why did conservatives win the 1951 election

• why did conservative win in 1951 ?

  Labour weaknesses, conservative strength and the british electoral system
• the public came to associate the labour party with austerity, rationing and high taxation
• the labour party led britain into the Korean war in the 1950s leading to financial strain
• the labour party face great division causing an unstable government as many party members where exhausted with the policies
• labour party's imposition of charges on dental care prescriptions and glasses undermined the key principles of the NHS
• the conservatives had recovered well and reorganised itself after their 1945 defeat they introduced new member's like Reginald maudling who brought new ideas and dynamism to challenge the labour government
• the conservatives promised an attractive programme of building 300,000 new homes which was appealing as there was a housing shorting during this time
• they promised more red meat which was appealing at a time when people are rationing
• the conservatives where also fully commited to the welfare states
• many people wanted a change from austerity and also still saw Churchill as a war hero
• in the 1951 election labour polled 200,000 more votes than conservatives but won 26 fewer seats this is as a result of the FPTP system where labour won safe seats but conservative won more marginal seats
• the representation of people act 1948 saw boundary changes to constituencies this meant labour had to win 2% more of the popular votes to win the same number of seats
• lib dem voters decreased from 2.6 million to 730,556 meaning many ex lib dem voter turned to conservatives
• labour lost because they had fewer marginal seats than the conservatives