1922 United Kingdom general election

1922 United Kingdom general election

15 November 1922
All 615 seats in the House of Commons 308 seats needed for a majority
Turnout	73.0%, 15.8%
First party Second party Third party   160x160px 160x160px Leader Bonar Law J. R. Clynes H. H. Asquith Party Conservative Labour Liberal Leader since 23 October 1922 14 February 1921 30 April 1908 Leader's seat Glasgow Central Manchester Platting Paisley Last election 382 seats, 38.4% 57 seats, 21.5% 36 seats, 13.3% Seats won 344 142 62 Seat change 38 85 26 Popular vote 5,294,465 4,076,665 2,601,486 Percentage 38.5% 29.7% 18.9% Swing 0.1% 8.9% 5.9%   Fourth party Fifth party Sixth party   115px Leader David Lloyd George Joseph Devlin Albert Inkpin Party National Liberal Nationalist Communist Leader since 7 December 1916 1918 1920 Leader's seat Caernarvon Boroughs Belfast Falls (abolished) N/A Last election 127 seats, 12.6% 7 seats, 2.2% Did not exist Seats won 53 3 1 Seat change 74 4 1 Popular vote 1,355,366 57,641 30,684 Percentage 9.9% 0.4% 0.2% Swing 2.7% 1.8% N/A
330px Colours denote the winning party—as shown in § Results
Prime Minister before election Bonar Law Conservative Appointed Prime Minister Bonar Law Conservative

The 1922 United Kingdom general election was held on Wednesday 15 November 1922. It was the first general election held after most of Ireland left the United Kingdom to form the Irish Free State, and was won by the Conservatives led by Bonar Law, who gained an overall majority over Labour, led by J. R. Clynes, and a divided Liberal Party.

This election is considered a realigning election, with the Conservative Party going on to spend all but eight of the next forty-two years as the largest party in Parliament, Labour emerging as the main competition to the Conservatives, and the Liberal Party falling to third-party status.

Background

The Liberal Party were split between the "National Liberals" following David Lloyd George, who had been ousted as Prime Minister the previous month, and the "Liberals" following former Prime Minister H. H. Asquith. The Conservatives had, until October 1922, been in coalition with a faction of the Liberals (that which later became the National Liberals) led by Lloyd George, at which point Bonar Law had formed a Conservative majority government.

Although still leader of the Liberal Party and a frequent public speaker, Asquith was no longer a particularly influential figure in the national political debate, and he had played no part in the downfall of the Lloyd George coalition. Most attention was focused on the new and most recent Prime Ministers. Asquith's daughter Violet Bonham-Carter, a prominent Liberal Party campaigner, likened the election to a contest between a man with sleeping sickness (Bonar Law) and a man with St Vitus Dance (Lloyd George).

Some Lloyd George National Liberals were not opposed by Conservative candidates (e.g. Winston Churchill, who was defeated at Dundee nonetheless), while many leading Conservatives (e.g. former leaders Sir Austen Chamberlain and Arthur Balfour and former Lord Chancellor Lord Birkenhead) were not members of Bonar Law's government and hoped to hold the balance of power after the election (comparisons were made with the Peelite group—the ousted Conservative front bench of the late 1840s and 1850s); this was not to be, as Bonar Law won an overall majority.

It was the first election where Labour surpassed the combined strength of both Liberal parties in votes and seats.

Some Liberal candidates stood calling for a reunited Liberal Party, while others appear to have backed both Asquith and Lloyd George. Few sources are able to agree on exact numbers, and even in contemporary records held by the two groups, some MPs were claimed for both sides. By one estimate, there were 29 seats where Liberals stood against one another. This is thought to have cost them at least 14 seats, 10 of them to Labour, so in theory a reunited Liberal Party would have been much closer to, and perhaps even ahead of, Labour in terms of seats. However, in reality the two factions were on poor terms, and Lloyd George was still hoping for a renewed coalition with the Conservatives.

Neither of the leaders of the two main parties would get to enjoy their success in the election for very long; within less than a month of the election, Clynes was defeated in a leadership challenge by former Labour leader Ramsay MacDonald, while Law would only last a little over seven months as Prime Minister before being forced to step down due to a terminal illness, resulting in Stanley Baldwin succeeding him as both party leader and Prime Minister.

Party platforms

The Conservative Party offered continuity to the electorate. Bonar Law's election address stated:

The crying need of the nation have this moment ... Is that we should have tranquility and stability both at home and abroad so that the free scope should be given to the initiative and enterprise of our own citizens, for it is in that way, far more than by any action of the Government that we can hope to recover from the economic and social results of the war.

The Labour Party proposed to nationalise the mines and railways, to impose a levy on financial capital, and to revise the peace treaties. It promised a higher standard of living for workers, higher wages, and better housing.

Results

↓ 

344	142	62	53	14
Conservative	Labour	Lib	NL	O

UK General Election 1922
			Candidates						Votes
Party		Leader	Standing	Elected	Gained	Unseated	Net	% of total	%	No.	Net %
	Conservative	Bonar Law	482	344	54	92	−38	55.9	38.5	5,294,465	+0.1
	Labour	J. R. Clynes	414	142	91	6	+85	23.1	29.7	4,076,665	+8.9
	Liberal	H. H. Asquith	334	62	47	21	+26	10.1	18.9	2,601,486	+5.9
	National Liberal	David Lloyd George	155	53	6	80	−74	8.6	9.9	1,355,366	−2.7
	Independent Conservative	N/A	20	3	3	1	+2	0.5	0.9	116,861	+0.5
	Independent	N/A	15	3	3	3	0	0.5	0.8	114,697	−0.2
	Nationalist	Joseph Devlin	4	3	2	6	−4	0.5	0.4	57,641	−1.8
	Communist	Albert Inkpin	5	1	1	0	+1	0.17	0.2	30,684	N/A
	Agriculturalist	Harry German	4	0	0	0	0		0.2	21,510	0.0
	Independent Labour	N/A	4	1	0	1	−1	0.17	0.1	18,419	−1.0
	Constitutionalist	N/A	1	1	1	0	+1	0.17	0.1	16,662	N/A
	Scottish Prohibition	Edwin Scrymgeour	1	1	1	0	+1	0.17	0.1	16,289	+0.1
	Independent Liberal	N/A	3	1	1	1	0	0.17	0.1	13,197	−0.1
	Independent Unionist	N/A	1	0	0	0	0		0.1	9,861	N/A
	Independent Communist	N/A	1	0	0	0	0		0.0	4,027	N/A
	Anti-Parliamentary Communist	Guy Aldred	1	0	0	0	0		0.0	470	N/A

Total votes cast: 13,748,300. Turnout: 73.0%.

Votes summary

Popular vote
Conservative			38.51%
Labour			29.65%
Liberal			18.92%
National Liberal			9.86%
Independent			2.01%
Nationalist			0.42%
Communist			0.22%
Others			0.41%

Seats summary

Parliamentary seats
Conservative			55.93%
Labour			23.09%
Liberal			10.08%
National Liberal			8.62%
Independent			1.3%
Nationalist			0.49%
Communist			0.16%
Others			0.33%

Transfers of seats

• All comparisons are with the 1918 election.
  • In some cases the change is due to the MP defecting to the gaining party. Such circumstances are marked with a *.
  • In other circumstances the change is due to the seat having been won by the gaining party in a by-election in the intervening years, and then retained in 1922. Such circumstances are marked with a †.

From		To		No.	Seats
	Labour		Labour (HOLD)	51	Aberdeen North, Abertillery, Ayrshire South, Bedwellty, Bishop Auckland, Broxtowe, Burnley, Burslem, Caerphilly, Chester-le-Street, Deptford, Derby (one of two), Dundee (one of two), Ebbw Vale, Edinburgh Central, Fife West, Forest of Dean, Govan, Gower, Hamilton, Hemsworth, Holland with Boston, Houghton-le-Spring, Ince, Kingswinford, Leeds South East, Leek, Morpeth, Nelson and Colne, Newton, Normanton, Nottingham West, Ogmore, Plaistow, Platting, Pontypool, Preston (one of two), Rhondda East, Rhondda West, Rother Valley, Rothwell, St Helens, Salford North, Smethwick, Wednesbury, Wentworth, West Bromwich, Westhoughton, Wigan, Woolwich East, Workington
			Liberal	1	Mansfield
			National Liberal	1	Wellingborough
			Conservative	5	Barnard Castle, Bolton (one of two), Clitheroe, Kettering, Ormskirk
	Coalition Labour		Labour	3	Cannock, Gorbals, Gorton*
			National Liberal	1	Norwich (one of two)*
			Conservative	1	Stockport (one of two)†
	Independent Labour		Independent Labour	1	Anglesey
	Coalition National Democratic		Labour	8	Aberdare, Bradford East, Don Valley, East Ham South, Hanley, Leicester West, Wallsend, Walthamstow West
			Conservative	1	Duddeston
	National Socialist Party		Labour	1	Silvertown*
	Labour Unionist	abolished		3	Shankill, St Anne's, Victoria
	Sinn Féin		Nationalist	1	Fermanagh and Tyrone (one of two) (replaced Fermanagh South)
		abolished		72	Londonderry City, Tyrone NW, N Donegal, S Donegal, W Donegal, N Monaghan, S Monaghan, E Cavan, W Cavan, Connemara, E Galway, N Galway, S Galway, Leitrim, N Roscommon, S Roscommon, N Sligo, S Sligo, E Mayo, N Mayo, S Mayo, W Mayo, Longford, Louth, King's County, Queen's County, Westmeath, Carlow, N Meath, S Meath, Dublin College Green, Dublin Harbour, Dublin St Patrick's, Dublin St Stephen's Green, N Dublin, S Dublin, National University of Ireland, Dublin Clontarf, Dublin Pembroke, Dublin St James's, Dublin St Michan's, E Wicklow, W Wicklow, N Kildare, S Kildare, N Kilkenny, S Kilkenny, N Wexford, S Wexford, E Clare, W Clare, E Tipperary, Mid Tipperary, N Tipperary, S Tipperary, Limerick City, E Limerick, W Limerick, E Kerry, N Kerry, S Kerry, W Kerry, Cork (both seats), E Cork, Mid Cork, N Cork, NE Cork, S Cork, SE Cork, W Cork, County Waterford
	Nationalist		Nationalist	2	Fermanagh and Tyrone (one of two) (replaced Tyrone North-East), Liverpool Scotland
		abolished		3	Armagh South, Belfast Falls, Down South
	Irish Parliamentary	abolished		2	East Donegal, Waterford City
	Liberal		Labour	11	Stirling and Falkirk, Midlothian South & Peebles, Derbyshire North East, Spennymoor, Seaham, Consett, Leigh, Bermondsey West, Whitechapel and St Georges, Wansbeck, Newcastle-under-Lyme*
			Liberal (HOLD)	14	Greenock, Paisley, Leith, Edinburgh East, Chesterfield, Belper, Derbyshire West, Kingston upon Hull South West, Lambeth North, Wolverhampton East, Middlesbrough West, Penistone, Merionethshire, Montgomeryshire
			National Liberal	8	Camborne, Cornwall North*, Western Isles, Kinross and West Perthshire*, Loughborough, Norwich* (one of two), Berwick-upon-Tweed, Sheffield Park*
			Conservative	5	Saffron Walden, Portsmouth Central, Stourbridge, Middlesbrough East, Cardiff East
	National Liberal		Communist Party	1	Battersea North
			Scottish Prohibition	1	Dundee (one of two)
			Labour	34	Dunfermline Burghs, Glasgow Cathcart, Renfrewshire East, Renfrewshire West, Rutherglen, Dumbarton Burghs, Glasgow Bridgeton, Crewe, Carlisle, Clay Cross, Ilkeston, Blaydon, Jarrow, Poplar South, Stepney Limehouse, Newcastle upon Tyne East, Newcastle upon Tyne West, Pontefract, Sheffield Hillsborough, Sheffield Attercliffe, Sheffield Brightside, Leeds South, Doncaster, Barnsley, Batley and Morley, Colne Valley, Wrexham, Llanelli, Carnarvonshire, Aberavon, Merthyr, Neath, Pontypridd†, Swansea East
			Liberal	12	Orkney and Shetland, East Aberdeenshire & Kincardineshire, Aberdeenshire West and Kincardine, Galloway, South Molton*, South Shields, Bethnal Green North-East, Norfolk South West*, Leeds West*, Huddersfield, Spen Valley, Combined Scottish Universities (one of three)*
			National Liberal (HOLD)	46	Combined English Universities (one of two), University of Wales, Caithness and Sutherland, Inverness, Ross and Cromarty, Banff, Moray and Nairn, Montrose Burghs, Argyll, Partick, Kilmarnock, Kirkcaldy Burghs, Roxburgh & Selkirk, Berwick & Haddington, Stockport (one of two), Stockton-on-Tees, Romford, Bristol East, Bristol North, Bristol South, Dartford, Blackburn (one of two), Bolton (one of two), Heywood and Radcliffe, Middleton & Prestwich, Oldham (one of two), Stretford, Leicester East, Camberwell North-West, Hackney Central, Shoreditch, Southwark Central, Southwark North, Southwark South East, Northampton, Lichfield, Stoke, Shipley, Denbigh, Flintshire, Cardiganshire, Carmarthen, Pembrokeshire, Carnarvon, Brecon and Radnor, Swansea West
			Independent Liberal	1	Eye*
			Independent	1	Mossley*
			Speaker	1	Halifax*
			Conservative	28	St Ives, Perth, Bedford, Luton, Cambridgeshire, Isle of Ely, Derbyshire South, Barnstaple, Sunderland (one of two), Leyton East, East Ham North, Stroud, Thornbury, Southampton (both seats), Buckrose, Bosworth, Kennington, Peckham, Norfolk South, Banbury, The Wrekin, Lowestoft, Sudbury, Pudsey and Otley, Leeds North, Leeds Central, Newport (Monmouthshire)†
			Independent Conservative	1	Dorset East
	Independent		Conservative	2	Hackney South†, Sowerby
	Coalition Independent		Labour	1	Norfolk North
	Speaker		Liberal	1	Penrith and Cockermouth
	Conservative		Communist	1	Motherwell
			Labour	32	Clackmannan and Eastern Stirlingshire, Stirlingshire West, Lanarkshire North, Glasgow Maryhill, Glasgow Camlachie, Bothwell†, Coatbridge, Glasgow Springburn, Glasgow Tradeston, Glasgow St. Rollox, Glasgow Shettleston, Linlithgow, Durham, Sedgefield, Gateshead, Stratford, Accrington, Eccles, Farnworth, Manchester Ardwick, Oldham (one of two), Rochdale, Bow and Bromley, Camberwell North†, Edmonton, Tottenham North, Newcastle upon Tyne Central, Elland, Bradford Central, Keighley, Dewsbury, Whitehaven
			Liberal	30	Aberdeen and Kincardine Central†, Forfarshire, Fife East, Edinburgh West, Dumfriesshire, Bedfordshire Mid, Birkenhead East, Derby (one of two), Tavistock, Dorset North, The Hartlepools, Harwich, Isle of Wight, Worcester, Holderness, Kingston upon Hull Central†, Preston (one of two), Bootle, Grantham, Horncastle, Bethnal Green South-West, Great Yarmouth, Nottingham Central, Oxford, Taunton, Chippenham, Westbury, Bradford South, Louth†, Bodmin†
			Independent Liberal	1	Cambridge University (one of two)
			Independent	1	Harrow*
			Conservative (HOLD)	289	Cambridge University (one of two), Combined English Universities (one of two), Oxford University (both seats), London University, Combined Scottish Universities (two of three), Aberdeen South, Ayr Burghs, Ayrshire N & Bute, Glasgow Central, Hillhead, Pollok, Kelvingrove, Dunbartonshire, Lanark, Edinburgh South, Midlothian N, Edinburgh North, Abingdon, Newbury, Reading, Windsor, Aylesbury, Buckingham, Wycombe, Cambridge, Huntingdonshire, Altrincham, Birkenhead West, Chester, Eddisbury, Knutsford, Macclesfield, Northwich, Stalybridge and Hyde, Wallasey, Wirral, Penryn and Falmouth, Cumberland North, Westmorland, High Peak, Exeter, Honiton, Plymouth Devonport, Plymouth Drake, Plymouth Sutton, Tiverton, Torquay, Totnes, Dorset South, Dorset West, Darlington, Sunderland (one of two), Chelmsford, Colchester, Epping, Essex SE, Ilford, Maldon, Leyton West, Southend, Walthamstow E, Upton, Bristol Central, Bristol West, Cheltenham, Cirencester and Tewkesbury, Gloucester, Aldershot, Basingstoke, Fareham, New Forest & Christchurch, Petersfield, Portsmouth North, Portsmouth South, Winchester, Hereford, Leominster, Bewdley, Dudley, Evesham, Kidderminster, Hitchin, St Albans, Watford, Hemel Hempstead, Ealing, Hornsey, Twickenham, Wood Green, Finchley, Brentford and Chiswick, Hendon, Spelthorne, Uxbridge, Willesden East, Acton, Enfield, Tottenham South, Willesden West, Howdenshire, Kingston upon Hull East, Kingston upon Hull North West, Ashford, Bromley, Canterbury, Chatham, Chislehurst, Dover, Faversham, Gillingham, Gravesend, Hythe, Isle of Thanet, Maidstone, Sevenoaks, Tonbridge, Barrow-in-Furness, Blackburn (one of two), Blackpool, Chorley, Darwen, Fylde, Lancaster, Lonsdale, Rossendale, Ashton-under-Lyne, Bury, Manchester Blackley, Manchester Clayton, Manchester Exchange, Hulme, Moss Side, Rusholme, Withington, Royton, Salford South, Salford West, E Toxteth, Edge Hill, Everton, Liverpool Exchange, Fairfield, Kirkdale, Walton, Wavertree, West Derby, West Toxteth, Southport, Warrington, Waterloo, Widnes, Harborough, Leicester South, Melton, Brigg, Gainsborough, Grimsby, Lincoln, Rutland and Stamford, Balham and Tooting, Chelsea, Clapham, Dulwich, Fulham East, Hampstead, Holborn, Lewisham East, Lewisham West, Kensington South, Hackney North, Brixton, Fulham West, Hammersmith South, Islington North, Kensington North, Battersea South, Greenwich, Islington East, Hammersmith North, Finsbury, Islington South, Islington West, City of London (both seats), Mile End, Stoke Newington, Norwood, Paddington North, Paddington South, Putney, Rotherhithe, St Marylebone, St Pancras North, St Pancras South East, St Pancras South West, Streatham, Wandsworth Central, Westminster Abbey, Woolwich West, King's Lynn, Norfolk East, Daventry, Peterborough, Hexham, Newcastle upon Tyne North, Tynemouth, Bassetlaw, Nottingham South, Nottingham East, Rushcliffe, Newark, Henley, Ludlow, Oswestry, Shrewsbury, Bath, Bridgwater, Frome, Wells, Weston-super-Mare, Yeovil, Burton, Stafford, Stone, Tamworth, Bilston, Wolverhampton West, Bury St Edmunds, Ipswich, Woodbridge, Chertsey, Croydon North, Croydon South, Epsom, Farnham, Guildford, Kingston upon Thames, Mitcham, Reigate, Surrey East, Wimbledon, Brighton (both seats), Chichester, East Grinstead, Eastbourne, Hastings, Horsham and Worthing, Lewes, Rye, Nuneaton, Coventry, Aston, Deritend, Erdington, King's Norton, Ladywood, Yardley, Sparkbrook, Birmingham West, Edgbaston, Handsworth, Moseley, Rugby, Warwick and Leamington, Devizes, Salisbury, Swindon, York, Cleveland, Richmond (Yorks), Scarborough and Whitby, Thirsk and Malton, Barkston Ash, Ripon, Ecclesall, Hallam, Skipton, Leeds North East, Sheffield Central, Bradford North, Wakefield, Rotherham, Monmouth, Llandaff & Barry, Cardiff C, Cardiff S
			Independent Conservative	2	Westminster St George's, Richmond (Surrey)
	Ulster Unionist		UUP	10	Antrim (both seats) (replaced South Antrim and Antrim Mid), Armagh (replaced Armagh North), Belfast East (replaced Belfast Pottinger), Belfast North (replaced Belfast Duncairn), Belfast South (replaced Belfast Ormeau), Belfast West (replaced Belfast Woodvale), Down (both seats) (replaced Down East and Down North), Londonderry (replaced Londonderry North)
		abolished		9	Antrim East, Antrim North, Armagh Mid, Belfast Cromac, Down Mid, Down West, Londonderry South, Fermanagh North, Tyrone South
	Irish Unionist	abolished		2	Dublin Rathmines, Dublin University (one of two)
	Independent Unionist	abolished		1	Dublin University (one of two)
	National		Liberal	1	Walsall
			Conservative	1	Bournemouth*
	Silver Badge			1	Hertford†1
Seat created			Ulster Uni	1	Queen's University of Belfast

†¹ MP elected as an Anti-Waste League candidate at a 1921 by-election, but moved to the Conservatives for the 1922 election

See also

• List of MPs elected in the 1922 United Kingdom general election
• United Kingdom general election, 1922 (Scotland)

External links

• United Kingdom election results—summary results 1885–1979

Manifestos

• 1922 Conservative manifesto
• 1922 Labour manifesto
• 1922 Liberal manifesto