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, until October 1922, been in coalition with a faction of the Liberals led by Lloyd George, at which point Bonar Law had formed a Conservative majority government. Although still leader of the Liberal Party and a frequent public speaker, former Prime Minister 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 focused 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 and a man with St Vitus Dance. Some Lloyd George National Liberals were not opposed by Conservative candidates, while many leading Conservatives were not members of Bonar Law's government and hoped to hold the balance of power after the election ; this was not to be, as Bonar Law won an overall majority. It was the first election where Labour surpassed the combined strength of both Liberal parties in votes and seats. Some Liberal candidates stood calling for a reunited Liberal Party, while others appear to have backed both Asquith and Lloyd George. Few sources are able to agree on exact numbers, and even in contemporary records held by the two groups, some MPs were claimed for both sides. By one estimate, there were 29 seats where Liberals stood against one another. This is thought to have cost them at least 14 seats, 10 of them to Labour, so in theory a reunited Liberal Party would have been much closer to, and perhaps even ahead of, Labour in terms of seats. However, in reality the two factions were on poor terms, and Lloyd George was still hoping for a renewed coalition with the Conservatives. Neither of the leaders of the two main parties would get to enjoy their success in the election for very long; within less than a month of the election, Clynes was defeated in a leadership challenge by former Labour leader Ramsay MacDonald, while Bonar Law would only last a little over seven months as Prime Minister before being forced to step down due to a terminal illness, resulting in Stanley Baldwin succeeding him as both party leader and Prime Minister. As a result, Bonar Law was the shortest serving UK Prime Minister of the twentieth century.
Party platforms
The Conservative Party offered continuity to the electorate. Bonar Law's election address stated: The Labour Party proposed to nationalise the mines and railways, to impose a levy on financial capital, and to revise the peace treaties. It promised a higher standard of living for workers, higher wages, and better housing.
Results
Votes summary
Seats summary
Transfers of seats
All comparisons are with the 1918 election.
*In some cases the change is due to the MP defecting to the gaining party. Such circumstances are marked with a *.
*In other circumstances the change is due to the seat having been won by the gaining party in a by-election in the intervening years, and then retained in 1922. Such circumstances are marked with a †.
