ABSTRACT
The election campaign of 1945 was distinguished alike by the contrasting strategy by which the two chief parties appealed to the electorate, and the strange manner of its decision. The Labour party presented a compact, fully developed programme supported by a powerfully co-ordinated team of leaders. The Conservative party presented Mr. Churchill, and the blessings of his Four-Year Plan. Mr. Churchill laid before the electors his manifold experience, and asked for a renewal of their confidence, saying little or nothing of the Conservative party. The electorate gave scarcely a sign of the startling decision they were about to take. There was little to tell that, while they cheered him, and while the Union Jacks that had hailed VE-Day still hung in the streets, the nation by their votes, silently cast, were about to overthrow the most illustrious war leader in British history, on the morrow of his greatest victory.
