January 1910 United Kingdom general election

"February 1910 general election" redirects here. For the Finnish election, see 1910 Finnish parliamentary election.

January 1910 United Kingdom general election

15 January – 10 February 1910 (1910-01-15 – 1910-02-10)
All 670 seats in the House of Commons 336 seats needed for a majority
First party Second party Third party   160x160px 160x160px 160x160px Leader H. H. Asquith Arthur Balfour John Redmond Party Liberal Conservative and Liberal Unionist Irish Parliamentary Leader since 30 April 1908 11 June 1902 6 February 1900 Leader's seat East Fife City of London Waterford City Last election 397 seats, 48.9% 156 seats, 43.4% 82 seats, 0.6% Seats won 274 272 71 Seat change 123 116 11 Popular vote 2,712,511 2,919,236 74,047 Percentage 43.5% 46.8% 1.2% Swing 5.4% 3.4% 0.6%   Fourth party Fifth party   Leader Arthur Henderson William O'Brien Party Labour All-for-Ireland Leader since 22 January 1908 23 March 1909 Leader's seat Barnard Castle North East Cork Last election 29 seats, 4.8% Did not stand Seats won 40 8 Seat change 11 8 Popular vote 435,770 23,605 Percentage 7.0% 0.4% Swing 2.2% N/A
350px Colours denote the winning party
Prime Minister before election H. H. Asquith Liberal Appointed Prime Minister H. H. Asquith Liberal

The January 1910 United Kingdom general election was held from 15 January to 10 February 1910. The government called the election in the midst of a constitutional crisis caused by the rejection of the People's Budget by the Conservative-dominated House of Lords, in order to get a mandate to pass the budget.

The general election resulted in a hung parliament, with the Conservative Party led by Arthur Balfour and their Liberal Unionist allies receiving the largest number of votes, but the Liberals led by H. H. Asquith winning the largest number of seats, returning two more MPs than the Conservatives. Asquith formed a government with the support of the Irish Parliamentary Party, led by John Redmond. Another general election was soon held in December.

The Labour Party, led by Arthur Henderson, continued to gather momentum, going from 29 seats to 40.

Results

England and Wales seat winners

↓ 

274	272	71	40	8	5
Liberal	Conservative	IPP	Lab	AFI	O

UK General Election January 1910
			Candidates						Votes
Party		Leader	Standing	Elected	Gained	Unseated	Net	% of total	%	No.	Net %
	Conservative and Liberal Unionist	Arthur Balfour	594	272	130	14	+116	40.6	46.8	2,919,236	+3.4
	Liberal	H. H. Asquith	511	274	12	135	−123	40.9	43.5	2,712,511	−5.4
	Labour	Arthur Henderson	78	40	17	6	+11	6.0	7.0	435,770	+2.1
	Irish Parliamentary	John Redmond	85	71	0	11	−11	10.6	1.2	74,047	+0.6
	All-for-Ireland	William O'Brien	10	8	8	0	+8	1.2	0.4	23,605
	Independent Nationalist	N/A	10	3	3	2	+2	0.5	0.3	16,533
	Social Democratic Federation	H. M. Hyndman	9	0	0	0	0		0.2	13,479	−0.1
	Independent Conservative	N/A	4	1	1	1	0	0.1	0.2	11,772
	Free Trader	John Eldon Gorst	4	0	0	0	0		0.2	11,553
	Independent Labour	N/A	6	0	0	1	−1		0.2	9,936
	Independent Liberal	N/A	3	1	1	0	+1	0.1	0.1	5,237
	Scottish Prohibition	Edwin Scrymgeour	1	0	0	0	0		0.0	756

Total votes cast: 6,234,435.

Voting summary

Popular vote
Conservative & Liberal Unionist			46.8%
Liberal			43.5%
Labour			7.0%
Irish Parliamentary			1.2%
Independent			0.7%
Others			0.8%

Seats summary

Parliamentary seats
Liberal			40.9%
Conservative and Liberal Unionist			40.6%
Irish Parliamentary			10.6%
Labour			6.0%
All-for-Ireland			1.2%
Independent			0.8%

See also

• List of MPs elected in the January 1910 United Kingdom general election
• Parliamentary franchise in the United Kingdom 1885–1918

External links

• Spartacus: Political Parties and Election Results
• United Kingdom election results—summary results 1885–1979

Manifestos

• January 1910 Conservative manifesto
• January 1910 Labour manifesto
• January 1910 Liberal manifesto