As I now have a complete collection of elections from 1955 - 2005

[Harry Hayfield]

A summary of UK elections from 1955 - 2005

The 1955 general election was the first televised general election. Unfortunately, only three hours of the footage exists but in this day and age of the internet you can still relive the excitment of election night by putting in the results and following the realisation that I now have every televised general election from 1964 - 2005 (as well as the knowledge that sooner or later BBC Parliament will have to show the 1959 general election), it was possible to track the fortunes of the various parties. However, I would like some help with the graphical element (if anyone feels like posting a few maps along the way!)

The 1955 general election was a seeming shoe in for the Conservatives on the face of it. When all the votes were counted in the 631 constituencies in the UK, the Conservatives had romped home with 49% of the vote winning 346 seats (including 10 Ulster Unionists), Labour could only manage a measly 277 in comparsion on 47% of the vote. The Liberals didn't do too badly considering winning 6 seats on 2.78% of the vote (but as they only fielded 111 candidates, you couldn't expect them to get many breakthroughs). The same could be said for Plaid Cymru (45,000 votes from 11 candidates) and the SNP (12,000 votes from two candidates) but considering that the Others got a combined GB vote of 94,000 (and two Northern Ireland MP's) it wasn't as bad as it seems. All of which meant a Conservative overall majority of 61, more than enough to see them through a Parliament.

Not that the 1955 - 1959 by-elections didn't give them a rough ride. There were 5 gains during the by-election season of that Parliament. Labour made 4 gains (3 from Con and 1 from Lib), and the Liberals did their usual barnstorming trick by winning Torrington from a standing start!

Because of the Liberals fielding candidates in more and more seats, it's not fair to make a comparsion between the general election and the by-elections, but you can compare those seats where the Liberals contested the seats along with Conservative and Labour, and in those seats the Conservatives fell 7%, compared to a Labour rise of 3% and a Liberal rise of 4% suggesting a 5% swing to Labour at the next election.

But would Labour be able to overturn a Con majority of 61 at the 1959 Election? Wait and see!

My next post for 1959 will be posted after any maps of 1955 are posted and comments.