Defections 1918–29 The post-First World War period saw many Liberals, including high-profile personalities such as Winston Churchill, decide that the time was right for them to change political parties. Dr Roy Douglas examines why. AA failurefailure ofof leadershipleadership An explanation of Liberal defections 1918–1929
iberal defections from – were mostly ration’, in order to establish ‘national unity’ with the Lrelated, directly or indirectly, to the tensions Conservative opposition. The formation of the which were set up in the party during the course of Asquith Coalition in May was not universally the Great War; tensions from which it never fully popular in the party and when the new government recovered. introduced the notorious McKenna Duties later in On August , Sir Edward Grey, Foreign Sec- the same year, many staunch Liberal free traders be- retary in the Liberal government, made a speech in came restive. The introduction of conscription in the House of Commons which left little doubt that – was also a matter of serious controversy Britain would soon be at war. A group of radical MPs, among Liberals and occasioned the resignation of nineteen of them Liberals, signed a resolution protest- the Home Secretary, Sir John Simon. Several other ing that there was not sufficient reason for Britain to very famous Liberals nearly resigned with him. intervene. The German invasion of Belgium on the Towards the end of came the strange ‘palace following day appears to have changed the minds of revolution’ which resulted in Asquith’s departure some doubting Liberals, but not all. Two members of and the establishment of a new coalition under the Cabinet — Viscount Morley and John Burns — Lloyd George. Asquith and his principal associates and a junior Minister, C. P. Trevelyan, resigned from left the government altogether. But Asquith re- the government. None of them, had been signatories mained the Liberal leader, while the organisation to the resolution. The reasons for the resignations of and finances of the party remained in the hands of is Burns and Morley is not entirely clear, and neither of Chief Whip, John Gulland. Lloyd George, as Prime them played any great part in later events; but Minister, proceeded to appoint government Chief Trevelyan was opposed to the war and remained very Whips, one a Liberal, the other Conservative. active for a long time to come. Gradually, Lloyd George’s Liberal friends amassed Throughout the conflict, there was a small group their own finances. Here was the origin of what of Liberal parliamentarians more or less opposed to would later be famous as the Lloyd George Fund. the war. That group was rather ill-defined but some The Maurice debate of May was of critical indications of its strength is provided by the fact that importance. Ostensibly, the issue turned on the ac- on February a resolution calling on the gov- curacy of government statements about the strength ernment to keep open diplomatic moves for peace of the army in France, and the appropriate way of was supported in the division lobbies by twenty Lib- discovering the truth of the matter. There is good eral MPs. Some, but not all, of the Liberal critics of reason for thinking that there was grave but wholly the war adhered to a body called the Union of excusable misunderstanding on both sides. Be that Democratic Control (UDC) which brought them in as it may, Liberal MPs were deeply split: seventy-one close contact with the Labour minority holding voting with the government, ninety-eight against it. similar views. Labour was also divided, but with only a single ex- Disputes over how to fight the war produced ception the Conservatives backed the government much deeper Liberal divisions. Many Liberals were and so saved the situation for Lloyd George. far from happy about the government’s immediate There remained the serious possibility that a gen- decision to set controversial matters like land taxing eral election would be held while the war was still in and Irish Home Rule into cold storage ‘for the du- progress and in July Freddie Guest, Lloyd
18 Journal of Liberal Democrat History 25: Winter 1999–2000 George’s Chief Whip, drew up lists of since Jesus Christ’. But which candi- dependent Labour candidate. C. P. Liberal, and also of Labour, MPs who dates should be regarded as supporters Trevelyan, at Elland, was opposed by a could, and could not, be regarded as of Lloyd George and his government? Conservative recipient of the ‘coupon’, government supporters. Thus the Lib- Letters of approval – the so-called ‘cou- an Asquithian Liberal and a Labour eral parliamentarians were already under pons’ – were sent to selected candidates candidate. deep stress, not on one issue but on sev- in most British (though not Irish) con- The upshot was a huge win for the eral, long before the Armistice of No- stituencies, over the signatures of Lloyd Coalition. ‘couponed’ Liberals and vember . This stress became greater George and the Conservative leader, thirty ‘uncouponed’ Liberals were as time went on and would soon lead to Bonar Law. elected. Asquith, and all his principal many defections from the party. Where a Conservative MP was de- followers, were defeated. All Liberal fending his seat, he nearly always re- members of the UDC and others about The coupon election ceived the ‘coupon’. Where a former whose attitude to the war there was any Immediately after the Armistice, the Conservative MP was standing down, real doubt, were defeated, most of them Prime Minister called a general elec- the ‘coupon’ usually went to the new heavily so. The Conservatives, with tion. He originally hoped to keep the Conservative candidate. The same rules MPs, formed a large overall majority in wartime coalition in being and even to were applied to Liberals who were on the House of Commons. extend it. Some weeks before the Ar- Guest’s ‘approved’ list. Agreements were mistice, he made a very attractive offer reached for most other British con- Aftermath to induce Asquith and his associates to stituencies by the headquarters of the It was immediately apparent that a join the government; but the offer was Conservative and Lloyd George Liberal good many Liberals felt, and would rejected. Lloyd George also hoped that organisations. In some cases the ‘cou- continue to feel, much animosity and Labour would remain in the coalition pon’ was given to a mushroom wartime mistrust towards others in their party. but Labour decided by a large majority body, the National Democratic Party Asquithians who had lost their seats as a to withdraw. So the coalition was now, (NDP). A few British constituencies result of the ‘coupon’ arrangements felt for practical purposes, the Conserva- did not receive the ‘coupon’ at all, in- deeply aggrieved. Liberal pacifists had tives and half the Liberals, with a few cluding those contested by Labour can- no reason to feel affection for either of hangers-on. didates who had been on Guest’s list. the main groups in the party. Some, in- The general election had many Conservatives usually did not stand in deed, had begun to depart even before extraordinary features. The electorate constituencies where they were not the General Election – E. D. Morel, not had been greatly increased. For the first scheduled to receive the ‘coupon’, an MP, but Liberal candidate for the time, women received the parliamentary while Liberals usually stood whether highly winnable constituency of vote, though only at age thirty. The male they were to receive the ‘coupon’ or Birkenhead – became secretary of the electorate, which not. The Asquith- UDC in and forfeited his candi- had been more or ian organisation dature. In April he joined the ILP, less restricted to The popularity of Lloyd did not denounce which was then affiliated to the Labour householders be- George – ‘the man who Liberals receiving Party. Shortly before the election, fore , was now the ‘coupon’ but Trevelyan indicated his intention to extended to nearly won the war’ – was Asquith himself, join Labour — but that did not save all over twenty-one. enormous. One of his and most of his him from Labour opposition. Ponsonby The Labour Party, Liberal supporters principal followers, joined the ILP soon afterwards. So did which had never were denied it. Outhwaite, though he later adhered to fielded more than described him as ‘the Those Liberals a much smaller movement, the Com- eighty-one candi- greatest man since Jesus who had been monwealth Land Party. dates before the Christ’. more or less open Once politics began to settle down war, now had close opponents of the after the election, there were further on . In Ireland, a war were treated Liberal defections. Josiah Wedgwood relatively new force, Sinn Féin, stood roughly by everyone else, including had been Liberal MP for Newcastle- posed to fight nearly everywhere. In a Asquithians and Lloyd Georgites alike. under-Lyme since . He shared the sense, the electorate was more naïve than The experiences of three noted mem- enthusiasm for land taxing evinced by it had been for a long time, because for bers of that group will illustrate what his colleague Outhwaite, who sat for a four years all politics had been about the happened. R. L. Outhwaithe, Liberal neighbouring constituency, and in the war itself, and the great issues which victor of a sensational by-election at debate on August had taken a were bound to arise in the aftermath had Hanley in , was opposed by an similar view about foreign policy. When received little public discussion. Asquithian Liberal, a Labour candidate, war came, however, he went out to The popularity of Lloyd George – and an NDP candidate who received fight and won the DSO. There is con- ‘the man who won the war’ – was the ‘coupon’. Arthur Ponsonby was op- siderable doubt how Wedgwood’s can- enormous. One of his Liberal support- posed at Dunfermline by a Liberal who didature in should be labelled; he ers described him as ‘the greatest man received the ‘coupon’ and also by an in- seems to have been offered the ‘coupon’
Journal of Liberal Democrat History 25: Winter 1999–2000 19 the war. There had also been a sea als; but the two groups were of roughly change in the character of the Labour similar size. Seven men who previ- Party. Before , it was essentially a ously sat as Liberal MPs were now on working class pressure group attempt- the Labour benches. ing to influence Liberal or Conserva- tive governments rather than a party The politics of chaos defined by ideology seeking to become In the new Parliament there was some the government itself. From on- rapprochement between Asquithian and wards, political ideology became much Lloyd Georgeite Liberals but nobody more important. The Labour Party be- anticipated another general election in gan to see itself as a possible party of the near future and such contacts were government, and it was open to all leisurely. comers sharing its ideology. Perhaps Bonar Law resigned in May , some of the Liberal defectors felt that when his health finally collapsed and Labour policies were still not fully de- was succeeded by Stanley Baldwin. A fined and that they could play a large few months later, the new premier de- part in shaping those policies in future. clared in favour of tariffs and this led to For some time after the ‘coupon’ another general election at the end of David Lloyd George, Liberal Leader 1926– 31 and Prime Minister 1916–22. election, local Liberal Associations con- the year. The cause of free trade brought tinued to include supporters and oppo- disparate Liberals together in unwonted but refused to use it as he had little con- nents of the Coalition; but the central union, just as it had done twenty years fidence in the Coalition. In any event organisations of the Asquithians and earlier. The Liberal manifesto was he was unopposed. For a very brief mo- Lloyd Georgeites became more and signed jointly by Asquith and Lloyd ment he inclined towards the more deeply hostile to each other. Sev- George. With very few exceptions, Lib- Asquithians; then he despaired of them eral critical by-elections, including the erals went into battle as a united party. too and joined Labour. Noel Buxton, Paisley contest of March , when Even this moment of Liberal who had sat as a Liberal MP for North Asquith was returned to Parliament, in- reunification witnessed one significant Norfolk down to , was defeated by creased the mutual animosity. defection. Dr Christopher Addison had a ‘couponed’ Conservative. What de- Asquithians made eager war on Coali- been an important minister in Lloyd cided him to defect was the iniquitous tionists; while the ‘Coalies’ eventually George’s Coalition, but he broke with the peace treaties which began to emerge set up their own organisation and be- government in because the housing in . Early in , when Asquith came known as the National Liberals. policy with which he had been associated was fighting his successful campaign in (They must be distinguished from the was frustrated by the Conservative ele- Paisley for return to the House of Liberal Nationals, who were established ment in the Coalition. He then became Commons, nine men who had for- in very different conditions in .) an Asquithian but lost his Parliamentary merly sat as Liberal MPs sent a letter of The next general election came un- seat in . In , while the election support to his Labour opponent. expectedly in the autumn of , campaign (in which he was not a candi- Why had there been so many Liberal when the Conservative rank-and-file date) was in progress, he announced his defections to the Labour Party? We may rebelled against their own leaders and intention to join the Labour Party. reject the cynical retort that these peo- pulled their party from the Coalition. ple were seeking personal advantage. Equally suddenly and unexpectedly, H. H. Asquith, Liberal leader 1908–26 and The Labour Party had certainly made Bonar Law – who had withdrawn from Prime Minister 1908–16. some advances in , but, lumping politics for health reasons in the previ- the two Liberal groups together, there ous year – emerged as Conservative were still far fewer Labour than Liberal leader and then as Prime Minister. MPs and there was not much reason yet No party was really prepared for this for believing that Labour would soon contest. The Liberals were split into two become the principal party of change. hostile groups. The Conservatives On the negative side, the main rea- seemed on the point of splitting as well. son for most of the defections was their Labour was undoubtedly a rising force loss of confidence in the Liberal leader- but the Labour Party of contained ship during the war, Asquithian and a wide range of disparate elements. Lloyd Georgeite alike. Either that, or The Conservatives, with seats, their distress at the treaties which won an overall majority. For the first emerged from the Paris Peace Confer- time, Labour, with , ran second. ence. On the positive side, some of There were Liberals. Not all of them were attracted by the growing these may be classified with any cer- pacifism of Labour in the last year of tainty as ‘official’ or as National, Liber-
20 Journal of Liberal Democrat History 25: Winter 1999–2000 The result of the general elec- prominent member of the imperialist subvention from the well-heeled Lloyd tion was Conservatives, Labour wing of the Liberal Party. In the pre- George fund. Liberal reunion, however, and Liberals. Thus no party had an Liberal government he had served did not mean united finances, and for overall majority. The Conservatives as Secretary of State for War and later as months there were complex manoeu- were still the largest single party but Asquith’s Lord Chancellor. His army vres on the subject. Until that matter they had been heavily defeated on the reforms were the foundation of his was resolved, the last thing the Liberals very issue on which the election had reputation as an administrator and were wanted was a general election. In the been called. Labour was ahead of the much admired by men like Kitchener. end however the Labour government Liberals but not greatly so; and unlike In later life, Haldane’s particular interest was defeated — perhaps it actively the Liberals, they had few people with was education and his views on that courted defeat over the Campbell case, ministerial experience. There were in- subject appear to have attracted him to and a new general election was forced tense discussions about possible ways of Labour. Labour was desperately short of in the autumn of . resolving the problems posed. distinguished lawyers and when the The Liberals faced disaster, and they The Conservatives remained in of- general election results were re- probably knew it. Some money was fice until the new Parliament met in vealed MacDonald and Haldane imme- granted from the Lloyd George fund January . Labour predictably diately discussed the possibility that he but it was too little and too late. The moved a critical amendment to the might joint a Labour government. party could only field candidates, King’s Speech. The Liberals, in view of Thus far, most of the important Lib- against a year earlier. For the first the circumstances of the election, could eral defections since had been in time, it was now obvious to the world hardly support Baldwin, and would the direction of Labour. Immediately the that a Liberal government, or a govern- emerge with little dignity if they ab- new parliament met in January , ment in which Liberals formed a major stained from voting. there were signs element, was out of Winston Churchill was still a Lib- that some might be Now the Liberal Party the question. eral at the time but had lost his seat at looking in a differ- began to experience Events of the Dundee in and had failed to se- ent direction. previous twelve cure election at West Leicester in the W inston tensions of a different months had pro- following year. He advanced an in- Churchill was the kind; between those duced another ef- triguing suggestion. The Liberals first great departure. fect on the Liberal should support the critical amend- In February who preferred Labour to Party. The old ten- ment but should follow this with one he was urged by the the Conservatives and sions between of their own, denouncing socialism. press lords, Beaver- those who preferred pacifists and pro- Both motions would be carried, one brook and Rother- war Liberals, and with Labour and one with Conserva- mere, to stand as an Conservatives to Labour. then between tive support; and constitutional prac- independent in the Asquithians and tice would require the King to call on forthcoming by-election in the Abbey Lloyd Georgeites, had already played a Asquith to form a government. division of Westminster. Writing to his major part in reducing the party from Churchill’s advice was rejected. wife, Churchill noted that ‘there are first to third place in British politics. Liberals voted for the Labour amend- thirty Liberals in the House and at least Now the Liberal Party began to experi- ment, ten against it, seven were absent another thirty candidates who wish to ence tensions of a different kind; be- unpaired and three were absent act with the Conservatives and who [sic] tween those who preferred Labour to paired. The government was defeated the Conservatives are anxious to win as the Conservatives and those preferred by votes to . Baldwin resigned allies’. Churchill had apparently hoped Conservatives to Labour. and Ramsay MacDonald formed the for both Liberal and Conservative sup- So matters stood before polling day first Labour government. port in the by-election but in fact he got arrived. When it came, the results were Nobody could have been surprised neither and all three established parties even worse than might have been ex- about three of the ex-Liberals included ran against him. Nevertheless, he missed pected. The Conservatives secured a in the new Cabinet — Charles election by only forty-three votes. large overall majority. Labour lost some Trevelyan, Noel Buxton and Josiah Lacking an overall majority, the new ground but did not fare disastrously. The Wedgwood. They were among the few Labour government was in a vulnerable Liberals were reduced from seats to Labour MPs who had substantial par- position. The Conservatives, however, forty-two. Asquith and many other well- liamentary experience. Nor could there were not willing to precipitate another known Liberals were defeated. Over one have been much surprise when general election for some months to hundred Liberal seats were lost to the Ponsonby became a junior minister. come, while Liberals faced appalling Conservatives and sixteen went to La- What was really remarkable was the problems over finance. The ‘official’ bour. Seven of the eight Liberal gains presence of Viscount Haldane as Lord funds of the party were at a very low from Labour were in constituencies Chancellor. He certainly had no lean- ebb, and the impressive campaign of which the Conservatives did not fight. ings in a pacifist direction. At the turn was only possible because the In the immediate aftermath came the of the century, Haldane had been a Asquithian organisation received a large final breach with Churchill. At the elec-
Journal of Liberal Democrat History 25: Winter 1999–2000 21 fit to give notice to mander Joseph Kenworthy was heir to the voters in his a peerage dating from the fourteenth constituency the century. He was also an Asquithian hero opportunity of de- in more senses than one. Kenworthy ciding if they were had a distinguished war record, and at a happy with an MP by-election in had captured Hull wearing a new label. Central from the Conservatives with a About the same huge overturn of votes. When Ken- time, two men who worthy defected to Labour, he took the had entered the honourable view that a man elected in House since the war, one interest should not transfer to a dif- but were defeated in ferent one without giving his electors , departed in the opportunity of deciding whether the same direction; they still wanted him as their repre- the Asquithian C. F. sentative. So he resigned his seat and Entwistle and the defended the constituency in the ensu- Lloyd Georgeite, H. ing by-election. Kenworthy was com- C. Hogbin. fortably victorious; the Liberal fell to a One MP who did derisory third place. not renounce his After Asquith’s resignation there was a Liberal allegiance sharp struggle for control of the Liberal was almost as embar- Party. At the turn of –, Lloyd rassing to the party as George won, although he never bothered the various apostates. formally to claim the post of Leader. Freddie Guest, Lloyd Money was poured into the organisation George’s sometime from the Lloyd George fund, while high- Chief Whip, regis- powered committees worked assiduously tion, he won Epping as a ‘Constitution- tered one of the few Liberal gains of on policy questions. alist’ with Conservative support. To , in Bristol North. This victory, Soon another prominent Liberal MP, widespread astonishment he then se- however, was clearly explained by the William Wedgwood Benn (later Vis- cured the post of Chancellor of the Ex- fact that the Conservatives, who had count Stansgate and father of Tony chequer in Baldwin’s second govern- fought there in , withdrew from the Benn) seceded to the Labour Party. ment. The appointment of a political contest and allowed Guest a straight Benn had sat as a Liberal MP since maverick who, whatever else was at fight against Labour. Thereafter Guest sat . He was a very loyal Asquithian heart a free trader, served notice that the as a Liberal, but usually voted as a Con- and in the immediate aftermath of the Conservatives had learned the lesson of servative: a fact which excited consider- general election Asquith sought, and were unlikely to make a frontal able protest from West Country Liberals. unsuccessfully, to persuade him to be- assault on free trade for a long time to come Chief Whip of the non-Coalition come. It was important in attracting to The Lloyd Georgeite Liberals. When Benn changed parties, Conservative ranks those Liberals whose he, like Kenworthy, considered it his main reason for being Liberal at all was revival After the general election, Lloyd duty to resign and there was a by-elec- this single issue and who regarded the tion in his constituency, Leith. Unlike prospect of a Labour majority with George won a rather acrimonious con- test for the chairmanship of the Liberal Kenworthy, however, Benn did not something close to terror. stand as a candidate in that election. Other Liberals soon began to drift to MPs but Asquith, although no longer in the House, remained leader of the party. Ernest Brown retained the seat for the the Conservatives. By the middle of Liberal Party. The majority was small , Hamar Greenwood and Briga- This state of affairs continued even after he received the Earldom of Oxford and but it was the first encouraging by- dier-General E. L. Spears, both of them election result for a long time. important Coalition Liberals, though Asquith in the following year. In the middle of , however, he had a The fortunes of the Liberal Party currently out of the House, had de- improved greatly. Four days after Leith parted in that direction. Later in the stroke, which led him to resign the leadership a few months later. Thereaf- polled, the Liberals won another by- year, the Liberal Party adopted a new election, this time a gain from Labour land policy, at Lloyd George’s behest; ter he played little part in politics and in the London working class constitu- this was the cause, or at least the occa- he died in . Very soon after Lord Oxford’s retire- ency of North Southwark. Six further sion, of the departure of two of the seats were captured by Liberals in by- small band of remaining Liberal MPs ment, the Liberal Parliamentary Party suffered another important defection, elections in the next couple of years, — Hilton Young and the great industri- against only one loss. In addition to alist Sir Alfred Mond. Neither man saw this time to Labour. Lieutenant-Com-
22 Journal of Liberal Democrat History 25: Winter 1999–2000 these changes, the Liberals regained two MPs to Westminster and where Harold Cox, who opposed the policy Carmarthenshire when Mond ob- each elector had two votes. Before , of old age pensions, is the most famous; tained a peerage. For the time being, it often happened in such places that a but even Cox took no steps to join a the flow of Liberal defections was Liberal and Labour man ran in harness different party. We might, perhaps, add staunched. against two Conservatives. Preston was the group of ‘Lib-Lab’ miners who fol- Soon, however, there were further the only constituency where this old lowed the advice of the trade unions developments in the Freddie Guest practice still prevailed in . A Labour and transferred to the Labour Party just saga. Towards the end of , a gather- man headed the poll, with the Liberal, before the general election of January ing of Liberals in his Bristol North William Jowitt, also elected close behind , but this defection was not op- constituency passed a resolution con- him. MacDonald immediately turned to posed by Liberal headquarters and demning his dispo- Jowitt and he ac- might justly be regarded as ‘collusive’. sition to support cepted the office of The contrast with the period – the Conservatives The 1923 revival was Attorney-General. is enormous. The various schisms of and also his inat- wrecked by the foolish This implied a the wartime period were obviously of tention to Parlia- decision to set another change of party and major importance in bringing about mentary duties. Jowitt resigned to the many defections; but it is surely sig- The rebels consti- party in office, instead of cause a by-election. nificant that the defections continued tuted themselves as striking out for power The general de- long after the war was over and even the Bristol North moralisation of the when the schisms had been – formally Liberal and Radical themselves. Liberal Party was at least – healed. Association. They signalled by what The great difference between the pre- were soon recognised as the proper happened next. Liberal headquarters war and post-war Liberals was that in the Liberal Association for the constituency left the decision whether to contest the earlier period they were almost continu- and adopted a candidate who stood by-election to the local party. The Pres- ously fighting for what were perceived as against Guest at the ensuing general ton Liberals refused the challenge. The great causes, against a formidable enemy; election. Labour won the seat and in votes of both Labour and Conservative while for a large part of the post-war pe- , Guest formally switched to the candidates were close to what they had riod, compromises of one kind or an- Conservatives. been a month or so earlier, so Jowitt other were made with other parties. This At the general election of , all was returned under his new colours. applied particularly, but not exclusively, to three parties fought in the great majority the post-war period of Lloyd George’s of constituencies and the Liberals were Reflections Coalition. The compromises which were able to mount a more powerful campaign Winston Churchill once said that the implied by Coalition were necessarily than five years before. The Liberal repre- use of recriminations about the past was dispiriting because real differences were sentation, only forty-two in , was in- to enforce greater efficiency in the resolved not by confrontation between creased to fifty-nine but this was not re- present. Modern Liberal Democrats open antagonists but by obscure and se- ally a victory at all. The party had thrown may usefully ask whether the circum- cret deals between members of the same in everything it had and it was still in third stances attending past defections and government. place, far behind the other two. Labour other disasters should be pondered by The two points in the post-war pe- won more seats than the Conservatives; people directing the party today. riod which really did provide some en- the Conservatives won more votes than In the present article, attention has couragement for the Liberals were the Labour. Theoretically, the Liberals held been given to defections by Liberals general election of , when they the balance of power; in practice this was who were prominent at national level. were defending the historic cause of free not the way matters worked out. Baldwin These, of course, were not the only de- trade, and the years –, when they resigned and MacDonald formed the sec- fections which were taking place and were fighting on a radical programme of ond Labour government, without either perhaps not the most important ones. reform designed to break the economic man bothering to discover how the Lib- There are records of many defections inertia of the period, with its gloomy ac- erals would act. by people active in local government; companiment of mass unemployment. As in , the Labour Prime Minis- but there were innumerable ordinary The revival was wrecked by the ter was short of lawyers. Haldane, who Liberals who just quietly dropped out foolish decision to set another party in had been Lord Chancellor in was and who have left no record. office, instead of striking out for power dead; but this time MacDonald was able In the period between Campbell- themselves. It was not a coalition; the to appoint one of the Lords Justice of Bannerman’s acceptance of the Pre- Liberals were free agents to vote against Appeal for the job and did not need to miership in December and the the Labour government if they chose — poach from another party. He was still eve of the Great War in , the Lib- and, indeed, they eventually did so. But short of a convincing Attorney-General, eral Party promoted many radical just as their connection to the Con- however, and for that post he did look to changes which could hardly have been servatives in the Coalition period drove the Liberals. Preston was one of the rela- anticipated at the start. Yet the promi- tively small number of towns which sent nent Liberal defections were few. concluded on page 51
Journal of Liberal Democrat History 25: Winter 1999–2000 23 A failure of leadership who was preoccupied with social reform 5 Elibank memorandum, 2 October 1918 — should not slide into the Labour Party, or Elibank papers 8804, fos. 193–6, National Li- continued from page 23 brary of Scotland. why a Liberal who was preoccupied with 6Figures are variously given. The present author many Liberals to Labour, so did their ap- the dangers inherent in socialism should has made a detailed analysis in A Classification parent leanings towards Labour in not slide into the Conservative Party. In of the Members of Parliament elected in 1918, Bull Inst. Hist. Res. Xlvii, No.115 (1974), 74–94. drive many Liberals to the Conserva- both cases, some defectors acted for cyni- 7 Dictionary of National Biography: Missing Per- tives. Neither set of defections occurred cal reasons of personal advantage but sons. Oxford 1993, pp 475–6. exclusively during the critical period; most seem to have been motivated, at 8A J A Morris: C P Trevelyan: Portrait of a Radi- each one continued for long afterwards. cal. Belfast 1977, pp 139–141. least in part, by an honest judgement of 9They were: C R Buxton, brother of Noel Buxton The – revival failed partly be- what would conduce to the public good. and briefly an MP in 1910; J King; R C Lambert; cause it came too late and partly because On balance, the main blame for the de- H B Lees-Smith; R L Outhwaite; A Ponsonby; C Lloyd George – the only man could fections must lie not with the defectors P Trevelyan; A V Rutherford; Col. J Wedgwood — Liberal Magazine 1920, p70. possibly inspire and lead it – was pro- but with the inept leadership provided. 10 David Butler and Jennie Freeman, British Politi- foundly mistrusted not only by other cal Facts 1900–1960 (London 1963) p213 give Roy Douglas is Emeritus Reader, Univer- politicians but by a large section of his 62 National Liberals and 54 Liberals. Michael sity of Surrey. He is author of The History Kinnear, The British Voter (London 1968) p94 own party. That mistrust, in its turn, of the Liberal Party –, Land, gives 47 Lloyd Georgeites, 40 Asquithians and traces back inescapably to the compro- ‘29 ‘prefixless’ MPs who were evenly divided People and Politics, several books on inter- mises of the Coalition period. between Asquith and Lloyd George’. national relations and four books in interna- Defections could take place so easily 11 They were: C R Buxton, Noel Buxton, E G tional cartoons. Hemmerde; H B Lees-Milne; A Ponsonby and J C either to Labour or to the Conservatives Wedgwood. Perhaps, technically, we should add essentially because positive Liberal policy 1 Sally Harris, Out of Control: British Foreign an eighth, Frank Hall, elected as a Lib-Lab in 1906. was obscure. For a large part of the period Policy and the Union of Democratic Control, 12 The Times 18 January 1924; given in Martin Gil- 1914–1918, Hull 1996, p.27. bert, Winston S Churchill Vol V companion considered here, it must have been diffi- 2 At the time they called themselves Unionists. (London 1979) pp 94–97. cult for an outsider to perceive what the 3This matter is discussed by the present author in 13 Listed in Liberal Magazine 1924, p124. Liberals would do with power if they got The History of the Liberal Party 1895–1970 Lon- 14 Gilbert, op cit p113. don 1971, pp.113–5. 15 Benn to Asquith, 11 January 1919. Asquith pa- it, or how they would differ from the 4 Guest to Lloyd George, 20 July 1918, LG F/21/ pers, Bodleian Library, 18, fo 41. other parties if they were in government. 2/28 — Lloyd George papers, Beaverbrook Li- 16 Liberal Magazine 1929, 1–2, 76, 264, 341.
There seemed little reason why a Liberal brary collection, House of Lords.
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30 Geoffrey Searle, ‘The Edwardian Liberal Party ing News and Mercury February 2nd. 1931 in Tory cuckoos in the and Business’, English Historical Review, XCVIII Reading papers MSS Eur F118 32–5. Liberal nest? (January 1983) 28–60 pp. 40 & 47. 43 Jonathan Wallace, ‘The political career of Walter 31 Gladstone-MacDonald Pact of 1903 — an elec- Runciman, 1st Viscount Runciman of Doxford continued from page 30 toral arrangement between the Liberal and La- (1870–1949)’, University of Newcastle Ph.D. bour parties lasting until 1914. thesis, 1995, p. 39. 18 Runciman papers WR 215 undated 1932. 32 For examples see the Churchill papers 5/22 — 44 Runciman papers WR35 19th February 1910, 19 Sir Henry Morris Jones, Doctor in the Whips’ 16th February 1920 Churchill to Sir George Walter Runciman to David Lloyd George. Room (London, 1955), p. 82. Ritchie; Lloyd George papers G/20/14/21 Feb- 45 Jonathan Wallace, ‘The political career of Walter 20 Geoffrey Shakespeare, Let Candles Be Brought ruary 19th 1926, Hilton Young to Lloyd George; Runciman, 1st Viscount Runciman of Doxford In. (London, 1949), p. 125. Lloyd George papers G/14/5/8 25th Septem- (1870–1949)’, University of Newcastle Ph.D. 21 Reading Papers MSS Eur F118 38–39: 2nd ber 1924, Sir Alfred Mond to Lloyd George. thesis, 1995, p. 201. March 1931 — Simon to Reading. 33 Lloyd George papers F/3/5/3 19th February 46 Five Simonite MPs were former Coalition Lib- 22 Malcolm Baines, ‘The Survival of the British Lib- 1920, Lloyd George to Balfour. eral MPs, 1918–22: Sir Henry Fildes, Sir eral Party, 1932–1959’, Oxford D.Phil., (1989). 34 T. J. Macnamara in The Liberal Pioneer May Malcolm MacDonald, J. I. Macpherson, 23 Extract from Lothian’s Liberalism in the Modern 1925 No. 4 Vol. 1 Geoffrey Shakespeare, E.A. Strauss. World in Malcolm Baines, ‘The Survival of the 35 Lloyd George Liberal Magazine Vol. 2 June 47 Davies was never a Coalition Liberal MP, but British Liberal Party, 1932–1959’, Oxford D.Phil., 1922 No. 9. had been a supporter of the Coalition. 1989, p. 16. 36 E.D. Simon in The Forward View January 1927. 48 D.M. Roberts, ‘Clement Davies and the Liberal 24 Runciman papers WR 360 5th July 1934 37 For an example see Robert Bernays in The For- Party, 1929–56’, University of Wales MA Runciman to Sir Walter Runciman, Bt. ward View October 1929. (1974), p. 21. 25 The issue they chose to go on was the outcome 38 Sir John Simon speaking to the Western Morn- 49 Colin R. Coote, Editorial: The Memoirs of Colin of the Ottawa Conference, which recom- ing News and Mercury February 2nd. 1931 in R. Coote (London, 1965), pp. 96–7 and p. 112. mended that a general tariff should be applied. Reading papers MSS Eur F11832–5. 50 David Dutton, ‘John Simon and the post-war 26 Robert Scally, The Origins of the Lloyd George 39 Including eight who were Asquithian Liberal National Liberal Party: an historical postscript’, Coalition: The Politics of Social-Imperialism, MPs, 1918–22: Sir Colin Barrie, Geoffrey Historical Journal, 32, 2 (1989). 1900–1918 (Princeton, 1975), pp. 195–196. Collins, A. Harbord, G. Lambert, J.D. Miller, 51 David Dutton, ‘John Simon and the post-war 27 Colin R. Coote, Editorial: The Memoirs of Colin Walter Runciman, Sir John Simon, J.S. Holmes. National Liberal Party: an historical postscript’, R. Coote (London, 1965), p. 81. 40 29th January 1914 — Lord Beauchamp, C. Historical Journal, 32, 2 (1989), pp. 359–364. 28 David Dutton, Lloyd George, ‘John Simon and Hobhouse, R. McKenna, Walter Runciman & John 52 Most notably Clement Davies. the Politics of the Liberal Party, 1918–31’ in Simon to H.H. Asquith (John Simon’s handwrit- 53 Geoffrey Shakespeare, Let Candles Be Brought Judith Loades (ed.), The Life and Times of ing) in Randolph Churchill, Winston S. Churchill In (London, 1949), p. 125; Sir Henry Morris David Lloyd George (Bangor, 1991), p. 86. Vol. 2: Companion, (London), pp. 1857–1858. Jones, Doctor in the Whips’ Room (London, 29 Viscount Simon, Retrospect: The Memoirs of the 41 Liberal Monthly, February 1920. 1955), p. 87. Rt. Hon. Viscount Simon (London, 1952), p. 150. 42 Sir John Simon speaking to the Western Morn-
Journal of Liberal Democrat History 25: Winter 1999–2000 51