United Kingdom general election, 1964
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The United Kingdom general election of 1964 was held on October 15, 1964, more than five years after its predecessor, and thirteen years after the Conservative Party had first taken power. Both major parties had changed leaders in 1963: after the sudden death of Hugh Gaitskell, Labour chose Harold Wilson (who was then thought of as being on the party's centre left), and the Conservatives had unexpectedly chosen the Earl of Home as their new leader after Harold Macmillan announced his resignation (Home shortly after disclaimed his title under the Peerage Act 1963 in order to leader the party from the Commons). Macmillan's government had been increasingly unpopular in the mid-term, and Douglas-Home faced a difficult task in rebuilding the party's popularity. Wilson had begun to try to tie the Labour Party to the growing confidence of Britain in the 1960s, arguing that the technological revolution would sweep away restrictive practices on either side of industry.
The pre-election campaign was prolonged as Douglas-Home delayed calling an election in order to try to give himself the maximum time to improve the prospects of his party. The starting gun of the campaign was fired on September 15, 1964 when Douglas-Home saw the Queen and asked for a dissolution of Parliament. The campaign was dominated by some of the more voluble characters on the political scene: George Brown, Deputy Leader of the Labour Party, toured the country making energetic speeches and the occasional gaffe, and Quintin Hogg for the Conservatives responded in kind. The image of Hogg lashing out at a Harold Wilson poster with his walking stick was one of the most striking of the campaign. Many party speakers, especially at televised rallies, had to deal with hecklers: Sir Alec Douglas-Home in particular was treated very roughly in a meeting at Birmingham.
The election resulted in a very slim majority for the Labour Party, of five seats, and led to their first government since 1951. Labour achieved a swing of just over 3% although its own vote rose by only 0.2%; the Liberal Party won nearly twice as many votes as in 1959, but did so partly by nominating 150 more candidates. Harold Wilson became Prime Minister of the United Kingdom, replacing Sir Alec Douglas-Home. The majority was not sustainable for a full Parliament and there had to be another general election in 1966. In particular, the small majority of Wilson's government resulted in its being unable to implement the party's policy of nationalising the steel industry, due to the opposition of two of its back benchers: Woodrow Wyatt and Desmond Donnelly.
The election also saw the only time in the UK's history where all seats were divided between only the three main parties; that is, no minor parties, independents or splinter groups were able to obtain a seat.
Results
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Total votes cast on 15th October 1964: 27,657,148. All parties are shown. Conservative total includes Ulster Unionists and National Liberals.
See also
| United Kingdom general elections |
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