1935 United Kingdom general election

The 1935 United Kingdom general election was held on Thursday 14 November 1935 and resulted in a large, albeit reduced, majority for the National Government now led by Stanley Baldwin of the Conservative Party. The greatest number of members, as before, were Conservatives, while the National Liberal vote held steady. The much smaller National Labour vote also held steady but the resurge in the main Labour vote caused over a third of their MPs, including National Labour leader Ramsay MacDonald, to lose their seats.

1935 United Kingdom general election
14 November 1935
All 615 seats in the House of Commons
308 seats needed for a majority
Turnout71.1%, 5.3%
  First party Second party Third party
 
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 470 seats, 55% 52 seats, 30.8% 35 seats, 3.7%
Seats won 386 154 33
Seat change 86 102 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% Part of Labour
Seats won 21 8 4
Seat change 12 5 4
Popular vote 1,414,010 321,028 136,208
Percentage 6.7% 1.5% 0.7%
Swing 0.2% New party
Colours denote the winning party—as shown in § Results
Prime Minister before election

Stanley Baldwin
National

 Prime Minister after election

Stanley Baldwin
National

Labour, under what was then regarded internally as the caretaker leadership of Clement Attlee following the resignation of George Lansbury slightly over a month before, made large gains over their very poor showing at the 1931 general election, and saw their highest share of the vote (until 1945). They made a net gain of over a hundred seats, thus reversing much of the ground lost in 1931. The Liberals continued a slow political decline, with their leader, Sir Herbert Samuel, losing his 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 general election and having disaffiliated fully from Labour in 1932. The Scottish National Party contested their first general election, and the Communist Party gained the West Fife seat, their first in ten years. Major election issues were stubborn unemployment and the role of the League of Nations, particularly 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 and a 1939-scheduled election for 1940 was cancelled. This parliament would see two leadership changes. Neville Chamberlain took over from Stanley Baldwin as Prime Minister and Tory Leader in 1937. He in turn resigned in 1940 in favour of Winston Churchill, who linked the three main parties in Parliament into a unity government for the war.

Results
↓ 
387 33 8 1 154 21 11
Conservative LN NL N Labour Lib O
UK General Election 1935
Candidates Votes
Party Leader Stood Elected Gained Unseated Net % of total % No. Net %
National Government
  Conservative Stanley Baldwin 515 387 5 88 −83 62.9 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 0.2 0.3 53,189 −0.2
National Government (total) Stanley Baldwin 583 429 12 139 −125 69.8 51.8 11,183,908 −15.4
Opposition
  Labour Clement Attlee 552 154 105 3 +102 25.0 38.0 7,984,988 +7.4
  Liberal Herbert Samuel 161 21 3 15 −12 3.4 6.7 1,414,010 −0.3
  Ind. Labour Party James Maxton 17 4 4 0 +4 0.7 0.7 136,208 N/A
  Nationalist Thomas 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
  Ind. Conservative N/A 3 0 0 0 0 0.0 0.1 29,475 N/A
  Communist Harry Pollitt 2 1 1 0 0 0.2 0.1 27,177 −0.2
  Independent N/A 5 2 1 0 0 0.3 0.1 +0.1
  Independent Labour N/A 1 0 0 0 0 0.0 0.1 14,867 0.0
  Liverpool Protestant Harry 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 3 0 0 0 0 0.0 0.0 10,376 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%.[1]
All parties shown. Conservatives include the Ulster and Scottish Unionists.

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 National
 
 5.4%
Liberal
 
 3.4%
National Labour
 
 1.3%
Independent Labour
 
 0.7%
Others
 
 1%
 
  

Transfers of seats
  • All comparisons are with the 1931 election.
    • In some cases the change is due to the MP defecting to the gaining party. Such circumstances are marked with a *.
    • In other circumstances the change is due to the seat having been won by the gaining party in a by-election in the intervening years, and then retained in 1935. Such circumstances are marked with a †.
To From No. Seats
Communist Conservative 1 Fife West
Ind. Labour Party 1 Camlachie
Labour Liberal 11 Edinburgh East, South Shields, Durham, Bethnal Green North-East†, Lambeth North†, Whitechapel and St Georges, Middlesbrough East, Dewsbury, Colne Valley, Wrexham, Carmarthen
National Labour 6 Ilkeston, Seaham, Forest of Dean, Finsbury, Tottenham South, Bassetlaw
Liberal National 7 Western Isles, Dunfermline Burghs, Bishop Auckland, Consett, Shoreditch, Barnsley, Burnley
National Independent 2 Southwark Central, Burslem[lower-alpha 1]
Conservative 79 Aberdeen North, Stirling and Falkirk, Clackmannan and Eastern Stirlingshire, Stirlingshire West, Kirkcaldy Burghs, Maryhill, Motherwell, Bothwell, Coatbridge, Springburn, Tradeston, Ayrshire South, Linlithgow, Whitehaven, Derbyshire North East, Chesterfield, Blaydon, Houghton-le-Spring, Jarrow, Barnard Castle, Sedgefield, East Ham S, Leyton West, Romford, Upton†, Bristol South, Kingston upon Hull Central, Kingston upon Hull East, Ashton-under-Lyne, Farnworth, Ardwick, Clayton, Gorton, Platting, Rochdale, Everton, West Toxteth, Newton, St Helens, Brigg, Battersea North, Camberwell North, Deptford, Hackney Central , Hackney South, Hammersmith North†, Islington South, Islington West, Rotherhithe, Southwark South East, Mile End, Willesden West, Edmonton, Tottenham North, Morpeth, Nottingham West, Cannock, Hanley, Kingswinford, Leek, Stoke, Wednesbury†, West Bromwich, Nuneaton, Shipley, Wakefield†, Sheffield Park, Rotherham†, Bradford Central, Keighley, Pontefract, Hillsborough, Attercliffe, Brightside, Penistone, Leeds South, Doncaster, Batley and Morley, Nelson and Colne
Labour gains: 105
Liberal Conservative 3 Cumberland North, Barnstaple, Berwick-upon-Tweed
National Labour Liberal 1 Leicester West
Liberal National 1 Walsall*
Conservative 2 Sunderland (one of two), Oldham (one of two)
National Liberal gains: 3
National Independent Conservative 1 Brecon and Radnor
Conservative Liberal 4 Orkney and Shetland, Banff, Bodmin, Darwen
Liberal National 1 Flintshire[lower-alpha 2]
Conservative gains: 5
  1. Sitting MP had defected to National Liberals.
  2. Sitting MP had defected to Liberals.

Constituency results

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

See also

References
  1. Tetteh, Edmund (1 February 2008). "Election Statistics: UK 1918–2007". parliament.uk. Retrieved 5 May 2018.

Further reading
  • Craig, F. W. S. (1989), British Electoral Facts: 1832–1987, Dartmouth: Gower, ISBN 0900178302
  • Fry, Geoffrey K. (1991), "A Reconsideration of the British General Election of 1935 and the Electoral Revolution of 1945", History, 76 (246): 43–55, doi:10.1111/j.1468-229X.1991.tb01533.x
  • Stannage, Tom (1980), Baldwin Thwarts the Opposition: The British General Election of 1935

Manifestos
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