United Kingdom general election, 1945 - wikipedia United Kingdom general election, 1945 United Kingdom general election, 1945 ← 1935 5 July 1945 1950 → ← outgoing members elected members → All 640 seats in the House of Commons 321 seats needed for a majority Turnout 72.8 % ( 1.7 % ) First party Second party Leader Clement Attlee Winston Churchill Party Labour Conservative Leader since 25 October 1935 9 October 1940 Leader 's seat Limehouse Woodford Last election 154 seats, 38.0 % 386 seats, 47.8 % Seats won 393 197 Seat change 239 189 Popular vote 11,967,746 8,716,211 Percentage 47.7 % 36.2 % Swing 9.7 % 11.6 % Third party Fourth party Leader Archibald Sinclair Ernest Brown Party Liberal Liberal National Leader since 26 November 1935 1940 Leader 's seat Caithness and Sutherland ( Defeated ) Leith ( Defeated ) Last election 21 seats, 6.7 % 33 seats, 3.7 % Seats won 12 11 Seat change 9 22 Popular vote 2,177,938 686,652 Percentage 9.0 % 2.9 % Swing 2.3 % 0.8 % Colours denote the winning party, as shown in the main table of results. ( Insert shows results in the Parliamentary County of London. Map excludes Northern Ireland ) Prime Minister before election Winston Churchill Conservative Appointed Prime Minister Clement Attlee Labour 1931 election MPs 1935 election MPs 1945 election MPs 1950 election MPs 1951 election MPs The 1945 United Kingdom general election was held on 5 July 1945, with polls in some constituencies delayed until 12 July and in Nelson and Colne until 19 July, because of local wakes weeks. The results were counted and declared on 26 July, to allow time to transport the votes of those serving overseas. The result was an unexpected landslide victory for Clement Attlee 's Labour Party, over Winston Churchill 's Conservatives. It was the first time the Conservatives had lost the popular vote since the 1906 election ; they would not win it again until 1955. Labour won its first majority government, and a mandate to implement its postwar reforms. The 12.0 % national swing from the Conservative Party to the Labour Party remains the largest ever achieved in a British general election. Contents 1 Background 2 Campaign 3 Results 4 Result : detail 4.1 Votes summary 4.2 Seats summary 4.3 MPs who lost their seats 5 Seats changing hands between parties 6 Reasons for Labour victory 7 See also 8 References 9 Bibliography 10 External links Background Held less than two months after VE Day, it was the first general election since 1935, as general elections had been suspended during the Second World War. Clement Attlee, Leader of the Labour Party, refused Winston Churchill 's offer of continuing the wartime coalition until the Allied defeat of Japan. Parliament was dissolved on 15 June. Campaign This section needs expansion. You can help by adding to it. ( April 2017 ) The Labour Party ran on promises to create full employment, a tax - funded universal National Health Service, the embracing of Keynesian economic policies and a cradle - to - grave welfare state, with the campaign message ' Let us face the future '. The Conservative manifesto included the granting of Dominion Status to India, mass house building, rent tribunals, an expansion of social security benefits and a `` comprehensive health service ''. Results The caretaker government led by Churchill was heavily defeated ; the Labour Party under Attlee 's leadership won a landslide victory, gaining a majority of 145 seats. The result of the election came as a major shock to the Conservatives, given the heroic status of Winston Churchill, but reflected the voters ' belief that the Labour Party were better able to rebuild the country following the war than the Conservatives. Ralph Ingersoll reported in late 1940 that, `` Everywhere I went in London people admired ( Churchill 's ) energy, his courage, his singleness of purpose. People said they did n't know what Britain would do without him. He was obviously respected. But no one felt he would be Prime Minister after the war. He was simply the right man in the right job at the right time. The time being the time of a desperate war with Britain 's enemies ''. Henry Pelling, noting that polls showed a steady Labour lead after 1942, explained the long - term forces that caused the Labour landslide. He pointed to the usual swing against the party in power ; the Conservative loss of initiative ; wide fears of a return to the high unemployment of the 1930s ; the theme that socialist planning would be more efficient in operating the economy ; and the mistaken belief that Churchill would continue as prime minister regardless of the result. Though voters respected and liked Churchill 's wartime record, they were more distrustful of the Conservative Party 's domestic and foreign policy record in the late 1930s. Labour had also been given, during the war, the opportunity to display to the electorate their domestic competence in government, under men such as Attlee as Deputy Prime Minister, Herbert Morrison at the Home Office and Ernest Bevin at the Ministry of Labour. Churchill and the Conservatives are also generally considered to have run a poor campaign in comparison to Labour ; Churchill 's statement that Attlee 's programme would require `` some form of a Gestapo '' to implement is considered to have been particularly poorly judged. This was the first election in which Labour gained a majority of seats, and also the first time it won a plurality of votes. The election was a disaster for the Liberal Party ; it lost all its urban seats, while its leader Archibald Sinclair lost his rural seat of Caithness and Sutherland. According to Baines, the defeat marked its transition from being a party of government to a party of the political fringe. The Liberal National party fared even worse, losing two - thirds of its seats and falling behind the Liberals in seat count for the first time since the parties split in 1931. This was the final election that the Liberal Nationals fought as an autonomous party, as they merged with the Conservative Party two years later, continuing to exist as a subsidiary party of the Conservatives until 1968. Future prominent figures who entered Parliament included Harold Wilson, James Callaghan, Barbara Castle, Michael Foot and Hugh Gaitskell. Future Conservative Prime Minister Harold Macmillan lost his seat, returning to Parliament at a by - election later in the year. Result : detail ↓ 393 197 12 11 27 Labour Conservative Lib LN Oth UK general election 1945 Candidates Votes Party Leader Stood Elected Gained Unseated Net % of total % No. Net % Labour Clement Attlee 603 393 242 + 239 61.4 47.7 11,967,746 + 11.7 Conservative Winston Churchill 559 197 14 204 − 190 30.8 36.2 8,716,211 − 11.6 Liberal Archibald Sinclair 306 12 5 14 − 9 1.9 9.0 2,177,938 + 2.3 Liberal National Ernest Brown 49 11 0 22 − 22 1.7 2.9 686,652 − 0.8 Independent N / A 38 8 6 0 + 6 1.3 0.6 133,191 + 0.5 National N / A 10 + 1 0.3 0.5 130,513 + 0.2 Common Wealth C.A. Smith 23 0 + 1 0.2 0.5 110,634 N / A Communist Harry Pollitt 21 0 + 1 0.3 0.4 97,945 + 0.3 Nationalist James McSparran 0 0 0 0.3 0.4 92,819 + 0.2 National Independent N / A 13 0 0.3 0.3 65,171 N / A Independent Labour N / A 7 0 0 0.3 0.3 63,135 + 0.2 Independent Conservative N / A 6 0 + 2 0.3 0.2 57,823 + 0.1 Ind. Labour Party Bob Edwards 5 0 − 1 0.5 0.2 46,769 - 0.5 Independent Progressive N / A 7 0 + 1 0.2 0.1 45,967 + 0.1 Independent Liberal N / A 0 + 2 0.3 0.1 30,450 + 0.1 SNP Douglas Young 8 0 0 0 0 -- 0.1 26,707 - 0.1 Plaid Cymru Abi Williams 7 0 0 0 0 -- 0.0 16,017 -- Commonwealth Labour Harry Midgley 0 0 0 0 -- 0.0 14,096 N / A Independent Nationalist N / A 0 0 0 0 -- 0.0 5,430 N / A Liverpool Protestant H.D. Longbottom 0 0 0 0 -- 0.0 2,601 -- Christian Pacifist N / A 0 0 0 0 -- 0.0 2,381 N / A Democratic Norman Leith - Hay - Clark 5 0 0 0 0 -- 0.0 1,809 N / A Agriculturist N / A 0 0 0 0 -- 0.0 1,068 -- Socialist ( GB ) None 0 0 0 0 -- 0.0 472 N / A United Socialist Guy Aldred 0 0 0 0 -- 0.0 300 N / A Total votes cast : 24,073,025. Turnout 72.8 %. All parties shown. Conservative total includes Ulster Unionists. The 8 seats won by National Labour in 1935 were not defended. Votes summary Popular vote Labour 47.7 % Conservative 36.2 % Liberal 9.0 % Liberal National 2.9 % Others 4.2 % Seats summary Parliamentary seats Labour 61.4 % Conservative 30.8 % Liberal 1.9 % Liberal National 1.2 % Others 4.7 % MPs who lost their seats Party Name Constituency Office held whilst in power Year elected Defeated by Party Conservative Party Major Henry Adam Procter Accrington 1931 Captain Walter Scott - Elliot Labour Party Henry Longhurst Acton 1943 Joseph Sparks Labour Party Sir Jonah Walker - Smith Barrow and Furness 1931 Walter Monslow Labour Party Sir Richard Wells, 1st Baronet Bedford 1922 Thomas Skeffington - Lodge Labour Party John McEwen Berwick and Haddington 1931 John Robertson Labour Party Sir Oliver Simmonds Birmingham Duddeston 1931 Edith Wills Labour Party Major Basil Arthur John Peto Birmingham King 's Norton 1941 Raymond Blackburn Labour Party The Right Honourable Geoffrey Lloyd Birmingham Ladywood Minister for Information 1931 Victor Yates Labour Party The Right Honourable Leo Amery Birmingham Sparkbrook Secretary of State for India and Burma 1911 Percy Shurmer Labour Party Walter Higgs Birmingham West 1937 Charles Simmons Labour Party Sir Edward William Salt Birmingham Yardley 1931 Wesley Perrins Labour Party Major Sir Cyril Entwistle Bolton 1931 John Lewis Labour Party Eric Errington Bootle 1935 John Kinley Labour Party Violet Bathurst, Lady Apsley Bristol Central 1943 Stan Awbery Labour Party The Honourable Major Lionel Berry Buckingham 1943 Aidan Crawley Labour Party Captain Nigel Colman Brixton 1927 Lieutenant Colonel Marcus Lipton Labour Party Colonel The Honourable John Gretton Burton 1943 Arthur William Lyne Labour Party Colonel Albert Braithwaite Buckrose 1926 George Wadsworth Liberal Party The Honourable Oscar Guest Cambridge 1934 Tudor Watkins Labour Party Richard Tufnell Camberwell North West ( contested Breconshire and Radnorshire ) 1935 Arthur Symonds Labour Party The Right Honourable Sir Percy James Grigg Cardiff East Secretary of State for War 1942 Hilary Marquand Labour Party Arthur Evans Cardiff South 1931 James Callaghan Labour Party Major - General Sir Edward Spears Carlisle 1931 Edgar Grierson Labour Party Captain Leonard Plugge Chatham 1935 Arthur Bottomley Labour Party Lieutenant Commander Robert Tatton Bower Cleveland 1931 George Willey Labour Party Oswald Lewis Colchester 1929 Captain George Delacourt - Smith Labour Party The Right Honourable Sir Donald Somervell Crewe Home Secretary 1931 Scholefield Allen Labour Party Herbert Williams Croydon South 1932 Lieutenant Colonel David Rees - Williams Labour Party Charles Peat Darlington Parliamentary Secretary to the Minister for Pensions 1931 David Hardman Labour Party Paul Emrys - Evans South Derbyshire Under - Secretary of State for Dominion Affairs 1931 Arthur Champion Labour Party Bracewell Smith Dulwich 1932 Major Wilfrid Vernon Labour Party The Right Honourable Florence Horsbrugh Dundee Parliamentary Secretary to the Ministry of Health 1931 Thomas Fotheringham - Cook Labour Party Lieutenant Colonel Sir John Mayhew East Ham North 1931 Percy Daines Labour Party Robert Cary Eccles Lord of the Treasury 1935 William Proctor Labour Party Frank Watt Edinburgh Central 1941 Andrew Gilzean Labour Party Alexander Erskine - Hill Edinburgh North 1935 George Willis Labour Party Thomas Levy Elland 1931 Frederick Arthur Cobb Labour Party Bartle Brennen Bull Enfield 1935 Enfield Davies Labour Party Roy Wise Smethwick ( contested Epping ) 1931 Leah Manning Labour Party The Honourable William Astor Fulham East 1931 Captain Michael Stewart Labour Party Walter Elliot Glasgow Kelvingrove 1924 John Lloyd - Williams Labour Party Leslie Boyce Gloucester 1929 Moss Turner - Samuels Labour Party Sir Irving Albery Gravesend 1924 Garry Allighan Labour Party Sir Walter Womersley, 1st Baronet Great Grimsby Minister of Pensions 1924 The Honourable Major Kenneth Younger Labour Party Sir Austin Hudson, 1st Baronet Hackney North Parliamentary Secretary to the Minister of Fuel, Light and Power 1924 Henry Edwin Goodrich Labour Party Gilbert Gledhill Halifax 1931 Dryden Brook Labour Party Ronald Tree Harborough 1933 Humphrey Attewell Labour Party Colonel Thomas George Greenwell The Hartlepools 1943 David Thomas Jones Labour Party James Wootton - Davies Heywood and Radcliffe 1940 John Edmondson Whittaker Labour Party The Honourable Seymour Berry Hitchin 1941 Philip Asterley Jones Labour Party Colonel Sir Lambert Ward, 1st Baronet Hull North West 1918 Kim Mackay Labour Party The Right Honourable Richard Law Hull South West Minister of Education 1931 Sydney Smith Labour Party Major Geoffrey Hutchinson Ilford ( contested Ilford North ) 1937 Mabel Ridealgh Labour Party Thelma Cazalet - Keir Islington East 1931 Eric Fletcher Labour Party James Duncan Kensington North 1931 George Rogers Labour Party Major John Profumo, 5th Baron Profumo Kettering Baby of the House 1940 Major Gilbert Mitchinson Labour Party Sir John Wardlaw - Milne Kidderminster 1922 Louis Tolley Labour Party Alec Douglas - Home Lanark Under - Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs 1931 Tom Steele Labour Party Major William Anstruther - Gray North Lanarkshire Assistant Postmaster - General 1931 Margaret Herbison Labour Party John Craik - Henderson Leeds North East 1940 Alice Bacon Labour Party Vyvyan Adams Leeds West 1931 Thomas William Stamford Labour Party Major Abraham Montagu Lyons Leicester East 1931 Terence Donovan Labour Party Captain Charles Waterhouse Leicester South Parliamentary Secretary to the Board of Trade 1924 Herbert Bowden Labour Party Lieutenant Colonel Sir Assheton Pownall Lewisham East 1918 Herbert Morrison Labour Party Henry Brooke Lewisham West 1938 Arthur Skeffington Labour Party Sir Walter Liddall Lincoln 1931 George Deer Labour Party Colonel Sir John Joseph Shute Liverpool Exchange 1933 Bessie Braddock Labour Party Sir Edmund Brocklebank Liverpool Fairfield 1931 Arthur Moody Labour Party Reginald Purbrick Liverpool Walton 1929 James Haworth Labour Party Cyril Lakin Llandaff and Barry 1942 Lynn Ungoed - Thomas Labour Party Major Lawrence Kimball Loughborough 1935 Mont Follick Labour Party Pierse Loftus Lowestoft 1934 Edward Evans Labour Party John Lees - Jones Manchester Blackley 1931 John Diamond Labour Party Thomas Hewlett Manchester Exchange 1940 Harold Lever Labour Party William Duckworth Manchester Moss Side 1935 William Griffiths Labour Party Frederick Cundiff Manchester Rusholme 1944 Lester Hutchinson Labour Party The Right Honourable Sir Malcolm Robertson Mitcham 1940 Tom Braddock Labour Party Alfred Denville Newcastle upon Tyne Central 1931 Lyall Wilkes Labour Party William Nunn Newcastle upon Tyne West 1940 Ernest Popplewell Labour Party Ronald Bell Newport 1945 Peter Freeman Labour Party Sir Thomas Cook North Norfolk 1931 Edwin Gooch Labour Party Somerset de Chair South West Norfolk 1935 Sidney Dye Labour Party Spencer Summers Northampton Secretary for Overseas Trade 1940 Reginald Paget Labour Party Henry Strauss Norwich Parliamentary Secretary to the Ministry of Town and Country Planning 1935 Lucy Noel - Buxton, Baroness Noel - Buxton Labour Party Lieutenant Colonel Duncan Sandys Norwood First Commissioner of Works 1935 Ronald Chamberlain Labour Party The Right Honourable Air Vice Marshal Sir Frederick Sykes Nottingham Central 1940 Geoffrey de Freitas Labour Party Colonel Louis Gluckstein Nottingham East 1931 James Harrison Labour Party Hamilton Kerr Oldham 1931 Frank Fairhurst Labour Party The Right Honourable Brendan Bracken Paddington North First Lord of the Admiralty 1929 Lieutenant General Sir Noel Mason - MacFarlane Labour Party Major Maurice Petherick Penryn and Falmouth Financial Secretary to the War Office 1931 Lieutenant Colonel Evelyn King Labour Party John Hely - Hutchinson, Viscount Suirdale Peterborough 1943 Stanley Tiffany Labour Party Major Ralph Beaumont Portsmouth Central 1931 Julian Snow Labour Party Major Randolph Churchill Preston 1940 Squadron Leader Samuel Segal Labour Party Captain Edward Cobb Preston ( contested Eton and Slough ) 1936 Benn Levy Labour Party Henry Scrymgeour - Wedderburn West Renfrewshire 1931 Thomas Scollan Labour Party The Right Honourable Sir Ronald Cross, 1st Baronet Rossendale High Commissioner to Australia 1931 George Henry Walker Labour Party The Right Honourable Ralph Assheton Rushcliffe Chairman of the Conservative Party 1934 Florence Paton Labour Party Allen Chapman Rutherglen Under - Secretary of State for Scotland 1935 Gilbert McAllister Labour Party The Honourable John Grimston St Albans 1943 Cyril Dumpleton Labour Party Robert Grant - Ferris St Pancras North 1937 George House Labour Party Sir Alfred Beit, 2nd Baronet St Pancras South East 1931 Santo Jeger Labour Party Sir James Frederick Emery Salford West 1935 Charles Royle Labour Party William Craven - Ellis Southampton 1931 Ralph Morley Labour Party Malcolm McCorquodale Sowerby 1931 John Belcher Labour Party Peter Thorneycroft Stafford 1938 Stephen Swingler Labour Party Horace Trevor - Cox Stalybridge and Hyde 1937 Gordon Lang Labour Party The Right Honourable Harold Macmillan Stockton - on - Tees Secretary of State for Air 1931 Captain George Chetwynd Labour Party Sir George Jones Stoke Newington 1924 David Weitzman Labour Party Robert Morgan Stourbridge 1931 Arthur Moyle Labour Party Flight Lieutenant Ralph Etherton Stretford 1939 Herschel Austin Labour Party Sir Walter Perkins Stroud 1931 Ben Parkin Labour Party Henry Burton Sudbury 1924 Roland Hamilton Labour Party Samuel Storey Sunderland 1931 Richard Ewart Labour Party Lieutenant Colonel Edward Wickham Taunton 1935 Victor Collins Labour Party Sir Derrick Gunston, 1st Baronet Thornbury 1924 Joseph Alpass Labour Party Sir Alexander Russell Tynemouth 1922 Grace Colman Labour Party Colonel The Right Honourable John Jestyn Llewellin Uxbridge Minister of Food 1929 Flight Lieutenant Frank Beswick Labour Party Irene Ward Wallsend 1931 John McKay Labour Party Donald Scott Wansbeck Parliamentary Secretary to the Board of Agriculture and Fisheries 1940 Alfred Robens Labour Party Noel Goldie Warrington 1931 Edward Porter Labour Party Air Commodore William Helmore Watford 1943 John Freeman Labour Party Wing Commander Sir Archibald James Welingborough 1931 George Lindgren Labour Party Sir Richard Pilkington Widnes Lords Commissioners of the Admiralty 1935 Maurice Orbach Labour Party Samuel Hammersley Willesden East 1938 Commander Christopher Nyholm Shawcross Labour Party Gerald Parmer Winchester 1935 George Jeger Labour Party William Ernest Gibbons Bilston 1944 Will Nally Labour Party Francis Beech Woolwich West 1943 Henry Berry Labour Party Arthur Colegate The Wrekin 1941 Ivor Owen Thomas Labour Party Charles Wood, Lord Irwin City of York 1937 John Corlett Labour Party National Liberal Party Percy Jewson Great Yarmouth 1941 Ernest Kinghorn Labour Party The Right Honourable William Mabane Huddersfield Minister of State for Foreign Affairs 1931 Joseph Mallalieu Labour Party The Right Honourable Ernest Brown Leith Leader of the Liberal National Party & Minister of Aircraft Production 1927 James Hoy Labour Party The Right Honourable Sir Geoffrey Shakespeare, 1st Baronet Norwich 1929 James Paton Labour Party Major John Samuel Dodd Oldham 1935 Leslie Hale Labour Party The Right Honourable Leslie Hore - Belisha Plymouth Devonport 1923 Michael Foot Labour Party William Stanley Russell Thomas Southampton 1940 Tommy Lewis Labour Party William Woolley Spen Valley 1940 Granville Maynard Sharp Labour Party Stephen Furness Sunderland 1935 Frederick Willey Labour Party Lieutenant - Colonel Sir George Schuster Walsall 1938 Major William Wells Labour Party Liberal Party Sir William Beveridge Berwick - upon - Tweed 1944 Robert Thorp Conservative Party The Right Honourable Sir Percy Harris, 1st Baronet Bethnal Green South West Liberal Chief Whip 1922 Percy Holman Labour Party The Right Honourable Sir Archibald Sinclair, 4th Baronet Caithness and Sutherland Leader of the Liberal Party & Secretary of State for Air 1922 Eric Gandar Dower Conservative Party The Right Honourable Henry Graham White Birkenhead East 1929 Frank Soskice Labour Party Seaborne Davies Caernarfon 1945 Lieutenant Colonel David Price - White Conservative Party Lieutenant Colonel Goronwy Owen Caernarvonshire 1923 Goronwy Roberts Labour Party Dingle Foot Dundee Parliamentary Secretary to the Ministry of Economic Warfare 1931 Squadron Leader John Strachey Labour Party Thomas Magnay Gateshead 1931 Konni Zilliacus Labour Party James Armand de Rothschild Isle of Ely 1929 Major Harry Legge - Bourke Conservative Party Colonel The Honourable Henry Guest Plymouth Drake 1937 Hubert Medland Labour Party Sir Geoffrey Mander Wolverhampton East 1929 Captain John Baird Labour Party Labour Party Moelwyn Hughes Carmarthen 1941 Rhys Hopkin Morris Liberal Party John Eric Loverseed Eddisbury 1943 Sir John Barlow, 2nd Baronet National Liberal Party Daniel Frankel Mile End 1935 Phil Piratin Communist Party of Great Britain National Labour Harold Nicolson Leicester West 1935 Barnett Janner Labour Party Frank Markham Nottingham South 1935 Norman Smith Labour Party Commander Stephen King - Hall Ormskirk 1939 Harold Wilson Labour Party Independent Labour Andrew MacLaren Burslem 1935 Albert Edward Davies Labour Party George Leonard Reakes Wallasey 1942 Ernest Marples Conservative Party Independent Conservative Captain Alec Cunningham - Reid St Marylebone 1932 Wavell Wakefield Conservative Party Scottish National Party Robert McIntyre Motherwell 1945 Alexander Anderson Labour Party Seats changing hands between parties This differs from the above list in including seats where the incumbent was standing down and therefore there was no possibility of any one person being defeated. The aim is to provide a comparison with the previous election. All comparisons are with the 1935 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 1945. Such circumstances are marked with a †. Gain Gained from Number Seats Communist Labour Mile End Labour Independent Labour Party Gorbals * National Labour 8 Kilmarnock, Derby ( one of two ) †, Ormskirk, Leicester West, Nottingham South, Lichfield †, Leeds Central, Cardiff C Liberal 9 Dundee ( one of two ), Paisley, Birkenhead East, Bristol North, Bethnal Green South - West, Wolverhampton East, Middlesbrough West, Bradford South, Carnarvonshire Independent Mossley National Brecon and Radnor † Conservative 182 Dundee ( one of two ), Kelvingrove, Dunbartonshire †, Lanark, Lanarkshire N, Renfrewshire W, Rutherglen, Edinburgh North, Edinburgh Central, Midlothian S & Peebles, Berwick & Haddington, Bedford, Reading, Buckingham, Wycombe, Cambridge, Cambridgeshire, Birkenhead West, Crewe, Stalybridge and Hyde, Penryn and Falmouth, Carlisle, Derby ( one of two ), Belper, Derbyshire South, Derbyshire West, Drake, Sutton, Darlington, Stockton - on - Tees, Sunderland ( one of two ), The Hartlepools, Leyton East, Colchester, East Ham N, Epping, Essex SE, Ilford N ( from Ilford ), Maldon, Walthamstow E, Bristol Central, Gloucester, Stroud, Thornbury, Portsmouth Central, Portsmouth North, Southampton ( one of two ), Winchester, Dudley, Kidderminster, Stourbridge, Hitchin, St Albans, Watford, Hull North West, Hull South West, Chatham, Chislehurst, Dartford †, Dover, Faversham, Gillingham, Gravesend, Accrington, Barrow - in - Furness, Blackburn ( both seats ), Chorley, Clitheroe, Preston ( both seats ), Rossendale, Bolton ( both seats ), Eccles, Heywood and Radcliffe, Blackley, Manchester Exchange, Hulme, Moss Side, Rusholme, Oldham ( one of two ), Salford North, Salford South, Salford West, Stretford, Bootle, Edge Hill, Liverpool Exchange, Fairfield, Kirkdale, Walton, Warrington, Widnes, Harborough, Leicester East, Leicester South, Loughborough, Grimsby, Lincoln, Balham and Tooting, Battersea South, Brixton, Camberwell North - West, Clapham, Dulwich, Fulham East, Greenwich, Hackney North, Hammersmith South, Islington East, Kensington North, Lewisham East, Lewisham West, Norwood, Paddington North, Fulham West †, Islington North †, Kennington †, Peckham †, St Pancras North, St Pancras South East, St Pancras South West, Stoke Newington, Wandsworth Central †, Woolwich West, King 's Lynn, Norfolk North, Norfolk South, Norfolk South West, Norwich ( one of two ), Kettering, Northampton, Peterborough, Wellingborough, Newcastle upon Tyne Central, Newcastle upon Tyne West, Tynemouth, Wallsend, Wansbeck, Nottingham Central, Nottingham East, Rushcliffe, The Wrekin, Frome, Taunton, Burton, Smethwick, Stafford, Bilston, Wolverhampton West, Ipswich †, Lowestoft, Sudbury, Croydon South, Mitcham, Wimbledon, Duddeston, Coventry East ( replaced Coventry ), Aston, Deritend, Erdington, King 's Norton, Ladywood, Yardley, Sparkbrook, Birmingham West, Swindon, York, Cleveland, Leeds North East, Sheffield Central, Bradford North, Sowerby, Elland, Leeds West, Halifax, Bradford East, Newport, Llandaff & Barry, Cardiff E, Cardiff S National Liberal 17 Greenock †, Leith, Luton, Devonport, Gateshead, Sunderland ( one of two ), Southampton ( one of two ), Oldham ( one of two ), Bosworth, Southwark North †, Great Yarmouth, Norwich ( one of two ), Newcastle upon Tyne East, Walsall, Huddersfield, Spen Valley, Swansea West NEW SEAT 10 Eton and Slough, Ilford South, Barking, Dagenham, Hornchurch, Thurrock, Barnet, Bexley, Acock 's Green, Coventry West Independent Labour Labour Hammersmith North * Ulster Unionist Belfast West Common Wealth Conservative Chelmsford * Liberal Labour Carmarthen Conservative Dorset North, Buckrose National Liberal Eye *, Montgomeryshire * Independent Progressive Conservative Bridgwater † Independent Conservative Grantham †, City of London ( one of two ) †, Rugby † National Independent Conservative Cheltenham Conservative Liberal 5 Caithness and Sutherland, Isle of Ely, Barnstaple, Berwick - upon - Tweed, Carnarvon Speaker Daventry † NEW SEAT 8 Bucklow, Woodford, Orpington, Blackpool North, Carshalton, Sutton and Cheam, Worthing, Solihull Independent Conservative Conservative Galloway * Independent Liberal National Liberal Ross and Cromarty Independent Unionist Ulster Unionist Down ( one of two ) * Speaker Conservative Hexham * seat had been won by National Labour in a by - election seat had been won by Independent Labour candidate in a by - election, who fought and won the 1945 election as a Labour candidate candidate had defected to the Common Wealth party candidate had moved to ' National ' label seat had been won by Independent candidate in a by - election, who fought and won the 1945 election as a Labour candidate candidate had defected to National Liberal party seat had been won by Independent Conservative candidate in a by - election, who fought and won the 1945 election as a National Independent candidate seat had been won by Independent candidate in a by - election Reasons for Labour victory With the Second World War coming to an end in Europe, the Labour Party decided to pull out of the wartime national coalition government, precipitating an election which took place in July 1945. King George VI dissolved Parliament, which had been sitting for ten years without an election. What followed was perhaps one of the greatest swings of public confidence of the twentieth century. In May 1945, the month in which the war in Europe ended, Churchill 's approval ratings stood at 83 %, although the Labour Party held an 18 % lead as of February 1945. Labour won overwhelming support while ' Churchill... was both surprised and stunned ' by the crushing defeat suffered by the Conservatives. The greatest factor in Labour 's dramatic win appeared to be the policy of social reform. In one opinion poll, 41 % of respondents considered housing to be the most important issue that faced the country, 15 % stated the Labour policy of full employment, 7 % mentioned social security, 6 % nationalisation and just 5 % international security, which was emphasised by the Conservatives. The Beveridge Report, published in 1942, proposed the creation of a welfare state. It called for a dramatic turn in British social policy, with provision for nationalised healthcare, expansion of state - funded education, National Insurance and a new housing policy. The report was extremely popular, and copies of its findings were widely purchased, turning it into a best - seller. The Labour Party adopted the report eagerly. The Conservatives accepted many of the principles of the report ( Churchill did not regard the reforms as socialist ), but claimed that they were not affordable. Labour offered a new comprehensive welfare policy, reflecting a consensus that social changes were needed. The Conservatives were not willing to make the same concessions that Labour proposed, and hence appeared out of step with public opinion. As Churchill 's personal popularity remained high, the Conservatives were confident of victory and based much of their election campaign on this, rather than proposing new programmes. However, people distinguished between Churchill and his party -- a contrast which Labour repeatedly emphasised throughout the campaign. Voters also harboured doubts over Churchill 's ability to lead the country on the domestic front. In addition to the poor Conservative general election strategy, Churchill went so far as to accuse Attlee of seeking to behave as a dictator, in spite of Attlee 's service as part of Churchill 's war cabinet. In the most famous incident of the campaign, Churchill 's first election broadcast on 4 June backfired dramatically and memorably. Denouncing his former coalition partners, he declared that Labour `` would have to fall back on some form of a Gestapo '' to impose socialism on Britain. Attlee responded the next night by ironically thanking the Prime Minister for demonstrating to people the difference between Churchill the great wartime leader and Churchill the peacetime politician, and argued the case for public control of industry. Another blow to the Conservative campaign was the memory of the 1930s policy of appeasement, which had been conducted by Churchill 's Conservative predecessors, Neville Chamberlain and Stanley Baldwin, and was at this stage widely discredited for allowing Adolf Hitler 's Germany to become too powerful. Labour had strongly advocated appeasement until 1938. The inter-war period had been dominated by Conservatives. With the exception of two brief minority Labour governments in 1924 and 1929 -- 1931, the Conservatives had been in power for its entirety. As a result, the Conservatives were generally blamed for the era 's mistakes, not merely for appeasement but for the inflation and unemployment of the Great Depression. Many voters felt that while the war of 1914 -- 1918 had been won, the peace that followed had been lost. Labour played to the concept of `` winning the peace '' that would follow the Second World War. Possibly for this reason, there was especially strong support for Labour in the armed services, who feared the unemployment and homelessness to which the soldiers of the First World War had returned. It has been claimed that the pro left - wing bias of teachers in the armed services was a contributing factor, but this argument has generally not carried much weight, and the failure of the Conservative governments in the 1920s to deliver a `` land fit for heroes '' was likely more important. The role of propaganda films produced during the war, which were shown to both military and civilian audiences, is also seen as a contributory factor due to their general optimism about the future, which meshed with the Labour Party 's campaigning in 1945 better than with that of the Conservatives. Writer and soldier Anthony Burgess remarked that Churchill -- who often wore a colonel 's uniform at this time -- himself was not nearly as popular with soldiers at the front as with officers and civilians : he noted that Churchill often smoked cigars in front of soldiers who had not had a decent cigarette in days. The differing strategies of the two parties during wartime also gave Labour an advantage. Labour continued to attack pre-war Conservative governments for their inactivity in tackling Hitler, reviving the economy, and re-arming Britain, while Churchill was less interested in furthering his party, much to the chagrin of many of its members and MPs. See also MPs elected in the United Kingdom general election, 1945 1945 Prime Minister 's Resignation Honours Attlee ministry References Jump up ^ `` General Election ( Polling Date ) : 31 May 1945 : House of Commons debates ''. They Work For You. Jump up ^ Chris Rowe ( 2004 ). Britain 1929 -- 1998. p. 37. ^ Jump up to : `` 1945 : Churchill loses general election ''. BBC. 1945 - 07 - 26. Retrieved 2009 - 02 - 22. ^ Jump up to : Lynch 2008, p. 4 Jump up ^ Ingersoll, Ralph ( 1940 ). Report on England, November 1940. New York : Simon and Schuster. p. 127. Jump up ^ Henry Pelling, `` The 1945 general election reconsidered. '' Historical Journal 23 ( 2 ) ( 1980 ) : 399 -- 414. JSTOR : 2638675 Jump up ^ Marr, A ( 2008 ). A History of Modern Britain. Pan Macmillan Ltd. pp. 5 -- 6. ISBN 978 - 0 - 330 - 43983 - 1. Jump up ^ Baines ( 1995 ) Jump up ^ `` Voter turnout at UK general elections 1945 -- 2015 -- UK Political Info ''. ^ Jump up to : Dr Paul Addison ( 2005 - 04 - 29 ). `` Why Churchill Lost in 1945 ''. BBC. Retrieved 2009 - 02 - 22. Jump up ^ Lynch 2008, p. 10 Jump up ^ 1945 General Election. Sean Spurr. HistoryEmpire.com. Accessed 4 April 2012. Jump up ^ Burgess, Anthony ( 1987 ). Little Wilson and Big God. Heinemann. p. 305. ISBN 1446452557. Retrieved 1 September 2014. Jump up ^ Lynch 2008, pp. 1 -- 4 Bibliography Addison, Paul. The road to 1945 : British politics and the Second World War ( London : Cape, 1975 ) Baines, Malcolm. `` The liberal party and 1945 general election. '' Contemporary Record ( 1995 ) 9 ( 1 ) pp : 48 -- 61. Brooke, Stephen. Labour 's war : the Labour party during the Second World War ( Oxford University Press, 1992 ) Burgess, Simon. `` 1945 Observed -- A History of the Histories, '' Contemporary Record ( 1991 ) 5 ( 1 ) pp 155 -- 170 ; historiography F.W.S. Craig, British Electoral Facts : 1832 -- 1987 Fielding, Steven. `` What did ' the people ' want ? : the meaning of the 1945 general election. '' Historical Journal ( 1992 ) 35 ( 3 ) pp : 623 -- 639. JSTOR : 2639633 Fry, Geoffrey K. `` A Reconsideration of the British General Election of 1935 and the Electoral Revolution of 1945, '' History ( 1991 ) 76 # 246 pp 43 -- 55. Gilbert, Bentley B. `` Third Parties and Voters ' Decisions : The Liberals and the General Election of 1945. '' Journal of British Studies ( 1972 ) 11 ( 2 ) pp : 131 -- 141. Kandiah, Michael David. `` The conservative party and the 1945 general election. '' ( 1995 ) : 22 -- 47. Lynch, Michael ( 2008 ). `` 1. The Labour Party in Power 1945 -- 51 ''. Britain 1945 -- 2007. Access to History. Hodder Headline. ISBN 0 - 340 - 96595 - 9... McCallum, R.B. and Alison Readman. The British general election of 1945 ( 1947 ) the standard scholarly study McCulloch, Gary. `` Labour, the Left, and the British General Election of 1945. '' Journal of British Studies ( 1985 ) 24 ( 4 ) pp : 465 -- 489. JSTOR : 175476 Nicholas, H. ( 1951 ). The British general election of 1950. London : Macmillan. ISBN 0 - 333 - 77865 - 0. Pelling, Henry. `` The 1945 general election reconsidered. '' Historical Journal ( 1980 ) 23 ( 2 ) pp : 399 - 414. JSTOR : 2638675 Toye, Richard. `` Winston Churchill 's `` Crazy Broadcast '' : Party, Nation, and the 1945 Gestapo Speech, '' Journal of British Studies ( 2010 ) 49 ( 3 ) pp. 655 -- 680 JSTOR : 23265382 ; online External links Wikimedia Commons has media related to 1945 UK general election. Catalogue of general election ephemera held at LSE Archives Labour Wins -- newspaper report from the Melbourne Argus, 27 July 1945 United Kingdom election results -- summary results 1885 -- 1979 Manifestos Mr. Churchill 's Declaration of Policy to the Electors -- 1945 Conservative manifesto. Let Us Face the Future -- 1945 Labour Party manifesto. 20 Point Manifesto of the Liberal Party -- 1945 Liberal Party manifesto. 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Question: who was elected as british prime minister in 1945
Answer: Clement Attlee