United Kingdom general election, 1935

United Kingdom general election, 1935

14 November 1935
All 615 seats to the House of Commons 308 seats needed for a majority
Turnout	71.1% 5.3%
First party Second party Third party   150x150px Leader Stanley Baldwin Clement Attlee John Simon Party Conservative Labour Liberal National Leader since 23 May 1923 25 October 1935 5 October 1931 Leader's seat Bewdley Limehouse Spen Valley Last election 473 seats, 55% 52 seats, 30.8% 35 seats, 3.7% Seats won 386 154 33 Seat change 83 102 2 Popular vote 10,025,083 7,984,988 784,608 Percentage 47.8% 38.0% 3.7% Swing 7.2% 7.4%   Fourth party Fifth party Sixth party   Leader Herbert Samuel Ramsay MacDonald James Maxton Party Liberal National Labour Ind. Labour Party Leader since 1931 24 August 1931 1934 Leader's seat Darwen (defeated) Seaham (defeated) Glasgow Bridgeton Last election 33 seats, 6.5% 13 seats, 1.5% 3 seats, 1.2% Seats won 21 8 4 Seat change 12 5 1 Popular vote 1,414,010 321,028 136,208 Percentage 6.7% 1.5% 0.7% Swing 0.3% 0.5%
PM before election Stanley Baldwin Conservative Subsequent PM Stanley Baldwin Conservative

1929 election • MPs

1931 election • MPs

1935 election • MPs

1945 election • MPs

1950 election • MPs

The United Kingdom general election held on 14 November 1935 resulted in a large, though reduced, majority for the National Government now led by Conservative Stanley Baldwin. The greatest number of Members, as before, were Conservatives, while the National Liberal vote held steady. The National Labour vote collapsed, and even its leader Ramsay MacDonald lost his seat.

Labour, under what was then regarded internally as the caretaker leadership of Clement Attlee, made large gains over their very poor showing in the 1931 general election. The Liberals continued their slow political collapse and lost further ground, with their leader Sir Herbert Samuel losing his own seat.

The Independent Labour Party stood entirely separately from Labour for the first time since 1895, having stood candidates unendorsed by Labour at the 1931 election and having disaffiliated fully from Labour in 1932. The Scottish National Party contested their first election, and the Communist Party gained their first parliamentary seat in almost ten years, West Fife.

The major election issues were the continuing unemployment problems and the role of the League of Nations, particularly as regarding the Empire of Japan.

No general elections were held during the Second World War until Allied victory was assured; hence the 1935 House sat until 1945. As a result, this parliament would see two leadership changes. Neville Chamberlain took over as Prime Minister and Conservative leader in 1937. He in turn resigned in 1940, when the office of Prime Minister passed to Winston Churchill, who linked the three main parties in the House of Commons in an all-party unity government for the duration of the Second World War.

Results

UK General Election 1935
			Candidates						Votes
Party		Leader	Standing	Elected	Gained	Unseated	Net	% of total	%	No.	Net %
National Government
	Conservative	Stanley Baldwin	515	387	5	88	− 83	62.8	47.8	10,025,083	− 7.2
	Liberal National	John Simon	44	33	5	7	− 2	5.4	3.7	784,608	0.0
	National Labour	Ramsay MacDonald	20	8	1	6	− 5	1.3	1.5	321,028	0.0
	National	N/A	4	1	1	4	− 3	0.5	0.3	53,189	− 0.2
	National Government (total)	Stanley Baldwin	583	429				69.9	53.3	11,183,908
Opposition
	Labour	Clement Attlee	552	154	105	3	+ 102	25.0	38.0	7,984,988	+ 7.4
	Liberal	Herbert Samuel	161	21	3	18	− 11	3.4	6.7	1,414,010	− 0.3
	Ind. Labour Party	James Maxton	17	4	1	0	+ 1	0.7	0.7	136,208	− 0.5
	Nationalist	T. J. Campbell	2	2	0	0	0	0.3	0.2	50,747	− 0.1
	Independent Republican	N/A	3	0	0	0	0	0.0	0.2	46,715	N/A
	Independent National	N/A	2	2	0	0	0	0.3	0.2	33,527	N/A
	SNP	Alexander MacEwen	8	0	0	0	0	0.0	0.2	29,517	0.0
	Independent Conservative	N/A	2	0	0	0	0	0.0	0.1	27,721	N/A
	Communist	Harry Pollitt	2	1	1	0	0	0.3	0.1	27,177	− 0.2
	Independent	N/A	8	2	1	0	0	0.2	0.1	17,113	+ 0.1
	Independent Labour	N/A	1	0	0	0	0	0.0	0.1	14,867	0.0
	Liverpool Protestant	H. D. Longbottom	1	0	0	0	0	0.0	0.0	6,677	0.0
	Independent Progressive	N/A	1	0	0	0	0	0.0	0.0	6,421	N/A
	Social Credit	John Hargrave	1	0	0	0	0	0.0	0.0	3,642	N/A
	Plaid Cymru	Saunders Lewis	1	0	0	0	0	0.0	0.0	2,534	0.0
	Independent Liberal	N/A	1	0	0	0	0	0.0	0.0	2,525	0.0
	Agriculturalist	N/A	1	0	0	0	0	0.0	0.0	1,771	N/A
	Christian Socialist	N/A	1	0	0	0	0	0.0	0.0	1,480	N/A

Total votes cast: 20,991,488. Turnout 71.1%. All parties shown. Conservatives include the Ulster and Scottish Unionists. Seats and votes won by the Independent Labour Party (ILP) are compared with seats and votes won by the official ILP candidates among the ILP candidates at the 1931 election who ran without national Labour Party endorsement.

Votes summary

Popular vote
National Government			53.3%
Conservative			47.8%
Labour			38%
Liberal			6.7%
Liberal National			3.7%
National Labour			1.5%
Independent Labour			0.7%
Others			1.3%

Seats summary

Parliamentary seats
National Government			69.9%
Conservative			62.8%
Labour			25%
Liberal			3.4%
Liberal National			5.4%
National Labour			1.3%
Independent Labour			0.7%
Others			1%

Constituency Results

These are available on the Political Science Resources Elections Database, a link to which is given below.

Further reading

• F. W. S. Craig, British Electoral Facts: 1832-1987
• Fry, Geoffrey K. "A Reconsideration of the British General Election of 1935 and the Electoral Revolution of 1945," History (1991) 76#246 pp 43–55.
• Stannage, Tom. Baldwin Thwarts the Opposition: The British General Election of 1935 (1980).

See also

• MPs elected in the United Kingdom general election, 1935

External links

• 1935 Conservative manifesto
• 1935 Labour manifesto
• 1935 Liberal manifesto