the 1964 general election had involved a nationwide swing from the conservatives to the labour party; which had resulted in the party gaining a narrow five seat majority. however, in smethwick, the conservative candidate, griffiths gained the seat and unseated the sitting labour mp, patrick gordon walker, who had served as shadow foreign secretary for the eighteen months prior to the election. griffiths did, however, poll 436 votes less in 1964 than when he stood unsuccessfully for the smethwick constituency in 1959: