the picture changed radically. Of forty- six MPs elected, twenty-one came from the territory which starts at ReportsReports Land’s End, comes as far east as Port- smouth and goes as far north as Cheltenham and Oxford. This represents a massive change in the power balance in the Parliamentary Liberalism in the West Liberal Democrats. In the post-war period up until , apart from North Fringe meeting, March 2000 Dorset in , and the Isle of Wight, with Michael Steed and Malcolm Brown held by Stephen Ross in the s, no seat was won outside Devon and Report by Graham Lippiatt Cornwall in the extended South West area. But in  Paddy Ashdown won Ye ovil and in  Bath and Chelten- he general election of  electoral terms. Is it the heartland of ham were added and the expansion had Tproduced a block of twelve Cornwall and Devon; or a wider entity begun. So there may be more contem- Liberal Democrat MPs from the corresponding with the Government porary rather than historical explana- counties of Devon, Cornwall and Office for the South West, which tions to Liberal strength. Somerset. With Spring Conference includes Bristol, Dorset, Gloucester- Looking at historical data, all five  taking place in Plymouth, it shire and Wiltshire; or for the purposes seats in Cornwall were won by the seemed an ideal venue in which to of his analysis for the seminar, an Liberals at the general election of , hold a History Group seminar focus- extended South West, up to a line from but only one other seat in the full ing on the strength and survival of the Isle of Wight to Oxford? He South West, East Dorset. In  Liberalism in the West Country. returned to this question later in his however the shape was totally different. Matthew Taylor, MP for Truro, talk but set out first the three angles Liberals had won a majority of the agreed to chair and introduce the from which he intended to approach seats in Cornwall, Devon, Somerset, meeting. The speakers were, Michael the issue of Liberal and Liberal Demo- Wiltshire, Berkshire, and even in Steed, the psephologist of the Univer- crat historical electoral strength. Buckinghamshire and Bedfordshire. By sity of Kent at Canterbury and Liberal The first was the nature of regional , apart from the core of seats in candidate for Truro at the  variation, why people vote differently Cornwall and one in the north of general election, and Malcolm Brown according to where they live. Standard Devon, the other clutch of Liberal seats who had agreed to stand in at short political textbooks written by theo- was in East Anglia. Bedfordshire notice when Adrian Lee of Plymouth rists of either a Marxian or right-wing returned two out of three MPs in  University was no longer able to perspective, or media commentators and . Huntingdonshire, now attend and speak. Malcolm was agent with a London-centric viewpoint, tell supposedly the safest Conservative seat in the Truro constituency, first to us that people vote principally on the in the country, was won quite easily by David Penhaligon and afterwards to basis of class, as consumers of political the Liberals in . Is this regional Matthew Taylor. services or on the basis of the mes- success the same phenomenon as that Matthew kicked off the meeting by sages they receive through the cen- in the South West, or a geographical revealing that Michael Steed was the tralised media. Yet the reality is that accident which just happened to meet first political candidate with whom he British electoral behaviour varies a somewhere north of Wiltshire on a had ever shook hands and for whom great deal geographically. Secondly, he once-only basis? he ever wore an election sticker. explored the nature of the Liberal One source of data which throws Michael was canvassing support among tradition and lastly, examined the light on the topic is Henry Pelling’s parents of children at St Paul’s school, psephology of the issue. study of election results down to . Truro, which Matthew attended, In preparing the background The election of  was atypical during the  election campaign. material for the talk, the problem of because of the support in Cornwall for Unfortunately, Matthew’s parents, what the South West actually is be- Liberal Unionism as a result of sympa- although thinking that Michael was comes apparent straightaway and it is thy for Northern Irish Presbyterianism the best candidate on offer, decided to difficult to be sure that the data relate among Cornish nonconformists. After support the Labour Party on the basis to the same things at different stages of , Scotland and Wales stand out as that Labour had lost only narrowly in history. From – the strength of having about % higher levels of  and might just do it this time. the Liberal Democrats and their support for Liberal politics than the Michael Steed began by raising the predecessor parties at general elections average across the whole country. On question of just where the West was founded mainly in Scotland and any measure, before the First World Country actually is in political and Wales – the Celtic fringe. But in  War, the Liberals had massive extra

22 Journal of Liberal Democrat History 28 Autumn 2000 strength in Scotland and Wales. The formed in the mid-nineteenth areas which had been Liberal strong- Celtic fringe, in that sense, is deeply century began to get stripped out. holds in the late nineteenth century, or embedded in Liberal history. The That coalition drew strength from the richer farming areas, but rural areas survival of the Liberal Parliamentary industrial, working-class interests and with substantial numbers of agricul- party in the mid to late twentieth provincial, nonconformist, social- tural labourers, small farmers and small century was based upon that history reforming, principled, moral interests. towns. This overlays a socioeconomic and tradition. But what about the It was a genuinely diverse and pluralist explanation on top of the noncon- South West region? On average, party – much more so than anyone formist one – which fits perfectly the although Devon and Cornwall are believes it possible for a political party profile of the South West as an area of marginally stronger, it does not appear to be today. That combination of small farms and small towns, where to amount to anything significant. It support enabled it to win elections. Liberal values could be held on to cannot therefore be said that Liberal What happened with the rise of much more easily and readily in the strength in the South West in the s Labour was that some elements of the inter-war period. or the s is based upon a tradition coalition, such as the miners, were Added to these considerations, the which can be seen to exist in the stripped away from the Liberals nonconformist tradition chimed in nineteenth or early twentieth centu- almost totally, and those which with Liberal beliefs and values. The ries. This is in marked contrast with the remained, such as nonconformity, two key essences of nonconformity are Conservative strength in the South therefore mattered more for the a deeply held social conscience and a East corner of England which has a survival of Liberal representation. strong belief in self-reliance. These two real continuity from the present day One of the main elements, there- elements were met specifically in the back to the late nineteenth century. fore, of Liberal support in the West Liberal Party in a way which could not The other interesting source of Country is the extent of noncon- be expressed in either of the other two data relates to nonconformity in the formist strength there in the inter-war main parties. The Conservatives s and s. This comes from period. On Kinnear’s figures, the most appealed to self-reliance at times and work carried out by Michael Kinnear nonconformist county in England managed to take some nonconformist for his Atlas of the British Voter, pub- was Cornwall, and the second, Bed- support as a result. Labour clearly was a lished in . As part of his survey, fordshire, where two of three MPs party with a social conscience. But the Kinnear added together the numbers returned in  were Liberals. particular mix of the two was only of nonconformist church members in A further part of the explanation of available from the Liberals and had a their circuits and districts and tried to Liberal strength is that the sort of seats stronger appeal than individual policy compare them, as far as possible, to which stayed Liberal tended to be issues such as church schools or Parliamentary constituencies outside made up of small agricultural towns. temperance. The social history and Greater London. He was able to show This fits the pattern, for example, in literature of the eighteenth, nineteenth an extraordinarily strong relationship Buckinghamshire, which returned two and early twentieth centuries featured between nonconformist worship and out of three seats as Liberals in ; it the contrast of church and chapel, not Liberal parliamentary representation. was then a mainly agricultural county as a religious contest but a political In constituencies with strong non- with many small towns. The seats one. Church was hierarchy and author- conformist populations, Liberal which fell to the Liberals in  ity, chapel was democracy and, particu- candidates were successful in a quarter tended not to be either the industrial larly, local democracy. In a sense, it was to a third of contests. In weaker areas of nonconformity the rate of success was as low as %. This suggests that the association of Liberal parliamen- tary representation with noncon- formity was actually stronger in the s and s than it had been in the period before the First World War. This is strange because the policy issues associated with Liberal support for nonconformist causes – church tithes, church schools and temperance – peak in the late nineteenth and early twentieth century, up to , and have ever since been in decline. What appears to have happened around the time of the First World War and the rise of the Labour Party was that the original Liberal coalition

Journal of Liberal Democrat History 28 Autumn 2000 23 the chapel philosophy, with ideas going owed something to the towering went beyond that and began to make back to the Civil War, the Levellers and personality of Lloyd George. There is popular the concept of squeezing the Lollards which brought into nothing of that order in the West third parties. He identified the fact modern Liberal Democracy the Country, although the memory of that there were a number of seats in concept of community politics. Isaac Foot and the legacy of the Foot which the Liberals had not won for Furthermore, the nonconformist family has been a significant influence. many years, but still retained strong tradition of dissent, or direct access to To look at this negatively, the area most support. In these seats the party had the written word of God in the Bible, closely associated with Jeremy Thorpe the potential to characterise the fits into the Liberal ethos, through the at the time of the Scott affair – and not Labour Party as unable to win, push Areopagitica of Milton to modern ideas just his own constituency – suffered in them into third place and eventually and beliefs in freedom of speech. The the general election of . By  take the seat. Eventually that is what nonconformists were also the churches the Liberal/SDP Alliance was doing happened in Truro. of moral internationalism in the better in an area which could be On the question of Liberal strength nineteenth century, whether related to defined as the Owen-Penhaligon zone. in the West Country, he queried the Gladstone’s international crusades or Regionally credible leaders do matter concept of the extended South West as the moral case for free trade made out electorally. One of the reasons the a strong Liberal area in the wake of the by Cobden. The Anglican Church was Liberal Democrats were able to expand failure to hold Robin Teverson’s seat in the church of the British interests and out of the South West heartland was the European elections of June . of protectionism. the election in  of Paddy Ashdown Malcolm set out to speak, rather, about These factors and other elements in and his later leadership of the party. Cornwall and why Cornwall’s voting Liberal strength can be summarised Looking at two-way marginals from pattern is distinct. through the three ‘Ps’ – peripherality, the  general election where Malcolm recalled a lecture given by particularity and personality. Liberal Democrat candidates best Adrian Lee given at the Institute of Peripherality – from the figures it is resisted the third-party squeeze, they Cornish Studies, chaired by Paul Tyler, clear that for well over a century the are almost all within the Bristol- which covered electoral behaviour in Conservative Party has been and still Southampton-Exeter area. Cornwall at parliamentary and local remains the party of the South East, In , however, there was one part levels. Rasmussen’s study of the Liberal the Home Counties, the metropolitan of the Celtic fringe which retunred Party placed Cornwall in the Celtic influence. It is a privileged part of the not one single Liberal MP – Scotland. fringe. Pulzer had distinguished country, which thinks it knows what The Liberals in Scotland rebuilt by Cornwall as the most strongly dissent- Englishness and Britishness are. But emphasising the identification of the ing among the four counties in which those views are based upon Surrey, Scottish Liberal Party with Scottishness he identified the survival of a three- Sussex or Kensington and the Tory and a Scottish particularity. This party system. In the s there were party actually has a very blinkered illustrates how regional credibility does few places where a three-party system view of the rest of the country. The work. The historic South West does did survive. In many areas the Liberal Conservative Party finds it more not include the Hampshire/Dorset Party had been effectively killed off. So difficult to relate to areas of the area, in which the Liberal Democrats this raised a number of paradoxes country which feel distant from the are now much stronger at parliamen- about Cornwall, where the party has metropolitan ethos, thus leaving the tary and local government levels, but continued to thrive. field for other political parties. The regional credibility can be built upon Why, given that the population of further west go you, the weaker the for the future. The area which returned Cornwall is largely working class and metropolitan culture is and the the block of twenty-one MPs referred economically disadvantaged, has weaker the Tory appeal. to at the outset is an identifiable region Labour failed to make any significant Particularity – this relates to a place with its own media from Southampton headway? Given that an increasing which is clearly defined and separate. and Bristol westwards. Within that proportion of the electorate are either In West Country terms that only region the Liberal Democrats have self-employed or retired people from works for Cornwall, with its mix of created a credibility the party never outside the county, why have the Methodism, its sense of Celticness and previously had and which now repre- Conservatives not benefited more in a distinct geographical area maintain- sents a foundation for the future. electoral terms? Why are there differ- ing its sense of local identity. This Malcolm Brown began by recalling ences between the various Cornish predisposed Cornwall to vote Liberal Michael Steed’s candidacy for Truro constituencies, given the broad similar- as an expression of its own identity. in  and his role in canvassing ity in socioeconomic conditions across Personality – there is plenty of support for his adoption in the the county? Why is it that Plymouth is evidence that personality plays more of constituency. There was at that time a the only major city in the country a part in the chances of Liberal candi- conventional approach for looking at where major advances at local govern- dates winning seats than it does for winnable seats, which was to consider ment level have not been made? other parties. The continuing strength only those places where Liberals had Some of the possible explanations of Liberalism in Wales into the s formerly come second. Michael Steed go back to the Civil War, relating to

24 Journal of Liberal Democrat History 28 Autumn 2000 which towns supported Parliament and Liberals, who have been better Boer War were difficult ones for the which the Royalist cause, but there are placed to conform to and adapt to Liberals. From  the party was split a number of particular reasons to distinctive Cornish conditions. on the issue of Home Rule in Ireland explain these questions. Labour have had a history of import- and this in turn complicated the The first is that Cornwall is ing candidates into Cornwall from party’s relationship with the institu- intrinsically different, historically, outside without giving them the tion of Empire. culturally and economically, from time to establish any local credibility According to Professor Judd, there other counties. Secondly, there has and it has concentrated on national were a number of options for the party been a revival of interest in Cornish issues at the expense of Cornish ones. regarding its policy on the Empire. history and linguistic heritage, While national issues, of course, First, they could present themselves as contributing to a new sense of impinge in Cornish elections, the mildly anti-imperialist. The danger in Cornish consciousness, a feeling with local issues remain paramount. There this approach was that Home Rule in which the Liberals have traditionally was therefore a bedrock of Liberal Ireland could become seen as an been associated. There has been a support in Cornwall which was imperial issue and, therefore, as the first delay in the modernisation of the deeper and stronger than elsewhere step towards the disintegration of the Cornish socioeconomic structure. A which had been added to by the Empire. The party was conscious that it distinct style of politics has grown up campaigning, the image and the style had lost votes and seats on Home Rule in Cornwall which is anti-metro- of local Liberalism, particularly built and that the popular press was often politan and jealous to preserve the up in the s and s. pro-imperial. Hence the party offi- territorial integrity of the county. Relating this background to his cially disavowed this line. However, Class consciousness has not been own experience, Malcolm recalled the many Liberals opposed the worst overt either in rural or industrial beginnings of modern campaigning in aspects of imperialism. areas. Nonconformity has continued the s and s. There was a loyal, The second option was to be clearly to be important. There has been a bedrock Liberal support in the con- pro-Empire, but to what extent? A tradition of non-partisanship in local stituencies. On top of this was built group of Liberal MPs did emerge, government and politics. This has further support through a combination calling themselves Liberal Imperialists, resulted in the election of candidates of innovative campaigning tools, such who thought the party should respond in Cornwall who are local, are as community newsletters and sys- to the public interest in the Empire by prepared to act primarily as constitu- tematised electioneering techniques. becoming clearly in favour of it. ency representatives and are willing These factors combined with the very However, in Judd’s view this approach to take a genuine interest in Cornish local personality of Cornish Liberal would have had the danger of antago- affairs and problems. This has hin- candidates enabled the party to make nising the party’s traditional voters. dered Labour and helped the and, so far, sustain its breakthrough. Furthermore, the party faced a grow- ing challenge from the trade union and labour movements. Judd argued finally that there was a middle way for the party between these two positions: to be generally ‘Methods of Barbarism’ – supportive of the Empire but high- lighting concerns and disassociating Liberalism and the Boer War itself from military conquests. Unfor- tunately, Liberals could not agree upon Evening meeting, July 2000 a majority view, leading to difficulties for the party in responding to the Boer with Denis Judd and Jacqueline Beaumont War. A further problem was the Report by David Cloke establishment of another liberal party in the form of the Liberal Unionists. They had membership and organisa- n the evening of  July members Beaumont and the meeting was tion and from , provided members Oof the History Group met at the chaired by the Liberal Democrats’ of Salisbury’s cabinet. How was the National Liberal Club to discuss the Foreign Affairs spokesperson, Menzies Liberal Party to win a future election? response of the Liberal Party and the Campbell MP. It was fundamentally split with its great liberal press to the Boer War – a venue Professor Judd began the meeting rising star, Joseph Chamberlain, having which was no doubt witness to many with a survey of the various responses defected. Another party was calling similar discussions and debates during of the Liberal Party to the Boer War itself liberal and was, under Chamber- the course of the war itself. The and the political difficulties posed for lain’s leadership, making a determined discussions were ably led by Professor the party by the war. Professor Judd effort to represent liberalism and to Denis Judd and Dr Jacqueline noted that the years running up to the win over working class voters.

Journal of Liberal Democrat History 28 Autumn 2000 25