United Kingdom general election, 1931

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1929 election

1931 election

1935 election

Image:Ramsaymacdonald03.jpg Image:Stanley baldwin.jpg Image:Arthurhenderson.jpg

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

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. The decision of MacDonald to form a coalition with the Conservatives had lead Labour to expel him from the party. He was replaced as leader by Arthur Henderson. MacDonald and a small group of supporters reformed as the National Labour Party.

The Liberals also split. Those who supported the government's protectionist policies ran as National Liberals under Sir John Simon. Those who stuck to free trade but supported the Conservatives against Labour ran under Sir Herbert Samuel. There was also a small number of Liberals who opposed the government and ran as Independent Liberals under David Lloyd George.

Most seats were contested between Labour and either the Conservatives, one of the two main Liberal factions or National Labour. This co-operation between Conservatives and Liberals ended the three-way contests that had characterised elections in many seats since 1906. It also encouraged the line that this was a broad coalition government set-up in the national interest. 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.

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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