United Kingdom general election, 1918

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The United Kingdom general election of 1918 was the first to be held after the Representation of the People Act 1918, which meant it was the first United Kingdom general election in which women could vote. Polling was held on 14 December 1918, although the count did not begin until 28 December. The election was won by a coalition of the Conservatives under Andrew Bonar Law, most of the Liberals under David Lloyd George, and a few independent and former Labour MPs, and produced a government which retained Lloyd George as Prime Minister.

Candidates which had the official support of the coalition were issued a letter of endorsement from Lloyd George and Bonar Law, known as a "coupon", and so this election is often called the coupon election. Coupons were issued to 159 Liberal candidates and 364 Conservatives. It was also known as one of the khaki elections, due to the immediate postwar setting and the role of the demobilized soldiers.

Labour, led by William Adamson, vastly increased their share of the vote but only slightly increased their number of seats. They were, however, the main parliamentary opposition and surpassed the total votes of either Liberal party (although Labour's share was less than both combined and the Coalition Liberals alone had more seats). The anti-coalition Liberals under former Prime Minister Herbert Henry Asquith, won few seats.

In Ireland, the Irish Parliamentary Party lost almost all their seats, most of which were won by Sinn Féin under Éamon de Valera (see Irish (UK) general election, 1918). The 73 Sinn Féin elected members declined to take their seat in the British House of Commons, sitting instead in the Irish revolutionary assembly, Dáil Éireann. On 17 May 1918 almost the entire leadership of Sinn Féin, including de Valera and Arthur Griffith, had been arrested. In total 47 of the Sinn Féin MPs were elected from jail. It was in this election also that the UK's first ever woman MP was elected: Constance Markiewicz (Sinn Féin, Dublin St Patrick's). Like the other Sinn Féin MPs, Markiewicz did not take her seat.

Contents 1 Results 2 Ireland 3 See also 4 External links 5 References

[edit] Results

UK General Election 1918
Party		Candidates	Seats	Gains	Losses	Net Gain/Loss	Seats %	Votes %	Votes	+/-
	Coalition Conservative	362	332	N/A	N/A	+ 61	47.0	33.3	3,472,738	2.9
	Labour	361	57	N/A	N/A	+ 15	8.1	21.5	2,245,777	16.7
	Coalition Liberal	145	127	127	0	+ 127	18.0	13.4	1,396,590	N/A
	Liberal	276	36	N/A	N/A	- 236	5.1	13.3	1,388,784	-16.5
	Conservative	83	50	50	0	+ 50	7.1	6.4	671,454	N/A
	Sinn Féin	102	73	73	0	+ 73	10.3	4.8	497,107	N/A
	Irish Parliamentary	57	7	2	69	- 67	1.0	2.3	238,197	0.6
	Coalition National Democratic	18	9	9	0	+ 9	1.3	1.5	156,834	N/A
	Independent Labour	29	2	2	0	+ 2	0.3	1.1	116,322
	Independent	42	2	2	0	+ 2	0.3	1.0	105,261
	National	26	2	2	0	+ 2	0.3	0.9	94,389	N/A
	Independent NFDSS	25	0	0	0	0	0.0	0.6	58,164	N/A
	Co-operative	10	1	1	0	+ 1	0.1	0.6	57,785	N/A
	Coalition Labour	5	4	4	0	+ 4	0.6		53,962	N/A
	Independent Conservative	17	1	1	1	0	0.1	0.4	44,637
	Independent Liberal	9	1	1	0	+ 1	0.1	0.2	24,985
	National Democratic	8	0	0	0	0	0.0	0.2	24,497	N/A
	Agriculturalist	7	0	0	0	0	0.0	0.2	19,412	N/A
	NFDSS	5	0	0	0	0	0.0	0.1	12,329	N/A
	Belfast Labour	4	0	0	0	0	0.0	0.1	12,164	N/A
	National Socialist	3	1	1	0	+ 1	0.1	0.1	11,013	N/A
	Independent Coalition	1	1	1	0	+ 1	0.1	0.1	9,274	N/A
	Highland Land League	4	0	0	0	0	0.0	0.1	8,710
	Women's Party	1	0	0	0	0	0.0	0.1	8,614	N/A
	British Socialist	3	0	0	0	0	0.0	0.1	8,394
	Independent Democratic	4	0	0	0	0	0.0	0.1	8,351	N/A
	Independent NADSS	1	1	1	0	+ 1	0.1	0.1	8,287	N/A
	Ind. Nationalist	6	0	0	0	0	0.0	0.1	8,183
	Socialist Labour	3	0	0	0	0	0.0	0.1	7,567
	Scottish Prohibition	1	0	0	0	0	0.0	0.0	5,212
	Independent Progressive	3	0	0	0	0	0.0	0.0	5,077
	Independent Labour and Agriculturalist	1	0	0	0	0	0.0	0.0	1,927
	Christian Socialist	1	0	0	0	0	0.0	0.0	597

Total votes cast: 10,434,700. All parties shown. Coalition Conservative vote is compared with Conservative vote in previous election. In each other case, the non-coalition vote is compared with the party's previous vote.

[edit] Ireland

Main article: Irish (UK) general election, 1918

The 1918 United Kingdom general election is seen as a key defining moment in modern Irish history. This is because it saw the overwhelming defeat of the moderate nationalist Irish Parliamentary Party, which had dominated the Irish political landscape since the 1880s, and a landslide victory for the radical Sinn Féin party, which had never previously enjoyed significant electoral success.

The aftermath of the elections saw the convention of an extra-legal parliament, the First Dáil, by the elected Sinn Féin candidates, and the outbreak of the Irish War of Independence.

[edit] See also

• United Kingdom general elections
• MPs elected in the United Kingdom general election, 1918
• The Parliamentary Franchise in the United Kingdom 1885-1918 gives details of the franchises replaced by the ones used in 1918

[edit] External links

• 1918 Conservative manifesto
• 1918 Labour manifesto
• 1918 Liberal manifesto

[edit] References

• F. W. S. Craig, British Electoral Facts: 1832-1987
• Spartacus: Political Parties and Election Results
• United Kingdom election results - summary results 1885-1979

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