Abstract
The aim of this chapter is to re-examine the General Election of 1970. This chapter argues that this was the most significant General Election since 1945 for the following three reasons. First, it was the first occasion in the post-war era when a government with a comfortable working majority had dissolved Parliament earlier than necessary and lost power. Second, it was a campaign characterised by fluctuations in opinion polling support for the two main parties and, although the Labour Party entered the campaign with a clear lead, that fell away as the campaigning unfolded, thus contravening the assumption that election campaigns do not really matter. Third, it appeared that the electorate had voted for change, that is, the Selsdon agenda that the Conservative Party had presented to the electorate appeared to challenge aspects of the policy pillars that had shaped the contours of British politics since the war.
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Notes
- 1.
NOP (National Opinion Polls) Bulletin, May 1968, [1]; NOP Bulletin, April 1968, [1]. Abbreviations used in references: CPA, Conservative Party Archives, Bodleian Library, Oxford; LPA, Labour Party Archives, People’s History Museum (PHM), Manchester; LPP, Liberal Party Papers, British Library of Political and Economic Science (BLPES), London; CAC, Churchill Archives Centre, Cambridge; TNA, The National Archives, London; GNMA, Guardian News and Media Archive, London; MS Wilson, Harold Wilson papers, Bodleian Library; Jeremy Thorpe papers, British Library, London. Edward Heath’s papers at the Bodleian were not open for consultation.
- 2.
Brendan Sewill, Conservative Research Department (CRD) Report on the 1970 General Election, 17 July 1970, 1, CPA, CRD 3/9/95; Minutes of a General Election Meeting, 6 November 1969, Michael Wolff papers, CAC, WLFF 3/5/12.
- 3.
Sir Michael Fraser to Heath, 13 October 1969, CRD 3/9/91.
- 4.
James Douglas to Sir Michael Fraser [copy], 30 May 1970, Wolff papers, WLFF 3/5/6.
- 5.
Harry Nicholas to NEC, 1 August 1969, Campaign Committee, LPA, ‘General Election 1970’ box.
- 6.
General Election 1970, Report by the General Secretary, n.d., LPA, ‘General Election 1970’ box.
- 7.
Edward Heath, ‘Britain in the Seventies’, Queen, 17 September 1969, 53-5.
- 8.
Richard Sharples to all candidates, May 1970, Viscount Hailsham papers, CAC, HLSM 2/43/10/4.
- 9.
Opinion Research Centre (ORC), A Snap Survey of Reactions to The Weekend Conference at the Selsdon Park Hotel, 2 February 1970, CRD 3/9/93.
- 10.
Minutes of a General Election Meeting, 16 February 1970, CRA, CCO 500/24/288; CCO 500/24/289.
- 11.
Sir Michael Fraser, quoted by Hugo Young, 10 March 1970, Conversations 1969-1976, Hugo Young papers, GNMA, HJSY 2/2.
- 12.
A document prepared for the Voluntary Publicity Group, 14 April 1970, MS Wilson. c. 1401. The Current Publicity Campaign, 17 May 1970, Peter Shore papers, WHL, Shore 8/35.
- 13.
Steering Committee Minutes, 13 April 1970, Wolff papers, WLFF 3/2/83.
- 14.
Progress Report on the Pre-General Election Campaign, 20 May 1970, LPA, NEC Minutes & Papers, December 1969-July 1970.
- 15.
Voluntary Publicity Group, 14 April 1970, MS Wilson. c. 1401.
- 16.
Financial Times, 23 April 1970, 1, 36; Guardian, 23 April 1970, 1; Alastair Burnet to Denis Healey [copy], 17 February 1970, MS Wilson c. 1070.
- 17.
David Kingsley, Labour Party Voluntary Publicity Group, Report to Campaign Committee, 17 November 1969, LPA, ‘General Election 1970’ box; Allocation of Press advertising, 14 April 1970, MS Wilson c. 1401.
- 18.
Ron Arnold, Research Department, General Election 1970, 18 June 1970, LPP, GE, 9/13/90.
- 19.
George Wigg to Wilson, 2 April 1970, TNA, PREM 13/3423.
- 20.
Undated, unsigned, note, MS. Wilson c. 1401.
- 21.
Barnett Janner to Wilson, 17 April 1970, MS Wilson, c. 1401.
- 22.
Brian Walden to ‘Bob’, 23 April 1970, MS. Wilson c. 1401.
- 23.
Eric Moonman to Wilson, 11 May 1970, MS Wilson c. 1535/138.
- 24.
Sunday Times, 26 April 1970, 2; Election memorandum, 11 May 1970, TNA PREM 13/3173.
- 25.
Conservative and Unionist Central Office, General Election Memorandum No. 12, 16 June 1970, 1.
- 26.
Joe Haines, Glimmers of Twilight (London, 2004), 26; Roy Jenkins, A Life at the Centre (London, 1991), 297; Joe Haines to David Butler [copy], 6 November 1970, MS Wilson c. 1070.
- 27.
Harry Nicholas to NEC Cabinet members, 14 May 1970, Shore Papers WHL, Shore 8/35.
- 28.
Wilson to Heath, 18 May 1970, [copy]; Wilson to Thorpe, 18 May 1970, Thorpe Papers, ADD MS 89073/3/101.
- 29.
Wilson to Richard Nixon, n.d. [17 May 1970], [copy] TNA PREM 13/3173.
- 30.
Sunday Times, 17 May 1970, 12.
- 31.
Tony Crosland, ‘1970 Election’, Crosland papers, WHL, CROS 7/7/18.
- 32.
General Election Bulletin No. 1, 20 May 1970, LPP, GE 9/13/97.
- 33.
Andrew Roth, General Election Forecast, 1970 Edition (London, 1970), 8.
- 34.
Denis Cobell, Socialist Leader, 30 May 1970, 3.
- 35.
A Better Tomorrow: the Conservative programme for the next 5 years, 1970, 1.
- 36.
Sewill, CRD Report, 17 July 1970, 1, CRD 3/9/95.
- 37.
Michael Stewart to Peter Shore, [copy], 8 June 1970; Denis Healey to Shore, 4 June 1970 [copy], TNA PREM 13/3116.
- 38.
Labour Party, ‘Today’, 17 June 1970, 6.
- 39.
Fraser to Heath, 25 May 1970 [copy], CRD 3/9/79; Press Conference to Launch Conservative Manifesto, 26 May 1970, CCO 4/10/127.
- 40.
Hurd, An End to Promises (London, 1979), 14.
- 41.
Denis Healey to Harry Nicholas, n.d. [25 May 1970], LPA, ‘General Election 1970’/‘Healey’.
- 42.
Special Meeting of the National Executive Committee, 27 May 1970, LPA, NEC Minutes & Papers, December 1969-July 1970; Times, 28 May 1970, 10.
- 43.
News from the Liberal Party, 28 May 1970, LPP 9/13/177.
- 44.
Campaign, 15 May 1970, 2; a document prepared for the Voluntary Publicity Group, 14 April 1970, MS Wilson. c. 1401.
- 45.
Voluntary Publicity Group, Election Slogan, 17 May 1970, General Secretary’s File, Book 1, LPA, ‘General Election 1970’ box.
- 46.
Benn to Wilson, 16 August 1969, MS. Wilson c. 1401; Times, 19 September 1969, 3.
- 47.
Humphry Berkeley, Guardian, 15 May 1970, 14; Economist, 13 June 1970, 10.
- 48.
With the exception of Ted Short. Literature Issued during the 1970 General Election, LPA, ‘General Election 1970’ box.
- 49.
Percy Clark, ‘The Current Publicity Campaign’, 17 May 1970, Cabinet/NEC meeting, Shore papers, 8/35.
- 50.
Economist, 23 May 1970, 13.
- 51.
Keith [Britto] to Douglas [Hurd], 7 June [1970], Wolff papers, WLFF 3/5/6.
- 52.
Bill Pearson to Thorpe, 1 May 1970, Thorpe Papers, ADD MS 89073/3/101.
- 53.
Economist, 23 May 1970, 14.
- 54.
After William Holman Hunt: William Rushton, Private Eye, 22 May 1970, 14.
- 55.
Hurd, quoted by Young, 5 November 1969, Young papers, HJSY 2/2.
- 56.
Hugo Young, Sunday Times, 17 May 1970, 13.
- 57.
Francis Flavius, Tribune, 5 June 1970, 3.
- 58.
[Unclear] to Thorpe, 10 April 1970, Thorpe Papers, ADD MS 89073/3/101.
- 59.
Lord Byers to Anthony Barber, 26 May 1970, quoted in News from the Liberal Party, n.d., LPP 9/13/176.
- 60.
Isaacs to Wilson, 14 May 1970, MS Wilson c. 401; Isaacs to Thorpe, 14 May 1970, Thorpe Papers, ADD MS 89073/3/101.
- 61.
Jeremy Isaacs, Listener, 18 June 1970, 822.
- 62.
Harold Evans to Thorpe, 20 May 1970, Thorpe Papers, ADD MS 89073/3/101.
- 63.
Opinion Research Centre (ORC), A Survey on Critical Seats (Summary), April-September 1969, CCO 180/11/4/1.
- 64.
Reginald Maudling, quoted by Young, 28 May 1970, Young papers, HJSY 2/2.
- 65.
Economist, 16 May 1970, 13.
- 66.
Daily Telegraph, 15 May 1970, 1; Guardian, 25 April 1970.
- 67.
Sunday Telegraph, 14 June 1970, 7.
- 68.
Joe Haines, The Politics of Power (London, 1977), 170-1.
- 69.
Office Luncheon Meeting No. 1, 1 June 1970; Office Luncheon Meeting No. 2, 2 June 1970, CCO 500/24/293.
- 70.
Sunday Express, 14 June 1970, 1.
- 71.
Newsweek, 29 June 1970, 15.
- 72.
Insight, Sunday Times, 7 June 1970, 13.
- 73.
Hurd to Sir Michael Fraser [copy], 4 August 1969, Wolff papers, WLFF 3/5/12.
- 74.
Economist, 30 May 1970, 15.
- 75.
Miles Hudson to Sewill, 18 June 1970, CRD 3/9/95.
- 76.
Guardian, 17 June 1970, 7.
- 77.
Quoted in Time, 29 June 1970, 17.
- 78.
Ian Waller, Sunday Telegraph, 31 May 1970, 8; Tom Normanton to John Cope, 29 July 1970 [copy], CCO 500/24/294.
- 79.
Harry Nicholas to regional organisers, 1 June 1970, General Secretary’s File, Book 1, LPA, ‘General Election 1970’ box; Hindi + Urdu letters, LPA, GE 1970 box.
- 80.
Daily Express, 17 June 1970, 7.
- 81.
Ron Hayward to regional organisers, 21 May 1970, General Secretary’s File, Book 1, LPA, ‘General Election 1970’ box.
- 82.
Office Luncheon Meeting No, 1, 1 June 1970, CCO 500/24/293.
- 83.
Andrew Alexander and Alan Watkins, The Making of the Prime Minister 1970 (London, 1970), 173.
- 84.
Geoffrey Tucker to Central Office Agents, 26 May 1970, CCO 4/10/127; Hurd to Richard Webster, 24 November 1969, CCO 500/24/288.
- 85.
Hudson to Sewill, 18 June 1970, CRD 3/9/95.
- 86.
Reginald Bosanquet to Heath, 4 June 1970, Wolff papers, WLFF 3/5/12.
- 87.
John Whale, Sunday Times, 14 June 1970, 14.
- 88.
John Grist, Listener, 2 July 1970, 4.
- 89.
Richard Francis, Ariel, July 1970, 14.
- 90.
Radio Times, 11 June 1970, 15.
- 91.
TV Times, 13 June 1970, 10.
- 92.
William Hardcastle, Listener, 18 June 1970, 819.
- 93.
Douglas to Fraser, 30 May 1970, WLFF 3/5/6.
- 94.
Barbara Castle, The Castle Diaries 1964-70 (London, 1984), 804 (28 May 1970).
- 95.
R. H. S. Crossman, The Diaries of a Cabinet Minister, Vol.3, Secretary of State for Social Services, 1968-70 (London, 1977), 944 (14 June 1970).
- 96.
Alexander and Watkins, Prime Minister, 177.
- 97.
Harry Nicholas to all candidates and agents, 6 June 1970, General Secretary’s File, Book 1, LPA, ‘General Election 1970’ box.
- 98.
Economist, 13 June 1970, 15.
- 99.
Office Luncheon Meetings No 9. 11 June 1970 and No. 11, 15 June 1970, CCO 500/24/293.
- 100.
Thorpe to Lord Byers, Mrs Gorky, Mrs Prowse, Eric Lubbock, Ted Wheeler, James Isaac, n.d. (for 13 May 1970 meeting), Thorpe Papers, ADD MS 89073/3/101.
- 101.
Alan Ryan, Listener, 4 June 1970, 738.
- 102.
Hardcastle, Listener, 18 June 1970, 820.
- 103.
Tribune, 5 June 1970, 1.
- 104.
Sunday Times, 24 May 1970, 1.
- 105.
Campaign, editorial, 5 June 1970, 13.
- 106.
William Davis, Punch, 3 June 1970, 812.
- 107.
Gilbert Longden, F & G. P. Meeting, 21 May 1970, Agenda, WHL, Longden Papers, 3/10; George Brown, In My Way (London, 1971), 262.
- 108.
Daily Telegraph, 15 June 1970, 1.
- 109.
Sunday Times, 14 June 1970, 1, 19.
- 110.
Ron Hall, Sunday Times, 7 June 1970, 9.
- 111.
Robert Carvel, Evening Standard, 4 June 1970, 21.
- 112.
James Douglas to Fraser, Sewill, Hurd, and Wolff, 6 June 1970, Wolff papers, WLFF 3/5/12.
- 113.
Sewill , 1970 General Election, mid-course assessment, 3 June 1970, CRD 3/9/95.
- 114.
Norman Collins, Campaign Strategy No, 2, 3 June 1970, Wolff papers, WLFF 3/5/12.
- 115.
Evening News, 13 June 1970, 3.
- 116.
Office Luncheon Meeting No 4. n.d. [4 June 1970], CCO 500/24/293.
- 117.
Sewill to All Research Department officers, 28 May 1970, CRD 3/9/83. Harry Nicholas to all candidates and agents, 3 June 1970, General Secretary’s File, Book 1, LPA, ‘General Election 1970’ box.
- 118.
Financial Times, 17 June 1970, 10.
- 119.
Macleod, quoted in James Douglas, ‘The Public Opinion Polls in the 1970 General Election’, 19 November 1970, CCO 180/11/4/7.
- 120.
Humphry Berkeley, Crossing the Floor (London, 1972), 87; Tatler, July 1970, 18.
- 121.
Robert McKenzie, Election 70, BBC 1, 18 June 1970.
- 122.
Peter Davis to Marcia Williams, 13 April 1970, MS. Wilson c. 1403; Monty Python’s Flying Circus, BBC 1, 3 November 1970.
- 123.
Election Expenses: Return to an Address of the Honourable The House of Commons Dated 21st July 1970, HMSO, 23 March 1971, 58, 92.
- 124.
1970 General Election, LPP, 9/13/442.
- 125.
George Gale, Evening Standard, 19 June 1970, 9.
- 126.
Ted Leather, letter, Economist, 27 June 1970, 4.
- 127.
Socialist Commentary, July 1970, 1.
- 128.
George Clark, ‘The Election Campaign’, Times Election Guide, 26-30; 26.
- 129.
Douglas Hurd, Memoirs (London, 2004), 187.
- 130.
Clive Irving, Campaign, 26 June 1970, 16.
- 131.
Admap, June 1970, 198-200.
- 132.
Public Opinion Polling on the 1970 Election, British Market Research Society, 1972, 6.
- 133.
Humphrey Taylor, quoted in Sunday Times, 21 June 1970, 10.
- 134.
Gallup Political Index, Report No. 121, June/July 1970, 88; NOP Political Bulletin, The Polls and the 1970 General Election, n.d., 1-2; June/July 1970, 1-4’; Survey Research Centre, Occasional Paper No 7, ‘The Polls and the 1970 Election’, University of Strathclyde, 1970, 41, CCO 180/11/4/7.
- 135.
‘The Election in Retrospect’, Political Quarterly, October 1970, 373-374. Ian Lloyd, ‘Opinion Polls and the British General Election of June 1970’, The Parliamentarian, October 1970, 270-274; Mark Abrams, ‘The Opinion Polls and the 1970 British General Election’, The Public Opinion Quarterly, 34:3 (1970), 317-24.
- 136.
David Warburton, Tribune, 26 June 1970, 9.
- 137.
David Kingsley to Harry Nicholas, 15 July 1970, LPA, ‘General Election 1970’ box.
- 138.
Sewill, CRD Report, 17 July 1970, 13, CRD 3/9/95.
- 139.
‘Public Opinion Polls’, 19 November 1970, CCO 180/11/4/7.
- 140.
James Douglas to Sir Michael Fraser, [copy], 26 June 1970, CRD, 3/9/95.
- 141.
Wilson, Election 70, BBC 1, 19 June 1970.
- 142.
Eric Ogden to Robert Sheldon, Sheldon papers WHL, Sheldon 6/3.
- 143.
Bob Mellish to Wilson, 20 June 1970, MS Wilson c 1535/87.
- 144.
Richard Clements, Tribune, 26 June 1970, 1, 5.
- 145.
Catalpa, Socialist Commentary, July 1970, 12.
- 146.
Interim Organisational Report on the General Election, 18 June 1970, LPA, ‘General Election 1970’ box.
- 147.
Alan Lee Williams, Socialist Commentary, August 1970, 4.
- 148.
Betty Lockwood, Labour Woman, July/August 1970, 103.
- 149.
Minutes of a Party Meeting, 15 July 1970, NEC Minutes & Papers, December 1969-July 1970; Notes on Shadow Cabinet meeting, 16 July 1970, Michael Foot Papers, PHM, MF/C1.
- 150.
Mellish to Wilson, 20 June 1970, MS Wilson c 1535/87.
- 151.
Tony Benn to Sir Richard Clarke, 23 June 1970, Clarke Papers, CAC, 4/3/3.
- 152.
Roy Hattersley, New Statesman, 31 July 1970, 114.
- 153.
Mellish to Wilson, 20 June 1970; Robert Maclennan to Wilson, 23 June 1970, MS Wilson c. 1535/323; Terence Lancaster to Wilson, 25 June 1970, MS Wilson. c.1411.
- 154.
Brown to Wilson, 24 June 1970, MS Wilson c. 1524/101.
- 155.
‘The Nation Decides’: Interview with Harold Wilson by David Frost, Transmitted 19 June 1970, MS Wilson c. 1259/291; Time, 29 June 1970, 19.
- 156.
Hurd, End to Promises, 22.
- 157.
John Wood (ed.), Powell and the 1970 Election (London, 1970); Nicholas Deakin and Jenny Bourne, ‘Powell, the Minorities, and the 1970 Election’, Political Quarterly, 41:4 (October 1970), 399-415.
- 158.
Economist, 20 June 1970, 9.
- 159.
James Douglas to Hurd [copy], 10 December 1970, CCO 180/11/4/7.
- 160.
Sewill, CRD Report, 17 July 1970, 17, CRD 3/9/95.
- 161.
Conservative Central Office, ‘1970 General Election’, CCO 150/11/4/4.
- 162.
Charles Bellairs to Sewill, 17 June 1970, CRD 3/9/95.
- 163.
Sewill, CRD Report, 17 July 1970, 17, CRD 3/9/95.
- 164.
Richard Rose, ‘Voting Trends Surveyed’, Times Election Guide, 31-32.
- 165.
Economist, 20 June 1970, 9; Sunday Times, editorial, 21 June 1970, 12; Daily Express, Heath’s Election: How the Tories Took Britain (London 1970), 4.
- 166.
Sunday Times, editorial, 21 June 1970, 12.
- 167.
Sewill, CRD Report, 17 July 1970, 11, CRD 3/9/95.
- 168.
Most notably Robert Rhodes James, Ambitions and Realities: British Politics 1964-1970, 217-37.
- 169.
Alexander and Watkins, Prime Minister. Sarah Hogg, Election 1970: the Way Heath Won (London, 1970). Steven Fielding, ‘The 1970 General Election’, in Steven Fielding and John W. Young (eds), The Labour Governments 1964-1970: Labour and Cultural Change (MUP, 2003), 217-235.
- 170.
David Butler and Michael Pinto-Duschinsky, The British General Election of 1970 (London, 1971); David Wood, ‘Psephology thrown on the defensive’, The Times, 19 April 1971, 13.
- 171.
Peter Preston, Guardian, 15 April 1971, 12.
- 172.
Barbara Castle, New Society, 15 April 1971, 641.
- 173.
Hurd, End to Promises, 25.
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Farr, M. (2021). The 1970 General Election. In: Roe-Crines, A.S., Heppell, T. (eds) Policies and Politics Under Prime Minister Edward Heath. Palgrave Studies in Political Leadership. Palgrave Macmillan, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-53673-2_4
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