Wikipedia
List of United Kingdom general elections
This is a list of United Kingdom general elections (elections for the UK House of Commons) since the first in 1802. The members of the 1801–1802 Parliament had been elected to the former Parliament of Great Britain and Parliament of Ireland, before being co-opted to serve in the first Parliament of the United Kingdom, so that Parliament is not included in the table below. There have been 57 general elections held in the UK up to and including the December 2019 election.
Election results
In 1801, the right to vote in the United Kingdom was severely restricted. Universal suffrage, on an equal basis for men and women over the age of 21, was established in 1928. Before 1918, general elections did not occur on a single day and polling was spread over several weeks.
The majority figure given is for the difference between the number of MPs elected at the general election from the party (or parties) of the government, as opposed to all other parties (some of which may have been giving some support to the government, but were not participating in a coalition). The Speaker is excluded from the calculation. A negative majority means that there was a hung parliament (or minority government) following that election. For example, at the 1929 general election, Labour was 42 seats short of forming a majority, and so its majority is listed as −42. If the party in office changed the figure is re-calculated, but no allowance is made for changes after the general election.
No attempt is made to define a majority before 1832, when the Reform Act disenfranchised the rotten boroughs; before then the Tory party had an undemocratically entrenched dominance. Particularly in the early part of the period, the complexity of factional alignments, with both the Whig and Tory traditions tending to have some members in government and others in opposition factions simultaneously, make it impossible to produce an accurate majority figure. The figures between 1832 and about 1859 are approximate due to problems of defining what was a party in government, as the source provides figures for all Liberals rather than just the Whig component in what developed into the Liberal Party. The Whig and Peelite Prime Ministers in the table below are regarded as having the support of all Liberals.
List of elections
19th century
| Election | Dates | Elected prime minister (during term) | Winning party | Government vote share | Seat majority | Seats | Monarch (Reign) |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1802 (MPs) | 5 July – 28 August 1802 | Henry Addington | Tory | — | — | 658 | George III (1760–1820) |
| (William Pitt the Younger)[a] | |||||||
| 1806 (MPs) | 29 October – 17 December 1806 | The Lord Grenville | Whig | ||||
| 1807 (MPs) | 4 May – 9 June 1807 | The Duke of Portland | Tory | ||||
| (Spencer Perceval)[a] | |||||||
| 1812 (MPs) | 5 October – 10 November 1812 | The Earl of Liverpool | |||||
| 1818 (MPs) | 17 June – 18 July 1818 | ||||||
| 1820 (MPs) | 6 March – 14 April 1820 | George IV (1820–1830) | |||||
| 1826 (MPs) | 7 June – 12 July 1826 | George Canning[a] | |||||
| (The Viscount Goderich) | |||||||
| (The Duke of Wellington) | |||||||
| 1830 (MPs) | 29 July – 1 September 1830 | The Duke of Wellington[b][4] | Tory | N/A | N/A | William IV (1830–1837) | |
| 1831 (MPs) | 28 April – 1 June 1831 | The Earl Grey | Whig | N/A | 135 | ||
| 1832 (MPs) | 10 December 1832 – 8 January 1833[5] | The Earl Grey | 67.0% | 225 | |||
| (The Viscount Melbourne)[c][6] | |||||||
| (The Duke of Wellington) | Conservative | 29.2% | −308 | ||||
| (Sir Robert Peel) | |||||||
| 1835 (MPs) | 6 January – 6 February 1835 | Sir Robert Peel[d][7] | 42.8% | −113 (C) | |||
| (The Viscount Melbourne) | Whig | 57.2% | 113 | ||||
| 1837 (MPs) | 24 July – 18 August 1837 | The Viscount Melbourne[e][8] | 52.4% | 29 | Victoria (1837–1901) | ||
| 1841 (MPs) | 29 June – 22 July 1841 | The Viscount Melbourne[f][9] | Whig | 46.2% | N/A | ||
| (Sir Robert Peel)[g][10] | Conservative | 51.6% | 77 | ||||
| (Lord John Russell) | Whig | 46.2% | N/A | ||||
| 1847 (MPs) | 29 July – 26 August 1847 | Lord John Russell[h][11] | Whig | 53.8% | −72 | 656 | |
| (The Earl of Derby) | Conservative | 42.6% | N/A | ||||
| 1852 (MPs) | 7–31 July 1852 | The Earl of Derby[i][12] | Conservative | 41.9% | 7 | 654 | |
| (The Earl of Aberdeen)[j][13] | Peelite | N/A | N/A | ||||
| (The Viscount Palmerston) | Whig | 57.9% | |||||
| 1857 (MPs) | 27 March – 24 April 1857 | The Viscount Palmerston[k][14] | Whig | 64.8% | 100 | ||
| (The Earl of Derby) | Conservative | 33.5% | N/A | ||||
| 1859 (MPs) | 28 April – 18 May 1859 | The Earl of Derby[l][15] | Conservative | 34.2% | N/A | ||
| (The Viscount Palmerston) | Liberal | 65.8% | 59 | ||||
| 1865 (MPs) | 11–24 July 1865 | The Viscount Palmerston[a] | 59.5% | 81 | 658 | ||
| (The Earl Russell)[m][16] | N/A | ||||||
| (The Earl of Derby) | Conservative | 40.5% | |||||
| (Benjamin Disraeli) | |||||||
| 1868 (MPs) | 17 November – 7 December 1868 | William Ewart Gladstone | Liberal | 61.2% | 115 | ||
| 1874 (MPs) | 31 January – 17 February 1874 | Benjamin Disraeli | Conservative | 44.3% | 49 | 652 | |
| 1880 (MPs) | 31 March – 27 April 1880 | William Ewart Gladstone[17] | Liberal | 54.7% | 51 | ||
| (The Marquess of Salisbury) | Conservative | 42.5% | N/A | ||||
| 1885 (MPs) | 24 November – 18 December 1885 | The Marquess of Salisbury[18] | Conservative[n] | 43.0% | N/A | 670 | |
| (William Ewart Gladstone)[19] | Liberal | 47.7% | −16 | ||||
| 1886 (MPs) | 1–27 July 1886 | The Marquess of Salisbury | Conservative & Liberal Unionists | 51.4% | 58 | ||
| 1892 (MPs) | 4–26 July 1892 | The Marquess of Salisbury[20] | 47.0% | N/A | |||
| (William Ewart Gladstone) | Liberal | 45.4% | −126 | ||||
| (The Earl of Rosebery)[21] | |||||||
| (The Marquess of Salisbury)[o] | Conservative & Liberal Unionists | 47.0% | N/A | ||||
| 1895 (MPs) | 13 July – 7 August 1895 | The Marquess of Salisbury | Conservative & Liberal Unionists | 49.3% | 153 | ||
| 1900 (MPs) | 26 September – 24 October 1900[p] | The Marquess of Salisbury | Conservative & Liberal Unionists | 50.2% | 135 | ||
| (Arthur Balfour) | 50.2% | N/A | |||||
| (Sir Henry Campbell-Bannerman)[o] | Liberal | 45.1% | |||||
| Election | Date | Elected prime minister (during term) | Winning party | Government vote share | Seat majority | Seats | Monarch (Reign) |
- ^ a b c d Died in office.
- ^ Was defeated on a motion to examine the accounts of the Civil List on 15 November 1830 and resigned the following day.
- ^ Was dismissed by William IV on 14 November 1834.
- ^ Peel was defeated on a report about the Irish Church on 7 April 1835 and resigned the following day.
- ^ Defeated on a motion of no confidence on 4 June 1841 and advised the Queen to dissolve Parliament, which she did on 23 June.
- ^ Ministry met the House of Commons, but was defeated on an amendment to the Address on 27 August 1841 and resigned on 30 August 1841.
- ^ Was defeated on an Irish Coercion Bill on 25 June 1846 and resigned on 29 June 1846.
- ^ Was defeated on a militia Bill on 20 February 1852 and resigned on 23 February.
- ^ Was defeated on the Budget on 16 December 1852 and resigned on 19 December 1852.
- ^ Was defeated on a vote in favour of a select committee to enquire into alleged mismanagement during the Crimean War on 29 January 1855 and resigned the next day.
- ^ Was defeated on a Bill, which made it a felony to plot in Britain to murder someone abroad, on 19 February 1858 and resigned on the same day.
- ^ Ministry met the Commons, but was defeated on an amendment to the Address on 10 June 1859 and resigned on 11 June 1859.
- ^ Was defeated on Parliamentary reform proposals on 18 June 1866 and resigned on 26 June 1866.
- ^ Hung parliament.
- ^ a b Immediately advised the dissolution of Parliament upon becoming Prime Minister.
- ^ Known as a Khaki election which is an election heavily influenced by wartime or postwar sentiment.
20th century
| Election | Date | Elected prime minister (during term) | Winning party | Government vote share | Seat majority | Seats | Turnout[22] | Monarch (Reign) |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1906 (MPs) | 12 January – 8 February 1906 | Sir Henry Campbell-Bannerman | Liberal | 48.9% | 129 | 670 | — | Edward VII (1901–1910) |
| (H. H. Asquith) | ||||||||
| 1910 (MPs) | 15 January – 10 February 1910 | H. H. Asquith | Liberal (minority government)[a] | 43.5% | −122 | 670 | ||
| 1910 (MPs) | 3–19 December 1910 | H. H. Asquith | 44.2% | −126 | George V (1910–1936) | |||
| (David Lloyd George) | ||||||||
| The election that would have been due by 1916 as a result of the Parliament Act 1911 was not held due to the First World War (1914–1918). | ||||||||
| 1918 (MPs) | 14 December 1918 | David Lloyd George | Liberal (coalition)[b] | 53.0% | 238 | 707 | 57.2% | |
| (Bonar Law)[c] | Conservative | |||||||
| 1922 (MPs) | 15 November 1922 | Bonar Law | 38.5% | 74 | 615 | 73.0% | ||
| (Stanley Baldwin) | ||||||||
| 1923 (MPs) | 6 December 1923 | Stanley Baldwin[23] | Conservative (minority government)[a] | 38.0% | N/A | 615 | 71.1% | |
| (Ramsay MacDonald) | Labour (minority government) | 30.7% | −98 | |||||
| 1924 (MPs) | 29 October 1924 | Stanley Baldwin | Conservative | 46.8% | 210 | 615 | 77.0% | |
| 1929 (MPs) | 30 May 1929[d] | Ramsay MacDonald | Labour (minority government)[a] | 37.1% | −42 | 615 | 76.3% | |
| 1931 (MPs) | 27 October 1931 | Ramsay MacDonald | National Labour (National Government) | 67.2% | 492 | 615 | 76.4% | |
| 1935 (MPs) | 14 November 1935 | Stanley Baldwin | Conservative (National Government) | 51.8% | 242 | 615 | 71.1% | |
| (Neville Chamberlain) | 51.8% | 242 | George VI (1936–1952) | |||||
| (Winston Churchill) | Conservative (war-time coalition) | 97.7% | 609 | |||||
| Conservative (caretaker government) | 51.8% | 242 | ||||||
| The election due by 1940 was not held due to the Second World War (1939–1945). | ||||||||
| 1945 (MPs) | 5 July 1945 | Clement Attlee | Labour | 47.7% | 146 | 640 | 72.8% | |
| 1950 (MPs) | 23 February 1950 | 46.1% | 5 | 625 | 83.9% | |||
| 1951 (MPs) | 25 October 1951 | Sir Winston Churchill | Conservative | 48.0% | 17 | 625 | 82.6% | |
| (Sir Anthony Eden) | Elizabeth II (1952–2022) | |||||||
| 1955 (MPs) | 26 May 1955 | Sir Anthony Eden | 49.7% | 60 | 630 | 76.8% | ||
| (Harold Macmillan) | ||||||||
| 1959 (MPs) | 8 October 1959 | Harold Macmillan | 49.4% | 100 | 78.7% | |||
| (Sir Alec Douglas-Home) | ||||||||
| 1964 (MPs) | 15 October 1964 | Harold Wilson | Labour | 44.1% | 4 | 630 | 77.1% | |
| 1966 (MPs) | 31 March 1966 | 48.0% | 98 | 75.8% | ||||
| 1970 (MPs) | 18 June 1970 | Edward Heath | Conservative | 46.4% | 30 | 630 | 72.0% | |
| 1974 (MPs) | 28 February 1974 | Harold Wilson | Labour (minority government)[a] | 37.2% | −33 | 630 | 78.8% | |
| 1974 (MPs) | 10 October 1974 | Harold Wilson | Labour | 39.2% | 3 | 635 | 72.8% | |
| (James Callaghan) | ||||||||
| 1979 (MPs) | 3 May 1979 | Margaret Thatcher | Conservative | 43.9% | 43 | 635 | 76.0% | |
| 1983 (MPs) | 9 June 1983 | 42.4% | 144 | 650 | 72.7% | |||
| 1987 (MPs) | 11 June 1987 | Margaret Thatcher | 42.2% | 102 | 75.3% | |||
| (John Major) | ||||||||
| 1992 (MPs) | 9 April 1992 | John Major | 41.9% | 21 | 651 | 77.7% | ||
| 1997 (MPs) | 1 May 1997 | Tony Blair | Labour | 43.2% | 179 | 659 | 71.4% | |
| Election | Date | Elected prime minister (during term) | Winning party | Government vote share | Seat majority | Seats | Turnout[22] | Monarch (Reign) |
- ^ a b c d Hung parliament.
- ^ Coalition Coupon. The Conservative party (led by Bonar Law) won the most votes and seats, but David Lloyd George became Prime Minister as leader of the Liberal party as part of a major cross-party deal.
- ^ Bonar Law immediately advised the dissolution of Parliament upon becoming Prime Minister on 23 October 1922.
- ^ Known as the ’flapper’ election because it was the first election in which women aged 21–29 had the right to vote.
21st century
| Election | Date | Elected prime minister (during term) | Winning party | Government vote share | Seat majority | Seats | Turnout[22] | Monarch (Reign) |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2001 (MPs) | 7 June 2001 | Tony Blair | Labour | 40.7% | 167 | 659 | 59.4% | Elizabeth II (1952–2022) |
| 2005 (MPs) | 5 May 2005 | Tony Blair | 35.2% | 66 | 646 | 61.4% | ||
| (Gordon Brown)[a] | ||||||||
| 2010 (MPs) | 6 May 2010 | David Cameron | Conservative (coalition)[b] | 59.1%[c] | 78[d] | 650 | 65.1% | |
| 2015 (MPs) | 7 May 2015 | David Cameron | Conservative | 36.8% | 12 | 650 | 66.1% | |
| (Theresa May)[e] | ||||||||
| 2017 (MPs) | 8 June 2017 | Theresa May | Conservative (confidence and supply government)[f] | 42.3% | −5[g] | 650 | 68.8%[24] | |
| (Boris Johnson)[h] | ||||||||
| 2019 (MPs) | 12 December 2019 | Boris Johnson | Conservative | 43.6% | 80 | 650 | 67.3% | |
| (Liz Truss)[i] | Charles III (2022–present) | |||||||
| (Rishi Sunak)[j] | ||||||||
| Election | Date | Elected prime minister (during term) | Winning party | Government vote share | Seat majority | Seats | Turnout[22] | Monarch (Reign) |
- ^ Brown succeeded Blair as leader of the Labour party on 24 June 2007, after being unopposed in a party leadership election. He officially became Prime Minister 3 days later.
- ^ Hung parliament. Formed a coalition with the Liberal Democrats, led by Nick Clegg (who became Deputy Prime Minister).
- ^ Includes the vote share of both the Conservatives (36.1%) and Liberal Democrats (23%).
- ^ Combined coalition total.
- ^ May succeeded Cameron as Prime Minister on 13 July 2016, following a short party leadership election.
- ^ Hung parliament.
- ^ Confidence and supply agreement with the Democratic Unionist Party.
- ^ Johnson succeeded May as Prime Minister on 24 July 2019 – two days after being elected leader of the Conservative Party in a party leadership election.
- ^ Truss succeeded Johnson as Prime Minister on 6 September 2022 – the day after being elected leader of the Conservative Party in the July–September party leadership election.
- ^ Sunak succeeded Truss as Prime Minister on 25 October 2022 – the day after being elected (without opposition) leader of the Conservative Party in the October party leadership election.
See also
Notes
- ^ Including Tory (1832), Conservative (from 1835), Liberal Conservative (1847–1859), Liberal Unionist (1886–1910), National parties (1931–1945).
- ^ Including Whig (to mid-19th century), Liberal (mid-19th century to 1979), National Liberal (1922), Independent Liberal (1931), SDP-Liberal Alliance (1983–1987) and Liberal Democrat (from 1992).
References
- ^ Table 2.01 "Summary Results of General Elections 1832–2005 (UK)", in Colin Rallings and Michael Thrasher, British electoral facts, 1832–2006 (7th ed.), 2007, ISBN 978-0-7546-2712-8, p. 59.
- ^ "Election 2010 Results", BBC News.
- ^ "Election 2015 Results", BBC News.
- ^ "COMMITTEE "UPON THE CIVIL LIST. (Hansard, 15 November 1830)". api.parliament.uk.
- ^ "parliament.uk" (PDF). parliament.uk. commonslibrary.parliament.uk. Retrieved 20 July 2023.
- ^ "PROROGATION. (Hansard, 15 August 1834)". api.parliament.uk.
- ^ "CHURCH OF IRELAND. (Hansard, 7 April 1835)". api.parliament.uk.
- ^ "CONFIDENCE IN THE MINISTRY— ADJOURNED DEBATE (FIFTH DAY). (Hansard, 4 June 1841)". api.parliament.uk.
- ^ "ADDRESS IN ANSWER TO THE SPEECH— ADJOURNED DEBATE, FOURTH NIGHT. (Hansard, 27 August 1841)". api.parliament.uk.
- ^ "PROTECTION OF LIFE (IRELAND) BILL—ADJOURNED DEBATE—(SIXTH NIGHT). (Hansard, 25 June 1846)". api.parliament.uk.
- ^ "LOCAL MILITIA. (Hansard, 20 February 1852)". api.parliament.uk.
- ^ "WAYS AND MEANS—FINANCIAL STATEMENT—ADJOURNED DEBATE(FOURTH NIGHT). (Hansard, 16 December 1852)". api.parliament.uk.
- ^ "ARMY (CRIMEA)—THE CONDUCT OF THE WAR, AND CONDITION OF THE ARMY. ADJOURNED DEBATE.—(SECOND NIGHT.) (Hansard, 29 January 1855)". api.parliament.uk.
- ^ "SECOND READING. (Hansard, 19 February 1858)". api.parliament.uk. Retrieved 22 December 2019.
- ^ "DEBATE RESUMED. (THIRD NIGHT). (Hansard, 10 June 1859)". api.parliament.uk. Retrieved 23 December 2019.
- ^ "MOTION FOR ADJOURNMENT. (Hansard, 19 June 1866)". api.parliament.uk.
- ^ Was defeated on the Budget on 8 June 1885 and resigned the next day
- ^ Met the Commons, but was defeated on an amendment to the Address on 26 January 1886 and resigned on 28 January
- ^ Was defeated on the Government of Ireland Bill on 7 June 1886 and advised the Queen to dissolve Parliament, which she did on 26 June.
- ^ Met the Commons, but was defeated on an amendment to the Address on 11 August 1892 and resigned the same day
- ^ Was defeated on the Cordite Vote on 21 June 1895 and resigned that day
- ^ a b c d Rogers, Simon (16 November 2012). "UK election historic turnouts since 1918 | News". theguardian.com. Retrieved 5 October 2013.
- ^ Met the Commons, but was defeated on an amendment to the Address on 21 January 1924 and resigned the next day
- ^ Bate, Alex; Baker, Carl; Uberoi, Elise; Audickas, Lukas; Dempsey, Noel; Hawkins, Oliver; Cracknell, Richard; McInnes, Roderick; Rutherford, Tom; Apostolova, Vyara (29 January 2019). "General Election 2017: full results and analysis" – via commonslibrary.parliament.uk.
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