Rethinking Labour's 1964 Campaign

Abstract

This article reassesses Labour's 1964 general election campaign. It questions the extent to which it marked a break with the past since, if it was underpinned by a revisionist ‘catch-all’ electoral strategy, so too had been the campaign of 1959. The article contends that, despite impressions to the contrary, the party under Harold Wilson in most respects merely ventured a bit further down the roads already established by Hugh Gaitskell. For in terms of ideology, policy and organisation Labour did not change much between 1959 and 1964. The main difference was the extent to which the party elite tried to promote what they believed was a more contemporary ‘image’—a process encouraged by Wilson but initiated by Gaitskell. If more successful in terms of seats Labour's 1964 campaign actually generated 11,000 fewer votes than in 1959. Power was won for many reasons; and Labour's electoral strategy was not necessarily the most important factor. Thus, it is argued, Labour's 1964 election campaign was not (as many believe) an example of how a party can reap electoral reward by pragmatically responding to social trends. Instead it more closely illustrates how difficult it is for any party to come to terms with the society in which it operates.