United Kingdom general election, 1951

25 October 1951

All 625 seats in the House of Commons 313 seats needed for a majority

Turnout	82.6%
	First party	Second party	Third party

Leader	Winston Churchill	Clement Attlee	Clement Davies
Party	Conservative	Labour	Liberal
Leader since	9 October 1940	25 October 1935	2 August 1945
Leader's seat	Woodford	Walthamstow West	Montgomeryshire
Last election	298 seats (total strength)	315 seats	9 seats, 9.1%
Seats won	321 (total strength)	295	6
Seat change	22	20	3
Popular vote	13,717,850	13,948,385	730,546
Percentage	48.0%	48.8%	2.5%
Swing	5.6%	2.7%	6.6%

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

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

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 is 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 surpassed by the Conservative Party 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

↓
321	295	6	3
Conservative/Liberal National	Labour	Lib	O

UK General Election 1951
			Candidates						Votes
Party		Leader	Standing	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
	Liberal National	Viscount Stuart of Findhorn	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
	Independent 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
	Independent 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

Conservative			47.97%
Labour			48.78%
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. |access-date= requires |url= (help)
↑ "UK | UK Politics | The Basics | past_elections | 1951: Churchill back in power at last". BBC News. 2005-04-05. Retrieved 2013-10-05.
↑ "General Election Results 1885-1979". Election.demon.co.uk. Retrieved 2013-10-05.

Manifestos

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

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