The
United Kingdom general election held on Tuesday 27 October
1931 saw a landslide election victory for the
National Government which had been formed two months previously after the collapse of the previous Labour government. The bulk of the National Government's support came from the Conservative Party, and the Conservatives won 470 seats. The Labour party suffered its greatest defeat, losing four out of five seats compared with the previous election. The Liberal Party, split into three factions, continued to shrink and the Liberal National faction never reunited.
Ivor Bulmer-Thomas said the results "were the most astonishing in the history of the British party system". It was the last election where one party (the Conservatives) received an absolute majority of the votes cast and the last UK general election not to
take place on a Thursday.