The 1966 United Kingdom general election was held on 31 March 1966. The result was a
landslide victory
A landslide victory is an election result in which the victorious candidate or party wins by an overwhelming margin. The term became popular in the 1800s to describe a victory in which the opposition is "buried", similar to the way in which a geol ...
for the
Labour Party led by incumbent
Prime Minister
A prime minister, premier or chief of cabinet is the head of the cabinet and the leader of the ministers in the executive branch of government, often in a parliamentary or semi-presidential system. Under those systems, a prime minister is not ...
Harold Wilson
James Harold Wilson, Baron Wilson of Rievaulx, (11 March 1916 – 24 May 1995) was a British politician who served as Prime Minister of the United Kingdom twice, from October 1964 to June 1970, and again from March 1974 to April 1976. He ...
.
Wilson decided to call a snap election since his government, elected a mere 17 months previously, in
1964, had an unworkably small majority of only four MPs. The Labour government was returned following this snap election with a much larger majority of 98 seats. This was the last general election in which the voting age was 21; Wilson's government passed an amendment to the
Representation of the People Act
Representation of the People Act is a stock short title used in Antigua and Barbuda, The Bahamas, Bangladesh, Barbados, Belize, Ghana, Grenada, Guyana, India, Jamaica, Mauritius, Pakistan, Saint Vincent and the Grenadines, Trinidad and Tobago, ...
in 1969 to include eligibility to vote at age 18, which was in place for the
next general election in 1970.
Background
Prior to the 1966 general election, Labour had performed poorly in local elections in 1965, and
lost a by-election, cutting their majority to just two. Shortly after the local elections, the leader of the Conservative Party
Alec Douglas-Home was replaced by
Edward Heath
Sir Edward Richard George Heath (9 July 191617 July 2005), often known as Ted Heath, was a British politician who served as Prime Minister of the United Kingdom from 1970 to 1974 and Leader of the Conservative Party (UK), Leader of the Conserv ...
in the
1965 leadership election.
Despite setbacks and a small majority, Labour believed it had an advantage due to the disorientation from the change of leadership at the Conservative Party, the improvement of economic conditions under its brief government, and a victory at the
1966 Kingston upon Hull North by-election.
The Conservatives had not had much time to prepare their campaign, although it was more professional than previously. There had been little time for Heath to become well known among the British public, having led the party for just eight months before the election. For the
Liberal Party
The Liberal Party is any of many political parties around the world. The meaning of ''liberal'' varies around the world, ranging from liberal conservatism on the right to social liberalism on the left.
__TOC__ Active liberal parties
This is a li ...
, money was an issue: two elections in the space of just two years had left the party in a tight financial position and had to field less candidates.
Labour ran its campaign with the slogan "You know Labour government works" and avoided commenting on controversial issues such as
European integration
European integration is the process of industrial, economic integration, economic, political, legal, social integration, social, and cultural Regional integration, integration of states wholly or partially in Europe or nearby. European integrat ...
,
trade unions
A trade union (labor union in American English), often simply referred to as a union, is an organization of workers intent on "maintaining or improving the conditions of their employment", ch. I such as attaining better wages and Employee ben ...
, and
nationalization
Nationalization (nationalisation in British English) is the process of transforming privately-owned assets into public assets by bringing them under the public ownership of a national government or state. Nationalization usually refers to pri ...
.
The election night was broadcast live on the BBC, was presented by
Cliff Michelmore
Arthur Clifford Michelmore (11 December 1919 – 16 March 2016) was an English television presenter and producer.
He is best known for the BBC television programme ''Tonight'', which he presented from 1957 to 1965. He also hosted the BBC's tel ...
,
Ian Trethowan
Sir James Ian Raley Trethowan (20 October 1922 – 12 December 1990) was a British journalist, radio and television broadcaster and administrator who eventually became Director-General of the BBC, Director-General of the BBC from 1 October 1977 ...
,
Robin Day
Sir Robin Day (24 October 1923 – 6 August 2000) was an English political journalist and television and radio broadcaster.
Day's obituary in ''The Guardian'' by Dick Taverne stated that he was "the most outstanding television journalist of ...
,
Robert McKenzie and
David Butler. The election was replayed on the
BBC Parliament
BBC Parliament is a British free-to-air public broadcast television channel from the BBC that broadcasts live and recorded coverage of the House of Commons, House of Lords and Select Committees of the British Parliament, the Scottish Parliamen ...
channel on the 40th anniversary of the event, and again in 2016 to mark the 50th anniversary of the election.
Although the BBC's telecast was in black and white, a couple of colour television cameras were placed in the BBC election studio at Television Centre to allow
CBS
CBS Broadcasting Inc., commonly shortened to CBS, the abbreviation of its former legal name Columbia Broadcasting System, is an American commercial broadcast television and radio network serving as the flagship property of the CBS Entertainm ...
's
Charles Collingwood and
NBC
The National Broadcasting Company (NBC) is an American English-language commercial broadcast television and radio network. The flagship property of the NBC Entertainment division of NBCUniversal, a division of Comcast, its headquarters are l ...
's
David Brinkley
David McClure Brinkley (July 10, 1920 – June 11, 2003) was an American newscaster for NBC and ABC in a career lasting from 1943 to 1997.
From 1956 through 1970, he co-anchored NBC's top-rated nightly news program, '' The Huntley–Brinkl ...
to file live reports from that studio by satellite and in colour for their respective networks' evening news programmes (which were transmitted at 11:30 pm British time, 6:30 pm
Eastern Standard Time
The Eastern Time Zone (ET) is a time zone encompassing part or all of 23 U.S. states, states in the eastern part of the United States, parts of eastern Canada, the state of Quintana Roo in Mexico, Panama, Colombia, mainland Ecuador, Peru, and ...
).
Timeline
The
Prime Minister
A prime minister, premier or chief of cabinet is the head of the cabinet and the leader of the ministers in the executive branch of government, often in a parliamentary or semi-presidential system. Under those systems, a prime minister is not ...
,
Harold Wilson
James Harold Wilson, Baron Wilson of Rievaulx, (11 March 1916 – 24 May 1995) was a British politician who served as Prime Minister of the United Kingdom twice, from October 1964 to June 1970, and again from March 1974 to April 1976. He ...
, announced on 28 February that
Parliament would be dissolved on 10 March, for an election to be held on 31 March. The key dates were as follows:
Opinion polling
* 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)
Results
The Labour Party performed very well in the election and expanded its previously slim majority against the Conservative opposition to 97 seats, accomplishing a net gain of 48 seats. It won 364 seats from 48 percent of the vote, against 253 seats from 41.4 percent for the Conservatives and 12 seats from 8 percent for the Liberals. A major reason for the Labour victory was the revitalization of the party's working-class support in the 1960s. It captured its highest support yet from manual laborers at 69 percent, as well as its best performance for non-manual laborers since 1945. The government also appealed to both the right wing of the party with its cabinet dominated by junior ministers of the Attlee ministry as well as the left wing by the presence of officials such as Prime Minister Wilson,
Richard Crossman
Richard Howard Stafford Crossman (15 December 1907 – 5 April 1974) was a British Labour Party politician. A university classics lecturer by profession, he was elected a Member of Parliament in 1945 and became a significant figure among the ...
,
Barbara Castle
Barbara Anne Castle, Baroness Castle of Blackburn, (''née'' Betts; 6 October 1910 – 3 May 2002), was a British Labour Party politician who was a Member of Parliament from 1945 to 1979, making her one of the longest-serving female MPs in Bri ...
, and
Frank Cousins Frank Cousins may refer to:
* Frank Cousins (British politician) (1904–1986), British trade union leader and Labour politician
* Frank Cousins (American politician) (born 1958), American politician who served as the Essex County, Massachusetts Sh ...
.
![1966 UK parliament](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/9/99/1966_UK_parliament.svg)
, -
, + style="caption-side: bottom; font-weight:normal" , All parties shown.
Votes summary
Seats summary
Incumbents defeated
Conservative
*
Priscilla Buchan, Lady Tweedsmuir (
Aberdeen South)
*
Forbes Hendry (
West Aberdeenshire)
*
Geoffrey Howe
Richard Edward Geoffrey Howe, Baron Howe of Aberavon, (20 December 1926 – 9 October 2015) was a British Conservative politician who served as Deputy Prime Minister of the United Kingdom from 1989 to 1990.
Howe was Margaret Thatch ...
(
Bebington
Bebington () is a town and unparished area within the Metropolitan Borough of Wirral, in Merseyside, England. Historically part of Cheshire, it lies south of Liverpool, close to the River Mersey on the eastern side of the Wirral Peninsula. ...
)
*
Norman Cole (
South Bedfordshire
South Bedfordshire was, from 1974 to 2009, a non-metropolitan district of Bedfordshire, in the East of England. Its main towns were Dunstable, Houghton Regis and Leighton Buzzard.
Creation
The district was formed on 1 April 1974 as part of a gen ...
)
*
Sir William Anstruther-Gray, 1st Baronet (
Berwick and East Lothian), Chairman of the
1922 Committee
*
Edward Gardner (
Billericay
Billericay ( ) is a town and civil parish in the Borough of Basildon, Essex, England. It lies within the London Basin and constitutes a commuter town east of Central London. The town has three secondary schools and a variety of open spaces. It i ...
)
*
Wyndham Davies
Wyndham Roy Davies (3 June 1926 – 4 December 1984) was a British Conservative Party politician. Against the national trend, he was elected Member of Parliament (MP) for Birmingham Perry Barr at the 1964 general election, gaining the seat fr ...
(
Birmingham Perry Barr
Birmingham Perry Barr is a constituency in the West Midlands, represented in the House of Commons of the UK Parliament since 2001 by Khalid Mahmood of the Labour Party.
Constituency profile
UK Polling Report stated in 2015: "Perry Barr and ...
)
*
Arthur Tiley
Arthur Tiley (17 January 1910 – 5 June 1994) was a British businessman and Conservative and National Liberal politician. Upon the re-creation of the Bradford West constituency in 1955, Tiley was elected as its Member of Parliament. He held th ...
(
Bradford West
Bradford West is a List of United Kingdom Parliament constituencies, constituency represented in the House of Commons of the United Kingdom, House of Commons of the Parliament of the United Kingdom, UK Parliament since 2015 United Kingdom gene ...
)
*
Dudley Smith
Sir Dudley Gordon Smith (14 November 1926 – 14 December 2016) was a British Conservative politician who served as a junior minister under Edward Heath. He was a Member of Parliament for a total of 35 years, latterly for Warwick and Leamingt ...
(
Brentford and Chiswick)
*
Alan Hopkins (
Bristol North East)
*
Martin McLaren (
Bristol North West
Bristol North West is a constituency represented in the House of Commons of the UK Parliament since 2017 by Darren Jones of the Labour Party.
Constituency profile
The seat covers northwest parts of Bristol, extending to the Severn Estuary. ...
)
*
Donald Box
Donald Stewart Box (22 November 1917 – 12 July 1993) was a Welsh stockbroker and Conservative politician.
Early and military career
Born in Cardiff, Box was educated at The Cathedral School, Llandaff, St John's School in Pinner, and Harro ...
(
Cardiff North)
*
William Shepard
William Shepard (Contemporary records, which used the Julian calendar and the Annunciation Style of enumerating years, recorded his birth as November 20, 1737. The provisions of the British Calendar (New Style) Act 1750, implemented in 1752, ...
(
Cheadle)
*
Dame Patricia Hornsby-Smith (
Chislehurst)
*
Peter Thomas (
Conwy
Conwy (, ), previously known in English as Conway, is a walled market town, community and the administrative centre of Conwy County Borough in North Wales. The walled town and castle stand on the west bank of the River Conwy, facing Deganwy on ...
)
*
James Scott-Hopkins
Sir James Sidney Rawdon Scott-Hopkins (29 November 1921 – 11 March 1995) was a British Conservative politician.
Born in Croydon, Scott-Hopkins was educated at Eton College and the University of Oxford. He joined the British Army in 1939. He w ...
(
North Cornwall
North Cornwall ( kw, An Tiredh Uhel) is an area of Cornwall, England, United Kingdom. It is also the name of a former local government district, which was administered from Bodmin and Wadebridge . Other towns in the area are Launceston, Bude, P ...
)
*
Sir Richard Thompson, 1st Baronet
Sir Richard Hilton Marler Thompson, 1st Baronet (5 October 1912 – 15 July 1999) was a British Conservative politician.
Thompson was born in Chesterfield Derbyshire, the son of Richard South Thompson (1868–1952) and Kathleen Hilda née Marle ...
(
Croydon South)
*
Sir Anthony Meyer
Sir Anthony John Charles Meyer, 3rd Baronet (27 October 1920 – 24 December 2004) was a British soldier, diplomat, and Conservative Party (UK), Conservative and later Liberal Democrats (UK), Liberal Democrat politician, best known for standing ...
(
Eton and Slough
Eton and Slough was a parliamentary constituency represented in the House of Commons of the Parliament of the United Kingdom. It elected one Member of Parliament (MP) by the first-past-the-post voting system.
History
The House of Commons (Redi ...
)
*
Sir Rolf Dudley-Williams, 1st Baronet (
Exeter
Exeter () is a city in Devon, South West England. It is situated on the River Exe, approximately northeast of Plymouth and southwest of Bristol.
In Roman Britain, Exeter was established as the base of Legio II Augusta under the personal comm ...
)
*
Henry Brooke (
Hampstead
Hampstead () is an area in London, which lies northwest of Charing Cross, and extends from Watling Street, the A5 road (Roman Watling Street) to Hampstead Heath, a large, hilly expanse of parkland. The area forms the northwest part of the Lon ...
), former
Secretary of State for the Home Department
The secretary of state for the Home Department, otherwise known as the home secretary, is a senior minister of the Crown in the Government of the United Kingdom. The home secretary leads the Home Office, and is responsible for all national ...
*
Anthony Courtney (
Harrow East
Harrow East is a constituency in Greater London created in 1945 and represented in the House of Commons of the UK Parliament since 2010 by Bob Blackman, a Conservative.
Constituency profile
The censuses of 2001 and 2011 show the overwhelming ...
)
*
David Walder
Alan David Walder (13 November 1928 – 26 October 1978) was a British Conservative Party politician.
Born in St Pancras, London, Walder was educated at Latymer School and Christ Church, Oxford. He was commissioned into the Royal Artillery in ...
(
High Peak)
*
Godfrey Lagden
Sir Godfrey Yeatman Lagden (1 September 1851 – 26 June 1934) was a British colonial administrator in Africa.
Early life
Lagden was born at Yetminster, Dorset, the son of Reverend Richard Dowse Lagden of Balsham House, Cambridgeshire and w ...
(
Hornchurch
Hornchurch is a suburban town in East London, England, and part of the London Borough of Havering. It is located east-northeast of Charing Cross. It comprises a number of shopping streets and a large residential area. It historically formed a l ...
)
*
Albert Cooper (
Ilford South)
*
Humphry Berkeley
Humphry John Berkeley (21 February 192614 November 1994) was a British politician and author. He was noted for his three changes of parties and his early support for gay rights.
He is also remembered for a series of hoax letters he sent as fi ...
(
Lancaster)
*
Christopher Chataway (
Lewisham North)
*
Patrick McNair-Wilson
Sir Patrick Michael Ernest David McNair-Wilson (born 28 May 1929) is a British former Conservative Member of Parliament and consultant.
Early life and career
McNair-Wilson is the son of Dr Robert McNair-Wilson. He was educated at Eton College a ...
(
Lewisham West)
*
Sir John Barlow, 2nd Baronet
Sir John Denman Barlow, 2nd Baronet (15 June 1898 – 5 January 1986) was a British Conservative Party politician, and before that was a British Liberal Party member.
Barlow was the son of Sir John Barlow, 1st Baronet, and his wife the Hon. An ...
(
Middleton and Prestwich)
*
Peter Thorneycroft
George Edward Peter Thorneycroft, Baron Thorneycroft, (26 July 1909 – 4 June 1994) was a British Conservative Party politician. He served as Chancellor of the Exchequer between 1957 and 1958.
Early life
Born in Dunston, Staffordshire, Thorn ...
(
Monmouth
Monmouth ( , ; cy, Trefynwy meaning "town on the Monnow") is a town and community in Wales. It is situated where the River Monnow joins the River Wye, from the Wales–England border. Monmouth is northeast of Cardiff, and west of London. I ...
), former
Chancellor
Chancellor ( la, cancellarius) is a title of various official positions in the governments of many nations. The original chancellors were the of Roman courts of justice—ushers, who sat at the or lattice work screens of a basilica or law cou ...
*
William Clark
William Clark (August 1, 1770 – September 1, 1838) was an American explorer, soldier, Indian agent, and territorial governor. A native of Virginia, he grew up in pre-statehood Kentucky before later settling in what became the state of Misso ...
(
Nottingham South)
*
Montague Woodhouse (
Oxford
Oxford () is a city in England. It is the county town and only city of Oxfordshire. In 2020, its population was estimated at 151,584. It is north-west of London, south-east of Birmingham and north-east of Bristol. The city is home to the ...
)
*
Ian Montagu Fraser
Ian Montagu Fraser (14 October 1916 – 8 November 1987) was a British Conservative Party (UK), Conservative party politician.
Fraser stood for Tottenham (UK Parliament constituency), Tottenham in 1955 United Kingdom general election, 1955 and ...
(
Plymouth Sutton
Plymouth, Sutton was, from 1918 until 2010, a borough constituency represented in the House of Commons of the Parliament of the United Kingdom. It elected one Member of Parliament (MP) by the first past the post system of election.
History
Pl ...
)
*
Terence Clarke (
Portsmouth West)
*
Julian Amery
Harold Julian Amery, Baron Amery of Lustleigh, (27 March 1919 – 3 September 1996) was a British Conservative Party politician, who served as a Member of Parliament (MP) for 39 of the 42 years between 1950 and 1992. He was appointed to the Pr ...
(
Preston North), former
Secretary of State for Air
*
Peter Emery
Sir Peter Frank Hannibal Emery (27 February 1926 – 9 December 2004) was a British Conservative Party politician.
Early life
Emery was born in London, but was evacuated to the United States during World War II. He was educated at Scotch Plai ...
(
Reading
Reading is the process of taking in the sense or meaning of Letter (alphabet), letters, symbols, etc., especially by Visual perception, sight or Somatosensory system, touch.
For educators and researchers, reading is a multifaceted process invo ...
)
*
Roy Wise
Alfred Roy Wise (7 July 1901 – 21 August 1974) was a British Conservative Party politician and was the Member of Parliament for the constituencies of Rugby and Smethwick .
Biography
He was born on 7 July 1901 to Alfred Gascoyne Wise and Aug ...
(
Rugby
Rugby may refer to:
Sport
* Rugby football in many forms:
** Rugby league: 13 players per side
*** Masters Rugby League
*** Mod league
*** Rugby league nines
*** Rugby league sevens
*** Touch (sport)
*** Wheelchair rugby league
** Rugby union: 1 ...
)
*
Sir Martin Redmayne, 1st Baronet (
Rushcliffe
Rushcliffe is a local government district with borough status in Nottinghamshire, England. The population of the Local Authority at the 2011 Census was 111,129. Its councilRushcliffe Borough CouncilPeter Griffiths
Peter Harry Steve Griffiths (24 May 1928 – 20 November 2013) was a British Conservative politician best known for gaining the Smethwick seat by defeating the Shadow Foreign Secretary Patrick Gordon Walker in the 1964 general election, agai ...
(
Smethwick
Smethwick () is an industrial town in Sandwell, West Midlands, England. It lies west of Birmingham city centre. Historically it was in Staffordshire.
In 2019, the ward of Smethwick had an estimated population of 15,246, while the wider bu ...
)
*
Sir John Fletcher-Cooke (
Southampton Test
Southampton Test is a constituency represented in the House of Commons of the UK Parliament since 1997 by Alan Whitehead, a member of the Labour Party.
History
The constituency was created for the 1950 general election, when the previous two ...
)
*
Sir Samuel Storey, 1st Baronet (
Stretford
Stretford is a market town in Trafford, Greater Manchester, England. It is situated on flat ground between the River Mersey and the Manchester Ship Canal, south of Manchester city centre, south of Salford and north-east of Altrincham. Str ...
),
Chairman of Ways and Means
In the United Kingdom, the Chairman of Ways and Means is a senior member of the House of Commons who acts as one of the Speaker's three deputies. The incumbent is Dame Eleanor Laing, MP for Epping Forest, who was first elected to the office on ...
*
William Yates (
The Wrekin
The Wrekin is a hill in east Shropshire, England. It is located some five miles (8 km) west of Telford, on the border between the unitary authorities of Shropshire and Telford and Wrekin. Rising above the Shropshire Plain to a height of 4 ...
)
*
Charles Curran (
Uxbridge
Uxbridge () is a suburban town in west London and the administrative headquarters of the London Borough of Hillingdon. Situated west-northwest of Charing Cross, it is one of the major metropolitan centres identified in the London Plan. Uxbrid ...
)
*
John Harvey John Harvey may refer to:
People Academics
* John Harvey (astrologer) (1564–1592), English astrologer and physician
* John Harvey (architectural historian) (1911–1997), British architectural historian, who wrote on English Gothic architecture ...
(
Walthamstow East)
*
Anthony Fell (
Great Yarmouth
Great Yarmouth (), often called Yarmouth, is a seaside town and unparished area in, and the main administrative centre of, the Borough of Great Yarmouth in Norfolk, England; it straddles the River Yare and is located east of Norwich. A pop ...
)
*
Charles Longbottom
Charles Brooke Longbottom (22 July 1930 – 5 February 2013) was a British barrister, businessman and Conservative politician. In his later years his interest turned to Christian healing and education.
He was appointed Officer of the Order of ...
(
City of York
The City of York is a unitary authority area with city status in the ceremonial county of North Yorkshire, England. The district's main settlement is York, and it extends to the surrounding area including the town of Haxby and the villages of ...
)
Labour
*
Patrick Duffy
Patrick Duffy (born March 17, 1949) is an American actor and director widely known for his role on the CBS primetime soap opera ''Dallas'', where he played Bobby Ewing, the youngest son of Miss Ellie, and the nicest brother of J.R. Ewing (pla ...
(
Colne Valley
The Colne Valley is a steep sided valley on the east flank of the Pennine Hills in the English county of West Yorkshire. It takes its name from the River Colne which rises above the town of Marsden and flows eastward towards Huddersfield.
...
)
Liberal
*
Roderic Bowen
Evan Roderic Bowen KC (6 August 1913 – 19 July 2001) was a Welsh Liberal Party politician.
Bowen was educated at Cardigan County School, University College, Aberystwyth, St John's College, Cambridge, Brussels and the Inns of Court. He ...
(
Ceredigion
Ceredigion ( , , ) is a county in the west of Wales, corresponding to the historic county of Cardiganshire. During the second half of the first millennium Ceredigion was a minor kingdom. It has been administered as a county since 1282. Cer ...
)
*
George Mackie (
Caithness and Sutherland
Caithness and Sutherland was a county constituency of the House of Commons of the Parliament of the United Kingdom from 1918 to 1997. It elected one Member of Parliament (MP) by the first past the post system of election.
The constituency was c ...
)
Televised declarations
These declarations were covered live by the BBC where the returning officer was heard to say "duly elected".
* The 5,117 votes polled for the "Others" in Nelson and Colne were all polled for Patrick Downey, uncle of
Lesley Ann Downey
The Moors murders were carried out by Ian Brady and Myra Hindley between July 1963 and October 1965, in and around Manchester, England. The victims were five children—Pauline Reade, John Kilbride, Keith Bennett, Lesley Ann Downey, and Edward E ...
, who had been murdered by the
Moors Murderers
The Moors murders were carried out by Ian Brady and Myra Hindley between July 1963 and October 1965, in and around Manchester, England. The victims were five children—Pauline Reade, John Kilbride, Keith Bennett, Lesley Ann Downey, and Edward E ...
. Downey advocated the return of hanging.
See also
*
*
1966 United Kingdom general election in Northern Ireland
Notes
References
Further reading
*
*
External links
United Kingdom election results—summary results 1885–1979
Manifestos
1966 Conservative Party manifesto
1966 Labour Party manifesto
1966 Liberal Party manifesto
{{Edward Heath
1966
General election
A general election is a political voting election where generally all or most members of a given political body are chosen. These are usually held for a nation, state, or territory's primary legislative body, and are different from by-elections ( ...
Harold Wilson
Edward Heath