Despite the occasional harsh outburst during the 1945-1950 parliament from Labour cabinet members such as Nye Bevan that the Tories were "lower than vermin", the election campaign saw something of a change of temper and did not turn into a bitter slanging match.
Indeed Churchill called it a "demure" campaign. And when his party made its peace and accepted Labour’s introduction of the health service and a mixed economy, the battle lines were drawn firmly, if narrowly, around the issue of further nationalisation.
Labour hoped to take the steel industry, sugar and cement into public ownership - the Conservatives believed the state had moved far enough into managing the economy.
The Cold War forced its way into the campaign briefly when Churchill called for a high level summit with Russia. But despite his intervention Labour looked the likeliest victor.