Argus (Melbourne, Vic. : 1848 - 1957), Friday 27 July 1945, page 1
CONSERVATIVES LOSE 120 SEATS IN
ELECTION LANDSLIDE
11 Ministers Defeated
FROM OUR OWN CORRESPONDENT IN LONDON AND A A P.
A LABOUR GOVERNMENT WAS RETURNED WHEN VOTES
CAST AT THE BRITISH GENERAL ELECTION WERE
COUNTED YESTERDAY. MR ATTLEE WILL BE THE NEW PRIME MINISTER.
The election was a landslide, Labour winning at least 120 seats from the Conservatives and their Liberal National allies.
At least 11 of Mr Churchill's Ministers, including the three Service Ministers, have lost their seats. All the Labour members of the Coalition Government dissolved two months ago have been returned.
For the first time Labour will be able to form a government in Britain without having to rely on the support of other parties.
The result means that Gene-ralissimo Stalin is today the only Allied leader at the be-ginning of the war who is still in office.
This was the first election since the redistribution. There will be 640 seats in the new Par-liament, compared with 615 in
the old.
The expected revival of the Liberal party did not even-tuate. Even Sir William Beveridge (Lib), author of the famous Beveridge plan, lost his seat, Berwick-on-Tweed divi-
sion of Northumberland, to Lieut-Colonel R. A. F. Thorpe
(Con.).
MR CHURCHILL RETURNED
Mr Churchill was returned for his new electorate, the Wood-ford Division of Essex, but his opponent, Mr A. Hancock, an independent, surprisingly re-ceived 10,488 votes in a poll of
38,176.
Mr Churchill's son, Major Randolph Churchill, was de-feated in Preston, and Mr D. Sandys, Mr Churchill's son-in-law, was defeated in Lambeth, Norwood Division, by Mr R. Chamberlain (Lab). At the previous election Mr Sandys had a majority of 12,456.
Mr R. Assheton, chairman of the Conservative party, was beaten by Mrs F. Paton, Labour, in Rushcliffe Division of Not-tingham.
DEFEATED MINISTERS
The following Ministers and others who held appointments under the Churchill Govern-ment were defeated:
Mr BRENDAN BRACKEN, First
Lord of the Admiralty.
Sir JAMES GRIGG, Secretary
for War.
Mr HAROLD MACMILLAN, Air
Secretary and formerly Minister in the Mediter-
ranean.
Mr L. S. AMERY, Secretary for
India.
Sir DONALD SOMERVELL,
Home Secretary.
Mr GEOFFREY LLOYD, Minis-
ter for Information.
Sir WALTER WOMERSLEY,
Minister for Pensions.
Mr RICHARD LAW, Minister
for Education.
Mr WILLIAM MABANE, Minis-
ter of State.
Mr ERNEST BROWN, Minister
for Aircraft Production.
Mr G. S. SUMMERS, a Parlia-
mentary Under-Secretary.
Sir RONALD CROSS, High
Commissioner to Australia.
KING RECEIVES RESULTS
The King received, the election results from time to time as they came in over the tape machine at Buckingham Palace. Sir Richard Acland, leader of the Common Wealth party, lost his seat, the Putney divi-sion of Wandsworth. Sir Percy Harris, deputy leader of the Liberal party, was also de-feated.
Mr Michael Foot, Labour, who was a special correspondent of The Argus at the San Francisco conference, defeated Mr HoreBelisha (Nat), who was Secre-tary for War early in the war, in Plymouth, Devonport divi-
sion.
Mr Dingle Foot (Lib), who was Parliamentary Secretary for Economic Warfare in the Coalition Government, lost his seat in Dundee.
Mr Brendan Bracken's old seat, north division of Pad-dington, was won by LieutGeneral Sir Mason Macfarlane (Lab), former Governor of Gibraltar.
COMMUNIST WINS
In Stepney, Mile End Division, the Labour candidate, Mr D. Frankel, was defeated by Mr P. Piratin, a Communist.
The Australian Air Vice-Mar-shal D. C. J. Bennett, who stood as a Liberal, failed to win Mid-dlesbrough, West Division.
Mr Reginald Purbrick (Con), formerly of Melbourne, was beaten in Walton Division of Liverpool.
Mr R. W. G. Mackay (Lab), an Australian, won Hull, North-west Division, from the retiring Conservative member, Sir Lam-bert Ward.
Sir Edward Campbell (Con), who died on July 17, and Mr L. R. Pym (Con), who died on July 19, both topped the polls in their electorates, Bromley and Monmouth respectively.
MR CLEMENT ATTLEE, new Prime Minister of Great Britain.
THE BIG THREE GET TOGETHER with a touch of "Auld Lang Syne" before the conclusion of the first stage of
conference in Berlin. Front left: Mr Churehil!, President Truman, and Generalissimo Stalin. (British
Official photo by Beam.)