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Parliament met for the
last time on 15th June, 1945 with polling day scheduled for 5th July and
a delay in the announcement of the result until 26th July 1945 in order
to ensure time for the service vote to be collected from the distant
parts of the globe.
Churchill, the war
leader, expected to win and his reception during the campaign was
tumultuous. He campaigned in Glasgow and in Edinburgh in late June and
received a warm welcome, and concluded that no one who had seen the
crowds during his visit could have any doubts about the eventual result.
He fully expected to see the Conservatives win on the strength of his
name and record, like a presidential candidate. Even Attlee, the Labour
leader, expected that the best result for Labour would be that the
Tories’ majority would be down to about forty seats.
The result was a Labour
landslide achieving 12 million votes and 393 seats - a majority overall
of 146 and that over the Conservatives alone of 180. After fourteen
years in opposition, Labour was now truly in power and it surely would
be possible to implement their election promises.
With such a surge of
support, it would have been more than a minor miracle if the SNP Member
for Motherwell and Wishaw held his seat against the tide.
The fight was as vigorous
as in the by-election but, on this occasion, it was a three-cornered
baffle, with the Tories puffing up a Major in the Coldstream Guards,
John d’Henin Hamilton - a nephew of Lord Hamilton of Dalzell. His
policy was quite simply that he stood on full support for Churchill
continuing as leader, particularly as the war with Japan bad still to be
won. Labour continued with their by-election candidate, Alex Anderson,
who also made the defeat with Japan an important issue - but the
creation of a Scottish Parliament came next in line of priorities.
Dr McIntyre put his main
question as the future of Scotland. "It is now quite clear that
only through a parliament in Scotland responsible to the Scottish people
for all Scottish affairs can we have any progress whatsoever.
That is the democratic right which Scots
have fought and died for, for other countries.
But one of the issues which his opponents
brought up during the campaign was the situation surrounding his
eventual taking of the oath. They implied that McIntyre’s stance was
one of disloyalty to the Crown, whereas, it was one of loyalty to the
Scottish people.
This issue did not fade away at the
general election and opponents continued to distort the position in
elections well into the 1950s.
When the result was announced at mid-day
on 26th July 1945, Labour was the clear winner by 7,809 votes, with the
SNP in second place. A wave of euphoria swept over the population and
expectations were extremely high. When parliament reassembled in August,
the Tories sang on Churchill’s entry, "He’s a jolly good
fellow" and Labour responded with, "The Red Flag". Labour
had triumphed and "socialism" would be put into practice.
In personal terms, McIntyre had to get
back into practice himself and try to resume his medical career, having
relinquished his position in Glasgow. |
