On this day seventy years ago at the 1951 general election, Labour won 13,948,385 votes (48.8%) compared to the Tories 13,717,851 (48.0%).🗳️

However the Conservatives won 321 seats to Labour’s 295 giving them a small majority of the then 625 seats in the House of Commons ...🧵
In 1951 Labour won the highest ever vote total and highest ever vote share for a political party at a UK general election, but still lost

In Feb 1974, the Tories won more votes, but fewer seats than Labour – the only other time post-war the party with the most votes has not won
After six years, the 1951 election brought to an end the transformative Labour government of 1945 which had created the NHS, the modern social security system, introduced legal aid, and brought industries (like rail and energy) into public ownership
Twenty months previously, Labour had won the 1950 election with a majority of five seats. It had called for an election to increase its majority.

This proved to be a miscalculation - and Winston Churchill again became PM, serving until he resigned in 1955, aged 81
Among those first elected in 1951 was Ted Short in Newcastle upon Tyne Central. He went on to be Education Secretary and Labour’s deputy leader.

He is perhaps most famous for creating “short money” – the funds paid to support Opposition parties to hold the Government to account.
Labour lost 20 net seats in 1951, but gained Anglesey from the Liberals, defeating Megan Lloyd George (the youngest child of former PM David).

Cledwyn Hughes took the seat for Labour, while Megan would later defect to Labour and win Carmarthen in the 1957 by-election
Labour also gained Merioneth from the Liberals in 1951, with Thomas Jones taking the seat for Labour.

During WW1 he had served time in Wormwood Scrubs for refusing orders after being recognised as a conscientious objector but forced to serve in a non-combatant role.
Following the 1951 election, in which Labour won the popular vote, the party would be out of power for 13 years until Harold Wilson won the first of his four general election victories
🧵ends

• • •

Missing some Tweet in this thread? You can try to force a refresh
 

Keep Current with Andrew Fisher

Andrew Fisher Profile picture

Stay in touch and get notified when new unrolls are available from this author!

Read all threads

This Thread may be Removed Anytime!

PDF

Twitter may remove this content at anytime! Save it as PDF for later use!

Try unrolling a thread yourself!

how to unroll video
  1. Follow @ThreadReaderApp to mention us!

  2. From a Twitter thread mention us with a keyword "unroll"
@threadreaderapp unroll

Practice here first or read more on our help page!

More from @FisherAndrew79

23 Oct
The inevitable reaction of landlords to John McDonnell calling for a rent freeze reminds me of the backlash from crap bosses when the minimum wage was first introduced...

"What business is it of yours what I charge my tenant / what I pay my worker?"
express.co.uk/news/uk/150719…
Power hates to be challenged. It hates democratic intervention in their 'private' realm where they have all the power.

The Tory Party is the political arm of those with power (property / business owners). It resists interventions for the common good to preserve wealth for a few
We saw another example of it yesterday, when Conservative MPs blocked a private members' bill to outlaw exploitative fire and rehire practices in the workplace #StopFireandRehire
independent.co.uk/business/minis…
Read 4 tweets
6 Oct
On this day in 1910, Barbara Betts was born – later better known as Barbara Castle 🌹

In my opinion, no Labour Cabinet Minister has had a more positive influence on UK policy in the last 60 years.

A big claim, but one I think is justified … 🧵
Castle established the Department of Overseas Development as its first Cabinet Minister under Harold Wilson (then only the 4th ever woman Cabinet minister)

The ministry later became the Department for International Development before being abolished by Boris Johnson in 2020
As Transport Minister, she made wearing a seatbelt compulsory, mandated the 70mph speed limit, and introduced breathalysers for drink-driving – saving thousands of lives every year

She also backed plans for a London Congestion Charge (which Ken Livingstone would later introduce)
Read 11 tweets
29 Sep
Despite promising not to trash the last four years, Starmer declared in his #Lab21 speech that Labour would “never again go into an election with a manifesto that is not a serious plan for government”

But was it not credible? 🤷‍♂️🧵

Me for @ipaperviews
inews.co.uk/opinion/keir-s…
One key pledge in 2019 was universal free broadband. The pandemic proved how necessary that was with children home-schooled and many working from home.

Now the DWP has partnered with TalkTalk to offer jobseekers six months free broadband

So universal free full-fibre broadband?
Labour also promised a ‘Warm Homes for All’ policy – which Starmer re-announced it in his #Lab21 speech.
mirror.co.uk/news/politics/…
The retrofitting scheme would create jobs, reduce bills, reduce emissions, so ..?
Read 9 tweets
28 Sep
What a sad state of affairs. In recent years, the FBU reaffiliated to Labour and RMT consulted its members on doing so.

BFAWU announced its decision to consult its members on disaffiliation weeks ago, only 2 days ago did anyone from Labour leadership even get in touch with them
This tweet from @BFAWUOfficial shows the current Labour leadership made little effort to speak to the union and its thousands of members.
So much for I'll work "shoulder to shoulder with trade unions" ... Image
Read 5 tweets
26 Sep
Today at #Lab21 conference will debate the rules for electing Keir Starmer's successor.

This has been a damaging spectacle over the last few days, but the consequences of today's vote could be more damaging to the party in the long term ... 🧵
The first thing to note is that the original proposals to revert to a less democratic electoral college have been withdrawn, after a huge backlash

To focus on internal politics at this time is misjudged. To do it incompetently ...
The proposals being debated today keep OMOV but would change the rules in the following ways
-Raise threshold of MP nominations from 10% to 20% (currently c.40 MPs)
-Ditch registered supporters
-Freeze date for members 6 months prior to start of contest (new members can’t vote)
Read 8 tweets
25 Sep
Wow! That's narrow. Assumed he'd walk it. Show real discomfort with way Labour members and staff have been treated.

Remember, even having a vote on this is unprecedented, it usually goes through on the nod. #Lab21
Has anyone yet seen the union/CLP split on this?
Labour official texts to say they think c.65/35 for among unions, and c.55/45 among CLPs.

Nearly half of CLPs rejecting is big, if right ...
Read 5 tweets

Did Thread Reader help you today?

Support us! We are indie developers!


This site is made by just two indie developers on a laptop doing marketing, support and development! Read more about the story.

Become a Premium Member ($3/month or $30/year) and get exclusive features!

Become Premium

Too expensive? Make a small donation by buying us coffee ($5) or help with server cost ($10)

Donate via Paypal Become our Patreon

Thank you for your support!

Follow Us on Twitter!

:(