Evening star., 1951-10-26
Election
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\NoAlGiIlucQ rIOIu FlTSt Fdge.J
effect were current in London even
before the electioneering began.
Mr.. Attlee now becomes the
leader of His Majesty's loyal op-
position" position held by Mr..
Churchill for the past six years.
Mr.. Attlee is expected to offer
his resignation soon-perhaps to-
night. The custom is for an out
going Prime Minister to call on
the King and resign on behalf of
his government as soon as pos
sible after it is certain he has
been defeated.
While a new government is be-
ing formed, Mr.. Attlee and his
ministers will keep nominal con-
troll, but will not make policy de-
cisions without consulting Con-
servative leaders.
Mr.. Churchill. as leader of the
winning political party. will be
summoned to the Palace and told
to form a new government.
Labor Leaders Keep Seats.
All the principal Labor leaders
were reelected, even though the
party as a whole was defeated.
Mr.. Attlee, Herbert Morrison,
Aneurin Bevan and a large group
of erStwhile cabinet ministers and
officers IN the Labor government
have been returned to the House.
Depending on the size of the final
Tory majority, the Laborites may
ind themselves in approximately
the same position as their oppo-
nents were until Parliament was
dissolved.
That is, the working majority" i"
SO vital to a government, will be
as difficult for the Tories to main
tain as it was for Labor.
The popular vote gave an accu-
rate reflection of the sharp cleav-
age in British public opinion over
the success or failure of the great
experiment in socialism.
With virtually all the ballots
counted, the Conservatives were
running behind Labor by nearly
100000 votes. Late totals showed !.
Labor, .13,561,814: Conservative
1856, 1894; Liberals, 664,323,
Aided by Liberal Vote.
Mostly probably, the deciding
factor that threw this election to
the Conservatives was the absence
OF Liberal Party candidates in
more than 500 of the nations total
625 districts. The Liberals put
only 109 candidates in the field.
In those areas where a straight
Tory-Labor fight developed, it ap-
peared that most of the Liberal
votes went to the Tories. An
analysis of the figures indicated
about two out of every three Lib
erals voted for Mr.. Churchill's
party.
Even so. it was neck-and-neck
race right down to the wire.
Only slightly more than half of
all the British electoral districts
count the votes and announce re-
turns on the night the polls close,
When those results were totaled.
at am. today. the Socialists held
a 30-seat lead over the Conserv-
atives.
Early today returns from the
later-tallying districts began to
roll in. They came from districts
predominantly agricultural, that
American politicians call "the
down-state vote" A majority of
them were won by the Conserva-
tives in the 1850 election, and
were considered secure for the
Tories in this election.
Tide of Votes Turns.
Within a few hours, the returns
from these districts erased the
Labor lead, then put the Tories
in front and at one point had
them nearly SO seats ahead Of the
Laborites.
Then, shortly after noon, the
tide began to turn and the Con-
servative lead dropped below 40,
then 80. and finally held around
22. Ten of the districts still to
come were. Conservative in the
1850 election. three with small
Tory majorities.
The Conservatives announced
victory at 4:22 pm, with tn,