 'Gradualism': The Labour Party and Industry, 1918–1931", The Journal of British Studies, 35 (1): 84–113, doi:10.1086/386097, hdl:10036/19512, S2CID 155016569
- ^ Riddell, Neil (1997), "The Catholic Church and the Labour Party, 1918–1931", Twentieth Century British History, 8 (2): 165–193, doi:10.1093/tcbh/8.2.165
- ^ "Parliamentary Election Timetables" (PDF) (3rd ed.). House of Commons Library. 25 March 1997. Retrieved 3 July 2022.
Further reading[edit]
- Ball, Stuart (1988), Baldwin and the Conservative Party: The Crisis of 1929–31, Yale University Press
- Bassett, R. (1958), Nineteen Thirty-One Political Crisis, London: MacMillan, archived from the original on 3 November 2020, retrieved 23 July 2016
- Close, D. H. (1982), "The realignment of the British electorate in 1931", History, 67 (221): 393–404, doi:10.1111/j.1468-229X.1982.tb01897.x
- Craig, F. W. S. (1989), British Electoral Facts: 1832–1987, Dartmouth: Gower, ISBN 0900178302
- Thorpe, Andrew (1991), The British General Election of 1931, Oxford, doi:10.1093/acprof:oso/9780198202189.001.0001, ISBN 9780198202189
- Thorpe, Andrew (1988), "Arthur Henderson and the British political crisis of 1931", Historical Journal, 31 (1): 117–139, doi:10.1017/S0018246X00012012, S2CID 154504816
- Toye, Richard (2003), "Plan or Perish: 1931 and its Impact", in Toye (ed.), The Labour Party and the Planned Economy, 1931–1951, vol. 32, Boydell and Brewer, pp. 34–64, ISBN 9780861932627, JSTOR 10.7722/j.ctt81jtf.7
External links[edit]
- 1931 election results by constituency
- United Kingdom election results—summary results 1885–1979 Archived 30 January 2012 at the Wayback Machine