31 March 1966 1970 → 317 seats, 44.1% 304 seats, 43.4% 364 253 Start date March 31, 1966 Location United Kingdom | Turnout 75.8% (1.3%) 304 seats, 43.4% 9 seats, 11.2% 253 12 End date 1966 | |
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Winner Harold Wilson | ||
The 1966 United Kingdom general election on 31 March 1966 was won by incumbent Labour Prime Minister Harold Wilson and was regarded as an easy victory. Wilson's decision to call a snap election turned on the fact that his government, elected a mere 17 months previously in 1964, had an unworkably small majority of only 4 MPs. The Labour government was returned following this snap election with a much larger majority of 96 seats.
Contents
Background
Prior to the 1966 general election, Labour had performed poorly in local elections in 1965, and lost a by-election, cutting their majority to just 2. Labour ran its campaign with the slogan "You know Labour government works".
Shortly after the local elections, Sir Alec Douglas-Home was replaced by Edward Heath as Leader of the Conservative Party.
The Conservatives had not really had time to prepare their campaign, although it was more professional than previously. There had been little time for Heath to become well known among the British public, having led the party for just eight months before the election. For the Liberals, money was an issue: two elections in the space of just two years had left the party in a tight financial position.
The election night was broadcast live on the BBC, and was presented by Cliff Michelmore, Robin Day, Robert McKenzie and David Butler. The election was replayed on the BBC Parliament channel on the 40th anniversary of the event and again in 2016 to mark the 50th anniversary of the election.
Although the BBC's telecast was in black and white, a couple of colour television cameras were placed in the BBC election studio at Television Centre to allow CBS's Charles Collingwood and NBC's David Brinkley to file live reports from that studio by satellite and in colour for their respective networks' evening news programmes (which were transmitted at 11:30 P.M. British time; 6:30 P.M. Eastern Standard Time).
Timeline
The Prime Minister Harold Wilson announced on 28 February that Parliament would be dissolved on 10 March, for an election to be held on 31 March. The key dates were as follows:
National opinion polls summary
Research Services : 3% swing to Labour (forecast majority of 101)
National Opinion Polls : 3.5% swing to Labour (forecast majority of 115)
Gallup : 4.5% swing to Labour (forecast majority of 150)
Express (known as Harris): 7.5% swing to Labour (forecast majority of in excess of 255)
Results
All parties shown. The Conservative figure includes Ulster Unionists and National Liberals.
Votes summary
Headline Swing: 2.7% to Labour
Conservative
Labour
Liberal
Televised declarations
(From BBC Parliament Replay.) These declarations were covered live by the BBC where the returning officer was heard to say "duly elected". To mark the 50th anniversary of the election BBC Parliament will be reshowing the election night coverage in full on Monday 28 March 2016.