8 Okt 1959 Jahr - 1959 election

Beschreibung:

After Eden's resignation in 1957, the Chancellor Harold Macmillan took over as Prime Minister. During the two years before the election Macmillan worked miracles, creating a positive swing in the economy with people now being able to afford things such as refrigerators, TVs and cars. When Eden resigned, Labour was 13 points ahead in opinion polls; during the time of the 1959 election, the Conservatives were ahead by 7 points.

Labour's new leader was Hugh Gaitskell. Although some divisions still existed in the party, this new leadership was more appealing then Attlee.

The Conservative manifesto lent into the new age of consumerism that Macmillan had given the country.

Labour's manifesto promised more funding for more hospitals as well as a lower tax rate. This caused voters to be suspicious.

Both Macmillan and Gaitskell utilised the growing TV to promote themselves. Macmillan was the most seen on TV, with his final addressing to voters having the highest viewer rate of the entire campaign.

Conservatives: 365 seats 48.8% votes
Labour: 258 seats, 44.6% votes
Liberal: 6 seats 6% votes
Other: 1 seats 6% votes

Now with the nickname "Supermac", Macmillan brought the Conservative victory to a majority of 100 seats.