Migration on the Ballot? Smethwick and the 1964 General Election

Migration on the Ballot? Re-examines the 1964 election contest at Smethwick. It considers the impact of deindustrialisation, urban redevelopment, and migration on the town, alongside the candidates and parties who stood, and how commentators have shaped our understanding of the result.

The 1964 election was supposed to be a success for Labour Leader Harold Wilson. Yet, while his party returned to power after thirteen years in opposition, the defeat of Shadow Cabinet Minister Patrick Gordon Walker by the Conservative Peter Griffiths at Smethwick overshadowed Labour’s victory. In a town affected by economic, urban, and demographic change, Griffiths ran a campaign most remembered for its anti-migrant rhetoric.

A ‘safe’ Labour seat in the West Midlands not only voted Conservative, but also became a metonym for ‘racial politics’, influencing national debates about migration and impacting the new Labour Government’s agenda. However, despite its continued notoriety, the campaign remains under-interrogated, with scholarly attention notable either for its obsolescence or brevity. This study seeks to understand how far these Conservative appeals actually determined the outcome, or whether a more complicated story lies beneath.