Khaki Election

The term Khaki Election refers to the first general election held in Great Britain after the end of World War II. The Khaki Election was held in 1945. The name is derived from the fact that the vast majority of male members of the electorate were either serving or recently demobilised soldiers, and British military uniforms were khaki-coloured.

The election resulted in a landslide victory for Clement Attlee and the Labour Party, removing Prime Minister Winston Churchill from office just months after victory in the war. Supporters of both parties later claimed that this most unexpected outcome was due in no small part to the effect of the military vote, which included large numbers of conscripted (drafted) men. Attlee and Labour had run a strong campaign based on the slogan "We've won the war, now let's win the peace", and this promise of greater prosperity and personal freedom was thought to have struck a chord with the war-weary electorate.

In theory, the phrase "khaki election" can be used to refer to any wartime or immediately postwar election, first having been applied to the 1900 British General Election (held at the height of the Boer War); however, in practice, it nearly always refers specifically to the 1945 British General Election.