United Kingdom general election, 1922

United Kingdom general election, 1922

← 1918 15 November 1922 1923 →
← outgoing members elected members →
All 615 seats Constituency results 308 seats needed for a majority
Turnout	73.0% (15.8%)
First party Second party   Leader Bonar Law J. R. Clynes Party Conservative Labour Leader since 23 October 1922 14 February 1921 Leader's seat Glasgow Central Manchester Platting Last election 379 seats, 39.2% (including Conservatives not elected under the Coalition coupon) 57 seats, 21.5% Seats won 344 142 Seat change 35 85 Popular vote 5,294,465 4,076,665 Percentage 38.5% 29.7% Swing 0.7% 8.9%   Third party Fourth party   Leader H. H. Asquith David Lloyd George Party Liberal National Liberal Leader since 30 April 1908 7 December 1916 Leader's seat Paisley Caernarvon Boroughs Last election 36 seats, 13.3% 127 seats, 12.6% Seats won 62 53 Seat change 26 74 Popular vote 2,601,486 1,355,366 Percentage 18.9% 9.9% Swing 5.9% 2.7%
Prime Minister before election David Lloyd George National Subsequent Prime Minister Bonar Law Conservative

Dec 1910 election • MPs

1918 election • MPs

1922 election • MPs

1923 election • MPs

1924 election • MPs

David Lloyd George
National

Bonar Law
Conservative

The United Kingdom general election of 1922 was held on Wednesday 15 November 1922. It was the first election held after most of the Irish counties left the United Kingdom to form the Irish Free State, and was won by Bonar Law's Conservatives, who gained an overall majority over Labour, led by J. R. Clynes, and a divided Liberal Party.

The Liberal Party were split between the "National Liberals" following David Lloyd George, who had been ousted as Prime Minister the previous month, and the "Liberals" following former Prime Minister H. H. Asquith. The Conservatives had been in coalition with the National Liberals led by David Lloyd George until the previous month, at which point Bonar Law had formed a Conservative majority government.

Although still Leader of the Liberal Party and a frequent public speaker, Asquith was no longer a particularly influential figure in the national political debate, and he had played no part in the downfall of the Lloyd George coalition. Most attention was focussed on the new and most recent Prime Ministers. Asquith's daughter Violet Bonham-Carter, a prominent Liberal Party campaigner, likened the election to a contest between a man with sleeping sickness (Bonar Law) and a man with St Vitus Dance (Lloyd George).

Some Lloyd George National Liberals were not opposed by Conservative candidates (e.g. Winston Churchill, who was defeated at Dundee nonetheless) whilst many leading Conservatives (e.g. former leaders Sir Austen Chamberlain and Arthur Balfour and former Lord Chancellor Lord Birkenhead) were not members of Bonar Law's government and hoped to hold the balance of power after the election (comparisons were made with the Peelite group - the ousted Conservative front bench of the late 1840s and 1850s); this was not to be, as Bonar Law won an overall majority.

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