Dissolution of Parliament and campaign

Held less than two months after VE Day , it was the first general election since 1935 , as general elections had been suspended during the Second World War . Clement Attlee , the leader of the Labour Party , refused Winston Churchill 's offer of continuing the wartime coalition until the Allied defeat of Japan . On 15 June, King George VI dissolved Parliament, which had been sitting for ten years without an election.

The Labour manifesto, "Let Us Face the Future", included promises of nationalisation , economic planning , full employment , a National Health Service ,