United Kingdom general election, 1966

31 March 1966

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

Turnout	75.8%
	First party	Second party	Third party

Leader	Harold Wilson	Edward Heath	Jo Grimond
Party	Labour	Conservative	Liberal
Leader since	14 February 1963	28 July 1965	5 November 1956
Leader's seat	Huyton	Bexley	Orkney and Shetland
Last election	317 seats, 44.1%	304 seats, 43.4%	9 seats, 11.2%
Seats won	364	253	12
Seat change	48	52	3
Popular vote	13,096,951	11,418,433	2,327,533
Percentage	48.0%	41.9%	8.5%
Swing	3.9%	1.5%	2.7%

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

* The BBC lists this result as 363 seats, due to the speaker's seat being listed as "other".

PM before election

Harold Wilson
Labour

Subsequent PM

Harold Wilson
Labour

1959 election • MPs
1964 election • MPs
1966 election • MPs
1970 election • MPs
February 1974 election • MPs

The 1966 United Kingdom general election on 31 March 1966 was easily won by sitting Labour Prime Minister Harold Wilson. Wilson's decision to call an election turned on the fact that his government, elected a mere 17 months previously in 1964, had an unworkably small majority of only 4 MPs. The Labour government was returned with a much larger majority of 96.^[1]

Background

Prior to the general election, in 1965, Labour had performed poorly in local elections, and lost a by-election, cutting their majority to just 2. Labour ran its campaign with the slogan "You know Labour government works".

Shortly after the local elections, Sir Alec Douglas-Home was replaced by Edward Heath as leader of the Conservative party.

The Conservatives had not really had time to prepare their campaign, although it was more professional than previously. There had been little time for Heath to become well known among the British public, having led the party for just eight months before the election. For the Liberals, money was an issue: two elections in the space of just two years had left the party in a tight financial position.^[2]

The election night was broadcast live on the BBC, and was presented by Cliff Michelmore, Robin Day, Robert McKenzie and David Butler. The election was replayed on the BBC Parliament channel on the 40th anniversary of the event^[3] and again in 2016 to mark the 50th anniversary of the election.^[4]

Although the BBC's telecast was in black and white, a couple of colour television cameras were placed in the BBC election studio at Television Centre to allow CBS's Charles Collingwood and NBC's David Brinkley to file live reports from that studio by satellite and in colour for their respective networks' evening news programmes (which were transmitted at 11:30 P.M. British time; 6:30 P.M. Eastern Standard Time).

Timeline

The Prime Minister Harold Wilson announced on 28 February that Parliament would be dissolved on 10 March, for an election to be held on 31 March. The key dates were as follows:

Thursday 10 March	Dissolution of the 43rd parliament and campaigning officially begins
Monday 21 March	Last day to file nomination papers; 1,707 candidates enter to contest 630 seats
Wednesday 30 March	Campaigning officially ends
Thursday 31 March	Polling day
Friday 1 April	The Labour Party wins with an improved majority of 96
Monday 18 April	44th parliament assembles
Thursday 21 April	State Opening of Parliament

National opinion polls summary

Research Services : 3% swing to Labour (forecast majority of 101)
National Opinion Polls : 3.5% swing to Labour (forecast majority of 115)
Gallup : 4.5% swing to Labour (forecast majority of 150)
Express (known as Harris): 7.5% swing to Labour (forecast majority of in excess of 255)

Results

↓
364	253	12	1
Labour	Conservative	Lib	O

United Kingdom general election 1966
			Candidates						Votes
Party		Leader	Standing	Elected	Gained	Unseated	Net	% of total	%	No.	Net %
	Labour	Harold Wilson	622	364	49	1	+ 48	57.8	48.0	13,096,629
	Conservative	Edward Heath	629	253	0	52	− 52	40.2	41.9	11,418,455	− 1.5
	Liberal	Jo Grimond	311	12	5	2	+ 3	1.9	8.5	2,327,457
	SNP	Arthur Donaldson	23	0	0	0	0		0.5	128,474
	Independent Republican	N/A	5	0	0	0	0		0.2	62,782
	Communist	John Gollan	57	0	0	0	0		0.2	62,092
	Plaid Cymru	Gwynfor Evans	20	0	0	0	0		0.2	61,071
	Independent	N/A	15	0	0	0	0		0.1	35,039
	Republican Labour	Gerry Fitt	1	1	1	0	+ 1	0.2	0.1	26,292
	Nationalist	Eddie McAteer	1	0	0	0	0		0.1	22,167
	Independent Liberal	N/A	3	0	0	0	0		0.0	5,689
	British National	John Bean	3	0	0	0	0		0.0	5,182
	Independent Conservative	N/A	4	0	0	0	0		0.0	4,089
	Union Movement	Oswald Mosley	4	0	0	0	0		0.0	4,075
	Independent Labour	N/A	1	0	0	0	0		0.0	1,031
	Fellowship	Ronald Mallone	1	0	0	0	0		0.0	906
	National Democratic	David Brown	1	0	0	0	0		0.0	769
	National Teenage	Screaming Lord Sutch	1	0	0	0	0		0.0	585
	Ind. Labour Party	Emrys Thomas	1	0	0	0	0		0.0	441
	Socialist (GB)	None	2	0	0	0	0		0.0	333
	Radical Alliance	Pat Arrowsmith	1	0	0	0	0		0.0	163
	Patriotic Party	Richard Hilton	1	0	0	0	0		0.0	126

All parties shown. The Conservative figure includes Ulster Unionists and National Liberals.

Government's new majority	98
Total votes cast	27,264,747
Turnout	75.8%

Votes summary

Popular vote

Labour			48.0%
Conservative and Allies			41.9%
Liberal			8.5%
Independent			0.4%
Others			1.14%

Headline Swing: 2.7% to Labour

Seats summary

Parliamentary seats

Labour			57.8%
Conservative and Allies			40.2%
Liberal			1.9%
Others			0.2%

Incumbents defeated

Conservative

Priscilla Buchan, Lady Tweedsmuir (Aberdeen South)
Forbes Hendry (West Aberdeenshire)
Geoffrey Howe (Bebington)
Norman Cole (South Bedfordshire)
Sir William Anstruther-Gray, 1st Baronet (Berwick and East Lothian) - Chairman of the 1922 Committee
Edward Gardner (Billericay)
Wyndham Davies (Birmingham Perry Barr)
Arthur Tiley (Bradford West)
Dudley Smith (Brentford and Chiswick)
Alan Hopkins (Bristol North East)
Martin McLaren (Bristol North West)
Donald Box (Cardiff North)
William Shepard (Cheadle)
Dame Patricia Hornsby-Smith (Chislehurst)
Peter Thomas (Conwy)
James Scott-Hopkins (North Cornwall)
Sir Richard Thompson, 1st Baronet (Croydon South)
Sir Anthony Meyer (Eton and Slough)
Sir Rolf Dudley-Williams, 1st Baronet (Exeter)
Henry Brooke (Hampstead) - Former Secretary of State for the Home Department
Anthony Courtney (Harrow East)
David Walder (High Peak)
Godfrey Lagden (Hornchurch)
Albert Cooper (Ilford South)
Humphry Berkeley (Lancaster)
Christopher Chataway (Lewisham North)
Patrick McNair-Wilson (Lewisham West)
Sir John Barlow, 2nd Baronet (Middleton and Prestwich)
Peter Thorneycroft (Monmouth) - Former Secretary of State for Defence
William Clark (Nottingham South)
Montague Woodhouse (Oxford)
Ian Montagu Fraser (Plymouth Sutton)
Terence Clarke (Portsmouth West)
Julian Amery (Preston North) - Former Secretary of State for Air
Peter Emery (Reading)
Roy Wise (Rugby)
Sir Martin Redmayne, 1st Baronet (Rushcliffe)
Peter Griffiths (Smethwick)
Sir John Fletcher-Cooke (Southampton Test)
Sir Samuel Storey, 1st Baronet (Stretford) - Chairman of Ways and Means
William Yates (The Wrekin)
Charles Curran (Uxbridge)
John Harvey (Walthamstow East)
Anthony Fell (Great Yarmouth)
Charles Longbottom (City of York)

Labour

Patrick Duffy (Colne Valley)

Liberal

Televised declarations

(From BBC Parliament Replay.) These declarations were covered live by the BBC where the returning officer was heard to say "duly elected". To mark the 50th anniversary of the election BBC Parliament will be reshowing the election night coverage in full on Monday 28th March 2016.

Constituency	Winning party 1964		Constituency result 1966 by party						Winning party 1966
Constituency	Winning party 1964		Con	Lab	Lib	PC	SNP	Others	Winning party 1966
Cheltenham		Conservative	22,683	19,768						Conservative hold
Wolverhampton North East		Labour	12,965	21,067						Labour hold
Wolverhampton South West		Conservative	21,466	14,881						Conservative hold
Salford West		Labour	13,257	19,237						Labour hold
Salford East		Labour	9,000	18,409						Labour hold
Exeter		Conservative	18,613	22,189	4,869					Labour gain
Devon North		Liberal	15,631	6,127	16,797					Liberal hold
Smethwick		Conservative	14,550	18,440				508		Labour gain
Nelson and Colne		Labour	13,829	18,406				5,117		Labour hold
Leyton		Labour	18,157	26,803	3,851			441		Labour recovery
Huyton		Labour	20,182	41,132				585		Labour hold
Billericay		Conservative	38,371	40,013	7,587					Labour gain
Preston South		Labour	17,931	20,720						Labour hold
Bexley		Conservative	26,377	24,044	4,405					Conservative hold
Brentford and Chiswick		Conservative	14,031	14,638	2,063					Labour gain
Aberdeenshire West		Conservative	13,956	6,008	15,151					Liberal gain
Taunton		Conservative	22,359	19,216	5,460					Conservative hold
Monmouth		Conservative	25,654	28,619						Labour gain

The 5,117 votes polled for the "Others" in Nelson and Colne were all polled for Patrick Downey, uncle of Lesley Ann Downey who had been murdered by the Moors Murderers. Downey advocated the return of hanging.

References

↑ The BBC lists this result as 363 seats, which would give a majority of 96, due to the Speaker's seat being listed as "other", although the BBC tends to include the Speaker in the party totals. 364 seats would naturally result in a majority of 98.
↑ 1966: Wilson gains mandate BBC News
↑ BBC News Election replay 1966
↑ BBC Parliament 1966 General Election

Manifestos

Action Not Words: The New Conservative Programme - 1966 Conservative manifesto.
Time for Decision - 1966 Labour Party manifesto.
For All the People: the Liberal Plan of 1966 - 1966 Liberal Party manifesto.

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Harold Wilson

James Harold Wilson, Baron Wilson of Rievaulx

Premierships	1964–1970 1974–1976

General elections	1964 1966 1970 February 1974 October 1974

Party elections	1960 1963

Constituencies	Ormskirk Huyton

Resignation Honours	1970 1976

Family	Mary Wilson, Baroness Wilson of Rievaulx Hon. Robin Wilson

Related articles	Rhodesia's Unilateral Declaration of Independence Beira Patrol D-notice affair Gnomes of Zürich Harold Wilson conspiracy theories Clockwork Orange Harry letters affair The Lavender List Wilson Doctrine Bibliography

Book Category

Edward Heath

9 July 1916 - 17 July 2005

Premiership	1970-1974

General elections	1966 1970 February 1974 October 1974

Party elections	1965 1975

Constituencies	Bexley Sidcup Old Bexley and Sidcup

Related articles	European Community Conservative Government 1970–1974 Father of the House Margaret Thatcher

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