United Kingdom general election, 1935

United Kingdom general election, 1935

14 November 1935

All 615 seats to the House of Commons 308 seats needed for a majority Turnout 71.1%   First party Second party Third party   Leader Stanley Baldwin Clement Attlee Sir Herbert Samuel Party Conservative Labour Liberal Leader since 23 May 1923 25 October 1935 1931 Leader's seat Bewdley Limehouse Darwen (defeated) Last election 473 seats, 55% 52 seats, 30.8% 33 seats, 6.5% Seats won 386 154 21 Seat change 83 102 12 Popular vote 10,025,083 7,984,988 1,414,010 Percentage 47.8% 38.0% 6.7% Swing 7.2% 7.4% 0.3%

PM before election Stanley Baldwin Conservative Subsequent PM Stanley Baldwin Conservative

The United Kingdom general election held on 14 November 1935 resulted in a large, though reduced, majority for the National Government now led by Conservative Stanley Baldwin. The greatest number of Members, as before, were Conservatives, while the National Liberal vote held steady. The National Labour vote collapsed, and even its leader Ramsay MacDonald lost his seat.

Labour, under what was then regarded internally as the caretaker leadership of Clement Attlee, made large gains over their very poor showing in the 1931 general election. The Liberals continued their slow political collapse and lost further ground, with their leader Sir Herbert Samuel losing his own seat.

The Independent Labour Party stood separately from Labour for the first time since 1895, while the Scottish National Party contested their first election, and the Communist Party gained their first parliamentary seat in almost ten years, West Fife.

The major election issues were the continuing unemployment problems and the role of the League of Nations, particularly as regarding the Empire of Japan.

No general elections were held during the Second World War until Allied victory was assured; hence the 1935 House sat until 1945. As a result, this parliament would see two leadership changes. Neville Chamberlain took over as Prime Minister and Conservative leader in 1937. He in turn resigned in 1940, when the office of Prime Minister passed to Winston Churchill, who linked the three main parties in the House of Commons in an all-party unity government for the duration of the Second World War.

Results

Total votes cast: 20,991,488. Turnout 71.1%.^[1] All parties shown. Conservatives include the Ulster and Scottish Unionists. Seats won by the Independent Labour Party (ILP) are compared with those won by ILP candidates within Labour in the previous parliament.

Votes summary

Seats summary

Constituency Results

These are available on the Political Science Resources Elections Database, a link to which is given below.

Further reading

• F. W. S. Craig, British Electoral Facts: 1832-1987
• Fry, Geoffrey K. "A Reconsideration of the British General Election of 1935 and the Electoral Revolution of 1945," History (1991) 76#246 pp 43–55.
• Stannage, Tom. Baldwin Thwarts the Opposition: The British General Election of 1935 (1980).

See also

• MPs elected in the United Kingdom general election, 1935

References

External links

• 1935 Conservative manifesto
• 1935 Labour manifesto
• 1935 Liberal manifesto

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