United Kingdom general election, 1931

The UK general election on Tuesday 27 October 1931 was the last in the United Kingdom not held on a Thursday.

Related Topics:
27 October - 1931 - United Kingdom - Thursday

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The election was held in the middle of the Great Depression. Ramsay MacDonald's Labour government had reached deadlock over a response to the crisis. In August 1931 MacDonald quit the government to form the multi-party National Government.

Related Topics:
Great Depression - Ramsay MacDonald - National Government

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The decision of MacDonald to join the National Government with the Conservatives had lead the Labour Party to expell him from the party, which split into two groups (The Labour Party and the National Labour Party).

Related Topics:
Conservatives - Labour Party - National Labour Party

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Due to this, and the previous Labour government's failure to tackle the economic crisis, the Labour vote fell sharply, and the Conservatives, led by Stanley Baldwin won a huge majority, although the prime minister of the resulting National Government was still Ramsay MacDonald.

Related Topics:
Stanley Baldwin - Prime minister

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The Liberals lacked the funds to contest their usual number of seats, but won almost as many as Labour, who nonetheless polled 38% of the votes cast.

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