The 1959 General Election took place 66 years ago on 8th October 1959. An economic slump in 1958 had made Labour led by right-winger Hugh Gaitskell likely winners. However the economy improved and the Tories led by moustache wearer Harold Macmillan got a 100 seat majority.
The turn-out was 78.7% compared to around 60% in the 2024 General Election. In addition between them the Tories and Labour got 93% of the vote. The only other presence in the Commons were a handful of Liberal MPs.
It was the 1959 Election that saw E P Thompson’s reference to Ephology, the attempt by pollsters, psephologists to mould what people thought.
The polls appearing after the July 2024 Election, with another up to 5 years off, suggest a polling industry with nothing else to do but poll. However both the Election itself and subsequent polls suggest that Labour and the Tories have between them the support of perhaps at best 40% of voters
A range of other options from the hard to far right ReformUK Ltd to the LibDems, Greens, socialist independents, SNP and Plaid all have support. A political landscape transformed, that is a multi-party democracy in a Parliamentary system that has for a hundred years at least been designed to function primarily with two parties.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1959_United_Kingdom_general_election
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