1951 United Kingdom general election

	1945 election • MPs
	1950 election • MPs
	1951 election • MPs
	1955 election • MPs

United Kingdom general election, 1951
← outgoing members elected members →
All 625 seats in the House of Commons; 313 seats needed for a majority
Turnout	82.6% (1.3%)
	File:UK Election 1951 Map.png Colours denote the winning party, as shown in the main table of results. (Map does not show results in Northern Ireland)
PM before election; Clement Attlee; Labour	Subsequent PM ; Winston Churchill; Conservative

The 1951 United Kingdom general election was held twenty 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.

Background

Clement 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 that there was danger of a change of government in his absence.^[1] (As it transpired the King became too ill to travel and delegated the tour to his daughter Princess Elizabeth shortly before his death in February 1952.)

The Labour government, which by now had implemented most of its 1945 manifesto, was now beginning to lose many cabinet ministers such as Ernest Bevin and Stafford Cripps due to old age. The Conservatives however, due to the previous year's election, looked fresher, with more new MPs.

Campaign

As Labour began to have some policy splits during the election campaign, the Conservatives ran an efficient campaign that was well funded and orchestrated. Their manifesto Britain Strong and Free stressed that safeguarding "our traditional way of life" was integral to the Conservative purpose. They did not propose to dismantle the welfare state or the National Health Service which the Labour Government had established.^[2] As for the Liberals, the poor election results in 1950 only got worse.^[3]

The subsequent Labour defeat was significant for several reasons: the party polled almost a quarter of a million votes more than the Conservatives and their National Liberal allies combined, won the most votes that Labour had ever won (and has ever won as of 2015) and won the most votes of any political party in any election in British political history, a record not surpassed until the Conservative Party's victory in 1992. Despite this, it was the Conservatives who formed the next government with a majority of 16. In addition, under the first past the post electoral system, Labour votes translated into increased majorities for MPs in safe seats, rather than into gaining new seats. This was the second of three elections in the 20th century where a party lost the popular vote but won the most seats, the others being 1929 and February 1974; it also happened in 1874.

Four candidates were returned unopposed, all in Northern Ireland. This was the last general election in which any candidates were returned unopposed, although there have since been unopposed by-elections.^[4]

Result

↓
style="background:Template:Conservative Party (UK)/meta/color; width:52.4%;" \| 321	295	6	3
Conservative/Liberal National	Labour	Lib	O

UK General Election 1951
			Candidates						Votes
Party		Leader	Stood	Elected	Gained	Unseated	Net	% of total	%	No.	Net %
	Labour	Clement Attlee	617	295	2	22	− 20	47.20	48.78	13,948,883
	Conservative	Winston Churchill	562	302	20	1	+ 19	48.32	44.27	12,659,712
	National Liberal	James Stuart	55	19¹	3	0	+ 3	3.04¹	3.70¹	1,058,138¹
	Liberal	Clement Davies	109	6	1	4	− 3	0.96	2.55	730,546
	Ind. Nationalist	N/A	3	2	0	0	0	0.32	0.32	92,787
	Irish Labour	William Norton	1	1	1	0	+ 1	0.16	0.12	33,174
	Communist	Harry Pollitt	10	0	0	0	0	0.00	0.08	21,640
	Independent	N/A	6	0	0	0	0	0.00	0.07	19,791
	Plaid Cymru	Gwynfor Evans	4	0	0	0	0	0.00	0.04	10,920
	SNP	Robert McIntyre	2	0	0	0	0	0.00	0.03	7,299
	Ind. Conservative	N/A	1	0	0	0	0	0.00	0.02	5,904
	Ind. Labour Party	Fred Barton	3	0	0	0	0	0.00	0.014	4,057
	British Empire	P. J. Ridout	1	0	0	0	0	0.00	0.006	1,643
	Anti-Partition	James McSparran	1	0	0	0	0	0.00	0.005	1,340
	United Socialist	Guy Aldred	1	0	0	0	0	0.00	0.001	411

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	82.6%

Votes summary

Popular vote

Labour			48.78%
Conservative			47.97%
Liberal			2.55%
Independent			0.43%
Others			0.26%

Headline Swing: 1.13% to Conservative

Seats summary

Parliamentary seats

Conservative			51.36%
Labour			47.20%
Liberal			0.96%
Others			0.48%

Seats changing hands

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

References

^ Judd, Dennis (2012). George VI. I.B. Tauris (paperback). p. 238. ISBN 978-1-78076-071-1. Judd writes that Attlee confirmed the king's anxiety in his own autobiography.
^ Kynaston, David (2009). Family Britain 1951-7. London: Bloomsbury. p. 32. ISBN 9780747583851.
^ "UK | UK Politics | The Basics | past_elections | 1951: Churchill back in power at last". BBC News. 5 April 2005. Retrieved 5 October 2013.
^ "General Election Results 1885-1979". Election.demon.co.uk. Retrieved 5 October 2013.

Manifestos

CONSERVATIVE PARTY: 1951- 1951 Conservative manifesto.
Labour Party Election Manifesto - 1951 Labour Party manifesto.
The Nation's Task - 1951 Liberal Party manifesto.

[1] Judd, Dennis (2012). George VI. I.B. Tauris (paperback). p. 238. ISBN 978-1-78076-071-1. Judd writes that Attlee confirmed the king's anxiety in his own autobiography.

[2] Kynaston, David (2009). Family Britain 1951-7. London: Bloomsbury. p. 32. ISBN 9780747583851.

[3] "UK | UK Politics | The Basics | past_elections | 1951: Churchill back in power at last". BBC News. 5 April 2005. Retrieved 5 October 2013.

[4] "General Election Results 1885-1979". Election.demon.co.uk. Retrieved 5 October 2013.

[1]

[2]

[3]

[4]

v t e Elections and referendums in the United Kingdom
General elections	1802 1806 1807 1812 1818 1820 1826 1830 1831 1832 1835 1837 1841 1847 1852 1857 1859 1865 1868 1874 1880 1885 1886 1892 1895 1900 1906 1910 (Jan) 1910 (Dec) 1918 1922 1923 1924 1929 1931 1935 1945 1950 1951 1955 1959 1964 1966 1970 1974 (Feb) 1974 (Oct) 1979 1983 1987 1992 1997 2001 2005 2010 2015 2017 2019 2024 Next
Local elections	1889 1890 1892 1894 1895 1896 1897 1898 1899 1900 1901 1902 1903 1904 1905 1906 1907 1908 1909 1910 1911 1912 1913 1914 1915 1919 1920 1921 1922 1923 1924 1925 1926 1927 1928 1929 1930 1931 1932 1933 1934 1935 1936 1937 1938 1945 1946 1947 1948 1949 1950 1951 1952 1953 1954 1955 1956 1957 1958 1959 1960 1961 1962 1963 1964 1965 1966 1967 1968 1969 1970 1971 1972 1973 1974 1975 1976 1977 1978 1979 1980 1981 1982 1983 1984 1985 1986 1987 1988 1989 1990 1991 1992 1993 1994 1995 1996 1997 1998 1999 2000 2001 2002 2003 2004 2005 2006 2007 2008 2009 2010 2011 2012 2013 2014 2015 2016 2017 2018 2019 2021 2022 2023 2024 2025
European elections	1979 1984 1989 1994 1999 2004 2009 2014 2019
Referendums	1975 2011 2016
See also Elections in England Northern Ireland Scotland Wales Great Britain