United Kingdom general election, 1906

United Kingdom general election, 1906

← 1900 12 January – 8 February 1906 Jan 1910 →
← outgoing members Members elected →
All 670 seats in the House of Commons 336 seats needed for a majority
First party Second party   Leader Henry Campbell-Bannerman Arthur Balfour Party Liberal Conservative and Liberal Unionist Leader since December 1898 11 June 1902 Leader's seat Stirling Burghs Manchester East (defeated) Last election 183 seats, 44.7% 402 seats, 50.3% Seats won 397 156 Seat change 214 246 Popular vote 2,751,057 2,422,071 Percentage 48.9% 43.4% Swing 3.9% 6.9%   Third party Fourth party   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 77 seats, 1.6% 2 seats, 1.8% Seats won 82 29 Seat change 5 27 Popular vote 35,031 321,663 Percentage 0.6% 4.8% Swing 1.2% 3.6%
PM before election Henry Campbell-Bannerman Liberal Subsequent PM Henry Campbell-Bannerman Liberal

1895 election • MPs

1900 election • MPs

1906 election • MPs

Jan 1910 election • MPs

Dec 1910 election • MPs

Henry Campbell-Bannerman
Liberal

Henry Campbell-Bannerman
Liberal

The United Kingdom general election of 1906 was held from 12 January to 8 February 1906.

The Liberals, led by Prime Minister Henry Campbell-Bannerman, won a landslide majority victory in the election. The Conservatives under Arthur Balfour, which had been in government until the month before the election, lost more than half their seats, including Balfour's own seat in Manchester East, leaving them with their lowest ever number of seats. The election saw a 5.4% swing from the Conservative Party to the Liberal Party, the largest ever seen at the time. This has resulted in the 1906 General Election being dubbed the 'Liberal landslide', and is now ranked alongside the 1931, 1945, 1983 and 1997 General Elections as one of the largest landslide election victories.

The Labour Representation Committee was far more successful than in 1900 and after the election would be reformed as the "Labour Party" with 29 MPs and Keir Hardie as leader. The Irish Parliamentary Party, led by John Redmond, achieved its seats with a relatively low number of votes, as 73 candidates stood unopposed.

This election was a landslide defeat for the Conservative Party and their Liberal Unionist allies, with the primary reason given by historians as the party's weakness after its split over the issue of free trade (Joseph Chamberlain had resigned from government in September 1903 in order to campaign for Tariff Reform, which would allow 'preferential tariffs'). Many working-class people saw this as a threat to the price of food, hence the debate was nicknamed 'Big Loaf, Little Loaf'. The Liberals' landslide victory of 125 seats over all other parties led to the passing of social legislation known as the Liberal reforms.

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