Vox Populi - October 1964 General Election

[Lumine]

October 1964 - Hogg on the warpath

Prelude: Despite woes regarding Rhodesia Prime Minister Hogg has seemingly managed to turn the economy around and instill a sense of modernization to his government. But now, challenged directly by Callaghan's Labour and Grimond's Liberals can he and the Tories win another General Election?

Labour Party: Labour currently leads the polls under the charismatic James Callaghan, who is running on a manifesto of social democratic progress based on economic nationalization and pro-union reforms, social conservative views on social policy, support for nuclear weapons, several new ministries to deal with economic and devolution matters, a moderate pro-Europe plank and sanctions for Rhodesia. Callaghan and Brown have focused on a series of speeches across the country, seeking to appeal directly to working class voters while arguing the Conservatives are just too outdated for the 60's.

Conservative Party: Seemingly re-energized by the Hogg Premiership but significantly down in the polls are the Conservatives, who under the flamboyant and enthusiastic Hogg are running an American-style campaign with rallies across the nation and TV efforts. Hogg's Conservatives are rallying against "the dangers of socialism" and running on a manifesto of social conservative views, modernization of government and technological efforts, a strong stance on defence spending, nuclear weapons and foreign policy (not ruling out intervention in Rhodesia against Smith) and a renewed economic agenda mixing both Keynesianism and Monetarism, advocating for lower taxes and fighting inflation.

Liberal Party: After a string of by-election successes, the youthful and idealistic Grimond and the Liberals are running from the center-left as the "radical, non-socialist alternative to the Conservatives". The Liberal manifesto argues for defence cuts and opposition to nuclear weapons, a Scottish Parliament and devolution in Wales and Northern Ireland, a "Ministry of Expansion" to promote economic growth and development, lowering the voting age and running as the most pro-EEC party. Grimond has rallied against the social conservatism of Hogg and Callaghan, arguing the Liberals are the sole party willing to stand up for social liberal policies on issues like abortion or the death penalty.

Note: Three days. The Liberals are not able to run a full slate of candidates as in OTL, so a part of their vote share will be equally split among the two largest parties.

[Kingpoleon]

Liberal!

And the Liberals take the lead with 100% of the vote!

[NeverAgain]

Callaghan for the Sixties!

[Intell]

Liberal (for the fun, will vote Labour next election).

[White Trash]

Liberal (for the fun, will vote Labour next election).

You were the chosen one Intell! You were supposed to destroy the dark side not join it!

[Intell]

Liberal (for the fun, will vote Labour next election).

You were the chosen one Intell! You were supposed to destroy the dark side not join it!

I already feel disgusted voting for them.

[Maxwell]

Liberals.

[MAINEiac4434]

Liberals actually seem great. Hopefully Labour gets a better leader next time.

[Lexii, harbinger of chaos and sexual anarchy]

Tories

[CMB222]

Gotta go with the good ol' tories.

[Lumine]

October 1964 General Election:

October 1964 - Callaghan forms the first Labour government in 13 years

Labour Party: 43.5% (321 MP's)
Conservative Party: 40.5% (296 MP's)
Liberal Party: 14.2% (13 MP's)
Others: 1.8% (0 MP's)

Having waited as long as possible, Prime Minister Quintin Hogg and the Tories went all out in the campaign trail in an attempt to win a historic but unlikely fifth victory, facing a competent - if somewhat flawed - opposition in Callaghan's Labour and Grimond's Liberals. It was in many ways a campaign of personalities, leading to the famous scenes of a slightly drunk George Brown attacking the Conservatives on a series of endearing - if slightly embarrassing - speeches, or Prime Minister Hogg showing his temper by crushing a pro-Callaghan sign with his walking stick. With all parties taking advantage of new ways of doing political campaigning to try and mobilize the electorate, and the polls on the first days showing the race to tighten, expectation grew.

It was in that context that the idea of a debate was conceived. Inspired as well on the showdown between Nixon and Kennedy in 1960, representatives of both main parties agreed that it would be an interesting idea to have Hogg and Callaghan debate, setting the stage for a direct confrontation. After constant public calls from the Liberals and their increasingly good performance in the polls the BBC finally agreed to include Grimond, and the debate of three leaders became a reality. It was to be a famous night, with both Hogg and Callaghan throwing the kitchen sink at each other with energetic performances that most viewers described as a tie (with Callaghan having the edge due to Hogg's temper). The overall winner, however, was Grimond.

Having been offered a historic chance Grimond made a passionate and coherent case for Liberalism before the audience, particularly seizing on the lack of social liberal stances from both main parties. The result was explosive, with the Liberal Party rising to more than 20% in the polls but being incredibly hampered by its inability to field a full slate, running only on about 60% of the seats. The Liberal resurgence hurt the Tories on several swing seats far more than it did Labour, and in the end factors such as government fatigue after 13 years in government took their toll. On Election Night Grimond and the Liberals celebrated their best showing since 1929 with an overall 14% of the vote and 13 MP's. The Tories under Hogg had fought a brave battle and held on with 40% and almost 300 MP's.

But it was Labour and Jim Callaghan who'd won the election, having in the end secured a narrow but workable majority of six. "Sunny Jim" went to the palace to form the first Labour Government in 13 years just as Hogg and Grimond prepared to stay on, convinced that an early election was all but sure, and that their chance would come there.