A Day That Shook The World: Labour wins an election landslide

(Hulton Archive/Getty)

On 26 July 1945, the Labour Party was swept to power in Britain by a landslide.

Winning a commanding majority that few had expected, Labour now had a margin over the Conservatives of 180 seats.

They were offering a welfare state and a social security net that appealed to a country made weary by a long war. Churchill, though popular as a war leader, was not trusted as the right man in peace.

Watch original footage from the election, and Clement Attlee's victory speech, in this British Pathé video, above.