United Kingdom general election, 1900

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United Kingdom general election, 1900

← 1895 26 September – 24 October 1900 1906 →

All 670 seats in the House of Commons
336 seats needed for a majority
  First party Second party
  Robert cecil.jpg Henry Campbell-Bannerman photo.jpg
Leader Lord Salisbury Henry Campbell-Bannerman
Party Conservative and Liberal Unionist Liberal
Leader since April 1881 December 1898
Leader's seat House of Lords Stirling Burghs
Last election 411 seats, 49.0% 177 seats, 45.7%
Seats won 402 183
Seat change Decrease 9 Increase 6
Popular vote 1,767,958 1,572,323
Percentage 50.3% 44.7%
Swing Increase 1.3% Decrease 1.0%

  Third party Fourth party
  John Redmond 1917.JPG 150x150px
Leader John Redmond Keir Hardie
Party Irish Parliamentary Labour
Leader since 6 February 1900 28 February 1900
Leader's seat Waterford City Merthyr Tydfil
Last election 82 seats, 4.0% N/A
Seats won 77 2
Seat change Decrease 5 N/A
Popular vote 57,576 62,698
Percentage 1.6% 1.8%
Swing Decrease 1.4% N/A

PM before election

Lord Salisbury
Conservative

Subsequent PM

Lord Salisbury
Conservative

The United Kingdom general election of 1900 was held between 26 September and 24 October 1900, following the dissolution of Parliament on 25 September. Also known as the khaki election (the first of several elections to bear this sobriquet), it was held at a time when it was widely believed that the Second Boer War had effectively been won (though in fact it was to continue for a further two years). The Conservatives, led by Lord Salisbury with their Liberal Unionist allies, secured a large majority of 130, despite securing only 5.6% more votes than Henry Campbell-Bannerman's Liberals. This was largely due to the Conservatives winning 163 uncontested seats. The Labour Representation Committee, later to become the Labour Party, participated in a general election for the first time even though they had only been in existence for a few months. As a result, Keir Hardie and Richard Bell were the only LRC members of parliament in 1900.

This was the first time that Winston Churchill was elected to the House of Commons. He had stood in the same seat, Oldham, in a by-election the previous year, but had lost. It was also the final general election of the Victorian era and the 19th century.

1892 election MPs
1895 election MPs
1900 election MPs
1906 election MPs
Jan 1910 election MPs

Results

UK General Election 1900
Candidates Votes
Party Leader Standing Elected Gained Unseated Net  % of total  % No. Net %
  Conservative Lord Salisbury 472 335 1,481,516
  Liberal Unionist Joseph Chamberlain 97 67 286,442
  Conservative and Liberal Unionist Lord Salisbury 569 402 - 9 60.1 50.3 1,767,958 +1.3
  Liberal Henry Campbell-Bannerman 402 183 + 6 27.4 44.7 1,572,323 -1.0
  Labour Keir Hardie 15 2 2 0 + 2 3.0 1.8 62,698 N/A
  Irish Parliamentary John Redmond 83 77 2 7 − 5 11.5 1.6 57,576 -2.4
  Independent Nationalist N/A 18 5 5 0 + 5 0.6 0.7 23,706 +0.6
  Independent Conservative N/A 7 0 0 0 0 0 0.4 13,713
  Independent Liberal N/A 3 1 1 0 + 1 0.1 0.2 6,423 +0.1
  Independent N/A 3 0 0 0 0 0 0.2 4,800 +0.2
  Scottish Workers Robert Allan 1 0 0 0 0 0 0.1 3,107 N/A
  Ind. Liberal Unionist N/A 1 0 0 0 0 0 0.1 1,855 N/A
  Ind. Labour Party Bruce Glasier 1 0 0 0 0 0 0.0 433 +0.0

Total votes cast: 3,514,592. All parties with more than 1,000 votes shown.

Voting summary

Popular vote
Conservative and Liberal Unionist
  
50.3%
Liberal
  
44.74%
Labour
  
1.78%
Irish Parliamentary
  
1.64%
Independent
  
1.45%
Others
  
9.99%

Seats summary

Parliamentary seats
Conservative and Liberal Unionist
  
60%
Liberal
  
27.31%
Labour
  
0.3%
Irish Parliamentary
  
11.49%
Independent Nationalist
  
0.75%
Independent Liberal
  
0.15%

See also

References

Further reading

  • F. W. S. Craig, British Electoral Facts: 1832-1987 (1988)
  • Readman, Paul. "The Conservative party, patriotism, and British politics: the case of the general election of 1900." Journal of British Studies 40#1 (2001): 107-145. [ http://www.jstor.org/stable/3070771 in JSTOR]
  • Roberts, Andrew. Salisbury: Victorian Titan (1999) pp 766-83

External links