Events in Leeds - General Election 1945

A chance to witness a real rarity, masses of enthusiastic Labour Party supporters parading through the streets behind their victorious candidates after an electoral triumph.

Parliamentary politics being what it is, it is not often that there is a mass rally and parade after a general election victory. But the 1945 triumph of Labour is the exception, generating genuine hope among its large body of activists, as seen here as the Party faithful of Leeds turnout en masse to listen to the victorious candidates and join a celebratory parade through the streets, among them the future party leader Hugh Gaitskell.

The 1945 General Election is noted for the landslide win for Labour, with a record 12 point swing. It was based upon a radical manifesto, Let us Face the Future Together, which promised comprehensive social security, a national health service and the nationalisation of major industries. Labour won 4 out of 5 seats in Leeds, only losing out in the traditional Conservative Leeds North by just 128 votes. Hugh Gaitskell was elected for the first time, going on to become the future Party leader in 1955 until his premature death in 1963. With his introduction of prescription charges on spectacles and false teeth as Chancellor, in the 1951 budget, he became the leader of the right in the Party in opposition to Nye Bevan.