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UK's Landmark Postwar Elections: When Labor Ended 13 Years of Conservative Rule in 1964

FILE - The War Cabinet at No. 10 Downing Street in London, Oct. 15, 1941. Seated from left, Sir John Anderson, Lord President of the council; Prime Minister Winston Churchill; C.R. Attlee, Lord Privy Seal; Foreign Secretary Anthony Eden, standing from left, Arthur Greenwood, Minister without portfolio; Ernest Bevin, Minister of Labour; Lord Beaverbrook, Minister of Aircraft Production, and Sir Kingsley Wood, Chancellor of the Exchequer. (AP Photo/File)
FILE - The War Cabinet at No. 10 Downing Street in London, Oct. 15, 1941. Seated from left, Sir John Anderson, Lord President of the council; Prime Minister Winston Churchill; C.R. Attlee, Lord Privy Seal; Foreign Secretary Anthony Eden, standing from left, Arthur Greenwood, Minister without portfolio; Ernest Bevin, Minister of Labour; Lord Beaverbrook, Minister of Aircraft Production, and Sir Kingsley Wood, Chancellor of the Exchequer. (AP Photo/File)
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UK's Landmark Postwar Elections: When Labor Ended 13 Years of Conservative Rule in 1964

FILE - The War Cabinet at No. 10 Downing Street in London, Oct. 15, 1941. Seated from left, Sir John Anderson, Lord President of the council; Prime Minister Winston Churchill; C.R. Attlee, Lord Privy Seal; Foreign Secretary Anthony Eden, standing from left, Arthur Greenwood, Minister without portfolio; Ernest Bevin, Minister of Labour; Lord Beaverbrook, Minister of Aircraft Production, and Sir Kingsley Wood, Chancellor of the Exchequer. (AP Photo/File)
FILE - The War Cabinet at No. 10 Downing Street in London, Oct. 15, 1941. Seated from left, Sir John Anderson, Lord President of the council; Prime Minister Winston Churchill; C.R. Attlee, Lord Privy Seal; Foreign Secretary Anthony Eden, standing from left, Arthur Greenwood, Minister without portfolio; Ernest Bevin, Minister of Labour; Lord Beaverbrook, Minister of Aircraft Production, and Sir Kingsley Wood, Chancellor of the Exchequer. (AP Photo/File)

Britain’s upcoming general election is widely expected to lead to a change of government for the first time in 14 years. Many analysts believe it will be one of the country’s most consequential elections since the end of World War II.
Ahead of the July 4 vote, The Associated Press takes a look back at other landmark UK elections since the war.
In 1964, the Conservative Party had been in power for 13 years and was on its fourth prime minister, Alec Douglas-Home.
That has echoes of the current Conservative government, which has been in power for 14 years and is now on its fifth prime minister of the period, Rishi Sunak.
Douglas-Home had only become prime minister the year before, when his predecessor Harold Macmillan stepped down following a huge reversal in fortune. The buoyant economy had faltered, and Macmillan had been snubbed by French President Charles de Gaulle in his application for Britain to join the recently formed European Economic Community.
A sex scandal rocked his government and the British establishment, adding to the general feeling that the Conservatives had lost touch. Macmillan, known as “Supermac,” stepped down soon after his minister for war, John Profumo, resigned for lying to Parliament over his affair with model and showgirl Christine Keeler.
So the 1964 election was a race between the aristocratic Douglas-Home and Labor leader Harold Wilson, who was buzzing with ideas such as harnessing the “white heat of technology” to modernize the ailing British economy.
Wilson also had the common touch, particularly important in the new world of television and with Britain showing signs of a cultural renaissance in the “Swinging Sixties.” Wilson was more than able to hold his own with The Beatles, as evidenced in March 1964 when he presented the Fab Four an award.
When the election came about on Oct. 15, 1964, Labor was widely expected to return to power for the first time since 1951. “13 Wasted Years" was its message. But the party didn't do as well as many had expected, and Labour only won a majority of four in the House of Commons.
Wilson, who at 48 became the youngest British prime minister in 70 years, would need a bigger majority to get major legislation through — and he got it 18 months later when he called a snap election.
Wilson lost the election in 1970 to Ted Heath's Conservatives, but would go on to serve a second term as prime minister from 1974 to 1976, becoming the longest-serving Labor premier in the 20th century. By that second period in office, Wilson was clearly exhausted and lacking the dynamism of his early years.
Britain was widely considered to be the “sick man of Europe” and it was fertile ground for radical change. Step forward, Margaret Thatcher.

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Moderate Pezeshkian Makes It to Iran Presidential Run-off

Iranian presidential candidate and reformist Massoud Pezeshkian reacts to the crowd outside a polling station where he cast his vote in the presidential election in Tehran on June 28, 2024. (AFP)
Iranian presidential candidate and reformist Massoud Pezeshkian reacts to the crowd outside a polling station where he cast his vote in the presidential election in Tehran on June 28, 2024. (AFP)
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Moderate Pezeshkian Makes It to Iran Presidential Run-off

Iranian presidential candidate and reformist Massoud Pezeshkian reacts to the crowd outside a polling station where he cast his vote in the presidential election in Tehran on June 28, 2024. (AFP)
Iranian presidential candidate and reformist Massoud Pezeshkian reacts to the crowd outside a polling station where he cast his vote in the presidential election in Tehran on June 28, 2024. (AFP)

In an election campaign dominated by hardliners, Iranian presidential hopeful Massoud Pezeshkian stood out as a moderate, backing women's rights, more social freedoms, cautious detente with the West and economic reform.

Pezeshkian narrowly beat hardline Saeed Jalili for first place in Friday's first round vote but the two men will now face a run-off election on July 5, since Pezeshkian did not secure the majority of 50% plus one vote of ballots cast needed to win outright.

Pezeshkian, a 69-year-old cardiac surgeon, lawmaker and former health minister was up against candidates who more closely reflect the fiercely anti-Western stance of Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei, the country's ultimate decision-maker.

And yet the mild-mannered Pezeshkian narrowly won Friday's vote and made it to the run-off in the election to pick a successor to Ebrahim Raisi, who was killed in a helicopter crash in May.

His chances hinge on attracting votes from supporters of current hardline parliament speaker Mohammad Baqer Qalibaf, who finished third in the first round, and encouraging a young disillusioned population hungry for change but disenchanted with the country's political, social and economic crisis to vote for him again in the run-off.

Although he advocates reforms, Pezeshkian is faithful to Iran's theocratic rule with no intention of confronting the powerful security hawks and clerical rulers.

His views offer a contrast to those of Raisi, a Khamenei protege who tightened enforcement of a law curbing women's dress and took a tough stance in now-moribund negotiations with major powers to revive a 2015 nuclear deal.

Pezeshkian's election campaign gained momentum when he was endorsed by reformists, led by former President Mohammad Khatami, and when he appointed former Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif, a key figure in crafting the nuclear deal, as his foreign policy adviser.

Implicitly referring to the appointment of Zarif, who hardliners accuse of selling out Iran in order to reach the deal, Khamenei said on Tuesday: "Anyone who is attached to America will not be a good colleague for you".

In 2018, then-US President Donald Trump ditched the pact and reimposed sanctions on Iran, calling it "a horrible one-sided deal that should have never, ever been made." His move prompted Tehran to progressively violate the agreement's nuclear limits.

If Pezeshkian does go on to win, this would hinder Iranian hardliners who are opposed to the revival of the pact.

However, under Iran's dual system of clerical and republican rule the power to shape key state policies including foreign and nuclear affairs ultimately rests with Khamenei.

As a result, many voters are skeptical about Pezeshkian's ability to fulfil his campaign promises.

"Pezeshkian's power as the president to fulfil his campaign promises is zero," said Sholeh Mousavi, a 32-year-old teacher in Tehran, before Friday's first round of voting.

"I want reforms but Pezeshkian cannot improve the situation. I will not vote. "

Pezeshkian, the sole moderate among the six candidates who were approved by a hardline watchdog body to stand, has pledged to foster a pragmatic foreign policy and ease nuclear tensions with the West. Two hardline subsequently candidates pulled out.

A CRITIC LOYAL TO KHAMENEI

At the same time, Pezeshkian promised in TV debates and interviews not to contest Khamenei's policies, which analysts said risks further alienating the urban middle class and young voters. These groups no longer seek mere reform and instead now directly challenge the country's regime as a whole.

As a lawmaker since 2008, Pezeshkian, who is an Azeri ethnic minority and supports the rights of ethnic minorities, has criticized the clerical establishment's suppression of political and social dissent.

In 2022, Pezeshkian demanded clarification from authorities about the death of Mahsa Amini, a woman who died in custody after she was arrested for allegedly violating a law restricting women's dress. Her death sparked months of unrest across the country.

But at a Tehran University meeting earlier this month, responding to a question about students imprisoned on charges linked to anti-government protests, Pezeshkian said "political prisoners are not within my scope, and if I want to do something, I have no authority".

During the Iran-Iraq war in 1980s, Pezeshkian, who held roles as both a combatant and a physician, was tasked with the deployment of medical teams to the front lines.

He was health minister from 2001-5 in Khatami's second term.

Pezeshkian lost his wife and one of his children in a car accident in 1994. He raised his surviving two sons and a daughter alone, opting to never remarry.