United Kingdom general election, January 1910
All 670 seats in the House of Commons
336 seats needed for a majority
First party
Second party
Third party
Leader
H. H. Asquith
Arthur Balfour
John Redmond
Party
Liberal
Conservative
Irish Parliamentary
Leader since
30 April 1908
11 June 1902
6 February 1900
Leader's seat
East Fife
City of London
Waterford City
Last election
399 seats, 48.7%
156 seats, 42.9%
82 seats, 0.6%
Seats won
274
272
71
Seat change
123
116
11
Popular vote
2,866,157
3,104,407
74,047
Percentage
43.1%
46.7%
1.2%
Swing
5.4%
3.4%
0.6%
Fourth party
Fifth party
Leader
Arthur Henderson
William O'Brien
Party
Labour
All-for-Ireland
Leader since
22 January 1908
15 January 1910
Leader's seat
Barnard Castle
Cork City
Last election
29 seats, 5.7%
N/A
Seats won
40
8
Seat change
11
8
Popular vote
505,657
23,605
Percentage
7.6%
0.4%
Swing
2.2%
0.4%
The United Kingdom general election of January 1910 was held from 15 January to 10 February 1910. The government called the election in the midst of a constitutional crisis caused by the rejection of the People's Budget by the House of Lords , in order to get a mandate to pass the budget.
The election produced a hung parliament , with the Conservative Party led by Arthur Balfour and their Liberal Unionist allies receiving the largest number of votes, but the Liberals led by H. H. Asquith winning the largest number of seats, returning two more MPs than the Conservatives. Asquith formed a government with the support of the Irish Parliamentary Party , led by John Redmond . A second election was soon held in December .
The Labour Party , led by Arthur Henderson , continued to gain strength, going from 29 seats to 40.
Results [ edit ]
↓
274
272
71
40
13
Liberal
Conservative
IP
Labour
O
UK general election, January 1910
Candidates
Votes
Party
Leader
Standing
Elected
Gained
Unseated
Net
% of total
%
No.
Net %
Conservative and Liberal Unionist
Arthur Balfour
594
272 (240+32)
+116
40.6
46.8
2,919,236
+3.4
Liberal
H. H. Asquith
511
274
−123
40.9
43.5
2,712,511
−5.4
Labour
Arthur Henderson
78
40
16
5
+11
6.0
7.0
435,770
Irish Parliamentary
John Redmond
85
71
0
11
−11
10.6
1.2
74,047
+0.6
All-for-Ireland
William O'Brien
10
8
8
0
+8
1.2
0.4
23,605
Independent Nationalist
N/A
10
3
3
2
+2
0.5
0.3
16,533
Social Democratic Federation
H. M. Hyndman
9
0
0
0
0
0.2
13,479
-0.1
Independent Conservative
N/A
4
1
1
1
0
0.1
0.2
11,772
Free Trader
John Eldon Gorst
4
0
0
0
0
0.2
11,553
Independent Labour
N/A
6
0
0
1
−1
0.2
9,936
Independent Liberal
N/A
3
1
1
0
+1
0.1
0.1
5,237
Scottish Prohibition
Edwin Scrymgeour
1
0
0
0
0
0.0
756
All parties shown.
Seat winners in England and Wales
Voting summary [ edit ]
Popular vote
Conservative and Liberal Unionist
46.82%
Liberal
43.51%
Labour
6.99%
Irish Parliamentary
1.19%
Independent
0.7%
Others
0.79%
Seats summary [ edit ]
Parliamentary seats
Liberal
40.9%
Conservative and Liberal Unionist
40.6%
Labour
5.97%
Irish Parliamentary
10.6%
All-for-Ireland
1.19%
Independent
0.75%
See also [ edit ]
External links [ edit ]
References [ edit ]