2012 United Kingdom General Election

The 2012 United Kingdom General Election was an election held on 14 November 2012 to elect all 650 Members of Parliament in the House of Commons. Prime Minister Rose Barnes motioned to call the election in order to get a mandate to govern after taking over from her predecessor the previous year.

Polls predicted the outcome would be too close to call and could result in a hung parliament. Opinion polls were eventually proven to have underestimated the Labour vote as the party unexpectedly won an outright majority likely due to the unexpected resignation of Conservative leader George Osborne.

Lead-Up to General Election
In August 2012, Prime Minister Carter sacked Chancellor Romeo Bond. There was no obvious candidate for who to make the new Chancellor of the Exchequer, and she ended up deciding to shuffle in Maria Barnes, who publicly said she was upset with the decision and was unaware of the news before it as publicly announced. This led to Violet Carter resigning, reportedly being pushed to do so by Barnes and her sister Rose. Rose Barnes won the leadership election that followed, making her the next Prime Minister of the United Kingdom. The First Barnes Ministry governed for nearly a year without a mandate, until the Prime Minister motioned for an early general election, which was easily passed, triggering a general election to be held in November 2012.