Looking back: UK general elections

A cleaner casts her vote in the UK general election at the Norbury public library polling station, 26 May 1955. Photograph: Harrison/Getty Images

15 November 1922: The lament of a woman voter - A first time voter is thoroughly unimpressed by the parliamentary candidates vying for her vote.

28 January 1924: Labour’s Chance - Ramsay MacDonald takes office as both Prime Minister and Foreign Secretary of a minority Labour government.

Ramsay MacDonald leaving 10 Downing Street to offer his resignation to the King, 1931. Photograph: Topical Press Agency/Getty Images

27 July 1945: Britain is a socialist country - Labour’s first majority government.

British Labour prime minister Clement Attlee and colleagues celebrate their victory in the General Election, 26 July 1945. Photograph: Popperfoto/Getty Images

27 October 1951: Winston Churchill back in office.

4 August 1955: Labour to look at reasons for election defeat.

5 June 1970: ‘Meet the people’ turns sour for Harold Wilson.

5 May 1979: The lady and the people - Margaret Thatcher is Britain’s first female prime minister.

Margaret Thatcher outside 10 Downing Street following her election as Prime Minister, 4 May 1979. Photograph: PA

6 June 1983: A millstone manifesto round Labour’s neck.

2 May 1997: Tony Blair’s crushing triumph. Fatal flaws in chaos theory - Nancy Banks-Smith reviews election night TV coverage.

The Labour Party wins the general election and Tony Blair arrives in Downing Street, 2 May 1997. Photograph: Martin Godwin for the Guardian

12 May 2010: David Cameron and Nick Clegg hail ‘historic and seismic shift’ in politics. General election 2010: How the UK’s national newspapers covered the developing 2010 general election results.

Prime Minister David Cameron (right) and Deputy Prime Minister Nick Clegg holding their first joint press conference in the Downing Street garden, May 2010. Photograph: Christopher Furlong/PA

13 April 2015: Guardian general election editorials: 1918-2015.

7 May 2015: Polls apart: the evolution of elections in the 20th century - in pictures.