1964 United Kingdom general election

1964 United Kingdom general election

←  1959 15 October 1964 1966  →
←  outgoing members elected members  →
All 630 seats in the House of Commons 316 seats needed for a majority
Opinion polls
Turnout	77.1% (1.7 pp)
First party Second party Third party   Leader Harold Wilson Alec Douglas-Home Jo Grimond Party Labour Conservative Liberal Leader since 14 February 1963 18 October 1963 5 November 1956 Leader's seat Huyton Kinross and Western Perthshire Orkney and Shetland Last election 258 seats, 43.8% 365 seats, 49.4% 6 seats, 5.9% Seats won 317 304 [note 1] 9 Seat change 59 61 3 Popular vote 12,205,808 12,002,642 3,099,283 Percentage 44.1% 43.4% 11.2% Swing 0.3 pp 6.0 pp 5.3 pp
Colours denote the winning party—as shown in § Results
Composition of the House of Commons after the election
Prime Minister before election Alec Douglas-Home Conservative Prime Minister after election Harold Wilson Labour

The 1964 United Kingdom general election was held on Thursday 15 October 1964. It resulted in the Conservatives, led by incumbent Prime Minister Alec Douglas-Home, narrowly losing to the Labour Party, led by Harold Wilson; Labour secured a parliamentary majority of four seats and ended its thirteen years in opposition since the 1951 election. Wilson became the youngest Prime Minister since Lord Rosebery in 1894.

Background

Both major parties had changed leadership in 1963. Following the sudden death of Labour leader Hugh Gaitskell early in the year, the party chose Harold Wilson (at the time, thought of as being on the party's centre-left), while Alec Douglas-Home, at the time the Earl of Home, had taken over as Conservative leader and Prime Minister in October after Harold Macmillan announced his resignation in the wake of the Profumo affair. Douglas-Home shortly afterward disclaimed his peerage under the Peerage Act 1963 in order to lead the party from the Commons, subsequently standing in the Kinross and Western Perthshire by-election.

Macmillan had led the Conservative government since January 1957. Despite initial popularity and a resounding election victory in 1959, he had become increasingly unpopular in the early 1960s, due to rising unemployment and inflation during the recession of 1960–1961 and the United States' cancellation of the Skybolt program intended to provide Britain with an independent nuclear weapons delivery system after the cancellation of the Blue Streak project. Although Macmillan ended the latter crisis with the Nassau Agreement guaranteeing US assistance in the Polaris programme of submarine-launched ballistic missiles, this also indirectly harmed his reputation after French President Charles de Gaulle vetoed Britain's accession bid to the European Communities over his scepticism of the Anglo-American "Special Relationship." ^[1]

However, the Labour Party was temporarily divided due to the death of Gaitskell in 1963 and the subsequent leadership election. Although Wilson won this election against his opponents George Brown and James Callaghan, he was mistrusted within the party because of his previous unsuccessful leadership challenge to Gaitskell in 1960. ^[2] The party also suffered from internal policy disputes over unilateral nuclear disarmament and Clause IV of its constitution, which committed it to nationalisation of industry. ^[3]

It was for a while thought likely that the Conservatives would win the scheduled 1964 general election, albeit with a reduced majority, but the emergence of the Profumo affair in March 1963 and Macmillan's handling of the matter all but destroyed the credibility of his government. While he survived a vote of no confidence in June 1963, polling indicated that Labour would win the next election comfortably if Macmillan remained in power, which, along with health issues, prompted Macmillan to announce his resignation in the autumn of 1963.

Douglas-Home faced a difficult task in rebuilding the party's popularity with just a year elapsing between taking office and having to face a general election. Wilson had begun to try to tie the Labour Party to the growing confidence of Britain in the 1960s, asserting that the "white heat of revolution" would sweep away "restrictive practices ... on both sides of industry". The Liberal Party enjoyed a resurgence after a virtual wipeout in the 1950s, and doubled its share of the vote, primarily at the expense of the Conservatives. Although Labour did not increase its vote share significantly, the fall in support for the Conservatives led to Wilson securing an overall majority of four seats. ^[4] This proved to be unworkable, and Wilson called a snap election in 1966.

Campaign

The pre-election campaign was prolonged, as Douglas-Home delayed calling a general election to give himself as much time as possible to improve the prospects of his party. The Labour Party indicated that it held high popular support by winning the 1964 London local elections. This led to speculation that the Conservative government would not call an election in 1964 despite constitutional precedent requiring it do so quinquennially in peacetime.^{[ citation needed ]} However, Conservative leaders became more optimistic about their chances after winning three by-elections in Winchester, Bury St. Edmunds, and Devizes. The election campaign formally began on 25 September 1964 when Douglas-Home saw the Queen and asked for a dissolution of Parliament. The dissolution notably occurred without a formal royal prorogation and recall for the first time since 1922. ^[5]

The campaign was dominated by some of the more voluble characters of the political scene at the time. While George Brown, deputy leader of the Labour Party, toured the country making energetic speeches (and the occasional gaffe), Quintin Hogg was a leading spokesman for the Conservatives. The image of Hogg lashing out at a Wilson poster with his walking stick was one of the most striking of the campaign.^{[ citation needed ]}

The Labour Party campaigned on what historian Andrew Thorpe called "the basis of revisionism given a significant twist in the direction of Wilsonian planning, and a more dirigiste approach to industrial modernization." ^[2] Labour's manifesto Let's Go with Labour for New Britain reflected Wilson's belief that social justice and technological progress would transform industry to create a planned economy capable of providing full employment, rapid economic growth, favourable balance of trade, and control of inflation.^{[ citation needed ]} Party leaders also decided that they had lost the previous election because of their failure to appeal to the growing middle class, and adjusted strategy accordingly. ^[6]

Labour called for greater co-ordination between state-run enterprises and repeated its past pledges for the renationalisation of the steel and road haulage industries, but declared that it would not nationalise any further industries. The party also promised expansions of social services, tax reform, and what would become the prices and incomes policy to control inflation. In education it sought comprehensivisation of secondary education and a higher school-leaving age, while in immigration it sought both immigration quotas restricting future entry and equal rights for immigrants who had already arrived in the country. In foreign policy it pledged a re-evaluation of previous governments' foreign aid and alliances, increased British assertiveness at the United Nations, and a build-up of the conventional components of the British Armed Forces, but did not promise unilateral nuclear disarmament as some left-wing members of the party desired. ^{[2] [7]} While early campaigning suggested that a Labour government would abandon the Polaris nuclear weapons programme, Wilson quickly decided to avoid this topic altogether due to the continuing popularity of an independent British nuclear deterrent. ^[8] Labour's platform of a "socialist foreign policy" also criticised the Conservative government for its handling of a scandal involving the British defence contractor Ferranti, the Aden Emergency, Cypriot intercommunal violence, the escalation of the Vietnam War, arms sales to apartheid South Africa, and a contract to construct naval frigates for Francoist Spain. ^[9]

Douglas-Home's unpopularity – caused by his aristocratic background, his accession to the premiership without a formal election, his economic and trade policies, and the side-lining of popular Conservative leaders such as Enoch Powell and Iain Macleod – harmed the Conservative Party in the election. Even many Conservatives condemned Douglas-Home for the Resale Prices Act 1964 abolishing resale price maintenance. Douglas-Home's predecessor Macmillan described him as an "urbane but resolute character — iron painted to look like wood". ^[10] However, his campaigning did allow the Conservative Party's gap in the polls to narrow. ^{[11] [12] [13]} The Conservative manifesto Prosperity with a Purpose pledged closer relations with the Atlantic world and the Commonwealth of Nations, development of nuclear power, industrial retraining, increased capital investment in British industry, and continued development of the BAC TSR-2 supersonic aircraft project. ^{[14] [15]} The Conservative campaign emphasised the party's diplomatic successes, such as the Nassau Agreement, the Partial Nuclear Test Ban Treaty, and the defence of Malaysia in the Borneo Confrontation. ^[9] Although the Conservatives made limited appeals to new Caribbean, African, and South Asian immigrants by printing campaign literature in Hindi and Urdu, it defended the Commonwealth Immigrants Act 1962 restricting immigration of Commonwealth citizens. ^[16]

As in previous elections since its decline, the Liberal Party under Jo Grimond's leadership positioned itself as a non-socialist, individualist alternative to Labour. The two key domestic policy pledges in its manifesto Think for Yourself, Vote Liberal were healthcare reform and devolution for Scotland and Wales. ^[14] The Liberals also were distinguished by their internationalist and pro-European foreign policy, becoming the first major party to endorse British membership in the European Economic Union. Supporters and leaders of the Liberal Party hoped for a breakthrough in 1964 which would re-establish it as a powerful force in British politics after its near-extinction in the 1950s; the party's surprise victory in the 1962 Orpington by-election, its first in a seat outside of the "Celtic fringe" of Wales, Scotland, and the West Country in over a decade, had created optimism and a sense of momentum for a recovery. However, by 1964 the Liberals had lost much of their momentum to a series of by-election and local election losses, and faced growing financial difficulties. ^[17]

Many party speakers, especially at televised rallies, had to deal with hecklers; in particular Douglas-Home was treated very roughly at a meeting in Birmingham. Douglas-Home's speeches dealt with the future of the nuclear deterrent, while fears of Britain's relative decline on the world stage, reflected in chronic balance of payment problems, helped the Labour Party's case. ^[18]

By 1964, television had developed as a medium and played a much greater role than in previous British elections. The election received more coverage from current affairs programs such as BBC1's Panorama, Associated-Rediffusion's This Week , and Granada Television's World in Action , as well as political satire inspired by the success of That Was the Week That Was . ^[7] The election night was broadcast live by BBC Television, presented for the fifth and final time by Richard Dimbleby, with Robin Day, Ian Trethowan, Cliff Michelmore and David Butler co-presenting. ^[19]

Opinion polling

Main article: Opinion polling for the 1964 United Kingdom general election

• NOP: Lab swing 3.5% (Lab majority of 12)
• Gallup: Lab swing 4% (Lab majority of 23)
• Research Services: Lab swing 2.75% (Con majority of 30)
• Daily Express : Lab swing of 1.75% (Con majority of 60) ^{[note 2]}

Results

The Conservatives made a surprising recovery from being well behind Labour when Home became prime minister, and would have won if 900 voters in eight seats had changed votes. ^[20] Labour won a very slim majority of four seats, forming a government for the first time since 1951. Labour achieved a swing of just over 3%, although its vote rose by only 0.3% and it earned a lesser number of votes than in its previous defeats of 1955 and 1959. The main shift in votes was a 5.7% swing from the Conservatives to the Liberals. The Liberals defied popular expectations of a net loss and won nearly twice as many votes as in 1959, partly because they fielded 150 more candidates. Although this was the Liberals' best electoral performance since the 1929 general election and left the party in a key parliamentary position due to Labour's slender majority, it failed to regain its pre-World War II status as a party of government as it had hoped. ^[17] Wilson became Prime Minister, replacing Douglas-Home; Labour's four-seat majority was not sustainable for a full Parliament, and Wilson ultimately called another general election in 1966 which saw his majority expanded. In particular, the small majority meant the government could not implement its policy of renationalising the steel industry due to the opposition of backbenchers Woodrow Wyatt and Desmond Donnelly.

89 female candidates stood in the election, with 29 women being elected as MPs (11 for the Conservatives and 18 for Labour). ^[21]

This was the only election in Britain's recent history when all seats were won by the three main parties: no minor parties, independents or splinter groups won any seats. It is also the only time that both Labour and the Conservatives have taken over 300 seats each, and was the last election in which any one party (the Conservatives) contested every single seat. The Conservatives had previously chose not to contest certain Liberal-held seats as per local-level agreements to avoid vote splitting, but ended that policy at this election. The resultant splitting of votes actually helped grant Labour a majority, by throwing two formerly Liberal-held seats in northern England to Labour; however, the outcome of the election would not have been meaningfully altered had the Liberals retained the seats, as Labour would still have had as many seats as the other two parties combined, and Liberal leader Jo Grimond did not want to support a Conservative minority government.

Douglas-Home told D. R. Thorpe that the most important reason for the Conservative loss was Iain Macleod's "The Tory Leadership" article, in which the former cabinet minister claimed that an Etonian "magic circle" conspiracy had led to him becoming prime minister. ^[20] British Ambassador to the United States David Ormsby-Gore wrote to Home that "Almost anything could have tipped the balance. Khrushchev's removal from office twelve hours earlier, China’s nuclear explosion thirty-six hours earlier or just Rab [Butler] keeping his mouth shut for once." ^[16] David Butler and Donald E. Stokes's influential 1969 British Election Study report Political Change in Britain attributed the Labour victory to Wilson's greater popularity than Home and the party's appeal to younger voters. After British elections in the 1980s and the 1990s challenged many of the assumptions of Butler and Stokes's model, the BES issued a second 2001 report by political scientists from the University of Texas and the University of Essex emphasizing the role of valence politics over public perception of party performance. ^[22]

Working-class voters also selected Labour in greater numbers than in the previous election, due in part to the weakening of the post-war boom which had popularized the Conservatives in the 1950s, although the Conservatives attracted a greater number of female voters than before. The Conservatives tried to attract working-class voters by improving the party's relationships with trade unions through the Conservative Trade Union Councils at the party level and the new National Economic Development Council at the governmental level; however, their outreach was weakened by the Rookes v Barnard decision allowing employers to collect punitive damages from strike actions and Douglas-Home's tough approach to industrial relations. ^{[12] [23] [24]} As a result, trade unions heavily supported Labour in the election and encouraged working-class support of the party. ^[12] As much as 85 per cent of Labour's election spending consisted of funds raised by trade unions. ^[25]

Aggregate data analyses of the results demonstrate higher turnout in constituencies dominated by the professional–managerial class, agricultural workers, council tenants, voters without automobiles, and the elderly. ^[26] Many salaried professionals who ordinarily supported for the Conservatives voted for Labour because of high inflation.^{[ citation needed ]} On the other hand, Labour's poorer performance in central and southern England and loss of five seats in that area indicated an increasing white working-class backlash against nonwhite immigration. The most notable example of this was the contest in Smethwick, in which an explicitly racist campaign by Conservative candidate Peter Griffiths stoking anxieties around deindustrialisation and a shortage of council housing by targeting immigrants unseated Shadow Foreign Secretary Patrick Gordon Walker. ^{[2] [16] [27]}

UK General Election 1964 ^{[28] [29]}

All parties shown. ^{[note 3]}

			Candidates						Votes
Party		Leader	Stood	Elected	Gained	Unseated	Net	% of total	%	No.	Net %
	Labour	Harold Wilson	628	317	63	4	+59	50.3	44.1	12,205,808	+0.3
	Conservative	Alec Douglas-Home	630	304 [note 1]	4	65	−61	48.3	43.4	12,002,642	−6.0
	Liberal	Jo Grimond	365	9	5	2	+3	1.4	11.2	3,099,283	+5.3
	Ind. Republican	N/A	12	0	0	0	0		0.4	101,628	N/A
	Plaid Cymru	Gwynfor Evans	23	0	0	0	0		0.3	69,507	0.0
	SNP	Arthur Donaldson	15	0	0	0	0		0.2	64,044	+0.1
	Communist	John Gollan	36	0	0	0	0		0.2	46,442	+0.1
	Independent	N/A	20	0	0	0	0		0.1	18,677	N/A
	Independent Liberal	N/A	4	0	0	0	0		0.1	16,064	N/A
	Republican Labour	Gerry Fitt	1	0	0	0	0		0.1	14,678	N/A
	Ind. Conservative	N/A	5	0	0	1	−1		0.0	6,459	N/A
	British National	John Bean	1	0	0	0	0		0.0	3,410	N/A
	Anti-Common Market League	John Paul & Michael Shay	2	0	0	0	0		0.0	3,083	N/A
	Ind. Nuclear Disarmament	Pat Arrowsmith	2	0	0	0	0		0.0	1,534	N/A
	Fellowship	Ronald Mallone	1	0	0	0	0		0.0	1,112	0.0
	Patriotic Party	Richard Hilton	2	0	0	0	0		0.0	1,108	N/A
	League of Empire Loyalists	Arthur K. Chesterton	3	0	0	0	0		0.0	1,046	N/A
	Communist Anti-Revisionist	Michael McCreery	1	0	0	0	0		0.0	899	N/A
	Christian Progressive	N/A	1	0	0	0	0		0.0	865	N/A
	Taxpayers' Coalition Party	John E. Dayton	1	0	0	0	0		0.0	709	N/A
	Agriculturalist	N/A	1	0	0	0	0		0.0	534	N/A
	Independent Labour	N/A	1	0	0	0	0		0.0	458	N/A
	National Democratic	David Brown	1	0	0	0	0		0.0	349	N/A
	Socialist (GB)	N/A	2	0	0	0	0		0.0	322	0.0
	World Government	Gilbert Young	1	0	0	0	0		0.0	318	N/A
	British and Commonwealth	Miles Blair	1	0	0	0	0		0.0	310	N/A
	Social Credit Party of Great Britain and Northern Ireland	John Hargrave	1	0	0	0	0		0.0	304	N/A
	Christian Socialist	N/A	1	0	0	0	0		0.0	265	N/A

Government's new majority	4
Total votes cast	27,657,148
Turnout	77%

Votes summary

Popular vote Labour   44.13% Conservative   43.41% Liberal   11.21% Others   1.25%

Headline swing: 3.1% to Labour

Seats summary

Parliamentary seats Labour   50.32% Conservative   48.25% Liberal   1.43%

Transfers of seats

• All comparisons are with the 1959 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 1964. Such circumstances are marked with a †.

From		To		No.	Seats
	Labour		Labour (HOLD)		Aberavon, Aberdare, Aberdeen North, Abertillery, Accrington, Anglesey, Ashton-under-Lyne, Ayrshire Central, Ayrshire South, Barking, Barrow-in-Furness, Bedwellty, Belper, Birkenhead, Bishop Auckland, Blackburn, Blaydon, Bolsover, Bootle, Bosworth, Bothwell, Brecon and Radnor, Brigg, Bristol Central, Bristol South, Bristol South East 4, Burnley, Caernarfon, Caerphilly, Cardiff South East, Cardiff West, Carmarthen, Chester-le-Street, Chesterfield, Chorley, Coatbridge and Airdrie, Consett, Crewe, Dagenham, Dartford, Derby North, Derby South, Derbyshire North East, Dudley, Dunbartonshire East, Dunbartonshire West, Dundee East, Dundee West, Dunfermline Burghs, Durham, Durham North West, Easington, East Ham N, East Ham S, Ebbw Vale, Eccles, Edinburgh Central, Edinburgh East, Edinburgh Leith, Erith and Crayford, Falmouth and Camborne, Farnworth, Faversham, Fife West, Flintshire East, Gateshead East, Gateshead West, Glasgow Bridgeton, Glasgow Central, Glasgow Craigton, Glasgow Gorbals, Glasgow Govan, Glasgow Maryhill, Glasgow Provan, Glasgow Scotstoun, Glasgow Shettleston, Glasgow Springburn, Gloucester, Gloucestershire West, Goole, Gower, Greenock, Grimsby, Hamilton, Houghton-le-Spring, Huyton, Ilkeston, Ince, Jarrow, Kilmarnock, Kingston upon Hull East, Kingston upon Hull West, Kirkcaldy Burghs, Lanark, Lanarkshire North, Leicester NE, Leicester NW, Leicester SW, Leigh, Leyton, Lincoln, Liverpool Edge Hill, Liverpool Exchange, Liverpool Scotland, Llanelli, Loughborough, Manchester Ardwick, Manchester Cheetham, Manchester Exchange, Manchester Gorton, Manchester Openshaw, Merionethshire, Merthyr Tydfil, Midlothian, Motherwell, Neath, Nelson and Colne, Newport (Monmouthshire), Newton, Ogmore, Oldbury and Halesowen, Oldham East, Oldham West, Paisley, Pembrokeshire, Pontypool, Pontypridd, Rhondda East, Rhondda West, Rochdale, Romford, Rossendale, Rowley Regis and Tipton, St Helens, Salford East, Salford West, Sedgefield, South Shields, Southampton Itchen, Stalybridge and Hyde, Stirling and Falkirk, Stirlingshire East and Clackmannan, Stirlingshire West, Stockton-on-Tees, Sunderland North, Swansea East, Thurrock, Walthamstow W, Warrington, West Ham North, West Ham South, West Lothian, Western Isles, Westhoughton, Whitehaven, Widnes, Wigan, Workington, Wrexham
			National Liberal
			Conservative		Eton and Slough, Smethwick
	Liberal		Labour		Bolton West, Huddersfield West
			Liberal (HOLD)		Cardiganshire, Devon North, Montgomeryshire, Orkney and Shetland
	National Liberal		Labour		Luton†, Renfrewshire West
			Liberal		Ross and Cromarty
			National Liberal (HOLD)		Bristol North East, Harwich, Holland with Boston, Huntingdonshire, St Ives
			Conservative		Angus North and Mearns, Angus South, Bedfordshire South*, Dumfries†, Fife East†, Plymouth Devonport*
	Conservative		Labour		Bolton East, Buckingham, Bury and Radcliffe, Carlisle, Derbyshire South East, Dover, Epping, Glasgow Kelvingrove, Glasgow Pollok, Glasgow Woodside†, Gravesend, The Hartlepools, Heywood and Royton, Hitchin, Kingston upon Hull North, Liverpool Kirkdale, Liverpool Toxteth, Liverpool Walton, Liverpool West Derby, Manchester Blackley, Manchester Wythenshawe, Preston South, Rochester and Chatham, Rutherglen†, Stockport North, Stockport South, Sunderland South, Swansea West, Watford
			Liberal		Bodmin, Inverness, Orpington†
			Conservative (HOLD)		Aberdeen South, Aberdeenshire East, Aberdeenshire West, Abingdon, Aldershot, Altrincham and Sale, Argyll, Ashford, Aylesbury, Ayr, Ayrshire North and Bute, Banff, Barnet, Barry, Basingstoke, Bebington, Beckenham, Bedford, Bedfordshire Mid, Berwick and East Lothian, Bexley, Billericay, Blackpool North, Blackpool South, Bournemouth East & Christchurch, Bournemouth West, Bridlington, Bristol North West, Bristol West, Bromley, Bromsgrove, Buckinghamshire South, Cambridge, Cambridgeshire, Canterbury, Cardiff North, Cheadle, Chelmsford, Cheltenham, Chester, Chigwell, Chislehurst, Cirencester and Tewkesbury, Clitheroe, Colchester, Conway, Cornwall North, Crosby, Darlington, Darwen, Denbigh, West Derbyshire, Dorset North, Dorset South 3, Dorset West, Eastleigh, Edinburgh North, Edinburgh Pentlands, Edinburgh South, Edinburgh West, Essex SE, Exeter, Flintshire West, Folkestone and Hythe, Fylde North, Fylde South, Gainsborough, Galloway, Gillingham, Glasgow Cathcart, Glasgow Hillhead, Gloucestershire South, Gosport and Fareham, Grantham, Haltemprice, Harborough, Hemel Hempstead, Hereford, Hertford, Hertfordshire E, Hertfordshire SW, High Peak, Honiton, Horncastle, Hornchurch, Howden, Ilford North, Ilford South, Isle of Ely, Isle of Thanet, Isle of Wight, Kidderminster, Kinross and West Perthshire, Knutsford, Lancaster, Leicester South East, Leominster, Liverpool Garston, Liverpool Wavertree, Louth, Macclesfield, Maidstone, Maldon, Manchester Moss Side, Manchester Withington, Melton, Middleton and Prestwich, Monmouth, Moray and Nairn, Morecambe and Lonsdale, Nantwich, New Forest, Newbury, Northwich, Ormskirk, Plymouth Sutton, Penrith and the Border, Perth and East Perthshire, Petersfield, Poole, Portsmouth Langstone, Portsmouth South, Portsmouth West, Preston North, Reading, Renfrewshire East, Roxburgh, Selkirk and Peebles, Runcorn, Rutland and Stamford, Saffron Walden, St Albans, Sevenoaks, Southampton Test, Southend East, Southend West, Southport, Stretford, Stroud, Tavistock, Tiverton, Tonbridge, Torquay, Torrington, Totnes, Truro, Wallasey, Walthamstow East, Wanstead and Woodford, Westmorland, Winchester, Windsor, Wirral, Wokingham, Worcester, Worcestershire South, Wycombe
			Ind. Conservative
	Ind. Conservative		Liberal		Caithness and Sutherland
	UUP		UUP		North Antrim, South Antrim, Armagh, Belfast East, Belfast North, Belfast South, Belfast West, Down North, Down South, Fermanagh and South Tyrone, Londonderry, Mid Ulster
	Conservative		Speaker		Cities of London and Westminster

• ³ Seat gained by Labour in a by-election but regained by the Conservatives in 1964.
• ⁴ Seat gained by Conservatives in a 1961 by-election but regained by Labour in another 1963 by-election.

Incumbents defeated

Party		Name	Constituency	Office held whilst in power	Year elected	Defeated by	Party
	Conservative Party	Philip Holland	Acton		1959	Bernard Floud		Labour Party
		William Compton Carr	Barons Court		1959	Ivor Richard		Labour Party
		Ernest Partridge	Battersea South		1951	Ernie Perry		Labour Party
		John Hollingworth	Birmingham All Saints		1959	Brian Walden		Labour Party
		Leslie Seymour	Birmingham Sparkbrook		1959	Roy Hattersley		Labour Party
		Leonard Cleaver	Birmingham Yardley		1959	Ioan Evans		Labour Party
		Douglas Marshall	Bodmin		1945	Peter Bessell		Liberal Party
		William Taylor	Bradford North		1950	Ben Ford		Labour Party
		David James	Brighton Kemptown		1959	Dennis Hobden		Labour Party
		John Bidgood	Bury and Radcliffe		1955	David Ensor		Labour Party
		Donald Johnson	Carlisle		1955	Ronald Lewis		Labour Party
		Sir Alan Glyn	Clapham		1959	Margaret McKay		Labour Party
		Wilf Proudfoot	Cleveland		1959	James Tinn		Labour Party
		Philip Hocking	Coventry South		1959	Bill Wilson		Labour Party
		Anthony Bourne-Arton	Darlington		1959	Ted Fletcher		Labour Party
		Anthony Barber	Doncaster	Minister of Health	1951	Harold Walker		Labour Party
		John Arbuthnot	Dover		1950	David Ennals		Labour Party
		Graeme Finlay	Epping		1951	Stan Newens		Labour Party
		Frank Lilley	Glasgow Kelvingrove		1959	Maurice Miller		Labour Party
		Peter Kirk	Gravesend	Under-Secretary of State for War	1955	Albert Murray		Labour Party
		Maurice Macmillan	Halifax		1955	Shirley Summerskill		Labour Party
		Tony Leavey	Heywood and Royton		1955	Joel Barnett		Labour Party
		Martin Maddan	Hitchin		1955	Shirley Williams		Labour Party
		Geoffrey Johnson-Smith	Holborn and St Pancras South		1959	Lena Jeger		Labour Party
		Neil McLean	Inverness		1954	Russell Johnston		Liberal Party
		Marcus Worsley	Keighley		1959	John Binns		Labour Party
		Denys Bullard	King's Lynn		1959	Derek Page		Labour Party
		Michael Coulson	Kingston upon Hull North	Parliamentary Private Secretary	1959	Henry Solomons		Labour Party
		Norman Pannell	Liverpool Kirkdale		1955	James Dunn		Labour Party
		Reginald Bevins	Liverpool Toxteth	Postmaster General	1950	Richard Crawshaw		Labour Party
		Kenneth Thompson	Liverpool Walton		1950	Eric Heffer		Labour Party
		John Woollam	Liverpool West Derby		1954 by-election	Eric Ogden		Labour Party
		Eric Johnson	Manchester Blackley		1951	Paul Rose		Labour Party
		Eveline Hill	Manchester Wythenshawe		1950	Alf Morris		Labour Party
		Gordon Matthews	Meriden	Parliamentary Private Secretary	1959	Christopher Rowland		Labour Party
		Fergus Montgomery	Newcastle upon Tyne East	Parliamentary Private Secretary	1959	Geoffrey Rhodes		Labour Party
		Geoffrey Rippon	Norwich South		1955	Christopher Norwood		Labour Party
		John Cordeaux	Nottingham Central		1955	Jack Dunnett		Labour Party
		Peter Tapsell	Nottingham West		1959	Michael English		Labour Party
		Alan Green	Preston South	Financial Secretary to the Treasury	1955	Peter Mahon		Labour Party
		Hugh Linstead	Putney		1942 by-election	Hugh Jenkins		Labour Party
		Julian Critchley	Rochester and Chatham		1959	Anne Kerr		Labour Party
		Norman Hulbert	Stockport North		1950	Arnold Gregory		Labour Party
		Harold Steward	Stockport South		1955 by-election	Maurice Orbach		Labour Party
		Paul Williams	Sunderland South		1953 by-election	Gordon Bagier		Labour Party
		Hugh Rees	Swansea West	Parliamentary Private Secretary	1959	Alan Williams		Labour Party
		John Kerans	The Hartlepools		1959	Ted Leadbitter		Labour Party
		Michael Hughes-Young	Wandsworth Central	Treasurer of the Household	1955	David Kerr		Labour Party
		Frederick Farey-Jones	Watford		1955	Raphael Tuck		Labour Party
		Michael Hamilton	Wellingborough	Lord Commissioner of the Treasury	1959	Harry Howarth		Labour Party
		Trevor Skeet	Willesden East		1959	Reg Freeson		Labour Party
		Colin Turner	Woolwich West		1959	Bill Hamling		Labour Party
	Labour Party	Charles Howell	Birmingham Perry Barr		1955	Wyndham Davies		Conservative Party
		Fenner Brockway	Eton and Slough		1950	Anthony Meyer		Conservative Party
		Albert Hilton	South West Norfolk		1959 by-election	Paul Hawkins		Conservative Party
		Patrick Gordon Walker	Smethwick	Shadow Foreign Secretary	1945 by-election	Peter Griffiths		Conservative Party
	Liberal Party	Arthur Holt	Bolton West		1951	Gordon Oakes		Labour Party
		Donald Wade	Huddersfield West	Deputy Leader of the Liberal Party	1950	Ken Lomas		Labour Party
	Independent Liberal	Sir John MacLeod	Ross and Cromarty		1950	Alasdair Mackenzie		Liberal Party

Televised results programmes

Both BBC Television and ITV provided live televised coverage of the results and provided commentary.

See also

• List of MPs elected in the 1964 United Kingdom general election
• Smethwick in the 1964 general election
• 1964 United Kingdom general election in Northern Ireland
• 1964 United Kingdom general election in Scotland

Notes

1. The seat and vote count figures for the Conservatives given here include the Speaker of the House of Commons
2. This summary of opinion poll findings from the last few days of the campaign is given early in the BBC's election night coverage.
3. Conservative total includes Scottish Unionists, Ulster Unionists, and National Liberals.

References

1. Barberis, Peter (September 2007). "Introduction: The 1964 General Election—the 'Not Quite, But' and 'But Only Just' Election". Contemporary British History. 21 (3): 284–285. doi:10.1080/13619460600825840. ISSN   1361-9462. S2CID   144383151 – via Taylor and Francis Online.
2. Thorpe, Andrew (1997). A History of the British Labour Party. London: Macmillan Education UK. pp. 154–156. doi:10.1007/978-1-349-25305-0. ISBN   978-0-333-56081-5.
3. Fielding 2007, p. 315.
4. 1964: Labour scrapes through, BBC News, 5 April 2005, retrieved 21 May 2018
5. Schaffer, B. B. (7 April 2008). "The British General Election, 1964: A Retrospect". Australian Journal of Politics & History. 11 (1): 7–22. doi:10.1111/j.1467-8497.1965.tb00411.x.
6. Fielding, Steven (September 2007). "Rethinking Labour's 1964 Campaign". Contemporary British History. 21 (3): 309–324. doi:10.1080/13619460600825873. ISSN   1361-9462. S2CID   153901372 – via Taylor and Francis Online.
7. Barberis (2007) , p. 286
8. Young 2007, p. 362-364.
9. Young, John W. (September 2007). "International Factors and the 1964 Election". Contemporary British History. 21 (3): 353–355. doi:10.1080/13619460600825931. ISSN   1361-9462. S2CID   154812255.
10. Thorpe, D. R. (1996). Alec Douglas-Home . London: Sinclair-Stevenson. pp. 8, 490 note 21. ISBN   978-1-85619-277-4 . Retrieved 26 August 2023– via Internet Archive. Thorpe cites a PRO file. According to Peter Hennessy in his 19 November 1996 lecture 'Country Values': Alec Douglas - Home, 1963-64 (and chapter 11 of The prime minister: the office and its holders since 1945) Thorpe on 9 October 1996 quoted Macmillan telling the Queen "Alec Home is steel painted as wood".
11. "Sir Alec Douglas-Home | prime minister of United Kingdom | Britannica". www.britannica.com. Retrieved 28 June 2022.
12. "History of Sir Alec Douglas-Home - GOV.UK". www.gov.uk. Retrieved 28 June 2022.
13. Schaffer 2008, p. 11.
14. Barberis (2007) , p. 288
15. Young 2007, p. 360.
16. Young (2007) , p. 361-362
17. Barberis, Peter (September 2007). "The 1964 General Election and the Liberals' False Dawn". Contemporary British History. 21 (3): 373–379. doi:10.1080/13619460600825949. ISSN   1361-9462. S2CID   153819205 – via Taylor and Francis Online.
18. John W. Young, "International Factors and the 1964 Election." Contemporary British History (2007) 21#3 pp 351-371.
19. UK General Election 1964 – Results Round-up on YouTube Retrieved21 May 2018.
20. Vernon Bogdanor (18 January 2014). "The Spectator book review that brought down Macmillan's government". The Spectator. Retrieved 30 June 2014.
21. Dod's Parliamentary Companion 1966. Epsom, Surrey: Business Directories Limited. 1966. pp. 574–575.
22. Denver, David (1 September 2007). "The 1964 General Election: Explaining Voting Behaviour Then and Now". Contemporary British History. 21 (3): 295–307. doi:10.1080/13619460600825857. ISSN   1361-9462. S2CID   153838758 – via Taylor and Francis Online.
23. Wrigley, Chris (September 2007). "Trade Unions and the 1964 General Election". Contemporary British History. 21 (3): 326–328. doi:10.1080/13619460600825899. ISSN   1361-9462. S2CID   153352143 – via Taylor and Francis Online.
24. Barberis 2007, p. 190-191.
25. Wrigley 2007, p. 331.
26. Denver 2007, p. 304.
27. Schaffer (2008) , p. 16-19
28. "United Kingdom election results—summary results 1885–1979". Archived from the original on 23 February 2008.
29. "Summary of the election".

Further reading

• Barberis, Peter (September 2007), "The 1964 General Election and the Liberals' False Dawn", Contemporary British History, 21 (3): 373–387, doi:10.1080/13619460600825949, S2CID   153819205
• Butler, David E.; et al. (1965), The British General Election of 1964, the standard scholarly study.
• Craig, F. W. S. (1989), British Electoral Facts: 1832–1987, Dartmouth: Gower, ISBN   0900178302
• Denver, David (2007), "The 1964 General Election: Explaining Voting Behaviour Then and Now", Contemporary British History, 21 (3): 295–307, doi:10.1080/13619460600825857, S2CID   153838758
• Favretto, Ilaria (2000), "'Wilsonism' reconsidered: Labour party revisionism 1952–64", Contemporary British History, 14 (4): 54–80, doi:10.1080/13619460008581603, S2CID   154861968
• Fielding, Steven (September 2007), "Rethinking Labour's 1964 Campaign", Contemporary British History, 21 (3): 309–324, doi:10.1080/13619460600825873, S2CID   153901372
• Heppell, Timothy (2010), "The Labour Party Leadership Election of 1963: Explaining the Unexpected Election of Harold Wilson", Contemporary British History, 24 (2): 151–171, doi:10.1080/13619461003768264, S2CID   144217106
• Morgan, Austen (1992), Harold Wilson, p. 625
• Tomlinson, Jim (September 2007), "It's the Economy, Stupid! Labour and the Economy, circa 1964", Contemporary British History, 21 (3): 337–349, doi:10.1080/13619460600825915, S2CID   154318971
• Wrigley, Chris (September 2007), "Trade Unions and the 1964 General Election", Contemporary British History, 21 (3): 325–335, doi:10.1080/13619460600825899, S2CID   153352143
• Young, John W. (September 2007), "International Factors and the 1964 Election", Contemporary British History, 21 (3): 351–371, doi:10.1080/13619460600825931, S2CID   154812255

Manifestos

• Prosperity With a Purpose, 1964 Conservative Party manifesto
• The New Britain, 1964 Labour Party manifesto
• Think for Yourself, 1964 Liberal Party manifesto