United Kingdom general election, 1955

26 May 1955

All 630 seats in the House of Commons 316 seats needed for a majority

Turnout	76.8%
	First party	Second party	Third party

Leader	Anthony Eden	Clement Attlee	Clement Davies
Party	Conservative	Labour	Liberal
Leader since	7 April 1955	25 October 1935	2 August 1945
Leader's seat	Warwick and Leamington	Walthamstow West	Montgomeryshire
Last election	321 seats, 48.0%	295 seats, 48.8%	6 seats, 2.5%
Seats won	345	277	6
Seat change	23	18	0
Popular vote	13,310,891	12,405,254	722,402
Percentage	49.7	46.4	2.7
Swing	1.7%	2.4%	0.2%

Colours denote the winning party, as shown in the main table of results.

PM before election

Anthony Eden
Conservative

Subsequent PM

Anthony Eden
Conservative

1950 election • MPs
1951 election • MPs
1955 election • MPs
1959 election • MPs

The 1955 United Kingdom general election was held on 26 May 1955, four years after the previous general election. It resulted in a substantially increased majority of 60 for the Conservative government under new leader and prime minister Sir Anthony Eden against the Labour Party, then in their twentieth year of leadership by Clement Attlee.

This general election has since been described by many as one of the "dullest" post war elections, because there was little change in the country, with Labour steadily losing ground owing to infighting between the left (Bevanites) and the right (Gaitskellites). This resulted in an unclear election message from the Labour Party. It was the fifth and last general election fought by Labour leader Clement Attlee, who by this time was 72. Eden had only just become leader of the Conservative party a few weeks before the election, after the retirement of Winston Churchill, but he had long been considered the heir apparent to the Conservative leadership. The Conservatives were hoping to take advantage of the end of food rationing and the good mood created by the coronation of Queen Elizabeth in 1953. Eden himself was telegenic, although not a great public speaker, and gradual economic growth benefited the party greatly.^[1] However, it was the last time the Conservatives won the most seats in Scotland; after 1959, Labour established itself as the dominant party in that country at UK general elections, a position it maintained until the rise of the Scottish National Party at the 2015 election.

For the first time television took a prominent role in the campaign, and this was the earliest UK general election of which television coverage survives (the 1950 and 1951 election nights were not recorded). Only three hours of the coverage presented by Richard Dimbleby was kept; this was rebroadcast on BBC Parliament on the 50th and 60th anniversaries of the date of the election.

On election day, the Daily Mirror had printed the front page headline "Don't Let The Tories Cheat Our Children", urging its readers to elect Labour on the basis that it had "built a better Britain for us all".^[2]

Results

This election was fought on new boundaries, with 5 seats added to the 625 in 1951.

The result showed very little change from 1951, with fewer than 25 seats changing hands and only a small swing from Labour to the Conservatives. The only real highlight of the night was in Northern Ireland, where Sinn Féin won 2 seats in a British election for the first time since 1918 (before the partition of Ireland). Despite deep divisions in the Labour party, the election was not the disaster it could have been for that party. Although little changed, this was a strong victory for the Conservatives, who won the largest share of the vote for a single party in a post-war general election.

↓
345	277	6	2
Conservative	Labour	Lib	O

UK General Election 1955
			Candidates						Votes
Party		Leader	Standing	Elected	Gained	Unseated	Net	% of total	%	No.	Net %
	Conservative	Anthony Eden	624	345			+ 23	54.8	49.7	13,310,891	+ 1.7
	Labour	Clement Attlee	620	277	1	19	− 18	44.0	46.4	12,405,254	− 2.4
	Liberal	Clement Davies	110	6	0	0	0	1.0	2.7	722,402	+ 0.2
	Sinn Féin	Paddy McLogan	12	2	2	0	+ 2	0.3	0.6	152,310	+ 0.5
	Plaid Cymru	Gwynfor Evans	11	0	0	0	0		0.2	45,119	+ 0.2
	Independent	N/A	8	0	0	0	0		0.2	43,791	+ 0.1
	Communist	Harry Pollitt	17	0	0	0	0		0.1	33,144	0.0
	Irish Labour	William Norton	1	0	0	1	− 1		0.1	16,050	0.0
	Independent Labour	N/A	2	0	0	0	0		0.1	15,322	N/A
	SNP	Robert McIntyre	2	0	0	0	0		0.1	12,112	0.0
	Ind. Labour Party	Annie Maxton	2	0	0	0	0		0.0	3,334	0.0

All parties shown. Conservatives include National Liberal Party and Ulster Unionists.

Government's new majority	60
Total votes cast	26,759,729
Turnout	76.8%

Votes summary

Popular vote

Conservative and Unionist			49.7%
Labour			46.4%
Liberal			2.7%
Independent			0.2%
Others			1.0%

Headline Swing: 1.6% to Conservative

Seats summary

Parliamentary seats

Conservative and Unionist			54.8%
Labour			44.0%
Liberal			1.0%
Sinn Féin			0.3%

Selected declarations

First Declaration: Cheltenham (Con: 24,259, Lab:16,638. Con hold)
Prime Minister's Seat: Warwick and Leamington (Con: 29,979, Lab: 16,513. Con hold)

References

F. W. S. Craig, British Electoral Facts: 1832-1987
United Kingdom election results - summary results 1885-1979

Manifestos

United for Peace and Progress: The Conservative and Unionist Party's Policy- 1955 Conservative manifesto.
Forward With Labour: Labour's Policy for the Consideration of the Nation - 1955 Labour Party manifesto.
Crisis Unresolved - 1955 Liberal Party manifesto.

Notes

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