United Kingdom general election, 1922

United Kingdom general election, 1922

15 November 1922
All 615 seats Constituency results 308 seats needed for a majority
Turnout	73.0% 15.8%
First party Second party   Leader Andrew Bonar Law J. R. Clynes Party Conservative Labour Leader since 23 October 1922 14 February 1921 Leader's seat Glasgow Central Manchester Platting Last election 379 seats, 39.2% (including Conservatives not elected under the Coalition coupon) 57 seats, 21.5% Seats won 344 142 Seat change 35 85 Popular vote 5,294,465 4,076,665 Percentage 38.5% 29.7% Swing 0.7% 8.9%   Third party Fourth party   Leader H. H. Asquith David Lloyd George Party Liberal National Liberal Leader since 30 April 1908 7 December 1916 Leader's seat Paisley Caernarvon Boroughs Last election 36 seats, 13.3% 127 seats, 12.6% Seats won 62 53 Seat change 26 74 Popular vote 2,601,486 1,355,366 Percentage 18.9% 9.9% Swing 5.9% 2.7%
PM before election David Lloyd George National Subsequent PM Andrew Bonar Law Conservative

The United Kingdom general election of 1922 was held on Wednesday 15 November 1922. It was the first election held after most of the Irish counties left the United Kingdom to form the Irish Free State, and was won by Andrew Bonar Law's Conservatives, who gained an overall majority over Labour, led by J. R. Clynes, and a divided Liberal Party.

Background

The Liberal Party were split between the "National Liberals" following David Lloyd George and the "Liberals" following H. H. Asquith. However, some candidates stood calling for a reunited Liberal party whilst others appear to have backed both Asquith and Lloyd George. Few sources are able to agree on exact numbers, and even in contemporary records held by the two groups some MPs were claimed for both sides. It was the first election where Labour surpassed the combined strength of both Liberal parties in votes and seats.

Until the previous month the Conservatives had been in coalition with the Lloyd George Liberals and some Lloyd George Liberals were not opposed by Conservative candidates (e.g. Winston Churchill, who was defeated at Dundee nonetheless) whilst many leading Conservatives (e.g. former leaders Sir Austen Chamberlain, Arthur Balfour and Lord Birkenhead) were not members of Bonar Law's government and hoped to hold the balance of power after the election; this was not to be, as Bonar Law won an overall majority.

Dec 1910 election • MPs

1918 election • MPs

1922 election • MPs

1923 election • MPs

1924 election • MPs

Results

↓

344	142	62	53	14
Conservative	Labour	Lib	NL	O

UK General Election 1922
			Candidates						Votes
Party		Leader	Standing	Elected	Gained	Unseated	Net	% of total	%	No.	Net %
	Conservative	Andrew Bonar Law	482	344			+ 12	55.9	38.5	5,294,465	+6.0
	Labour	J. R. Clynes	414	142			+ 85	23.1	29.7	4,076,665	+8.9
	Liberal	H. H. Asquith	334	62			+ 26	10.1	18.9	2,601,486	+5.9
	National Liberal	David Lloyd George	155	53			– 74	8.6	9.9	1,355,366	−2.7
	Independent Conservative	N/A	20	3	3	1	+ 2	0.5	0.9	116,861	+0.5
	Independent	N/A	15	3	3	2	+ 1	0.5	0.8	114,697	−0.2
	Nationalist	Joseph Devlin	4	3	2	6	– 4	0.5	0.4	57,641	−1.8
	Communist	Albert Inkpin	5	2	2	0	+ 2	0.17	0.2	30,684	N/A
	Agriculturalist	Harry German	4	0	0	0	0		0.2	21,510	0.0
	Independent Labour	N/A	4	1	0	1	– 1	0.17	0.1	18,419	−1.0
	Constitutionalist	N/A	1	1	1	0	+ 1	0.17	0.1	16,662	N/A
	Scottish Prohibition	Edwin Scrymgeour	1	1	1	0	+ 1	0.17	0.1	16,289	+0.1
	Independent Liberal	N/A	3	1	1	1	0	0.17	0.1	13,197	−0.1
	Independent Unionist	N/A	1	0	0	0	0		0.1	9,861	N/A
	Independent Communist	N/A	1	0	0	0	0		0.0	4,027	N/A
	Anti-Parliamentary Communist	Guy Aldred	1	0	0	0	0		0.0	470	N/A

Total votes cast: 13,748,300. Turnout 73.0%. All parties shown. Conservatives include Ulster Unionists. National Liberals were party formed by Lloyd George's Coalition Liberals after leaving the government. Their net seat change is compared with the Coalition Liberals' number of seats after the 1918 election.

Votes summary

Popular vote
Conservative			38.51%
Labour			29.65%
Liberal			18.92%
National Liberal			9.86%
Independent			2.01%
Nationalist			0.42%
Communist			0.22%
Others			0.41%

Seats summary

Parliamentary seats
Conservative			55.93%
Labour			23.09%
Liberal			10.08%
National Liberal			8.62%
Independent			1.3%
Nationalist			0.49%
Communist			0.16%
Others			0.33%

See also

• MPs elected in the United Kingdom general election, 1922
• United Kingdom general election, 1922 (Scotland)

References

• F. W. S. Craig, British Electoral Facts: 1832–1987
• United Kingdom election results – summary results 1885–1979

External links

• 1922 Conservative manifesto
• 1922 Labour manifesto
• 1922 Liberal manifesto