On Thursday 26 May 1955, the 1955 United Kingdom general election was held in England, to elect all 630 members of the House of Commons, with 511 constituencies being in England.

It was called immediately after Anthony Eden succeeded Sir Winston Churchill as prime minister in order to strengthen the position of the Conservative Party in the Commons where it enjoyed only a slender majority.

It was the first of 18 general elections held under the reign of Queen Elizabeth II and the first general election whose television coverage is existent. It was the first election under the first periodic review of Westminster constituencies, the first review following the Initial Review of Westminster constituencies. At the same time, it was the fifth and the last election in which the Labour Party was led by Clement Attlee.

Candidates

Below is a table summarising the candidates of the 1955 general election in England.

Affiliation CandidatesLabour Party 510Conservative Party 480Liberal Party 95National Liberal Party 29Communist Party of Great Britain 11Independent 4Independent Labour 2Independent Peace 1Independent Labour Party 1Independent Conservative 1Total 1,134

Analysis

Conservative Party

The Conservative Party recorded a second consecutive victory over the Labour Party, again with few changes in seats. It was the first time since 1935 that the Conservative Party won a greater share of the vote over the Labour Party. The 50.4% vote share recorded by the Conservatives remains the largest share of the vote recorded by any party in a post-war general election. In addition, the 46.8% vote share recorded by the Labour Party in England had been only exceeded by the party in the 1966 general election.

Labour lost several seats to the Conservatives in England. These seats were Carlisle, Ealing North, Gloucestershire South, Gravesend, Halifax, Hornchurch, Leeds North East, Liverpool Kirkdale, Maldon, Nottingham Central, Nottingham South, Preston South, Southampton Test, Walthamstow East, Wandsworth Central, Watford, The Wrekin.

Maurice Macmillan, the son of future Prime Minister Harold Macmillan, entered Parliament in Halifax. Keith Joseph who would go on to several cabinet positions under four Conservative Prime Ministers entered Parliament in Leeds North East. Brian Harrison entered Parliament in Maldon, and would hold the seat until the February 1974 general election. Michael Hughes-Young entered Parliament in Wandsworth Central, and would hold the seat until 1964. William Yates entered Parliament in The Wrenkin, and would hold the seat until 1966, following which he would become a Member of Parliament in Australia. It also retained Sunderland South, which the party had won the 1953 Sunderland South by-election. The retention was a gain from the Labour Party in comparison to the previous election.

It also gained the newly created seats of Chigwell, Eastleigh, Essex South East, Hertfordshire East, Nantwich, Rye, Surbiton, Walsall South.

However, lost the abolished seat of Blackburn West, wherein Ralph Assheton retired from the House of Commons. Assheton subsequently entered the House of Lords and served as Lord Lieutenant of Lancashire. The Conservatives also lost the abolished seats of Leeds North, wherein Minister Osbert Peake retired from Parliament. It also lost the abolished Reading North, Frederic Bennett retiring. However, would go on to returned to Parliament in the seat of Torquay at the 1955 Torquay by-election.

With 26 gains and six losses, the Conservative Party won an overall 20 seats in England.

National Liberal Party

The National Liberal Party, which was in a constituency alliance with the Conservative Party won two further seats at this election. It retained its seats of Bedfordshire South, Bradford North, Harwich, Holland with Boston, Huntingdonshire, Luton, Newcastle upon Tyne North, Norfolk Central, St Ives, Torrington, Sheffield Hallam and Sheffield Heeley.

It also gained two seats from the Labour Party. It won Bradford West which replaced the Labour-held seat of Bradford Central. It also gained Plymouth Devonport, which it had lost in 1945. As such, the National Liberal Party increased its seat count in England from 12 seats to 14 in total. This was in spite of the party fielding fewer candidates than in the previous election, and suffering a small drop in vote share across England. Combined with the Conservative Party results in England, there were 28 gains but six losses in terms of seats across the constituency alliance between the parties.

Labour Party

The Labour Party along with its 20 losses to the Conservatives and National Liberals, also lost the abolished seats of Birmingham Erdington, Fulham West, Leeds Central, Manchester Clayton and Sheffield Neepsend. However Labour gained Bristol North West, South West Norfolk and Romford from the Conservatives. It also gained the newly created seats of Birmingham All Saints, Erith and Crayford, Feltham, Leeds East, Meriden. Denis Howell entered Parliament in Brimingham All Saints. Denis Healey won Leeds East, after moving from Leeds South East which he had won at the 1952 Leeds South East by-election. With 25 losses and eight gains in terms of seats, the party lost an overall 17 seats.

Liberal Party

The Liberal Party retained its two seats in England. Arthur Holt retained the seat of Bolton West, with Donald Wade retaining Huddersfield West. The Liberals received a slight increase in vote share in England, fielding a few more candidates than in the previous election.

Results

+PartySeatsAggregate votes Total Gains Losses Net Of all (%) Total Of all (%) Difference   Conservative (Total) 293 28 6 22 57.3 11,165,436 50.4 1.6 279 26 6 20 54.6 10,586,790 47.8 2.2 14 2 0 2 2.7 578,646 2.6 0.6   Labour 216 8 25 17 42.4 10,355,892 46.8 2.0   Liberal 2 0 0 0.4 571,034 2.6 0.3   Communist 0 0 0 — 15,405 0.1 0.1   Independent Labour 0 colspan=3 — 15,322 0.1   Independent 0 0 0 — 9,810 0.0 0.1   Independent Peace 0 colspan=3 — 2,148 0.0   Ind. Labour Party 0 0 0 — 715 0.0   Ind. Conservative 0 0 0 — 368 0.0 Total 511 5 100.0 22,136,130 100.0 0.0 Registered voters, and turnout 28,790,285 76.9 5.8

By region

Note: the following tables indicate the results according to the regions of England which were established in 1994, based on the county boundaries established in the 1974 local government reforms. These regions were not used at the time for the purposes of this election.

The number of seats for each region that were changed under the first periodic review of Westminster constituencies are indicated respectively.

East Midlands

+ Party Seats Aggregate votes Total Gains Losses Net Of all (%) Total Of all (%) Difference 23 0 2 2 60.5 51.8 1.9 15 2 0 2 39.5 46.8 2.6 0 0 0 0.0 1.4 0.7   Others 0 0 0 0.0 0.1 0.1 Total 38

East of England

+ Party Seats Aggregate votes Total Gains Losses Net Of all (%) Total Of all (%) Difference 35 5 1 4 85.3 52.8 1.6 7 1 2 1 17.1 45.0 4.8 0 0 0 0.0 2.2 6.2   Others 0 0 0 0.0 0.0 Total 41 3

Greater London

+ Party Seats Aggregate votes Total Gains Losses Net Of all (%) Total Of all (%) Difference 54 5 1 4 52.9 49.3 1.7 48 1 3 2 47.1 47.8 2.1 0 0 0 0.0 2.6 0.7   Others 0 0 0 0.0 0.3 0.2 Total 102 2

North East England

+ Party Seats Aggregate votes Total Gains Losses Net Of all (%) Total Of all (%) Difference 24 0 1 1 77.4 57.7 1.6 7 1 0 1 22.6 41.9 2.4 0 0 0 0.0 0.4 0.3   Others 0 0 0 0.0 0.0 0.5 Total 31

North West England

+ Party Seats Aggregate votes Total Gains Losses Net Of all (%) Total Of all (%) Difference 46 3 0 3 52.0 50.3 1.4 36 0 4 4 43.4 45.8 1.4 1 0 0 1.2 2.1 0.1   Others 0 0 0 0.0 0.1 0.1 Total 83 1

South East England

+ Party Seats Aggregate votes Total Gains Losses Net Of all (%) Total Of all (%) Difference 55 3 0 3 90.2 60.0 1.2 6 0 2 2 9.8 37.8 4.2 0 0 0 0.0 2.0 5.6   Others 0 0 0 0.0 0.2 0.2 Total 61 1

South West England

+ Party Seats Aggregate votes Total Gains Losses Net Of all (%) Total Of all (%) Difference 36 2 1 1 80.0 53.1 0.6 9 1 2 1 20.0 38.1 3.4 0 0 0 0.0 8.2 2.2   Others 0 0 0 0.0 0.6 0.6 Total 45

West Midlands

+ Party Seats Aggregate votes Total Gains Losses Net Of all (%) Total Of all (%) Difference 32 0 0 59.3 49.4 3.1 22 2 0 2 40.7 49.2 2.4 0 0 0 0.0 1.2 0.5   Others 0 0 0 0.0 0.2 0.2 Total 54 2

Yorkshire and the Humber

+ Party Seats Aggregate votes Total Gains Losses Net Of all (%) Total Of all (%) Difference 32 0 4 4 57.1 52.3 1.4 23 2 0 2 41.1 44.3 1.7 1 0 0 1.8 3.3 0.3   Others 0 0 0 0.0 0.1 0.1 Total 56 2

See also 1955 United Kingdom general election in Northern Ireland 1955 United Kingdom general election in Scotland 1955 United Kingdom general election in Wales

Notes

References

Further reading Thorpe, Andrew (1997). A History of the British Labour Party. London: Macmillan Education UK. "1955: Eden given mandate", BBC News, 5 April 2005 Birch, A.H., Campbell, P. and Lucas, P.G., 1956. The popular press in the British general election of 1955. Political Studies, 4(3), pp. 297–306. Butler, David E. (1956), The British General Election of 1955.