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Winston Churchill is one of the most iconic political figures of the 20th century,
particularly due to his effective leadership of the wartime coalition of 1939-1945. Yet,
despite his popularity, his Conservative party lost the first post-war election in 1945. In
this essay, I will examine the factors which have been cited by historians as leading to
this defeat and I will draw a conclusion with regards to which factors were most
instrumental to that end.
The analysts of the age were not expecting a Labour victory, although historians have
retrospectively largely regarded it as unsurprising.1
Although Churchill was popular personally as a wartime leader, polls showed that his
party was not. However, the polls were not taken seriously as there was still a vestige of
a sentiment that Labour was not fit to govern.
The factors which affected the 1945 election result can be divided into three categories:
long-term structural change in the electorate, the medium-term effect of war on political
attitudes, and the short-term effect of the election campaigns.
Long-term
The last election prior to 1945 was ten years earlier, owing to the fact that elections
were suspended during wartime. Although there had not been any recent change to the
franchise, the electorate of 1945 was starkly different to that of 1935 because of
younger people becoming eligible to vote in the intervening period. In 1945, one fifth of
voters were first-time voters.
These newly-eligible voters had lived all of their politically-conscious lives through a
formative period of unemployment and domestic unrest under Conservative rule. 61%
of first-time voters were in support of Labour, with feelings exacerbated by the Daily
Mirrors support of the same. According to Henry Pelling, most historians agree, the
partys victory was due primarily to the voters assessment of the past; it was the
Paul Adelman, The Rise of the Labour Party 1880-1945, (New York: Longman Inc., 1994), 88
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Henry Pelling, The 1945 General Election Considered (Historical Journal, vol. 23, 1980)
Peter Hennessy, Never Again, (London: Penguin, 2006), 84
4
Harold Macmillan, Tides of Fortune 1945-1955 (London: Macmillan, 1979), 132
5
Paul Addison, From Blitz to Blair, ed. Nick Tiratsoo (London: Phoenix, 1998), 67.
3
Page 2 of 6
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Yet Labour also promoted a moderate, not revolutionary, image of itself. They
deliberately avoided the buzzword socialism and preferred to use phrases such as
pragmatism and collectivism.
Short-term
The biggest detriment in the Conservatives election campaign was Churchills
concentration on criticism of Labour. Rather than calling it by its name, Churchill would
refer to the Labour Party as the socialists. Particularly distasteful was his
scaremongering Gestapo speech of 4th June 1945, warning the nation of a Labour
government introducing a Gestapo into Britain, when in fact his own deputy for the past
few years was Labours Clement Attlee who was respected by the public.
While criticising Labour, the Conservatives were not perceived to be counterbalancing
their criticisms with what they have to offer under a government of their own. At the
same time, Labour were very active in showing the electorate what they have to offer
and putting up posters around the country. In fact it was Labour who wished to dissolve
the National Government whereas Churchill wanted it to at least continue until victory
in the East.11
Conclusion
Although the aforementioned factors all played their own parts in assisting Labour to
victory, the key factors which I think were the most effective are the following:
1. Activeness of the Labour party. Whilst Churchill was busy with international
affairs, Labour was able to focus its attention on domestic policy, governance and
planning for the post-war election.12 The party had a clear vision of the future of
Britain as a welfare state. Although socialism was a relatively new concept, I feel
that the idea of a socialist welfare state now profoundly captured the zeitgeist,
particularly after the Five Giant Evils of want, disease, ignorance, squalor and
11
12
13
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In summary, my view is that Churchill lost the 1945 election to the Labour party on
account of extra concentration on international affairs and his party, already having a
bad record, not being active enough in party politics in an era of dire need amongst the
national populace.
I conclude this essay with Hennessy quoting Tom Harrisson: (Churchill) himself
received vast public and published acclaim as Britains successful wartime leader. But
the basic public distrust of strong leadership showed Millions in fact thought of
Churchill, specifically, as a mighty support in dire necessity, a sort of intellectual deepshelter, intended for emergency protection only.16
BIBLIOGRAPHY
Addison, Paul, From Blitz to Blair, ed. Nick Tiratsoo (London: Phoenix, 1998)
Adelman, Paul, The Rise of the Labour Party 1880-1945, (New York: Longman Inc.,
1994)
Ball, Stuart, Portrait of a Party: The Conservative Party in Britain 1918-1945, (Oxford:
Oxford University Press Ltd., 2013)
Hennessy, Peter, Never Again, (London: Penguin, 2006)
Macmillan, Harold, Tides of Fortune 1945-1955 (London: Macmillan, 1979)
16