United Kingdom General Election of 1945

Labour won 393 seats in a landslide days after victory in Europe, sweeping Churchill from office.

Overview

On July 5, weeks after VE Day, Britain voted, counting delayed to allow service ballots, and on July 26 Labour's 393 seats against 213 Conservatives stunned the world by ejecting the war hero Churchill. Clement Attlee's quiet organization promised the Beveridge welfare state, NHS, and nationalization, and voters, remembering the thirties, chose social reconstruction over empire nostalgia. The 72.8 percent turnout created the postwar settlement of 1945 to 1951, including the National Health Service of 1948. The defeat of the man who had just won the war remains history's great electoral upset.