United Kingdom general election, 1966

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The 1966 UK general election on 31 March 1966 was called by sitting Labour Prime Minister Harold Wilson. Wilson's decision to call an election turned on the fact that his government, elected only two years previously in 1964 had an unworkable small majority of only 4 MPs. Wilson's hope that he would be returned to office with a larger majority had been encouraged by the government's victory in a by-election in Kingston upon Hull North. In the end the hope was vindicated: the Labour government was returned with a much larger majority of 96.

Contents

[edit] National opinion poll summary

Research Services : 3% swing to Labour (forecast majority of 101)
National Opinion Polls : 3.5% swing to Labour (forecast majority of 115)
Gallup : 4.5% swing to Labour (forecast majority of 150)
Express (known as Harris): 7.5% swing to Labour (forecast majority of in excess of 255)

Harold Wilson, leader of the Labour Party and Prime Minister.
Harold Wilson, leader of the Labour Party and Prime Minister.
Edward Heath, leader of the Conservative Party and Leader of the Opposition.
Edward Heath, leader of the Conservative Party and Leader of the Opposition.
Jo Grimond, leader of the Liberal Party.
Jo Grimond, leader of the Liberal Party.

[edit] Results

The results were as follows -

UK General Election 1966
Party Candidates Seats Gains Losses Net Gain/Loss Seats % Votes % Votes +/-
  Labour 622 364 49 1 + 48 48.0 13,096,629
  Conservative 629 253 0 52 - 52 41.9 11,418,455 -1.5
  Liberal 311 12 4 2 + 2 8.5 2,327,457
  Scottish National Party 23 0 0 0 0 0.5 128,474
  Independent Republican 5 0 0 0 0 0.2 62,782
  Communist 57 0 0 0 0 0.2 62,092
  Plaid Cymru 20 0 0 0 0 0.2 61,071
  Independent 15 0 0 0 0 0.1 35,039
  Republican Labour 1 1 1 0 + 1 0.1 26,292
  Nationalist (NI) 1 0 0 0 0 0.1 22,167
  Independent Liberal 3 0 0 0 0 0.0 5,689
  British National 3 0 0 0 0 0.0 5,182
  Independent Conservative 4 0 0 0 0 0.0 4,089
  Union Movement 4 0 0 0 0 0.0 4,075
  Independent Labour 1 0 0 0 0 0.0 1,031
  Fellowship Party 1 0 0 0 0 0.0 906
  National Democratic 1 0 0 0 0 0.0 769
  National Teenage 1 0 0 0 0 0.0 585
  Ind. Labour Party 1 0 0 0 0 0.0 441
  Socialist Party (GB) 2 0 0 0 0 0.0 333
  Radical Alliance 1 0 0 0 0 0.0 163
  Patriotic Party 1 0 0 0 0 0.0 126

Total votes cast on 31st March 1966: 27,264,747. All parties shown. The Conservative figure includes Ulster Unionists and National Liberals.

[edit] Summary of GB vote (excluding Northern Ireland)

Popular vote
Conservative and Allies
  
 41.53%
Labour
  
 48.72%
Liberals
  
 8.66%
Plaid Cymru
  
 0.22%
Scottish National Party
  
 0.49%
Independent
  
 0.09%
Others
  
 0.29%


Headline Swing: 2.70% to Labour

[edit] Seats Changing Hands

From Conservative to Labour (46 seats): Aberdeen South, Bebington, Bedford, Bedfordshire South, Berwick and East Lothian, Billericay, Birmingham Perry Barr, Bradford West, Brentford and Chiswick, Bristol North East, Bristol North West, Cambridge, Cardiff North, Chislehurst, Conway, Croydon South, Eton and Slough, Exeter, Hampstead, Harrow East, High Peak, Hornchurch, Ilford South, Lancaster, Lewisham North, Lewisham West, Middleton and Prestwich, Monmouth, Norwood, Nottingham South, Oxford, Plymouth Sutton, Portsmouth South, Preston North, Reading, Rugby, Rushcliffe, Sheffield, Heeley, Smethwick, Southampton Test, Stretford, The Wrekin, Uxbridge, Walthamstow East, Yarmouth and York
From Conservative to Liberal (4 seats): Aberdeenshire West, Cheadle, Cornwall, North and Roxburgh, Selkirk and Peebles
From Labour to Liberal (1 seat): Colne Valley
From Liberal to Labour (2 seats): Cardiganshire and Caithness and Sutherland

[edit] Televised declarations

(From BBC Parliament Replay.) These declarations were covered live by the BBC where the returning officer was heard to say "duly elected".

Constituency Winning party 1964 Constituency result 1966 by party Winning party 1966
Con Lab Lib PC SNP Others
Cheltenham Conservative 22,683 19,768 Conservative hold
Wolverhampton North East Labour 12,965 21,067 Labour hold
Wolverhampton South West Conservative 21,466 14,881 Conservative hold
Salford West Labour 13,257 19,237 Labour hold
Salford East Labour 9,000 18,409 Labour hold
Exeter Conservative 18,613 22,189 4,869 Labour gain
Devon North Liberal 15,631 6,127 16,797 Liberal hold
Smethwick Conservative 14,550 18,440 508 Labour gain
Nelson and Colne Labour 13,829 18,406 5,117 Labour hold
Leyton Labour 18,157 26,803 3,851 441 Labour recovery
Huyton Labour 20,182 41,132 585 Labour hold
Billericay Conservative 38,371 40,013 7,587 Labour gain
Preston South Labour 17,931 20,720 Labour hold
Bexley Conservative 26,377 24,044 4,405 Conservative hold
Brentford and Chiswick Conservative 14,031 14,638 2,063 Labour gain
Aberdeenshire West Conservative 13,956 6,008 15,151 Liberal gain
Taunton Conservative 22,359 19,216 5,460 Conservative hold
Monmouth Conservative 25,654 28,619 Labour gain
  • The 5,117 votes polled for the "Others" in Nelson and Colne were all polled for Patrick Downey, uncle of Lesley Ann Downey who had been murdered by the Moors Murderers. Downey advocated the return of hanging.

[edit] References

[edit] See also

[edit] Manifestos

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