1964 United Kingdom general election

none May 2014 May 2014 1964 United Kingdom general election United Kingdom parliamentary no 1959 United Kingdom general election 1959 List of MPs elected in the 1959 United Kingdom general election 1966 United Kingdom general election 1966 List of MPs elected in the 1964 United Kingdom general election All 630 seats in the House of Commons 316 15 October 1964 35,894,054 27,657,14877.1% (1.7 pp) Harold Wilson.jpg 130 120 160 0 5 Harold Wilson 14 February 1963 Labour Party (UK) Huyton 258 seats, 43.8% 317 59 12,205,808 44.1% 0.3 pp Alec Douglas-Home (c1963) (cropped).jpg 120 120 160 0 0 Alec Douglas-Home 18 October 1963 Conservative Party (UK) Kinross and Western Perthshire 365 seats, 49.4% 304speaker Figure includes Speaker of the House of Commons Sir Harry Hylton-Foster in Cities of London and Westminster, elected as such just after the general election. 61 12,002,642 43.4% 6.0 pp Jo Grimond in 1963 (3x4 crop).jpg 120 120 160 0 0 Jo Grimond 5 November 1956 Liberal Party (UK) Orkney and Shetland 6 seats, 5.9% 9 3 3,099,283 11.2% 5.3 pp UK General Election, 1964.svg 200px Colours denote the winning party—as shown in Results File:1964 UK GE Westminster diagram.svg Composition of the House of Commons after the election Prime Minister Prime Minister after election Alec Douglas-Home Conservative Party (UK) Harold Wilson Labour Party (UK) Opinion polling for the 1964 United Kingdom general election A general election was held in the United Kingdom on Thursday, 15 October 1964. It resulted in the Conservatives, led by Prime Minister Alec Douglas-Home, narrowly losing to the Labour Party, led by Harold Wilson; Labour secured a parliamentary majority of four seats and ended its thirteen years in opposition since the 1951 election. At age 47, Wilson became the youngest Prime Minister since Lord Rosebery in 1894. none 1955 1959 1964 1966 1970 Background Both major parties had changed leadership in 1963. Following the sudden death of Labour leader Hugh Gaitskell early in the year, the party chose Harold Wilson (at the time, thought of as being on the party's centre-left), while Alec Douglas-Home, at the time the Earl of Home, had taken over as Conservative leader and Prime Minister in October after Harold Macmillan announced his resignation in the wake of the Profumo affair. Douglas-Home shortly afterward disclaimed his peerage under the Peerage Act 1963 in order to lead the party from the Commons, subsequently standing in the Kinross and Western Perthshire by-election. Macmillan had led the Conservative government since January 1957. Despite initial popularity and a resounding election victory in 1959, he had become increasingly unpopular in the early 1960s, due to rising unemployment and inflation during the recession of 1960–1961 and the United States' cancellation of the Skybolt program intended to provide Britain with an independent nuclear weapons delivery system after the cancellation of the Blue Streak project. Although Macmillan ended the latter crisis with the Nassau Agreement guaranteeing US assistance in the Polaris programme of submarine-launched ballistic missiles, this also indirectly harmed his reputation after French President Charles de Gaulle vetoed Britain's accession bid to the European Communities over his scepticism of the Anglo-American "Special Relationship."Barberis Peter September 2007 Introduction: The 1964 General Election—the 'Not Quite, But' and 'But Only Just' Election http://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/13619460600825840 Contemporary British History en 21 3 284–285 10.1080/13619460600825840 144383151 1361-9462 none Taylor and Francis Online subscription However, the Labour Party was temporarily divided due to the death of Gaitskell in 1963 and the subsequent leadership election. Although Wilson won this election against his opponents George Brown and James Callaghan, he was mistrusted within the party because of his previous unsuccessful leadership challenge to Gaitskell in 1960.Thorpe Andrew https://link.springer.com/10.1007/978-1-349-25305-0 A History of the British Labour Party 1997 Macmillan Education UK 978-0-333-56081-5 London 154–156 en 10.1007/978-1-349-25305-0 None The party also suffered from internal policy disputes over unilateral nuclear disarmament and Clause IV of its constitution, which committed it to nationalisation of industry.Fielding 2007 315 It was for a while thought likely that the Conservatives would win the scheduled 1964 general election, albeit with a reduced majority, but the emergence of the Profumo affair in March 1963 and Macmillan's handling of the matter all but destroyed the credibility of his government. While he survived a vote of no confidence in June 1963, polling indicated that Labour would win the next election comfortably if Macmillan remained in power, which, along with health issues, prompted Macmillan to announce his resignation in the autumn of 1963. Douglas-Home faced a difficult task in rebuilding the party's popularity with just a year elapsing between taking office and having to face a general election. Wilson had begun to try to tie the Labour Party to the growing confidence of Britain in the 1960s, asserting that the "white heat of revolution" would sweep away "restrictive practices ... on both sides of industry". The Liberal Party enjoyed a resurgence after a virtual wipeout in the 1950s, and doubled its share of the vote, primarily at the expense of the Conservatives. Although Labour did not increase its vote share significantly, the fall in support for the Conservatives led to Wilson securing an overall majority of four seats.https://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/politics/vote_2005/basics/4393293.stm 1964: Labour scrapes through 5 April 2005 BBC News 21 May 2018 This proved to be unworkable, and Wilson called a snap election in 1966. Campaign The pre-election campaign was prolonged, as Douglas-Home delayed calling a general election to give himself as much time as possible to improve the prospects of his party. The Labour Party indicated that it held high popular support by winning the 1964 London local elections. Conservative leaders became more optimistic about their chances after winning three by-elections in Winchester, Bury St. Edmunds, and Devizes. The election campaign formally began on 25 September 1964 when Douglas-Home saw Queen Elizabeth II and asked for a dissolution of Parliament. The dissolution notably occurred without a formal royal prorogation and recall for the first time since 1922.Schaffer B. B. 2008-04-07 The British General Election, 1964: A Retrospect https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/j.1467-8497.1965.tb00411.x Australian Journal of Politics & History en 11 1 7–22 10.1111/j.1467-8497.1965.tb00411.x subscription The campaign was dominated by some of the more voluble characters of the political scene at the time. While George Brown, deputy leader of the Labour Party, toured the country making energetic speeches (and the occasional gaffe), Quintin Hogg was a leading spokesman for the Conservatives. The image of Hogg lashing out at a Wilson poster with his walking stick was one of the most striking of the campaign.November 2020 The Labour Party campaigned on what historian Andrew Thorpe called "the basis of revisionism given a significant twist in the direction of Wilsonian planning, and a more dirigiste approach to industrial modernization." Labour's manifesto Let's Go with Labour for New Britain reflected Wilson's belief that social justice and technological progress would transform industry to create a planned economy capable of providing full employment, rapid economic growth, favourable balance of trade, and control of inflation. July 2022 Party leaders also decided that they had lost the previous election because of their failure to appeal to the growing middle class, and adjusted strategy accordingly.Fielding Steven September 2007 Rethinking Labour's 1964 Campaign http://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/13619460600825873 Contemporary British History en 21 3 309–324 10.1080/13619460600825873 153901372 1361-9462 None Taylor and Francis Online subscription Labour called for greater co-ordination between state-run enterprises and repeated its past pledges for the renationalisation of the steel and road haulage industries, but declared that it would not nationalise any further industries. The party also promised expansions of social services, tax reform, and what would become the prices and incomes policy to control inflation. In education it sought comprehensivisation of secondary education and a higher school-leaving age, while in immigration it sought both immigration quotas restricting future entry and equal rights for immigrants who had already arrived in the country. In foreign policy it pledged a re-evaluation of previous governments' foreign aid and alliances, increased British assertiveness at the United Nations, and a build-up of the conventional components of the British Armed Forces, but did not promise unilateral nuclear disarmament as some left-wing members of the party desired.Barberis 2007 286 While early campaigning suggested that a Labour government would abandon the Polaris nuclear weapons programme, Wilson quickly decided to avoid this topic altogether due to the continuing popularity of an independent British nuclear deterrent.Young 2007 362-364 Labour's platform of a "socialist foreign policy" also criticised the Conservative government for its handling of a scandal involving the British defence contractor Ferranti, the Aden Emergency, Cypriot intercommunal violence, the escalation of the Vietnam War, arms sales to apartheid South Africa, and a contract to construct naval frigates for Francoist Spain.Young John W. September 2007 International Factors and the 1964 Election http://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/13619460600825931 Contemporary British History en 21 3 353–355 10.1080/13619460600825931 154812255 1361-9462 None Douglas-Home's unpopularity – caused by his aristocratic background, his accession to the premiership without a formal election, his economic and trade policies, and the side-lining of popular Conservative leaders such as Enoch Powell and Iain Macleod – harmed the Conservative Party in the election. Even many Conservatives condemned Douglas-Home for the Resale Prices Act 1964 abolishing resale price maintenance. Douglas-Home's predecessor Macmillan described him as an "urbane but resolute character — iron painted to look like wood".Thorpe D. R. http://archive.org/details/alecdouglashome0000thor_t9f3 Alec Douglas-Home Sinclair-Stevenson 1996 978-1-85619-277-4 London 8, 490 note 21 D. R. Thorpe 26 August 2023 registration Internet Archive Thorpe cites a PRO file. According to Peter Hennessy in his 19 November 1996 lecture 'Country Values': Alec Douglas - Home, 1963-64 (and chapter 11 of The prime minister: the office and its holders since 1945) Thorpe on 9 October 1996 quoted Macmillan telling the Queen "Alec Home is steel painted as wood". However, his campaigning did allow the Conservative Party's gap in the polls to narrow.Sir Alec Douglas-Home prime minister of United Kingdom Britannica https://www.britannica.com/biography/Alec-Douglas-Home 2022-06-28 www.britannica.com enHistory of Sir Alec Douglas-Home - GOV.UK https://www.gov.uk/government/history/past-prime-ministers/alec-douglas-home 2022-06-28 www.gov.uk enSchaffer 2008 11 The Conservative manifesto Prosperity with a Purpose pledged closer relations with the Atlantic world and the Commonwealth of Nations, development of nuclear power, industrial retraining, increased capital investment in British industry, and continued development of the BAC TSR-2 supersonic aircraft project.Barberis 2007 288Young 2007 360 The Conservative campaign emphasised the party's diplomatic successes, such as the Nassau Agreement, the Partial Nuclear Test Ban Treaty, and the defence of Malaysia in the Borneo Confrontation. Although the Conservatives made limited appeals to new Caribbean, African, and South Asian immigrants by printing campaign literature in Hindi and Urdu, it defended the Commonwealth Immigrants Act 1962 restricting immigration of Commonwealth citizens.Young 2007 361-362 As in previous elections since its decline, the Liberal Party under Jo Grimond's leadership positioned itself as a non-socialist, individualist alternative to Labour. The two key domestic policy pledges in its manifesto Think for Yourself, Vote Liberal were healthcare reform and devolution for Scotland and Wales. The Liberals also were distinguished by their internationalist and pro-European foreign policy, becoming the first major party to endorse British membership in the European Economic Union. Supporters and leaders of the Liberal Party hoped for a breakthrough in 1964 which would re-establish it as a powerful force in British politics after its near-extinction in the 1950s; the party's surprise victory in the 1962 Orpington by-election, its first in a seat outside of the "Celtic fringe" of Wales, Scotland, and the West Country in over a decade, had created optimism and a sense of momentum for a recovery. However, by 1964 the Liberals had lost much of their momentum to a series of by-election and local election losses, and faced growing financial difficulties.Barberis Peter September 2007 The 1964 General Election and the Liberals' False Dawn http://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/13619460600825949 Contemporary British History en 21 3 373–379 10.1080/13619460600825949 153819205 1361-9462 none Taylor and Francis Online subscription Many party speakers, especially at televised rallies, had to deal with hecklers; in particular Douglas-Home was treated very roughly at a meeting in Birmingham. Douglas-Home's speeches dealt with the future of the nuclear deterrent, while fears of Britain's relative decline on the world stage, reflected in chronic balance of payment problems, helped the Labour Party's case.John W. Young, "International Factors and the 1964 Election." Contemporary British History (2007) 21#3 pp 351-371. By 1964, television had developed as a medium and played a much greater role than in previous British elections. The election received more coverage from current affairs programs such as BBC1's Panorama, Associated-Rediffusion's This Week, and Granada Television's World in Action, as well as political satire inspired by the success of That Was the Week That Was. The election night was broadcast live by BBC Television, presented for the fifth and final time by Richard Dimbleby, with Robin Day, Ian Trethowan, Cliff Michelmore and David Butler co-presenting.3ix4IP9-M9g UK General Election 1964 – Results Round-up 21 May 2018 Opinion polling Opinion polling for the 1964 United Kingdom general election 1951 1955 1959 1964 1966 NOP: Lab swing 3.5% (Lab majority of 12) Gallup: Lab swing 4% (Lab majority of 23) Research Services: Lab swing 2.75% (Con majority of 30) Daily Express: Lab swing of 1.75% (Con majority of 60)note TV This summary of opinion poll findings from the last few days of the campaign is given early in the BBC's election night coverage. Aftermath The Conservatives made a surprising recovery from being well behind Labour when Home became prime minister, and would have won if 900 voters in eight seats had changed votes.https://www.spectator.co.uk/article/the-spectator-book-review-that-brought-down-macmillan-s-government The Spectator book review that brought down Macmillan's government Vernon Bogdanor The Spectator 18 January 2014 30 June 2014 Labour won a very slim majority of four seats, forming a government for the first time since 1951. Labour achieved a swing of just over 3%, although its vote rose by only 0.3% and it earned a lesser number of votes than in its previous defeats of 1955 and 1959. The main shift in votes was a 5.7% swing from the Conservatives to the Liberals. The Liberals defied popular expectations of a net loss and won nearly twice as many votes as in 1959, partly because they fielded 150 more candidates. Although this was the Liberals' best electoral performance since the 1929 general election and left the party in a key parliamentary position due to Labour's slender majority, it failed to regain its pre-World War II status as a party of government as it had hoped. Wilson became Prime Minister, replacing Douglas-Home; Labour's four-seat majority was not sustainable for a full Parliament, and Wilson ultimately called another general election in 1966 which saw his majority expanded. In particular, the small majority meant the government could not implement its policy of renationalising the steel industry due to the opposition of backbenchers Woodrow Wyatt and Desmond Donnelly. 89 female candidates stood in the election, with 29 women being elected as MPs (11 for the Conservatives and 18 for Labour).Dod's Parliamentary Companion 1966 1966 Business Directories Limited Epsom, Surrey 574–575 This was the only election in Britain's recent history when all seats were won by the three main parties: no minor parties, independents or splinter groups won any seats. It is also the only time that both Labour and the Conservatives have taken over 300 seats each, and was the last election in which any one party (the Conservatives) contested every single seat. The Conservatives had previously chose not to contest certain Liberal-held seats as per local-level agreements to avoid vote splitting, but ended that policy at this election. The resultant splitting of votes actually helped grant Labour a majority, by throwing two formerly Liberal-held seats in northern England to Labour; however, the outcome of the election would not have been meaningfully altered had the Liberals retained the seats, as Labour would still have had as many seats as the other two parties combined, and Liberal leader Jo Grimond did not want to support a Conservative minority government. Douglas-Home told D. R. Thorpe that the most important reason for the Conservative loss was Iain Macleod's "The Tory Leadership" article, in which the former cabinet minister claimed that an Etonian "magic circle" conspiracy had led to him becoming prime minister.vernon British Ambassador to the United States David Ormsby-Gore wrote to Home that "Almost anything could have tipped the balance. Khrushchev's removal from office twelve hours earlier, China’s nuclear explosion thirty-six hours earlier or just Rab [Butler] keeping his mouth shut for once." David Butler and Donald E. Stokes's influential 1969 British Election Study report Political Change in Britain attributed the Labour victory to Wilson's greater popularity than Home and the party's appeal to younger voters. After British elections in the 1980s and the 1990s challenged many of the assumptions of Butler and Stokes's model, the BES issued a second 2001 report by political scientists from the University of Texas and the University of Essex emphasizing the role of valence politics over public perception of party performance.Denver David 2007-09-01 The 1964 General Election: Explaining Voting Behaviour Then and Now https://doi.org/10.1080/13619460600825857 Contemporary British History 21 3 295–307 10.1080/13619460600825857 153838758 1361-9462 None Taylor and Francis Online subscription Working-class voters also selected Labour in greater numbers than in the previous election, due in part to the weakening of the post-war boom which had popularized the Conservatives in the 1950s, although the Conservatives attracted a greater number of female voters than before. The Conservatives tried to attract working-class voters by improving the party's relationships with trade unions through the Conservative Trade Union Councils at the party level and the new National Economic Development Council at the governmental level; however, their outreach was weakened by the Rookes v Barnard decision allowing employers to collect punitive damages from strike actions and Douglas-Home's tough approach to industrial relations.Wrigley Chris September 2007 Trade Unions and the 1964 General Election http://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/13619460600825899 Contemporary British History en 21 3 326–328 10.1080/13619460600825899 153352143 1361-9462 None Taylor and Francis Online subscription Barberis 2007 190–191 As a result, trade unions heavily supported Labour in the election and encouraged working-class support of the party. As much as 85 per cent of Labour's election spending consisted of funds raised by trade unions.Wrigley 2007 331 Aggregate data analyses of the results demonstrate higher turnout in constituencies dominated by the professional–managerial class, agricultural workers, council tenants, voters without automobiles, and the elderly.Denver 2007 304 Many salaried professionals who ordinarily supported for the Conservatives voted for Labour because of high inflation. July 2022 On the other hand, Labour's poorer performance in central and southern England and loss of five seats in that area indicated an increasing white working-class backlash against nonwhite immigration. The most notable example of this was the contest in Smethwick, in which an explicitly racist campaign by Conservative candidate Peter Griffiths stoking anxieties around deindustrialisation and a shortage of council housing by targeting immigrants unseated Shadow Foreign Secretary Patrick Gordon Walker.Schaffer 2008 16-19 Results Summary of seats returned + centre|420px PartyBritish Electoral Facts Colin Rallings Micheal Thrasher 41 Total Politics 978-1-907278-03-7 2006 Leader MPs Aggregate votes Of total Of total Labour Party Harold Wilson 317Includes 19 Co-operative Party MP, as part of the Labour-Co-op alliance. 317 630 1 yes Labour Party (UK) 12,205,808 44.1% 44.1 Labour Party (UK) Conservative and Unionist Party Alec Douglas-Home 304speaker 304 630 1 yes Conservative Party (UK) 12,002,642 43.4% 43.4 Conservative Party (UK) Conservative PartyConservative and Unionist Party results for England and Wales. Alec Douglas-Home 262speaker 262 630 1 yes Conservative Party (UK) 10,292,974 38.1% 38.1 Conservative Party (UK) Unionist Party John George 24 24 630 1 yes Unionist Party (Scotland) 981,641 3.6% 3.6 Unionist Party (Scotland) Ulster Unionist Party Terence O'Neill 12 12 630 1 yes Ulster Unionist Party 401,897 1.5% 1.5 Ulster Unionist Party National Liberal Party Colin Thornton-Kemsley 6 6 630 1 yes National Liberal Party (UK, 1931) 326,130 1.2% 1.2 National Liberal Party (UK, 1931) Liberal Party Jo Grimond 9 9 630 1 yes Liberal Party (UK) 3,099,283 11.2% 11.2 Liberal Party (UK) Full results centre|500x500px +Results of the October 1964 general election to the House of Commons of the United KingdomPartyhttps://api.parliament.uk/uk-general-elections/general-elections/33 UK General Elections Results 1832-2019 12 August 2026British Electoral Facts Colin Rallings Micheal Thrasher Total Politics 978-1-907278-03-7 40-41 2006LeaderCandidatesMPsAggregate votes Total Gains Losses Net Of total (%) Total Of total (%) Change (%)   Labour HaroldWilson 628Includes 27 Co-operative Party candidates, as part of the Labour-Co-op alliance. 317Includes 19 Co-operative Party MPs, as part of the Labour-Co-op alliance. 63 4 59Includes 3 Co-operative Party MPs, as part of the Labour-Co-op alliance. 50.3Includes 3.0% for the Co-operative Party, as part of the Labour-Co-op alliance. 12,205,808 Includes 566,220 for the Co-operative Party, as part of the Labour-Co-op alliance. 44.1Includes 2.0% for the Co-operative Party, as part of the Labour-Co-op alliance. 0.3Includes 0.4% for the Co-operative Party, as part of the Labour-Co-op alliance.   Conservative (Total) AlecDouglas-Home 630 304 14 75 61 48.3 12,002,642 43.4 6.0 Conservative Party (UK)Figure includes the Unionist Party and the Ulster Unionist Party under their nation affiliations with the Conservative Party. AlecDouglas-Home 611 298speaker 14 61 47 47.3 11,676,512 42.2 4.4 National Liberal Party (UK, 1931) ColinThornton-Kemsley 19 6 0 14 14 1.0 326,130 1.2 1.5   Liberal JoGrimond 365 9 5 2 3 1.4 3,099,283 11.2 5.3   IndependentRepublican 12 0 colspan=3 Did not stand in 1959 — 101,628 0.4   Plaid Cymru GwynforEvans 23 0 0 0 — 69,507 0.3   SNP ArthurDonaldson 15 0 0 0 — 64,044 0.2 0.1   Communist JohnGollan 36 0 0 0 — 46,442 0.2 0.1   RepublicanLabour GerryFitt 1Leader Gerry Fitt stood in Belfast West. 0 colspan=3 New — 14,678 0.1 New   IndependentLiberal 3 0 0 0 — 14,011 0.1 0.1   Independent 13 0 0 0 — 12,495 0.1 0.1   IndependentConservative 4 0 0 0 — 3,664 0.0   BritishNational JohnBean 1Leader John Bean stood in Southall. 0 colspan=3 New — 3,410 0.0 New   Anti-Common Market League John Paul&Michael Shay 2 0 colspan=3 New — 3,083 0.0 New   Independent Unionist 1Candidate John M. Young stood in Caithness and Sutherland. 1 0 1 1Caithness and Sutherland. — 2,795 0.0   New Liberal AlanLomas 1Leader Alan Ernest Lomas stood in Islington East. 0 colspan=3 New — 2,053 0.0 New   Nuclear Disarmament PatArrowsmith 2 0 colspan=3 New — 1,534 0.0 New   Anti-<br/ >Vivisection 1Candidate Gabriel Barlow stood in Glasgow Maryhill. 0 colspan=3 New — 1,231 0.0 New   Fellowship RonaldMallone 1General Secretary of the Fellowship Party Ronald Mallone stood in Woolwich West. 1 0 0 — 1,112 0.0   Empire Loyalists ArthurChesterton 3 0 colspan=3 New — 1,046 0.0 New   Patriotic Party RichardHilton 2 0 colspan=3 New — 539 0.0 New   Communist Anti-Revisionist MichaelMcCreery 1Candidate Michael Claude Watkins Baker stood in Huyton. 0 colspan=3 New — 899 0.0 New   ChristianProgressive 1Candidate James Lee stood in Horsham. 0 colspan=3 New — 865 0.0 New   Ratepayer (Romford) 1Candidate Edgar Bates stood in Romford. 0 colspan=3 New — 811 0.0 New   Taxpayers' Coalition Party JohnDayton 1Candidate P. Michael Kingston stood in Bristol West. 0 colspan=3 New — 709 0.0 New   Farmers' Candidate 1Candidate James Hayward stood in Banbury. 0 colspan=3 New — 534 0.0 New   Independent Labour 1Candidate John Stevenson Thomson stood in Greenock. 0 colspan=3 Did not stand in 1959 — 458 0.0   National Democratic DavidBrown 1Candidate David Brown stood in Ipswich. 0 colspan=3 Did not stand in 1959 — 349 0.0   Socialist (GB) 2 0 0 0 — 322 0.0   WorldGovernment GilbertYoung 1Candidate Gilbert Young stood in Bath. 0 colspan=3 New — 318 0.0 New   British and Commonwealth MilesBlair 1Candidate Miles Blair stood in Kidderminster. 0 colspan=3 New — 310 0.0 New   SocialCredit ArchieFrost 1Candidate Archie S. Frost stood in Rugby. 0 colspan=3 New — 304 0.0 New   Christiansocialist 1Candidate Frederick Palmer stood in Dulwich. 0 colspan=3 New — 310 0.0 New Blank and invalid votes 41,073https://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 32 8 August 2026 — — Total 1,757 630 0 100.0 27,657,148All valid votes excluding spoiled votes. 100.0 0.0 Registered voters, and turnout 35,894,054British Electoral Facts 1885-1975 F.W.S. Craig Macmillan Press 3 77 0333197348 1976 77.1https://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 Votes summary Popular vote #ddd 600px 390px Labour Labour Party (UK) 44.13 Conservative Conservative Party (UK) 43.41 Liberal Liberal Party (UK) 11.21 Others #A9A9A9 1.25 Headline swing: 3.1% to Labour Seats summary Parliamentary seats #ddd 600px 390px Labour Labour Party (UK) 50.32 Conservative Conservative Party (UK) 48.25 Liberal Liberal Party (UK) 1.43 Transfers of seats July 2022 All comparisons are with the 1959 election. In some cases the change is due to the MP defecting to the gaining party. Such circumstances are marked with a *. In other circumstances the change is due to the seat having been won by the gaining party in a by-election in the intervening years, and then retained in 1964. Such circumstances are marked with a †. FromToNo.SeatsLabour Party (UK) Labour Party (UK) (HOLD)Aberavon, Aberdare, Aberdeen North, Abertillery, Accrington, Anglesey, Ashton-under-Lyne, Ayrshire Central, Ayrshire South, Barking, Barrow-in-Furness, Bedwellty, Belper, Birkenhead, Bishop Auckland, Blackburn, Blaydon, Bolsover, Bootle, Bosworth, Bothwell, Brecon and Radnor, Brigg, Bristol Central, Bristol South, Bristol South East4, Burnley, Caernarfon, Caerphilly, Cardiff South East, Cardiff West, Carmarthen, Chester-le-Street, Chesterfield, Chorley, Coatbridge and Airdrie, Consett, Crewe, Dagenham, Dartford, Derby North, Derby South, Derbyshire North East, Dudley, Dunbartonshire East, Dunbartonshire West, Dundee East, Dundee West, Dunfermline Burghs, Durham, Durham North West, Easington, East Ham N, East Ham S, Ebbw Vale, Eccles, Edinburgh Central, Edinburgh East, Edinburgh Leith, Erith and Crayford, Falmouth and Camborne, Farnworth, Faversham, Fife West, Flintshire East, Gateshead East, Gateshead West, Glasgow Bridgeton, Glasgow Central, Glasgow Craigton, Glasgow Gorbals, Glasgow Govan, Glasgow Maryhill, Glasgow Provan, Glasgow Scotstoun, Glasgow Shettleston, Glasgow Springburn, Gloucester, Gloucestershire West, Goole, Gower, Greenock, Grimsby, Hamilton, Houghton-le-Spring, Huyton, Ilkeston, Ince, Jarrow, Kilmarnock, Kingston upon Hull East, Kingston upon Hull West, Kirkcaldy Burghs, Lanark, Lanarkshire North, Leicester NE, Leicester NW, Leicester SW, Leigh, Leyton, Lincoln, Liverpool Edge Hill, Liverpool Exchange, Liverpool Scotland, Llanelli, Loughborough, Manchester Ardwick, Manchester Cheetham, Manchester Exchange, Manchester Gorton, Manchester Openshaw, Merionethshire, Merthyr Tydfil, Midlothian, Motherwell, Neath, Nelson and Colne, Newport (Monmouthshire), Newton, Ogmore, Oldbury and Halesowen, Oldham East, Oldham West, Paisley, Pembrokeshire, Pontypool, Pontypridd, Rhondda East, Rhondda West, Rochdale, Romford, Rossendale, Rowley Regis and Tipton, St Helens, Salford East, Salford West, Sedgefield, South Shields, Southampton Itchen, Stalybridge and Hyde, Stirling and Falkirk, Stirlingshire East and Clackmannan, Stirlingshire West, Stockton-on-Tees, Sunderland North, Swansea East, Thurrock, Walthamstow W, Warrington, West Ham North, West Ham South, West Lothian, Western Isles, Westhoughton, Whitehaven, Widnes, Wigan, Workington, Wrexham National Liberal Party (UK, 1931) Conservative Party (UK)Eton and Slough, SmethwickLiberal Party (UK) Labour Party (UK)Bolton West, Huddersfield West Liberal Party (UK) (HOLD)Cardiganshire, Devon North, Montgomeryshire, Orkney and ShetlandNational Liberal Party (UK, 1931) Labour Party (UK)Luton†, Renfrewshire West, Bradford North Liberal Party (UK)Ross and Cromarty National Liberal Party (UK, 1931) (HOLD)Bristol North East, Harwich, Holland with Boston, Huntingdonshire, St Ives, Bradford West Conservative Party (UK)Angus North and Mearns, Angus South, Bedfordshire South*, Dumfries†, Fife East†, Plymouth Devonport*, Denbigh*, Sheffield Hallam*, Sheffield Heeley*, Norfolk Central*†The National Liberal that had won the 1962 Central Norfolk by-election then ran as a Conservative.Conservative Party (UK) Labour Party (UK)Bolton East, Buckingham, Bury and Radcliffe, Carlisle, Derbyshire South East, Dover, Epping, Glasgow Kelvingrove, Glasgow Pollok, Glasgow Woodside†, Gravesend, The Hartlepools, Heywood and Royton, Hitchin, Kingston upon Hull North, Liverpool Kirkdale, Liverpool Toxteth, Liverpool Walton, Liverpool West Derby, Manchester Blackley, Manchester Wythenshawe, Preston South, Rochester and Chatham, Rutherglen†, Stockport North, Stockport South, Sunderland South, Swansea West, Watford Liberal Party (UK) Bodmin, Inverness, Orpington† Conservative Party (UK) (HOLD)Aberdeen South, Aberdeenshire East, Aberdeenshire West, Abingdon, Aldershot, Altrincham and Sale, Argyll, Ashford, Aylesbury, Ayr, Ayrshire North and Bute, Banff, Barnet, Barry, Basingstoke, Bebington, Beckenham, Bedford, Bedfordshire Mid, Berwick and East Lothian, Bexley, Billericay, Blackpool North, Blackpool South, Bournemouth East & Christchurch, Bournemouth West, Bridlington, Bristol North West, Bristol West, Bromley, Bromsgrove, Buckinghamshire South, Cambridge, Cambridgeshire, Canterbury, Cardiff North, Cheadle, Chelmsford, Cheltenham, Chester, Chigwell, Chislehurst, Cirencester and Tewkesbury, Clitheroe, Colchester, Conway, Cornwall North, Crosby, Darlington, Darwen, West Derbyshire, Dorset North, Dorset South3, Dorset West, Eastleigh, Edinburgh North, Edinburgh Pentlands, Edinburgh South, Edinburgh West, Essex SE, Exeter, Flintshire West, Folkestone and Hythe, Fylde North, Fylde South, Gainsborough, Galloway, Gillingham, Glasgow Cathcart, Glasgow Hillhead, Gloucestershire South, Gosport and Fareham, Grantham, Haltemprice, Harborough, Hemel Hempstead, Hereford, Hertford, Hertfordshire E, Hertfordshire SW, High Peak, Honiton, Horncastle, Hornchurch, Howden, Ilford North, Ilford South, Isle of Ely, Isle of Thanet, Isle of Wight, Kidderminster, Kinross and West Perthshire, Knutsford, Lancaster, Leicester South East, Leominster, Liverpool Garston, Liverpool Wavertree, Louth, Macclesfield, Maidstone, Maldon, Manchester Moss Side, Manchester Withington, Melton, Middleton and Prestwich, Monmouth, Moray and Nairn, Morecambe and Lonsdale, Nantwich, New Forest, Newbury, Northwich, Ormskirk, Plymouth Sutton, Penrith and the Border, Perth and East Perthshire, Petersfield, Poole, Portsmouth Langstone, Portsmouth South, Portsmouth West, Preston North, Reading, Renfrewshire East, Roxburgh, Selkirk and Peebles, Runcorn, Rutland and Stamford, Saffron Walden, St Albans, Sevenoaks, Southampton Test, Southend East, Southend West, Southport, Stretford, Stroud, Tavistock, Tiverton, Tonbridge, Torquay, Torrington, Totnes, Truro, Wallasey, Walthamstow East, Wanstead and Woodford, Westmorland, Winchester, Windsor, Wirral, Wokingham, Worcester, Worcestershire South, Wycombe Independent Conservative Independent Conservative Liberal Party (UK)Caithness and Sutherland Ulster Unionist Party Ulster Unionist PartyNorth Antrim, South Antrim, Armagh, Belfast East, Belfast North, Belfast South, Belfast West, Down North, Down South, Fermanagh and South Tyrone, Londonderry, Mid Ulster Conservative Party (UK) Speaker of the House of Commons (United Kingdom) Cities of London and Westminster 3 Seat gained by Labour in a by-election but regained by the Conservatives in 1964. 4 Seat gained by Conservatives in a 1961 by-election but regained by Labour in another 1963 by-election. Incumbents defeated PartyNameConstituencyOffice held whilst in powerYear electedDefeated byPartyConservative PartyPhilip HollandActon1959Bernard FloudLabour PartyWilliam Compton CarrBarons Court1959Ivor RichardLabour PartyErnest PartridgeBattersea South1951Ernie PerryLabour PartyJohn HollingworthBirmingham All Saints1959Brian WaldenLabour PartyLeslie SeymourBirmingham Sparkbrook1959Roy HattersleyLabour PartyLeonard CleaverBirmingham Yardley1959Ioan EvansLabour PartyDouglas MarshallBodmin1945Peter BessellLiberal PartyWilliam TaylorBradford North1950Ben FordLabour PartyDavid JamesBrighton Kemptown1959Dennis HobdenLabour PartyJohn BidgoodBury and Radcliffe1955David EnsorLabour PartyDonald JohnsonCarlisle1955Ronald LewisLabour PartySir Alan GlynClapham1959Margaret McKayLabour PartyWilf ProudfootCleveland1959James TinnLabour PartyPhilip HockingCoventry South1959Bill WilsonLabour PartyAnthony Bourne-ArtonDarlington1959Ted FletcherLabour PartyAnthony BarberDoncasterMinister of Health1951Harold WalkerLabour PartyJohn ArbuthnotDover1950David EnnalsLabour PartyGraeme FinlayEpping1951Stan NewensLabour PartyFrank LilleyGlasgow Kelvingrove1959Maurice MillerLabour PartyPeter KirkGravesendUnder-Secretary of State for War1955Albert MurrayLabour PartyMaurice MacmillanHalifax1955Shirley SummerskillLabour PartyTony LeaveyHeywood and Royton1955Joel BarnettLabour PartyMartin MaddanHitchin1955Shirley WilliamsLabour PartyGeoffrey Johnson-SmithHolborn and St Pancras South1959Lena JegerLabour PartyNeil McLeanInverness1954Russell JohnstonLiberal PartyMarcus WorsleyKeighley1959John BinnsLabour PartyDenys Bullard King's Lynn1959Derek PageLabour PartyMichael CoulsonKingston upon Hull NorthParliamentary private secretary1959Henry SolomonsLabour PartyNorman Pannell Liverpool Kirkdale1955James DunnLabour PartyReginald BevinsLiverpool ToxtethPostmaster General1950Richard CrawshawLabour PartyKenneth ThompsonLiverpool Walton1950Eric HefferLabour PartyJohn WoollamLiverpool West Derby1954 by-electionEric OgdenLabour PartyEric JohnsonManchester Blackley1951Paul RoseLabour PartyEveline HillManchester Wythenshawe1950Alf MorrisLabour PartyGordon MatthewsMeriden Parliamentary private secretary1959Christopher RowlandLabour PartyFergus MontgomeryNewcastle upon Tyne East Parliamentary private secretary1959Geoffrey RhodesLabour PartyGeoffrey RipponNorwich South1955Christopher NorwoodLabour PartyJohn CordeauxNottingham Central1955Jack DunnettLabour PartyPeter TapsellNottingham West1959Michael EnglishLabour PartyAlan GreenPreston SouthFinancial Secretary to the Treasury1955Peter MahonLabour PartyHugh LinsteadPutney1942 by-electionHugh JenkinsLabour PartyJulian CritchleyRochester and Chatham1959Anne KerrLabour PartyNorman HulbertStockport North1950Arnold GregoryLabour PartyHarold StewardStockport South1955 by-electionMaurice OrbachLabour PartyPaul WilliamsSunderland South1953 by-electionGordon BagierLabour PartyHugh ReesSwansea West Parliamentary private secretary1959Alan WilliamsLabour PartyJohn KeransThe Hartlepools1959Ted LeadbitterLabour PartyMichael Hughes-YoungWandsworth CentralTreasurer of the Household1955David KerrLabour PartyFrederick Farey-JonesWatford1955Raphael TuckLabour PartyMichael HamiltonWellingboroughLord Commissioner of the Treasury1959Harry HowarthLabour PartyTrevor Skeet Willesden East1959Reg FreesonLabour PartyColin TurnerWoolwich West1959Bill HamlingLabour PartyLabour PartyCharles HowellBirmingham Perry Barr1955Wyndham DaviesConservative PartyFenner BrockwayEton and Slough1950Anthony MeyerConservative PartyAlbert Hilton South West Norfolk1959 by-electionPaul HawkinsConservative PartyPatrick Gordon WalkerSmethwickShadow Foreign Secretary1945 by-electionPeter GriffithsConservative PartyLiberal PartyArthur HoltBolton West1951Gordon OakesLabour PartyDonald WadeHuddersfield WestDeputy Leader of the Liberal Party1950Ken LomasLabour PartyIndependent LiberalSir John MacLeodRoss and Cromarty1950Alasdair MackenzieLiberal Party Televised results programmes Both BBC Television and ITV provided live televised coverage of the results and provided commentary. See also List of MPs elected in the 1964 United Kingdom general election 1964 United Kingdom general election in England 1964 United Kingdom general election in Scotland 1964 United Kingdom general election in Wales 1964 United Kingdom general election in Northern Ireland Smethwick in the 1964 general election Notes note References Further reading 20em yes Barberis Peter The 1964 General Election and the Liberals' False Dawn Contemporary British History September 2007 21 3 373–387 10.1080/13619460600825949 153819205 Butler David E. David Butler (psephologist) etal The British General Election of 1964 1965 , the standard scholarly study. F. W. S. Craig F. W. S. Craig British Electoral Facts: 1832–1987 1989 Dartmouth Gower 0900178302 Denver David The 1964 General Election: Explaining Voting Behaviour Then and Now Contemporary British History 2007 21 295–307 3 10.1080/13619460600825857 153838758 Favretto Ilaria 'Wilsonism' reconsidered: Labour party revisionism 1952–64 Contemporary British History 2000 14 4 54–80 10.1080/13619460008581603 154861968 Fielding Steven Steven Fielding (political historian) Rethinking Labour's 1964 Campaign Contemporary British History September 2007 21 3 309–324 10.1080/13619460600825873 153901372 Heppell Timothy The Labour Party Leadership Election of 1963: Explaining the Unexpected Election of Harold Wilson Contemporary British History 2010 24 151–171 2 10.1080/13619461003768264 144217106 Morgan Austen Harold Wilson 1992 625 Tomlinson Jim It's the Economy, Stupid! Labour and the Economy, circa 1964 Contemporary British History September 2007 21 3 337–349 10.1080/13619460600825915 154318971 Wrigley Chris Trade Unions and the 1964 General Election Contemporary British History September 2007 21 3 325–335 10.1080/13619460600825899 153352143 Young John W. International Factors and the 1964 Election Contemporary British History September 2007 21 3 351–371 10.1080/13619460600825931 154812255 https://nottingham-repository.worktribe.com/output/2482263 Manifestos PROSPERITY WITH A PURPOSE, 1964 Conservative Party manifesto THE NEW BRITAIN, 1964 Labour Party manifesto THINK FOR YOURSELF, 1964 Liberal Party manifesto 1964 General election United Kingdom general election Category:Alec Douglas-Home Category:Harold Wilson Category:History of the Labour Party (UK)