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The British General Election of 1951*
Published online by Cambridge University Press: 02 September 2013
Extract
A good case could be made for the thesis that the election of 1951 was simply the second phase of the election of 1950. Not only were they near in point of time—nineteen months apart—but also the inconclusive nature of the 1950 results left all parties looking toward a second contest the moment the outcome of the first was known. In a sense the whole of the interval between February, 1950, and October, 1951, was a period of electoral campaigning. And to an extent unusual in British politics, the minds both of party leaders and of party members ran continuously on the contest ahead.
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- The European Scene
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- Copyright © American Political Science Association 1952
References
1 None of these, on either occasion, was successful.
2 Mr. Morrison took office on the death of Mr. Bevin.
3 There were many other constituencies where individual Liberals worked and spoke for Conservatives.
4 For a description of party organisation in the 1950 election, see Ch. 2 of my book on The British General Election of 1950 (London, 1951)Google Scholar.
5 Although Liberal leaders (Lady Violet Bonham-Carter excepted) were careful to give no direction to their followers on this point, the Manchester Guardian was less inhibited and quite explicitly informed its readers that it thought it was “time for a change” and that Conservatives, in the circumstances, were to be preferred to Labour.
6 The paradox of Labour's winning a majority of votes but a minority of seats is due largely to the excessive concentration of Labour strength in certain constituencies. (See the Appendix by D. Butler to my British General Election of 1950). The Conservatives' voting total would, however, be somewhat increased if allowance were made for their voting strength in the four constituencies in Northern Ireland where their candidates were returned unopposed.