ABSTRACT
The General Election of 1945, preceded by the end of the war in Europe and followed so swiftly by the surrender of Japan, will make the date a turning-point in British history. Of its effects, and of the consequences which may flow from it in British political life, it is no part of the business of the authors of this book to speak. Our only aim has been to provide a record and a commentary. Most notably, it was the culmination of the long-drawn-out attempt of the Labour party to capture the majority of seats in the House of Commons and to become established in office with the full power of a strongly supported government. To the Conservatives it was one of the three great defeats in their electoral history, comparable with 1832 and 1906. It may be that it leaves them in a weaker position for recovery than on the two previous occasions. Their sudden fall is less surprising than it might seem on the surface. During the years 1918 to 1939 they had held on to power by narrow margins of support in the country as a whole and were never able to attract as many as half the votes of the electorate, when they stood alone. Only in the elections of 1922 and 1924 were they successful without working in coalition with some Liberal or Labour elements. In 1923 and 1929, the two other occasions on which they stood alone, they were decisively defeated.
