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Page last updated at 12:58 GMT, Thursday, 22 April 2010 13:58 UK

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Election speak - how it's changed over the years

How has the language of election promises changed since 1945? Here's a selection of word clouds from the three main parties - each representing the most common words from their manifestos. The varying sizes of words represents their frequency of use.

"The word 'must' appears large in all three, betraying how the parties are very heavy on obligation as the war comes to an end," says political commentator Lewis Baston. "There's a sense of duty and service that runs through each."

Wordle of Labour Party Manifesto in 1964 Election

"The word 'Commonwealth' reflects a hope Labour had in the immediate post-Empire world," says Baston. "Also, it alludes to the National Plan - an idea from France designed to end the stop-go cycle of the economy in the 1950s."

"Inflation doesn't feature here at all, although at the time it was running quite high - 10% - as the oil crisis started to bite." The word "prices" is notable for its appearance, says Baston. This was an era when government still controlled some prices.

After 10 months of hung Parliament, "inflation" has started to creep in. What is notable to Baston in both Liberal manifestos of 1974 is the heavy use of economic terminology which belies the parties then image as a "beer and sandals" party.

Wordle of Conservative Party Manifesto at 1979 Election

What's most notable about Margaret Thatcher's winning 1979 manifesto is the moderateness of the language, says Baston. "It's a bit transitional - you can sort of hear Thatcher speaking here. But it doesn't give much of a hint of what was to come."

Wordle of Conservative Party and Labour Party Manifesto at 1992 Election

The 1992 election was a close run contest, and Baston notes the emergence of the language of Majorism - particularly through the word "services". "A year earlier Major has issued his Citizen's Charter to make big organisations more accountable to people."

"These hark back a bit to February 1974 - the word 'people' is all over the place," notes Baston. He also notes Labour's "very Brownian" use of words such as "work", "families" and "care".