Labour only just managed to hang on to power in 1950. Despite getting more votes than in his 1945 landslide victory, Prime Minister Clement Attlee now had a Commons majority of just five seats.

Five years of post-war austerity had dented Labour’s appeal to the middle class as Conservative fortunes revived.

Although both the major parties were able to take heart from the results, 1950 was an unmitigated disaster for the Liberals.

They took just nine seats and suffered a massive financial blow as over 300 of their candidates lost their deposits.