Talk:United Kingdom general election, 1945

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The MPs elected in the UK general election, 1945 doesn't match this document - it falls quite a few short, and most of the party totals don't match. SJO mmmmm 14:04, 22 November 2005 (UTC)

Why are the changes from previous seat totals missing? Ewan 16:42, 9 June 2007 (UTC)

The article states that "The single greatest factor in Labour's dramatic win appeared to be the policy of social reform." substantiating this through their support of the proposals in the Beveridge Report. During the Election, the author of the report, Sir William Beveridge was to be frequently seen campaigning the length and breadth of the country not just in support of his proposals, but also in support of a party willing to impliment them. The party was NOT the Labour party but the Liberal party. He was significantly committed to this party's cause that he also stood at the election as a Liberal candidate. The fact that the Liberal and Labour parties more or less shared the same social reform policies combined with the fact that Labour did very well in the elections and the Liberals did very poorly should point any analyst to the conslusion that Labour's social reform policies could not have been a factor, let alone 'the single greatest factor' in their win. (Graemp 10:15, 21 August 2007 (UTC))

Maybe, but the Liberal Party was in no position to win the 1945 election, having firmly become the 'third party' earlier in the 20th Century. 155.136.80.171 11:50, 24 August 2007 (UTC)

Continuing the reason's for Labour's victory the article states "With the war drawing to an end by 1945, the National Government sought to call an election in a bid to return to a two party system." This statement is incorrect. Churchill hoped to continue the Coalition government after the war but Labour and the Liberals wished to return to a party system. Their may be some value in the statement of Churchill's intentions if you accept that he would have been happy to continue with a Coalition government if only one of either the Labour or Liberal parties had decided to remain as this would have in effect produced an essentially two-party system. The statement makes no contribution to an explanation of why Labour won. Conversely their is evidence that the decision by the Labour party to leave the coalition was unpopular and may have detracted from their victory. (Graemp) —The preceding signed but undated comment was added at 10:27, August 21, 2007 (UTC).

[edit] Reason election was called

"With the Second World War coming to an end in Europe, the Labour Party decided to pull out of the wartime national government, necessitating a new election set for July of 1945.

Is this strictly true? The Tories had more than enough MPs to sustain an administration. I'd say it's more the case that after ten years without an election and the war all but won, the case for the continuance of a non-coalition administration could not be made. A fine distinction, I know, but I think it holds up. Anybody else got a view? BTLizard (talk) 14:19, 18 January 2008 (UTC)

Yes, it's true that it wasn't technically necessary if the government could have held majorities in both the Commons and the Lords, in addition to gaining the support of the King, which would have been entirely feasible. But if so, they would probably have seen the trend of by-election losses accelerate as the mood in the country was generally in favour of a timely election, and with every reason to believe they would win the election, there was little reason to. Warofdreams talk 20:41, 18 January 2008 (UTC)

I've tweaked it slightly. Essentially I've substituted "precipitating" for "necessitating". As I say, it's a fine distinction but I think the one is just a shade more accurate than the other. BTLizard (talk) 13:30, 25 January 2008 (UTC)

That's a good choice of words. Warofdreams talk 17:18, 25 January 2008 (UTC)