Within nine days of Churchill’s retirement Eden called an election for 26 May, with the polls giving the Tories a modest lead.
Taking no chances with their hopes of securing a new mandate, the Tories quickly unveiled an electioneering Budget with Chancellor Rab Butler cutting income tax.
Clement Attlee again led Labour into the election battle - his fourth and last as leader.
Splits within the party already apparent when Labour was last in power had burst into the open more violently in opposition.
Attlee was unable to subdue Nye Bevan - a heroic figure for the party's left - who quit the shadow cabinet and was almost expelled from the party a year later.
With few areas of agreement within the party Labour shied away from making too may specific pledges and faced the electorate without a clear message.
TV was making its presence felt for the first time in an election campaign - with key figures including Attlee and Eden making themselves available for the cameras. Although it was hard to see which party - if any, or indeed the public - had benefited from its introduction.
Although he did speak once on television, the ageing Attlee still undertook his traditional speaking tour of the country, driven by car from hustings to hustings, as usual, by his faithful wife Vi.