Why did Conservatives win the 1951 GE

• The Conservatives and Labour were the main political parties, with the Liberals in decline
• The post-war consensus policy included welfare state, full employment, and a mixed economy
• 1945-51 saw greater social mobility, better social services, and a 'baby boom' in Britain
• The long war from 1939-45 was followed by austerity and rationing from 1945-51
• There were balance of payments problems and underinvestment in infrastructure in Britain during 1945-51
• Keynesianism led to increased government investment in Britain during this period
• There was some decolonisation from 1945-51, but Britain still had strong imperial influence and the defence of the Empire was a priority
• The Cold War was a major factor during this period
• There were limited opportunities for women, homosexuality was criminalised, there was little youth culture, and no legal ban on racial discrimination
• The Conservatives reorganised their party, finance, and local organisation under Lord Woolton from 1945-51
• The Conservatives attracted many young, talented politicians like Reginald Maudling
• The Conservatives had an attractive programme including building 300,000 houses a year and continuing the welfare state
• Churchill was still a popular figure for leading Britain to victory in WWII
• The Conservatives continued many Labour policies on house building and the welfare state, except for the nationalisation of iron and steel
• Labour's majority was reduced in the 1950 general election, widening left-right party divisions
• Boundary changes in 1948 meant Labour needed 2% more of the popular vote to win the same number of seats as the Conservatives
• The decline of the Liberal party may have created more marginal seats, but this alone did not make a Conservative victory more likely
• Under the First Past the Post system, the Conservatives only needed 42,733 votes to win a seat, while Labour needed 47,283 votes
• The Conservative manifesto was called 'A New Hope'
• 'A New Hope' promised to cut taxes, reduce nationalisation, increase defence spending and improve housing.
• Churchill had been Prime Minister during WW2 so he was popular with voters who wanted stability.
• After reducing Labour's majority in 1950, in 1951 the Conservatives won with a majority of 26 seats although Labour had won 130,000 more votes overall
• Labour weaknesses

  • They hadn't done well in the 1950 and only had a majority of 5 seats which lowered morale
  • They were associated with austerity as it was forced to cut down on imported goods to encourage exports and maintain high taxation and rationing to ensure as many goods as possible were exported
  • They faced problems both home and abroad, the entering of the Korean War in 1950 had led to increased defence expenditure and limited spending at home
  • Defence spending had led to cuts in NHS funding and the introduction of charges for spectacles, prescriptions and dental care, this led to divisions within Labour
• Conservative strengths

  • Compared to 1945, the party had better local organisation and finance and campaigned more strongly
• Other factors


  • The party was united behind opposition to Labour, which was divided
  • Their promise to build 300,000 houses a year was popular as Labour hadn't been able to deal with the post war housing shortage
  • They campaigned against rationing and regulation while keeping popular policies from the Atlee government namely the welfare state and full employment policies
  • Churchill was still very much admired and in 1951 he didn't make controversial speeches such as the 1945 Gestapo speech
  • The electoral system failed to work in Labour's favour as they won more votes but not more seats
  • The decline in popularity of the Liberal party from 2.6 million votes in 1945, to 750,000 in 1951, most former Liberals turned to the Conservatives
  • Labour was too associated with state controlled industry, which many traditional Liberals didn't like, this impacted marginal seats in the 1950 election
  • The changes made to the electoral boundaries in 1948 tended to favour the Conservatives, Labour kept its support in densely populated industrial areas but in suburban areas, the Conservatives did better
  • In 1945 there had been considerable sympathy for Socialism, and admiration for the planning and state control of the USSR, by 1951 the Cold War had led to the USSR being seen as the enemy and the controls and regulations under Labour had meant that ideas of Socialism and a powerful state was less popular, this led to many turning to the Conservatives
• Labour had many achievements between 1945-51, but was divided and somewhat run out of steam, there were new figures in the Conservative party who could be trusted to keep the gains of the post war world but give people more freedom