It's interesting to compare this to the Democratic Party in the US - counting Presidents and Presidential nominees, rather than leaders, since that's a job they don't have.
Reckoning from the 1948 election, the Democrats have:
Presidents: Truman, Kennedy, Johnson, Carter, B. Clinton, Obama, Biden (Truman, Kennedy and Clinton did not get majorities)
Losing candidates: Stevenson, Humphrey, McGovern, Mondale, Dukakis, Gore, Kerry, H. Clinton. Of these only Dukakis increased the vote.
And the Republicans have:
Presidents: Eisenhower, Nixon, Ford, Reagan, GHW Bush, GW Bush, Trump (Ford never won an election, Trump did not get a majority, GHW Bush did not increase the vote)
Losing candidates: Dewey, Goldwater, Dole, McCain, Romney (Dole and Romney increased the vote; Dewey had in 1944, though not in 1948)
I haven't calculated the averages, but the two parties are a lot closer.
By contrast, there are several European countries where the main left-wing party has a similar record to the British since WWII: there are only three SPD Chancellors of Germany (Braun, Schmidt and Schröder) to five CDU, only two PS Presidents of France (Mitterand and Hollande) to four Gaullists, one from the moderate right (Giscard) and whatever Macron is, four PvdA Prime Ministers of the Netherlands (Schermerhorn, Drees, den Uyl, Kok) - to eleven Christian Democrats (CDA, KVP or ARP) and Rutte from the right-wing liberals.
Italy has also been dominated by the right (though the number of prime ministers is a lot higher). Spain and Portugal have thirty years fewer as democracies, but both have had plenty of left-wing governments.
And, of course, most of the Scandinavian countries have very good electoral records for their social democratic parties.
It's interesting to compare this to the Democratic Party in the US - counting Presidents and Presidential nominees, rather than leaders, since that's a job they don't have.
Reckoning from the 1948 election, the Democrats have:
Presidents: Truman, Kennedy, Johnson, Carter, B. Clinton, Obama, Biden (Truman, Kennedy and Clinton did not get majorities)
Losing candidates: Stevenson, Humphrey, McGovern, Mondale, Dukakis, Gore, Kerry, H. Clinton. Of these only Dukakis increased the vote.
And the Republicans have:
Presidents: Eisenhower, Nixon, Ford, Reagan, GHW Bush, GW Bush, Trump (Ford never won an election, Trump did not get a majority, GHW Bush did not increase the vote)
Losing candidates: Dewey, Goldwater, Dole, McCain, Romney (Dole and Romney increased the vote; Dewey had in 1944, though not in 1948)
I haven't calculated the averages, but the two parties are a lot closer.
By contrast, there are several European countries where the main left-wing party has a similar record to the British since WWII: there are only three SPD Chancellors of Germany (Braun, Schmidt and Schröder) to five CDU, only two PS Presidents of France (Mitterand and Hollande) to four Gaullists, one from the moderate right (Giscard) and whatever Macron is, four PvdA Prime Ministers of the Netherlands (Schermerhorn, Drees, den Uyl, Kok) - to eleven Christian Democrats (CDA, KVP or ARP) and Rutte from the right-wing liberals.
Italy has also been dominated by the right (though the number of prime ministers is a lot higher). Spain and Portugal have thirty years fewer as democracies, but both have had plenty of left-wing governments.
And, of course, most of the Scandinavian countries have very good electoral records for their social democratic parties.