ABSTRACT
The problems in diplomacy, defence and finance imposed on the Labour Government by the Korean War were difficult enough in themselves; they were aggravated by the political situation created at Westminster by the election of February 1950, which reduced its majority in the Commons to a bare half-dozen. This result has usually been regarded as indicating rather more disillusionment with the Government's performance than is perhaps justified by the fact that in an election which produced the highest percentage turnout (84 per cent) since December 1910, Labour received 46-1 per cent of votes cast, compared with the figure of 47-8 per cent of a smaller total of votes cast in 1945.
