Updated
HISTORIC UK GENERAL ELECTION · 14 DECEMBER 1918
1918 UK general election results
The coupon election
Largest party382 seats
A wartime coalition victory fought after a transformed franchise and counted only after service votes arrived.
What happened?
Conservative grouping was the largest grouping with 382 seats, ahead of Liberal grouping on 163. Coalition landslide.
Who formed the government?
David Lloyd George led the conservative-dominated coalition after the election.
Was it a shock?
The coalition win was not the surprise; the lasting shock was the party-system realignment it accelerated.
CONTEXT
Britain before the vote
The election followed the First World War and the Representation of the People Act 1918, which greatly expanded the electorate and enfranchised some women. Coalition-endorsed candidates received the famous joint letter or ‘coupon’.
RESULT
What the election changed
The coalition won overwhelmingly, but the result also exposed the Liberal split and made Labour the largest opposition party. Sinn Féin swept most Irish seats and did not take them at Westminster.
SWING
No honest like-for-like swing
The franchise, party system or source grouping changed too much to present a meaningful two-party swing.
BOUNDARIES
How to read the seat total
The Commons Library groups a complex field into broad party families. Ireland, multi-member and university seats mean this result is especially unsuitable for projection onto a present-day map.
SOURCES