A general election was held in the United Kingdom on Thursday 31 March 1966. The result was a landslide victory for the Labour Party led by incumbent Prime Minister Harold Wilson.
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 96 seats. This was the last British general election in which the voting age was 21; Wilson's government passed an amendment to the Representation of the People Act in 1969 to include eligibility to vote at the age of 18, which was in place for the next general election in 1970.
This was the only election between 1945 and 1997 in which the Labour Party won a workable majority sustainable to last a full term. In the next seven general elections, the Labour Party would win a majority of seats only once (October 1974) and would lose five elections to the Conservatives.
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 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, 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 fewer candidates. Labour ran its campaign with the slogan "You know Labour government works" and avoided commenting on controversial issues such as European integration, trade unions, and nationalisation.
Wilson scheduled speeches around the BBC 8:50 pm news bulletin. As the network broadcast his speeches live, an aide told him when he appeared on camera. Wilson immediately spoke the message he wanted viewers to hear without transition from where he was in the speech, mystifying the local audience. BBC began recording his speeches for later broadcast; a member of the Board of Governors of the BBC said "We couldn't tolerate this news editing by the Prime Minister".
The election night was broadcast live on the BBC, was presented by Cliff Michelmore, Ian Trethowan, Robin Day, Robert McKenzie and David Butler. The election was replayed on the BBC Parliament channel on the 40th anniversary of the event, and again in 2016 to mark the 50th anniversary of the election. Alastair Burnet hosted ITN's coverage.
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's Charles Collingwood and NBC's David Brinkley 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).
Timeline The Prime Minister, Harold Wilson, 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: Thursday 10 MarchDissolution of the 43rd Parliament and campaigning officially beginsMonday 21 MarchLast day to file nomination papers; 1,707 candidates enter to contest 630 seatsWednesday 30 March Campaigning officially endsThursday 31 March Polling dayFriday 1 April The Labour Party wins with an improved majority of 96Monday 18 April44th Parliament assemblesThursday 21 AprilState Opening of Parliament
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)
Aftermath 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 47 seats. It won 364 seats from 48 per cent of the vote, against 253 seats from 41.4 per cent for the Conservatives and 12 seats from 8 per cent 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 per cent, 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, Barbara Castle, and Frank Cousins. Although the party would go on to win more seats under Tony Blair in 1997 and 2001, and again under Keir Starmer in 2024, Labour have never since matched the 48% of the popular vote they won in 1966.
Results
Summary of seats returned
+ Party Leader MPs Aggregate votes Of total Of total Labour Party Harold Wilson 364 13,096,629 48.0% Conservative and Unionist Party Edward Heath 253 11,418,455 41.9% Conservative Party Edward Heath 239 10,900,047 40.0% Ulster Unionist Party Terence O'Neill 11 368,629 1.4% National Liberal Party David Renton 3 149,779 0.5% Liberal Party Jo Grimond 12 2,327,457 8.5% Republican Labour Party Gerry Fitt 1 26,292 0.1%
Full results
+Results of the March 1966 general election to the House of Commons of the United KingdomPartyLeaderCandidatesMPsAggregate votes Total Gains Losses Net Of total (%) Total Of total (%) Change (%) Labour HaroldWilson 622 364 48 1 47 57.8 13,096,629 48.0 3.9 Conservative (Total) EdwardHeath 629 253 1 52 51 40.2 11,418,455 41.9 1.5 EdwardHeath 611 250 1 49 48 47.3 11,268,676 41.3 0.9 DavidRenton 19 3 0 3 3 0.5 149,779 0.5 0.7 Liberal JoGrimond 311 12 5 2 3 1.9 2,327,457 8.5 2.7 SNP ArthurDonaldson 23 0 0 0 — 128,474 0.5 0.3 IndependentRepublican 5 0 0 0 — 62,782 0.2 0.2 Communist JohnGollan 57 0 0 0 — 62,092 0.2 Plaid Cymru GwynforEvans 20 0 0 0 — 61,071 0.2 0.1 RepublicanLabour GerryFitt 1 1 1 0 1 0.2 26,292 0.1 Independent 14 0 0 0 — 23,900 0.1 Nationalist EddieMcAteer 1 0 colspan=3 — 22,167 0.1 Unity 1 0 colspan=3 — 14,645 0.1 BritishNational JohnBean 3 0 0 0 — 5,182 0.0 Union Movement OswaldMosley 4 0 colspan=3 — 4,075 0.0 IndependentConservative 3 0 0 0 — 3,206 0.0 IndependentLabour 1 0 0 0 — 1,931 0.0 New Liberal AlanLomas 1 0 0 0 — 1,127 0.0 Fellowship RonaldMallone 1 1 0 0 — 906 0.0 Coalition Unity PeterLowe 1 0 colspan=3 — 826 0.0 National Democratic DavidBrown 1 0 0 0 — 769 0.0 IndependentLiberal 1 0 0 0 — 716 0.0 0.1 TeenageParty DavidSutch 1 0 colspan=3 — 585 0.0 Ind. Labour Party EmrysThomas 1 0 colspan=3 — 441 0.0 Social Credit ArchieFrost 1 0 0 0 — 397 0.0 Socialist (GB) 2 0 0 0 — 333 0.0 RadicalAlliance PatArrowsmith 1 0 0 0 — 163 0.0 Patriotic Party RichardHilton 1 0 0 0 — 126 0.0 Blank and invalid votes 49,899 — — Total 1,707 630 0 100.0 27,264,747 100.0 0.0 Registered voters, and turnout 35,957,245 75.8 1.3
Votes summary
Seats summary
Incumbents defeated PartyNameConstituencyOffice held whilst in ParliamentDefeated byPartyPriscilla BuchanAberdeen SouthDonald DewarForbes HendryAberdeenshire WestJames DavidsonGeoffrey HoweBebingtonEdwin BrooksNorman ColeBedfordshire SouthGwilym RobertsJames KilfedderBelfast WestGerry FittWilliam Anstruther-GrayBerwick and East LothianChairman of the 1922 CommitteeJohn MackintoshEdward GardnerBillericayEric MoonmanWyndham DaviesBirmingham Perry BarrChristopher PriceArthur TileyBradford WestNorman HaseldineDudley SmithBrentford and ChiswickMichael BarnesAlan HopkinsBristol North EastRaymond DobsonMartin McLarenBristol North WestJohn EllisDonald BoxCardiff NorthTed RowlandsWilliam ShepardCheadleMichael WinstanleyPatricia Hornsby-SmithChislehurstAlistair MacdonaldPeter ThomasConwyEdnyfed Hudson DaviesJames Scott-HopkinsCornwall NorthJohn PardoeRichard ThompsonCroydon SouthDavid WinnickAnthony MeyerEton and SloughJoan LestorRolf Dudley-WilliamsExeterGwyneth DunwoodyHenry BrookeHampsteadFormer Home SecretaryBen WhitakerAnthony CourtneyHarrow EastRoy RoebuckDavid WalderHigh PeakPeter JacksonGodfrey LagdenHornchurchAlan Lee WilliamsAlbert CooperIlford SouthArnold ShawHumphry BerkeleyLancasterStan HenigChristopher ChatawayLewisham NorthRoland MoylePatrick McNair-WilsonLewisham WestJames DickensJohn BarlowMiddleton and PrestwichDenis CoePeter ThorneycroftMonmouthFormer Chancellor of the ExchequerDonald AndersonWilliam ClarkNottingham SouthGeorge PerryMontague WoodhouseOxfordEvan LuardIan Montagu Fraser Plymouth SuttonDavid OwenTerence Clarke Portsmouth WestFrank JuddJulian AmeryPreston NorthFormer Secretary of State for AirRonald AtkinsPeter EmeryReadingJohn LeeRoy WiseRugbyWilliam PriceMartin RedmayneRushcliffeAntony GardnerPeter GriffithsSmethwickAndrew FauldsJohn Fletcher-CookeSouthampton TestBob MitchellSamuel StoreyStretfordChairman of Ways and MeansErnest DaviesWilliam YatesThe WrekinGerald FowlerCharles CurranUxbridgeJohn RyanJohn HarveyWalthamstow EastWilliam RobinsonAnthony FellGreat YarmouthHugh GrayCharles LongbottomYorkAlex LyonPatrick DuffyColne ValleyRichard WainwrightRoderic BowenCardiganElystan MorganGeorge MackieCaithness and SutherlandRobert Maclennan
Televised declarations These declarations were covered live by the BBC where the returning officer was heard to say "duly elected".
+From BBC Parliament ReplayConstituencyWinning party 1964Constituency result 1966 by partyWinning party 1966ConLabLibPCSNPOthersCheltenham 22,68319,768 holdWolverhampton North East 12,96521,067 holdWolverhampton South West 21,46614,881 holdSalford West 13,25719,237 holdSalford East 9,00018,409 holdExeter 18,61322,1894,869 gainDevon North 15,6316,12716,797 holdSmethwick 14,55018,440508 gainNelson and Colne 13,82918,4065,117 holdLeyton 18,15726,8033,851441 recoveryHuyton 20,18241,132585 holdBillericay 38,37140,0137,587 gainPreston South 17,93120,720 holdBexley 26,37724,0444,405 holdBrentford and Chiswick 14,03114,6382,063 gainAberdeenshire West 13,9566,00815,151 gainTaunton 22,35919,2165,460 holdMonmouth 25,65428,619 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.
See also List of MPs elected in the 1966 United Kingdom general election 1966 United Kingdom general election in England 1966 United Kingdom general election in Scotland 1966 United Kingdom general election in Wales 1966 United Kingdom general election in Northern Ireland
Notes
References
Further reading Bromhead, Peter. "The General Election of 1966". Parliamentary Affairs 19.3 (1966): 332–345. Butler, David E.; King, Anthony. The British General Election of 1966 (1966); the standard scholarly study.
Kavanaugh, Dennis. "1966: An Opportunity Squandered" in Andrew S. Crines, and Kevin Hickson, eds., Harold Wilson: The Unprincipled Prime Minister?: A Reappraisal of Harold Wilson (Biteback Publishing, 2016) pp. 39–56. Pimlott, Ben. Harold Wilson (HarperCollins, 1992) pp. 395–404. Schaffer, B.B. "The British General Election, 1964: A Retrospect", Australian Journal of Politics and History (1965), 11#1 pp. 7–22, .
External links United Kingdom election results—summary results 1885–1979
Manifestos