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1951 United Kingdom general election in England
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1951 United Kingdom general election in England England parliamentary no 1950 United Kingdom general election in England 1950 List of MPs elected in the 1950 United Kingdom general election 1955 United Kingdom general election in England 1955 List of MPs elected in the 1951 United Kingdom general election All 506 English seats in the House of Commons 82.7% ( 1.7 pp) List of MPs elected in the 1955 United Kingdom general election 25 October 1951 Churchill in 1944 (cropped 3x4).jpg 120 120 160 0 0 Winston Churchill 9 October 1940 Conservative Party (UK) Woodford 253 seats, 43.8% 271speaker Figure includes Speaker of the House of Commons Douglas Clifton Brown in Hexham. 18 11,622,704 48.8% 5.0 pp Clement Attlee (cropped).jpg 120 120 160 0 0 Clement Attlee 25 October 1935 Labour Party (UK) Walthamstow West 251 seats, 46.1% 233 18 11,630,467 48.8% 2.7 pp Clement Davies (cropped).jpg 120 120 160 0 0 Clement Davies 2 August 1945 Liberal Party (UK) Montgomeryshire 2 seats, 9.4% 2 537,434 2.3% 7.1 pp
On Thursday 25 October 1951, the 1951 United Kingdom general election was held in England, to elect all 625 members of the House of Commons, with 506 constituencies being in England.
Only 20 months after the previous election, the Labour Government led by incumbent prime minister Clement Attlee decided to call an election primarily because the Labour Party wished to increase its majority. It was the final general election to be held during the reign of King George VI, as he died the following year on 6 February 1951 and was succeeded by his daughter, Queen Elizabeth II.
Candidates
Below is a table summarising the candidates of the 1951 general election in England.https://researchbriefings.files.parliament.uk/documents/CBP-7529/CBP-7529.pdf UK Election Statistics: 1918-2023, A Century of Elections Cracknell Richard Uberoi Elise Burton Matthew 9 August 2023 House of Commons Library 21 8 August 2026https://api.parliament.uk/uk-general-elections/general-elections/30 UK General Elections Results 1832-2019 12 August 2026British Electoral Facts Colin Rallings Micheal Thrasher Total Politics 978-1-907278-03-7 35 2006British parliamentary election results, 1950-1970 FWS Craig Political Reference Publications 0900178027 1971
Affiliation CandidatesLabour Party 506Conservative Party 463speakerLiberal Party 91National Liberal Party 39Communist Party of Great Britain 5 Independent 4 Independent Conservative 2The candidates that stood were Colin Gray in Newcastle upon Tyne North and William Brownrigg in Penrith and The Border.Irish Anti-Partition League 1Candidate Harry McHugh stood in Bootle. Independent Labour Party 1Candidate Fred Barton stood in Newcastle upon Tyne Central.Total 1,112
Analysis
The Labour Party won a mere majority of 5 seats in the House of Commons in 1950. In that election, the Labour Party had won less seats than the Conservative Party in the region of England despite winning a greater share of the vote. However, this election produced an interesting anomaly in England as well as the nation at large - despite the Labour Party winning a greater share of the vote, the Conservative Party won an overall majority, both in the Commons and in England. This occurrence would next take place only in 2005 when the Labour Party would a win a majority of seats in England while the Conservative Party would accumulate a greater share of the vote (however, the Labour Party won a greater share of the vote than the Conservatives in the nation as a whole). This election also noted the highest ever voteshare as well as the total number of votes the Labour Party has ever recorded in any election in England as well as the nation at whole.Harmer Emily Women, media, and elections: representation and marginalization in British politics 2021 Bristol University Press 978-1-5292-0494-0 Bristol
The narrow victory of the Conservative Party led to the return of Winston Churchill as prime minister and the start of 13 years of Conservative rule, the second longest period of one-party rule in the twentieth century.
Conservatives and Labour
Between the Conservative Party and Labour Party, the Conservative Party won 15 seats from Labour. These were Battersea South, Bolton East, Buckingham, Darlington, Doncaster, Dulwich, King's Lynn, Manchester Blackley, Middlesbrough West, Norfolk South West, Oldham East, Plymouth Sutton, Reading North, Rochdale, Wycombe and Yarmouth. Frank Markham won the seat of Buckingham, re-entering Parliament. Markham had repviously held the seat of Chatham as member of the Labour Party and later the defunct National Labour Organisation during the years of the National Government. He would hold Buckingham until 1964. Future Chancellor of the Exchequer Anthony Barber entered Parliament in Doncaster. Frederic Bennett entered Parliament in Reading North. However, the Conservatives would lose a seat to the Liberal Party.
The National Liberal Party, which was within a constituency alliance with the Conservative party, retained its 10 seats from the previous election. In addition,
National Liberal candidate Norman Cole won Bedfordshire South, with son of former Prime Minister David Lloyd George, Gwilym Lloyd George, returned to Parliament when he won the seat of Newcastle upon Tyne North. This was a gain internally within the constituency alliance with the Conservatives, with the Conservative Party not standing a candidate in the seat in this election following the retirement of Cuthbert Headlam. Lloyd George had previously held the seat of Pembrokeshire in Wales between 1922 and 1950. The National Liberals therefore increased it number of seats to 12 in this election, with the Conservative and National Liberals gaining a total of 17 from Labour.
Liberal Party
The Liberal Party only stood 91 candidates, significantly down on the 413 the party stood in the previous election. This was due to the lack of funds available to the party at the time to campaign in the election, as was the case in the rest of the country.https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/special/politics97/background/pastelec/ge51.shtml BBC Politics 97: 25 October 1951 13 June 2026 Other parties stood a collective 13 candidates.https://researchbriefings.files.parliament.uk/documents/CBP-7529/CBP-7529.pdf UK Election Statistics: 1918-2023, A Century of Elections Cracknell Richard Uberoi Elise Burton Matthew 9 August 2023 House of Commons Library 21 13 June 2026
The Liberal Party gained Bolton West from the Labour Party, with future Liberal Whip Arthur Holt entering Parliament. However, the Liberals lost Eye in Suffolk to the Conservatives, with Conservative candidate Harwood Harrison entering Parliament.
Results
+PartyBritish Electoral Facts Colin Rallings Micheal Thrasher Total Politics 978-1-907278-03-7 2006SeatsAggregate votes Total Gains Losses Net Of all (%) Total Of all (%) Change (%) Conservative (Total) 271 19 1 18 53.6 11,622,704 48.8 5.0 Conservative Party (UK) 259speaker 17 1 16 51.2 10,855,287 45.6 4.6 National Liberal Party (UK, 1931) 12 2 0 2 2.4 767,417 3.2 0.4 Labour 233 0 18 18 46.0 11,630,467 48.8 2.7 Liberal 2 1 1 0.4 537,434 2.3 7.1 Independent 0 0 0 — 19,277 0.1 0.1 Communist 0 0 0 — 7,745 0.0 0.2 Ind. Conservative 0 0 0 — 6,062 0.0 0.1 Anti-Partition 0 0 0 — 1,340 0.0 Ind. Labour Party 0 0 0 — 1,066 0.0 Total 506 0 100.0 23,826,095 100.0 0.0 Registered voters, and turnout 28,813,343 82.7https://researchbriefings.files.parliament.uk/documents/CBP-7529/CBP-7529.pdf UK Election Statistics: 1918-2023, A Century of Elections Cracknell Richard Uberoi Elise Burton Matthew 9 August 2023 House of Commons Library 29 8 August 2026 1.7
Popular vote #ddd 600px 410px Labour Labour Party (UK) 48.8
Conservative Conservative Party (UK) 48.8
Liberal Liberal Party (UK) 2.3
Other #777777 0.2
Parliament seats
#ddd
600px
410px
Conservative Conservative Party (UK) 53.6
Labour Labour Party (UK) 46.0
Liberal Liberal Party (UK) 0.4
See also
1951 United Kingdom general election in Northern Ireland
1951 United Kingdom general election in Scotland
1951 United Kingdom general election in Wales
Notes
References
Further reading
Thorpe, Andrew (1997). A History of the British Labour Party. London: Macmillan Education UK.
Jenkin, Thomas P. (1952). "The British General Election of 1951". The Western Political Quarterly. 5 (1): 51–65
Butler, David E. (1952), The British General Election of 1951, London: Macmillan
Craig, F.W.S., 1975. The General Election of 1951. In British General Election Manifestos 1900–1974 (pp. 168–180). London: Palgrave Macmillan UK.
Politics England United Kingdom
#England
General Election
Category:1950s in England
Category:General elections in England to the Parliament of the United Kingdom