Why did Labour win the 1945 election?

The 1945 election surprised the vast majority of viewers and there is no one factor that stands out as the only influential factor on the election. However, Labour’s wartime activism seems to be the key factor in winning over the electorate. Kenneth Morgan’s argues this point stating that Labour could not have won an election in 1939. This view is corroborated by the opinion polls that show that Labour only overtook the Conservatives in June 1943. This suggests that the election result cannot have been determined solely by pre-war Conservative failures, proving Blake and Adelman wrong. Furthermore, despite Paul Addison’s view, the election campaigns proved less influential as the electorate had already decided their fate. Therefore, Labour’s activism during the war was the deciding factor behind the 1945 election.