1924 United Kingdom general election

After the previous general election, the Labour Party had finished as the second-largest party, but formed their first-ever government with the support of the Liberal Party, after the ruling Conservative Party's shock loss of their majority made it untenable for Baldwin to continue as Prime Minister. However, relations between Labour and the Liberals proved stormy, eventually resulting in Liberal M.P. Sir John Simon calling a motion of no confidence in MacDonald's government, which was carried by a large majority. Asquith had gambled that neither Baldwin nor MacDonald would want to put the country through a third general election in two years, and that one of them would be forced to enter into a formal coalition with the Liberals. However, the gambit backfired when MacDonald instead called an election, knowing full well that a Conservative landslide was the only likely outcome, but himself gambling that it would be primarily at the expense of the Liberals. MacDonald's judgement proved correct, as the Liberals, who were still mostly dependent on former Prime Minister David Lloyd George for funds, ended up financially crippled from the very start of the campaign, while Labour were actually able to expand the scope of their own campaign thanks to increasing support from the workers' unions.

It is speculated that the combination of Labour forming its first government in January 1924 and the Zinoviev letter helped to stir up anti-socialist fears in Britain among many traditional anti-socialist Liberal voters, who then switched their support to the Conservative Party. This partly helps to explain the poor performance of the Liberal Party in the general election. The party also had financial difficulties which allowed it to contest only 339 seats, a lack of distinctive policies after the Conservative Party dropped their support for protected trade, and poor leadership under Asquith, who lost his own seat for the second time in six years. It would be the final election for Asquith, who was subsequently forced to lead the party from the House of Lords after being elevated to the Earldom of Oxford and Asquith the following year, with Lloyd George as Liberal chairman in the House of Commons. Declining health saw Asquith replaced as party leader by Lloyd George in 1926.

The fourth party in terms of number of candidates, number of seats and number of votes were not a party but a group of former National Liberals standing under the Constitutionalist label, led by Winston Churchill. They favoured Conservative/Liberal co-operation and had intended to formally organize as a party, but the election was called before they had the opportunity to actually do so. Three of the seven Constitutionalists elected, including Churchill, had been opposed by official Liberal candidates, and sat as Conservatives after the election. The other four sat as Liberals.

The refounded Sinn Féin ran Westminster candidates for the first time since March 1919; none came close to winning, with six of the eight losing their deposits. Its next Westminster election was in 1950.

{{UK general election navigation|clear=none|1922|1923|1924|1929|1931}}

The election was the first in the United Kingdom to feature party political broadcasts, with the parties making short appeals to voters via BBC Radio.{{cite book |last1=Evans |first1=Jeff |title=The Political Compendium |date=2022 |publisher=Zymurgy Publishing |location=Newcastle upon Tyne |isbn=978-1-903506-49-3 |page=55}}

File:1924 UK parliament.svg

{{Election summary begin with leaders | title = UK General Election 1924}}

{{Election summary party with leaders|

|party = Conservative Party (UK)

|leader = Stanley Baldwin

|candidates = 534

|seats = 412

|gain = 164

|loss = 10

|net = +154

|votes = 7,418,983

|votes % = 46.8

|seats % = 66.99

|plus/minus = +8.8

|government = yes

}}

{{Election summary party with leaders|

|party = Labour Party (UK)

|leader = Ramsay MacDonald

|candidates = 514

|seats = 151

|gain = 23

|loss = 63

|net = −40

|votes = 5,281,626

|votes % = 33.3

|seats % = 24.55

|plus/minus = +2.6

}}

{{Election summary party with leaders|

|party = Liberal Party (UK)

|leader = H. H. Asquith

|candidates = 339

|seats = 40

|gain = 10

|loss = 128

|net = −118

|votes = 2,818,717

|votes % = 17.8

|seats % = 6.5

|plus/minus = −11.9

}}

{{Election summary party with leaders|

|party = Constitutionalist (UK)

|leader = N/A

|candidates = 12

|seats = 7

|gain = 7

|loss = 0

|net = +7

|votes = 185,075

|votes % = 1.2

|seats % = 1.14

|plus/minus = +1.1

}}

{{Election summary party with leaders|

|party = Communist Party of Great Britain

|leader = Albert Inkpin

|candidates = 8

|seats = 1

|gain = 1

|loss = 0

|net = +1

|votes = 51,176

|votes % = 0.2

|seats % = 0.16

|plus/minus = +0.1

}}

{{Election summary party with leaders|

|party = Sinn Féin

|leader = Éamon de Valera

|candidates = 8

|seats = 0

|gain = 0

|loss = 0

|net = 0

|votes = 34,181

|votes % = 0.2

|seats % =

|plus/minus = N/A

}}

{{Election summary party with leaders|

|party = Independent (politician)

|leader = N/A

|candidates = 7

|seats = 2

|gain = 1

|loss = 1

|net = 0

|votes = 25,206

|votes % = 0.2

|seats % = 0.32

|plus/minus = −0.1

}}

{{Election summary party with leaders|

|party = Northern Ireland Labour Party

|leader = Sam Kyle

|candidates = 1

|seats = 0

|gain = 0

|loss = 0

|net = 0

|votes = 21,122

|votes % = 0.1

|seats % =

|plus/minus = N/A

}}

{{Election summary party with leaders|

|party = Scottish Prohibition Party

|leader = Edwin Scrymgeour

|candidates = 1

|seats = 1

|gain = 0

|loss = 0

|net = 0

|votes = 14,596

|votes % = 0.1

|seats % = 0.16

|plus/minus = 0.0

}}

{{Election summary party with leaders|

|party = Independent Liberal

|leader = N/A

|candidates = 1

|seats = 0

|gain = 0

|loss = 1

|net = −1

|votes = 3,241

|votes % = 0.0

|seats % =

|plus/minus = −0.1

}}

{{Election summary party with leaders|

|party = Independent Labour

|leader = N/A

|candidates = 1

|seats = 0

|gain = 0

|loss = 0

|net = 0

|votes = 1,775

|votes % = 0.0

|seats % =

|plus/minus = −0.1

}}

{{Election summary party with leaders|

|party = Independent Unionist

|leader = N/A

|candidates = 1

|seats = 0

|gain = 0

|loss = 0

|net = 0

|votes = 517

|votes % = 0.0

|seats % =

|plus/minus = −0.1

}}

{{Election summary party with leaders|

|party = Nationalist Party (Ireland)

|leader = T. P. O'Connor

|candidates = 1

|seats = 1

|gain = 0

|loss = 0

|net = 0

|votes = 0

|votes % = 0.0

|seats % = 0.16

|plus/minus = −0.4

}}

|}

{{Hatnote|Total votes cast: 15,856,215. Turnout: 77.0%.{{Cite web |url=http://www.parliament.uk/documents/commons/lib/research/rp2008/rp08-012.pdf |title=Election Statistics: UK 1918-2007 |access-date=23 May 2014 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140708134346/http://www.parliament.uk/documents/commons/lib/research/rp2008/rp08-012.pdf |archive-date=8 July 2014 |url-status=dead}}{{efn|All parties shown. The only Irish Nationalist candidate was elected unopposed. The Conservatives include the Ulster Unionists.}}

}}

{{bar box

|title=Popular vote

|titlebar=#ddd

|width=600px

|barwidth=500px

|bars=

{{bar percent|Conservative|{{party color|Conservative Party (UK)}}|46.79}}

{{bar percent|Labour|{{party color|Labour Party (UK)}}|30.68}}

{{bar percent|Liberal|{{party color|Liberal Party (UK)}}|17.78}}

{{bar percent|Others|#a9a9a9|4.75}}

}}

{{bar box

|title=Parliamentary seats

|titlebar=#ddd

|width=600px

|barwidth=500px

|bars=

{{bar percent|Conservative|{{party color|Conservative Party (UK)}}|66.99}}

{{bar percent|Labour|{{party color|Labour Party (UK)}}|24.55}}

{{bar percent|Liberal|{{party color|Liberal Party (UK)}}|6.50}}

{{bar percent|Others|#a9a9a9|1.96}}

}}

• All comparisons are with the 1923 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 1924. Such circumstances are marked with a †.

{{refbegin}}

:¹ Previous MP had defected to Labour by the time of the 1924 election

{{refend}}

• List of MPs elected in the 1924 United Kingdom general election
• 1924 United Kingdom general election in Northern Ireland
• 1924 United Kingdom general election in Scotland
• 1924 in the United Kingdom
• 1924

{{notelist}}

{{reflist|group=note}}

{{reflist}}

{{refbegin}}

• Adelman, Paul. The decline of the Liberal Party 1910-1931 (Routledge, 2014).

• {{citation |author-link=F. W. S. Craig |first=F. W. S. |last=Craig |title=British Electoral Facts: 1832–1987 |year=1989 |location=Dartmouth |publisher=Gower |isbn=0900178302 }}
• Walker, Graham, and James Greer. "Religion, Labour, and National Questions: The General Election of 1924 in Belfast and Lanarkshire1." Labour History Review 84.3 (2019): 217-240.

{{refend}}

• [http://www.election.demon.co.uk/geresults.html United Kingdom election results—summary results 1885–1979] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20201008002213/http://www.election.demon.co.uk/geresults.html |date=8 October 2020 }}

• [http://www.conservativemanifesto.com/1924/1924-conservative-manifesto.shtml 1924 Conservative manifesto]
• [https://web.archive.org/web/20040212181627/http://labour-party.org.uk/manifestos/1924/1924-labour-manifesto.shtml 1924 Labour manifesto]
• [http://www.libdemmanifesto.com/1924/1924-liberal-manifesto.shtml 1924 Liberal manifesto]

{{British elections}}

1924

General election

Category:October 1924 in the United Kingdom

Category:Ramsay MacDonald

Category:Stanley Baldwin

Category:H. H. Asquith