For the study of Liberal, SDP and Issue 65 / Winter 2009–10 / £6.00 Liberal Democrat history

Journal of LiberalHI ST O R Y

Foundation of the Liberal Party Dr Angus Hawkins Celebrating 1859 Party, Patriotism and Liberal Values Dr David Dutton A Liberal Without a Home The Later Career of Leslie Hore-Belisha Graham Lippiatt Using Wikipedia Learning about Liberal History Report Fighting Labour The Struggle for Radical Supermacy in Scotland, 1885–1929 Report A Delicate Balance Holding the Balance of Power Liberal Democrat History Group 2 Journal of Liberal History 65 Winter 2009–10 Journal of Liberal History Issue 65: Winter 2009–10 The Journal of Liberal History is published quarterly by the Liberal Democrat History Group. ISSN 1479-9642 Liberal History News 4 Editor: Duncan Brack John Bright statue, Birmingham; Mill seminar; Pickering Liberal Club centenary; Deputy Editor: Tom Kiehl Baron de Forest dinner, Southport; Palmerston archives; Gladstone lecture. Assistant Editor: Siobhan Vitelli Biographies Editor: Robert Ingham Reviews Editor: Dr Eugenio Biagini Letters to the Editor 6 Contributing Editors: Graham Lippiatt, Tony Little, Liberals in Schism (Peter Hatton and Paul Hunt); Campbell-Bannerman (Graham York Membery Lippiatt); The Mills and their world (Sandy Waugh); Richard Holme (Trevor Jones). Patrons Celebrating 1859: Party, Patriotism and Liberal 8 Dr Eugenio Biagini; Professor Michael Freeden; Professor John Vincent Values Dr Angus Hawkins examines the background to the famous meeting in Willis’s Editorial Board Rooms which marks the foundation of the Liberal Party. Dr Malcolm Baines; Dr Roy Douglas; Dr Barry Doyle; Dr David Dutton; Professor David Gowland; Dr Richard Using Wikipedia to Learn about Liberal History 17 Grayson; Dr Michael Hart; Peter Hellyer; Dr Alison Getting the best out of Wikipedia; by Graham Lippiatt. Holmes; Ian Hunter; Dr J. Graham Jones; Tony Little; Professor Ian Machin; Dr Mark Pack; Dr Ian Packer; Dr John Powell; Ed Randall; Jaime Reynolds; Dr Andrew Archives 20 Russell; Iain Sharpe The papers of Herbert Samuel at the Parliamentary Archives. Editorial/Correspondence Liberal History Quiz 2009 21 Contributions to the Journal – letters, articles, and The questions … book reviews – are invited. The Journal is a refereed publication; all articles submitted will be reviewed. Contributions should be sent to: A Liberal without a Home: the Later Career of 22 Duncan Brack (Editor) Leslie Hore-Belisha 38 Salford Road, London SW2 4BQ Dr David Dutton analyses the political career of the Liberal National war email: [email protected] minister sacked by Chamberlain. All articles copyright © Journal of Liberal History. Report: Fighting Labour 32 Advertisements The struggle for radical supremacy in Scotland 1885–1929; with Richard Finlay, Full page £100; half page £60; quarter page £35. Catriona Macdonald and Jim Wallace. Report by Robert Brown. Discounts available for repeat ads or offers to readers (e.g. discounted book prices). To place ads, please contact the Editor. Report: A Delicate Balance 39 Holding the balance of power; with Martin Pugh, Tom McNally and David Laws. Subscriptions/Membership Report by Mark Pack. An annual subscription to the Journal of Liberal History costs £20.00 (£12.50 unwaged rate). This includes Liberal History Quiz 2009 41 membership of the History Group unless you inform … and the answers us otherwise. Non-UK subscribers should add £5.00. The institutional rate is £50.00, which includes online Reviews 42 access. As well as printed copies, online subscribers are able to access online copies of current and all past Readman, Patriotism, National Identity and the Politics of Land, 1880–1914, Journals. Online subscriptions are also available to reviewed by Iain Sharpe; Trentmann, Free Trade Nation: Commerce, individuals at £40.00. Consumption and Civil Society in Modern Britain, reviewed by Tony Little; Emy, Cheques (payable to ‘Liberal Democrat History Liberals, Radical and Social Politics, 1892–1914, reviewed by Ian Packer; Overy, Group’) should be sent to: The Morbid Age: Britain Between the Wars, reviewed by J. Graham Jones.

Patrick Mitchell 6 Palfrey Place, London SW8 1PA; email: [email protected] Liberal Democrat History Group Payment is also possible via our website, www.liberalhistory.org.uk. The Liberal Democrat History Group promotes the discussion and research of topics relating to the histories of the Liberal Democrats, Liberal Party, and SDP, and of Liberalism. The Cover design concept: Lynne Featherstone Group organises discussion meetings and produces the Journal of Liberal History and other Published by the Liberal Democrat History Group, c/o occasional publications. 38 Salford Road, London SW2 4BQ For more information, including historical commentaries, details of publications, back issues Printed by Kall-Kwik, of the Journal, and archive and other research sources, see our website at: 18 Colville Road, London W3 8BL www.liberalhistory.org.uk. January 2010 Chair: Tony Little Honorary President: Lord Wallace of Saltaire

Journal of Liberal History 65 Winter 2009–10 3 Liberal History News winter 2009–10

Liberal History News is a new regular feature in the Journal, reporting news of meet- ings, conferences, commemora- tions, dinners or any other event, together with anything else of contemporary interest to our readers. Contributions are very welcome; please keep them rea- sonably concise, and accompany them, if possible, with photos. Email to the Editor on journal@ liberalhistory.org.uk.

John Bright remembered in Birmingham n 23 October 2009, a statue to John Bright MP Owas unveiled inside Bir- Unveiling of working men at a time when Martin Mullaney, Birmingham’s mingham Museum and Art Gal- Bright’s statue; only a limited number of men Liberal Democrat Cabinet mem- lery. The statue, an exact replica from left: Cllr (and no women) had the vote; ber for Culture, at the statue of which stands in the Westmin- Martin Mullaney, Bright wanted all men to have the unveiling. Bright was admired ster Parliament, was first unveiled Stephanie vote because only in this way did by President Abraham Lincoln, in Birmingham in 1888 but it was Hightower, Cllr he feel that government would who described him as ‘the friend taken down about forty years ago Ernie Hendricks be responsive to the needs and of our country, and of freedom for cleaning and never put back. wishes of the people. The result everywhere’. Bright was highly Birmingham Liberal Democrat was the Reform Act of 1867, influential in preventing Britain councillor Ernie Hendricks found passed by Disraeli’s government, from supporting the Confederacy out about the statue and worked which gave the vote to skilled in the American Civil War, even with Museum and Art Gallery working men in the towns. though Britain had strong com- staff to ensure its restoration ready Bright was MP for Durham mercial interests in breaking the for the 200th anniversary of the and Manchester before becom- Northern blockade of the South birth of John Bright in 2011. It has ing Liberal MP for Birmingham to obtain cotton supplies. been replaced in its original posi- from 1858 until his death in 1889. Bright’s letters to US Senator tion at the top of the Museum’s He fell out with Manchester fol- Charles Sumner were regularly main stairs. lowing his attacks on Britain’s read to Lincoln throughout John Bright was a Quaker, a involvement in the Crimean War. the war, and through this cor- great Victorian moralist and ora- He was briefly a minister under respondence Bright has been tor. He is best remembered for his Gladstone, the first ever Quaker identified as a key influence on part in the campaign against the to sit in the Cabinet, but he did Lincoln’s decision to free the Corn Laws, leading up to their not believe in Irish Home Rule slaves. When Lincoln was assas- repeal in 1846. The Corn Laws and like that other great Birming- sinated, a newspaper article about artificially inflated the price of ham Liberal, Joseph Chamber- the presidency written by Bright bread, which the poor could ill lain, he fought Gladstone in 1886 was found on his body. One of afford, and repeal immediately as a Liberal Unionist. the two paintings in Lincoln’s improved the standard of living It was Bright’s connections study was a portrait of Bright. for ordinary people. with the United States which Today, just inside the main Bright also campaigned were to feature most heavily entrance of the White House is to extend the vote to skilled in the speech delivered by Cllr a bust of John Bright, which was

4 Journal of Liberal History 65 Winter 2009–10 liberal history news found by Jackie Kennedy in the One hundred years of 1960s in the basement and put Pickering Liberal Club back on display. n August 1909, crowds gath- Given this background, it was ered to celebrate the opening therefore only appropriate that Iof the Liberal Club in Pick- Stephanie Hightower, the presi- ering in the Thirsk & Malton dent of USA Track and Field, the constituency in North Yorkshire. national governing body for ath- In the absence of a Liberal MP letics in America, helped unveil for Pickering itself, the Club was Bright’s statue in Birmingham. opened by John Edward Ellis, The US team for the 2012 Olym- the MP for the Nottinghamshire pics has announced it will train in constituency of Rushcliffe. Ellis Birmingham ahead of the Games had Yorkshire connections: he and Ms Hightower said she was had served his apprenticeship at pleased to be associated with a firm of Leeds engineers, his Bright’s connections to America. wife came from Scarborough and was a member of the Yorkshire Quaker Rowntree dynasty, and John Stuart Mill conference, Ellis also owned a country estate November 2009 at Wrea Head, Scalby.1 s advertised in the last Over the following hundred issue of the Journal, on 14 years, Pickering Liberal Club ANovember 2009, the Lib- managed to withstand the politi- eral Democrat History Group, the cal and economic forces which London School of Economics and saw the Liberal Party decline and the British Liberal Political Stud- hundreds of Liberal Clubs all over ies Group co-hosted a one-day the country go out of business. In symposium to celebrate the 150th 1931, David Lloyd George visited anniversary of the publication of the Club and addressed a huge John Stuart Mill’s On Liberty. crowd outside. But Pickering An audience of about fifty never boasted a Liberal MP until heard and discussed a series of 1986, when Elizabeth Shields won Top: David Lloyd after a local benefactor, John papers covering different aspects the Ryedale by-election2 and the George speaks at Frank, gave two cottages to the of Mill’s life and significance, Club was visited by the then Lib- Pickering. 1 May Liberal Party for the creation of a both to Liberal history and to eral leader David Steel as part of 1931. headquarters and it was probably politics more broadly. Partici- the by-election campaign. at the location in Pickering where pants were also able to visit the The Club has been housed in Below: Thirsk & the cattle market was held genera- archive of papers left by Mill and the present imposing building, Malton Liberal tions ago. The fact that Smiddy is his wife Harriet Taylor and held overlooking Smiddy Hill, since Democrat a derivative of Smithy suggests it at the LSE. Victorian times and is still the celebrations, was also near the spot where farm We are currently planning to headquarters of Ryedale Liberal August 2009. horses were shod. publish at least some of the papers Democrats. The original Club is From left: Cllr For many years, the Liberal from the symposium – suitably described as having been located Jane De Wend Democrats used the building as redrafted to reflect the discus- in Hall Garth but may have occu- Fenton, former a social club, but today it is the sions – in a future special issue of pied the same site as the present MP Elizabeth home of a weekly flea market and the Journal. Victorian building. It was built Shields, Lib Dem party offices, while the remain- PPC Cllr Howard der has been converted into two Keal, Cllr Stephen flats. The centenary on Saturday Jenson. (Photo 15 August 2009 was celebrated credit: The Press, with champagne and strawber- York.) ries. Guests of honour included Elizabeth Shields, Cllr Howard Keal (the present Lib Dem PPC for Thirsk & Malton) and Keith Snowden, great-grandson of Councillor John Snowden, who laid the foundation-stone of the club in 1908. A ceremonial silver key to the building, itself kept under lock and key off the premises, still forms part of the Club archive.3

Some of the 1 Alan R Griffin, ‘John Edward organisers of the Ellis’, Oxford Dictionary of National Mill symposium Biography online, OUP 2004–09.

Journal of Liberal History 65 Winter 2009–10 5 liberal history news

2 Elizabeth Shields, A Year to Remem- Palmerston archives The net price is £2.85 million ber (Liberal Democrat Publications, ssue 64 of the Journal of Liberal and the University is undertak- Dorchester, 1995). History (autumn 2009) car- ing a major fund-raising cam- 3 Gazette and Herald, Malton, 12 Iried an article on the archives paign to assure the future of this August 2009. of third Viscount Palmerston at immensely important collection. the University of Southampton The University is publicising the Library. Lord Palmerston’s papers, sale and the fund-raising cam- Baron de Forest dinner, along with those of second Vis- paign as widely as possible and Southport count Melbourne and the seventh would very much appreciate any his year, 2010, sees the Earl of Shaftesbury – all of which support readers of the Journal centenary anniversary of form part of the Broadlands can give. Further information Tthe 1910 general election Archives – have now been put on the situation can be found at and Southport Liberal Democrats up for sale by the Trustees of the http://www.southampton.ac.uk/ are celebrating the event with Broadlands Archives. The col- archives/Broadlands/index.html. the Baron de Forest dinner at the lection has been offered to the Royal Clifton Hotel. University, with the expectation As well as a splendid dinner, that if the negotiations fail the Gladstone lecture given at the local political historian and material may well be broken up Liverpool popular after-dinner speaker and sold at auction. n 27 October 2009, David Michael Braham will be tell- Beyond the Palmerston mate- Alton (Lord Alton of ing the story of the Southport rial and its links to Liberalism, the OLiverpool) delivered a Division election campaign in archive contains a whole range Roscoe Lecture at Liverpool John which the Liberal candidate was of materials of the first rank – Moores University on ‘Glad- the Baron de Forest. It is a fasci- including, for example, the papers stone – son of Liverpool, scourge nating and entertaining tale of of Lord and Lady Mountbatten, of tyrants’, marking the 200th dirty tricks, anti-Semitism and effectively the foundation archive anniversary of Gladstone’s birth. more, in an age when the voters for the states of India and Paki- The lecture series is named after attended political rallies in their stan. It is immensely important William Roscoe (1753–1831), a thousands. and the University has a deter- historian, campaigner against Do come and join the din- mined campaign under way to slavery and native of Liverpool. ner on 13th February. The Royal make sure that it continues to A podcast of the lecture can be Clifton Hotel are offering a spe- remain available in its entirety to downloaded from http://www. cial discount on rooms for anyone the public and researchers. ljmu.ac.uk/roscoe/97603.htm. attending the dinner. To find Baron de out more or to make a booking, Forest,Liberal please phone Rachel Howard candidate for on 01704 533 555 or Pat Sumner Southport in on 01704 576 660, or email rh@ the January 1910 southportlibdems.com election Letters Liberals in Schism (1) My active research does not Samuel as Acting Leader / stretch beyond 1921, and finished Deputy Leader. The quite aston- over thirty years ago. Neverthe- ishing number of the existing less, as a Walthamstow resident, Liberal MPs who applied for the I have kept an eye on all refer- Simonite whip rather than the ences to Sir John Simon, our Samuelite one is in my view best most eminent Liberal MP (he explained by a desire to avoid left us in 1918). Might I use Dr Conservative opposition at the Baines’ review of Dr Dutton’s subsequent general election. The Liberals in Schism ( Journal 64, results bear this out: 35 Simonites autumn 2009) to comment on elected on 3.7 per cent of the the events of 1931–32? Sir John national vote, 33 Samuelites on Simon’s summer 1931 resigna- 6.5 per cent. tion of the Liberal whip was a I would therefore suggest that manoeuvre designed to replace the positions taken in 1931 and MacDonald with Baldwin as an eye on the election after had Prime Minster, though Mac- as much to do with who went Donald forming a National where in 1932 as the degree of Government trumped that. tolerance of government inter- The dissolution of October vention during an economic 1931 occurred with Lloyd George crisis. in hospital, and Sir Herbert Dr Peter Hatton

6 Journal of Liberal History 65 Winter 2009–10 letters

Liberals in Schism (2) Thorpe event was preceded of the banking family. Nev- (RAM), the SDP-Liberal I much enjoyed Malcolm by the unveiling of three busts ertheless, when James left for Alliance and the discussions Baines’ review of David of former Prime Ministers, London in 1802 he did so in between the Lib Dems and Dutton’s Liberals in Schism including one of Henry the company of Sir John and Blair around the 1997 elec- ( Journal 64, autumn 2009) and Campbell-Bannerman, Lib- when James’ son John was tion. There may be more, but would like to add a footnote eral Prime Minister from 1905 born in 1806 he was given it’s quite a list. from the perspective of the to 1908. the middle name of Stuart As well as having in com- National Liberal Club. The sculpture of Camp- in recognition of such early mon cross-party working, The Club’s name, of bell-Bannerman was commis- patronage and support. unfortunately they also had course, did little to clarify sioned from Martin Jenkins John Stuart Mill was ’Lib- in common something of a the situation, and both Lib- who worked from a number eral’ MP for Westminster failure to deliver a satisfac- erals and Liberal Nationals of sources including a statue from the 1865 general election tory outcome, i.e. the desired remained active members for by Paul Raphael Montfort until, having refused to attend increase in the number of much of the period discussed outside Stirling Castle and to any constituency business, Liberals elected. That has by Professor Dutton. (The an over-life-size bust in he was defeated at the 1868 been achieved now, but more ‘National’ part of the Club’s Westminster Abbey, again general election by the future by using ‘The Local Road name derives from Glad- by Montfort, as well as from Tory Cabinet Minister, W.H. to Liberalism’ (the title of an stone’s intention that it should a selection of photographs. Smith (of stationery fame). early 1980s motion passed by be the home for Liberals Help in researching the like- In early 1871 John had the then Liberal Assembly). throughout the country rather nesses of Campbell-Banner- an exchange of words with All right, it’s taken a long than a traditional London man was given by Colin Mair, Henry Campbell MP (later time, and it’s been a very Club.) Rector of the High School Sir Henry Campbell-Banner- hard grind, but it, even in However, by February of Glasgow, where there is a man) anent the Parliamentary his lifetime, Richard failed 1948 the divorce between the plaque commemorating their grant to Princess Louise on to achieve the big leap for- Liberal Nationals and the Lib- illustrious former pupil, and her marriage to the future 9th ward he sought, it’s surely eral Party was symbolised by by Liberal Democrat History Duke of Argyll (Liberal MP even more foolish to believe, Sir John Simon’s resignation Group member Dr Sandy for Argyll 1868–78 and Lib- as some apparently do, that from the NLC after protests Waugh, the author of the eral Unionist MP for Man- it’s going to happen after his from some members follow- recent publication A Scottish chester South 1895–1900). In death. Richard was undoubt- ing his appearance on a Con- Liberal Perspective: A Centenary later years the Campbell-Ban- edly a very capable thinker servative by-election platform Commemoration for Sir Henry nermans were great friends and a persuasive mover and three months earlier when Campbell-Bannerman, who was of the Princess who sent a shaker; if he couldn’t achieve he had spoken against the invited to the unveiling but wreath for Sir Henry’s funeral it, what hope for others? We Liberal candidate. Although unfortunately could not be in April 1908. simple have to persevere with Simon’s action was hardly present. In 1872 (the year before what works, and that is build- new (and the Club’s minute Graham Lippiatt his death) John Stuart Mill ing local bases up and down books reveal the unhappi- was ‘secular’ godfather to the country through commu- ness of members after the Bertram Russell, grandson nity campaigning. After all, 1945 election), his position as The Mills and their world of Lord John Russell (1st Earl we are the masters of it! a Vice-President and trustee It should perhaps be better Russell) and father of Conrad Trevor Jones of a Club whose object was known that James Mill (father Russell (5th Earl Russell) who ‘to further the interests of the of John Stuart Mill, subject was a Liberal/Liberal Demo- Liberal cause’ were increas- of Michael Levin’s article in crat member of the House Correction ingly incongruous with his Journal 64, autumn 2009) was of Lords from 1987 until his One set of dates was unfor- actions. born in 1773 at Northwater- death. tunately omitted from Sandy Viscount Runciman, that bridge in Angus near to the Dr Alexander (Sandy) Waugh Waugh’s letter about ‘Glad- other first-generation Liberal estate of Fettercairn (or Mid- stone, St Deiniol’s and the National with impeccable dleton) in Kincardineshire Church’ in Journal 64 (autumn Liberal roots had resigned which had been purchased by Richard Holme 2009). The second sentence from the Club two months Sir John Stuart before serving It was no surprise to read of the third paragraph should earlier. Nevertheless, a por- as MP for Kincardineshire in David Steel’s warm apprecia- have read (bold text omitted trait of Simon as Chancellor 1797–1806. Sir John and his tion of Richard Holme in the in original): of the Exchequer still hangs wife were early patrons of summer edition of the Journal. ‘Another of the Prime in the NLC Smoking Room James Mill who was tutor to Richard worked closely with Minister’s son’s, the Rev. today. their daughter and heiress in successive leaders of the party Stephen Gladstone (1844- Paul Hunt 1790–94, both locally and in and his advice was clearly 1920), who was Rector of Edinburgh. influential on many occasions. Hawarden in 1872–1904, It is said that James and Indeed, Richard had that inherited the Hawarden Campbell-Bannerman Williamina Stuart would rare thing, a ‘big idea’: close Estate in 1916 and his Thank you for including my have married but that they cross-party working rela- descendants also inherited article about the unveiling were not allowed to forget tionships leading to a large the Gladstone Baronetcy and of the bust of Jeremy Thorpe the social facts. However, increase in the number of Lib- Fasque House and Estate in at the House of Commons the lady, who attracted many erals elected. I forget in what Kincardineshire in 1945 after in Journal 64 (autumn 2009). other suitors including (Sir) order his initiatives came but the deaths of all the Prime Readers of the Journal might Walter Scott, eventually I recall the Lib-Lab Pact, the Minister’s elder brothers and also like to know that the married Sir William Forbes Radical Action Movement their sons.’

Journal of Liberal History 65 Winter 2009–10 7 Celebrating 1859 Party, Patriotism and Liberal Values The remarkable year 1859 saw the publication of Charles Darwin’s Origin of Species, John Stuart Mill’s On Liberty and Samuel Smiles’s Self-Help. This annus mirabilis is rich ground for commemoration. It also saw the formal foundation of the parliamentary Liberal Party. On 6 June 1859, 280 Whig, Liberal, former Peelite and radical MPs met at Willis’s Rooms in King Street, St. James’s. They gathered to agree on a strategy to oust Lord Derby’s Conservative our days later, 323 appointed Foreign Secretary, and government from opposition MPs voted the former Peelite, William Glad- for a motion of ‘no con- stone, became Chancellor of the office.Angus fidence’ in the Con- Exchequer. Hawkins analyses the ser vat ive m in istr y. Conceived in 1859, the gesta- DerbyF promptly resigned. On 12 tion of the parliamentary Liberal significance of this key June, Lord Palmerston became Party followed under the care of Prime Minister of a Liberal gov- the elderly Palmerston. The death event in Liberal history. ernment. Lord John Russell was of Palmerston in October 1865,

8 Journal of Liberal History 65 Winter 2009–10 Celebrating 1859 Party, Patriotism and Liberal Values

Russell’s eight-month premier- Whigs, Reformers, radicals and the Liberal Party proved itself a ship and the dramatic Reform Irish Repealers found a temporary British movement drawing on debates of 1866–67 were then fol- unity over particular issues. Some manufacturing, commercial, lowed by the birth of wide-rang- spoke of this fragile alignment as Nonconformist and urban loy- ing meritocratic Liberal reform constituting a Liberal party. But alty in English and Welsh con- under Gladstone’s first ministry of the tenuous alliance fractured in stituencies, enjoying electoral 1868–74. The legislative achieve- the immediate years which fol- dominance in Scotland and broad ment of Gladstone’s govern- lowed. After Corn Law repeal in support in Ireland. ment affirmed the Liberal Party’s 1846 and the establishment of free The progeny of 1859 is, indeed, embodiment of a broad and varied trade as economic orthodoxy, an remarkable. Its political signifi- community of progressive senti- increasing number of MPs, a third cance can be appreciated at two ment and moral aspiration. As a of the Commons in 1852, adopted levels: by examining the dynam- dominant force in British politics the designation Liberal, earlier ics of party connection on the one it carried hopes of greater social labels such as Whig and Reformer hand, and delineating the nature equality, more virtuous citizen- gradually dropping out of use. of political doctrine on the other. ship, enlightened government and By 1859 Liberal was the common What were the events leading up stable progress, bringing liberty label adopted by the great major- to the formation of the Liberal to British subjects and providing a ity of non-Conservative MPs. Party in Westminster? Here we moral beacon of freedom for other Liberalism as a political mental- see the failure of Russell to secure nations of the world. ity became aligned with Liberal the Liberal leadership and the suc- The origins of Liberalism as as a party designation. The shift- cess of Palmerston in heading the a doctrine lay in the political ing political association of Whigs, Liberal ministry of 1859. Russell’s economy of the 1820s, the Whig Liberals, Peelites and radicals of hope of a triumphant apotheosis cry of civil and religious lib- the 1850s gave way to a cohesive was ultimately dashed by Con- erty, Nonconformist pressure for parliamentary alignment, her- servative moderation, radical reti- humanitarian reform, the radi- alding the adversarial contest cence and Palmerston’s patience. cal demand for retrenchment in between Liberals and Conserva- What was the nature of those Lib- government expenditure, and the tives after 1868 in Westminster eral beliefs which gave the parlia- belief in efficient, disinterested and the country, as personified Left: Willis’ mentary party that came together administration serving the needs by the figures of Gladstone and Rooms, King in 1859 its purposes and ideals? of society as a whole. During Disraeli. If the Conservative Street, St. Liberal belief in the rule of law as the 1830s and 1840s, this potent Party was the champion of the James’s, London, the safeguard of liberties, low tax- amalgam of values began to coa- landed interest and the Established in the mid- ation, economic government and lesce. In 1835, in meetings dubbed Church, with its electoral strength nineteenth free trade, policies for the benefit the ‘Lichfield House Compact’, in English county constituencies, century of society as a whole, rather than

Journal of Liberal History 65 Winter 2009–10 9 celebrating 1859: party, patriotism and liberal values special ‘interests’, and the encour- sway in the world, proved a potent form a government proved still- agement of self-improvement, message. It secured broad political born. After accepting Cabinet social reform and moral propriety support within Westminster and office under Palmerston in Febru- together comprised a powerful the acclaim of popular audiences ary 1855, he was forced to resign vision of progressive aspiration. In in Manchester, Salford and Liver- five months later, finding him- 1859, tensions between elements pool. The success of Lady Palm- self caught in the political cross- of mid-Victorian Liberal belief erston’s glittering entertainments currents of negotiating a Crimean found resolution in a patriotic at Cambridge House further bol- peace settlement. Embittered and affirmation of Britain’s role as a stered his influence, highlighting hostile, he nursed a lingering champion of progress and reform Russell’s seclusion at Pembroke resentment against his former col- in Europe. Lodge. While serving as Home leagues. When Palmerston gagged Six months before the Willis’s Secretary in Lord Aberdeen’s coa- his education reform proposals in Rooms meeting, in January 1859, lition of 1852–55, Palmerston had April 1856, Russell became, one the MP Sidney Herbert com- distanced himself from the pre- Whig observed, ‘a concentrated plained that there was no prospect mier’s hesitant diplomacy, imply- essence of lemon’.4 ‘of the formation of an efficient ing that his more forthright views In 1857 Russell raised the ban- party, let alone government, out would have avoided the dithering ner of progressive Liberal reform of the chaos on the opposition that had characterised Britain’s at home as an alternative to Palm- benches’.1 Whigs, Liberals and slide into the Crimean War. In the erston’s patriotic rhetoric. In radicals appeared divided and midst of a mismanaged Crimean February, Russell led 165 Whig, scattered. This was the legacy of campaign, in February 1855, Liberal, radical and Peelite MPs the politics of the 1850s. As Prime these perceptions delivered the into the division lobby against Minister between 1846 and 1852, premiership. The seventy-one- Palmerston’s Cabinet on a motion Russell’s standing had been seri- year-old Palmerston was the only to equalise parliamentary suffrage ously damaged by the tribulations politician, The Times declared, in counties and boroughs. At a of Whig policy. His substantial who could inject a purposeful stroke he revived parliamentary Liberal credentials and genuine vigour into the nation’s affairs. Reform as a live party issue and progressive instincts were com- This was a triumph of diligence, demonstrated the force of Liberal promised by difficulties over style, longevity and luck. rectitude as the solvent of Palm- the famine in Ireland, a banking In reaction to Palmerston’s erstonian support. The following crisis, fiscal policy, government putative conservatism on domes- month he voted with the opposi- expenditure, Chartist campaign- tic reform, during the 1850s tion majority denouncing Palmer- ing, and the ‘Papal Aggression’ Russell burnished his Liberal cre- ston’s policy in China, prompting episode. Russell’s reclusive tem- dentials. He undertook a biog- the premier to call a general elec- perament, the alleged intrigues raphy of his Whig hero Charles tion. In his election speeches of his ambitious wife and her James Fox, presented as the lineal in the City of London, Russell numerous relatives, his purported inspiration for his own progressive Six months called for further parliamentary impulsiveness, and criticisms of the principles. Sharing Palmerston’s Reform as necessary to the pro- ministerial nepotism of the Whig belief in Britain’s international before motion of progress. Numerous cousinhood as ‘a Venetian oligar- role as a champion of liberal and successful Liberal candidates sub- chy’ further damaged his reputa- humanitarian values, Russell took the Wil- sequently pledged themselves to tion. An impression prevailed that to himself the cause of progres- reform. Palmerston saw this ‘bit ‘if he were not conceited, ignorant sive domestic reform, carrying lis’s Rooms of treachery’ as proof that some of human nature, [and] a wee self- forward the Foxite flame of lib- Liberals were looking to ‘a radi- ish, [Russell] had all the charac- erty. As a member of Aberdeen’s meeting, cal parliament with John Russell teristics and experiences of a very Cabinet in 1853, Russell pressed as its head’.5 A dangerous Russel- superior man of his age’.2 for a parliamentary Reform bill. in January lite undercurrent lay just beneath By 1852, Russell’s authority In response, Palmerston declared the surface of Palmerston’s seem- faced serious challenges, notably his refusal ‘to be dragged through 1859, Whigs, ing electoral success. There from the tough and resourceful the dirt by John Russell’.3 This must eventually emerge, Russell Palmerston, who had served as reflected the wariness of many Liberals predicted, two distinct parties, Foreign Secretary under Lords Whigs and moderate Liberals a party of Reform and a Con- Grey, Melbourne and Russell. towards an extensive broadening and radicals servative opposition. So would The rivalry between Russell and of the suffrage, placing power in Palmerston’s ‘sham’ Liberalism Palmerston disrupted Whig, Lib- the votes of an uneducated popu- appeared be unmasked and his own natural eral and radical parliamentary lace susceptible to demagogues, claim to the leadership of Liberal relations throughout the 1850s. and a redistribution of parlia- divided and aspiration affirmed. Although Palmerston’s pre-eminence stood mentary seats, depriving them of scattered. events had ‘staved [Reform] off on his personification of patriotic their control in smaller boroughs. for a while’, the veteran Reformer sentiment – his robust foreign pol- Following the outbreak of the This was the Joseph Parkes noted, ‘Lord John icy championing liberal interests Crimean War, an emotional Rus- is a pointer dog – a setter at the abroad. A genial affability, diplo- sell was forced, in April 1854, to legacy of the game’.6 matic expertise, subtle cultivation withdraw his Reform bill from By February 1858, a host of dif- of press support, and his celebra- the Commons. Upon the col- politics of ficulties had descended on Palmer- tion of Britain’s liberal political lapse of the Aberdeen coalition ston’s government. The reform of values, giving the country a moral in early 1855 Russell’s attempt to the 1850s. Indian administration in the wake

10 Journal of Liberal History 65 Winter 2009–10 celebrating 1859: party, patriotism and liberal values

of the Mutiny in the subcontinent, Colleagues Whigs and Liberals retreated of the Governor-General’s policy the scandal of Lord Clanricarde’s and rivals: to the opposition benches divided in India gave renewed life to Der- appointment as Lord Privy Seal, Russell (left) and demoralised. The Whig Lord by’s ministry and advertised the the commitment to further par- and Palmerston Clarendon thought they were divisions ravaging Whig, Liberal liamentary Reform, and a crisis in (right). ‘split into factions more bent on and radical ranks. The Whigs, the Anglo-French relations caused by cutting each other’s throats than diarist Charles Greville observed, the involvement of Italian politi- disposed to unite against the ‘are in the condition of a defeated cal refugees residing in England Tories’.7 The ‘Whig leaders, after army, who require to be com- in an attempted assassination of 20 years service’, Russell pri- pletely reorganised and reformed Napoleon III confronted the Cabi- vately complained, ‘discarded me before they can take the field net, ministers succumbing to the … I can never serve or act with again. The general resentment terminal political contagion of them until I am returned to my and mortification is extreme.’9 chronic self-doubt. In response to proper position. There is my point Derby’s government were French diplomatic pressure, Palm- of honour’.8 While Palmerston, committed to bringing forward erston put before the Commons a with his authority haemorrhag- a parliamentary Reform bill in conspiracy to murder bill, increas- ing, sat on the opposition front- 1859, a pledge inherited from ing the penalties for those proved bench across from Conservative Palmerston’s ministry. Antici- guilty of planning political vio- ministers, Russell took a seat on pation of Reform provided the lence abroad. Amendment of Brit- the opposition benches below touchstone of political calcula- ish asylum laws in answer to what the gangway among the radicals tion. Russell prepared to step for- was portrayed as Gallic threats and ‘independent’ Liberals. The ward as the guardian of historic galvanised the opposition to Palm- Peelite Sir James Graham aligned Whig principles, bringing Whigs, erston. British liberal values and himself with Russell, while Glad- Liberals and radicals together liberty, opponents declared, were stone gave journalistic expression behind the cry for genuine being sacrificed to the demands to his strong anti-Palmerstonian Reform. Ministerial legislation, of a foreign regime, whose press views, flirted with joining Der- he predicted, would prove inad- had characterised Britain as a den by’s Cabinet, and felt a growing equate and partisan. As the unnat- of assassins. On a motion proposed isolation. By 1857, a majority of ural product of Conservative by the radical Thomas Milner Peelite MPs, sixty-nine in all, had authorship, a government Reform Gibson, on 19 February, Russell rejoined the Conservative Party, bill would inevitably be flawed. joined eighty-nine Whig, Liberal leaving a rump of just thirty-five Palmerston’s political sway, and radical MPs in the anti-gov- Peelite MPs inclining to the Lib- meanwhile, continued to wane. ernment lobby, voting alongside erals. In April, Russell eased the The impossibility of Palmerston the Conservative opposition. Mil- Conservative government’s diffi- again becoming Prime Minister ner Gibson’s motion was carried culties over their India bill, liais- became a commonplace topic of by nineteen votes. The following ing with radicals and indirectly opposition dinner table conversa- day Palmerston’s Cabinet resigned. with members of Derby’s Cabinet. tion. When he visited Napoleon On 21 February, Derby formed In May, the spectacular collapse of III at Compiègne in Novem- his second minority Conservative an opposition Commons motion ber 1858, anti-French feeling in ministry. over the Conservatives’ criticism Britain was aroused and harsh

Journal of Liberal History 65 Winter 2009–10 11 celebrating 1859: party, patriotism and liberal values criticism expressed. Returning Between attacked the House of Lords as an ballot. Russell’s Reform bill of to London, Palmerston adopted assembly of hereditary legislators 1854, meanwhile, had hedged a prudent passivity, declining to October and unsuited to a free constitution. the lowering of the suffrage with endorse a Russellite call for sub- He portrayed the Commons as an ‘merit franchises’, giving the vote stantial Reform and choosing to December organ of the great territorial inter- to professional groups and hold- await the details of a Conserva- ests of the country. The law of ers of university degrees, whose tive measure. Having declined a 1858 Bright’s primogeniture ensured the pres- education and status might offset second invitation to join Derby’s ervation of vast estates in individ- additional votes granted to work- Cabinet in May 1858, a restless central ual ownership through successive ing men. Derby’s bill incorporated Gladstone accepted charge of a generations. British foreign policy these principles in an attempt to diplomatic mission in September theme was a gigantic system of outdoor ensure that Conservative Reform to negotiate a constitutional set- was the relief for the aristocracy. Parlia- was seen as safe and substantial, tlement for the Ionian Islands. He mentary Reform, he declared, eliciting moderate opposition sup- did not return to London until continued was the necessary cure for a politi- port. It proposed a uniform £10 March 1859. Peelite colleagues cal system afflicted by stifling suffrage in boroughs and coun- such as Graham and Cardwell saw dominance landed influence, smothering ties, and the vote for those with Gladstone’s agreement to head the the freedoms of the people. As at least £60 in savings, graduates, mission as a preliminary to his of landed announced at Bradford in January ministers of religion, barristers, joining the Conservatives. Rus- 1859 Bright’s recommendations, attorneys and registered medical sell thought it provided Gladstone power in a borough franchise for all males men. It did not propose the intro- with a convenient excuse for trav- who paid poor rates, a £10 lodger duction of the ballot. It did, how- elling abroad and absenting him- British franchise, and a £10 rental fran- ever, attend to Derby’s concern self from awkward discussion of chise in the counties, protected over urban freehold votes swamp- parliamentary Reform. politics, by the ballot, fell short of a demo- ing rural county constituencies In late 1858 John Bright gave cratic suffrage, restricting the vote by restricting freehold votes to tangible form to radical hopes of suppress- to those he deemed respectable the boroughs. To reassure mod- Reform, speaking to large popu- male citizens. The redistribution erate opinion, redistribution was lar audiences at Birmingham, ing popular of seats in relation to population limited. It was proposed to trans- Manchester and Glasgow. Having he emphasised as key to genuine fer just fifteen seats. Two Cabi- suffered a nervous breakdown in liberties. Reform. But his language aroused net ministers resigned over the 1856, he returned to the platform extensive fear of class warfare. bill drawn up by the government a giant refreshed. Yet the division Bright privately insisted that his prior to the 1859 session: Joseph in radical ranks that had emerged proposals were moderate, that Henley and Spencer Walpole. The over the Crimean War remained. he was opposed to unnecessary rest of the Cabinet consented to This reflected that confluence of change. But Whigs and moderate the measure as a substantial exten- varied populist traditions which Liberals seized on Bright’s rheto- sion of voting privileges, refuting flowed into radical activism, ric as revealing the true extent of accusations of reactionary minis- Benthamite ‘Philosophic Radi- radical intention, signalling the terial sentiment. calism’, Chartism, militant Non- subversive dangers which respon- A developing crisis over the conformity and the Cobdenite sible politicians must resist. Italian states during the1858 recess advocacy of free trade. Bright had That Bright broke ground over saved politicians from an exclusive denounced the Crimean conflict. Reform in late 1858, express- preoccupation with parliamentary But other ‘patriotic’ radicals, such ing radical demands in language Reform. But while the complexi- as John Roebuck, supported the exciting fear of class conflict, ties of Reform exposed differences war in language which rejected encouraged Whigs such as Lord between Conservatives, Whigs, the moral internationalism, based Grey, Lord Clarendon and Sir Liberals and radicals, the issue upon unrestricted trade and com- George Cornewall Lewis to of Italy affirmed a consensus of merce, advocated by the Man- believe that moderate Reform view, notwithstanding the long- chester School. Bright’s mentor would satisfy the nation’s wishes, standing hostility of Liberals and from the Anti-Corn Law League, as long as Russell was not lured radicals towards the autocratic Richard Cobden, remained in into advocating an extreme empires of Austria and Russia. rural seclusion, living the life of a measure. Derby’s Conservative Within British political circles, gentleman farmer in Sussex. Dur- Cabinet also took comfort from there was broad support for liberal ing Bright’s illness Milner Gibson the reaction to Bright’s speeches. Italian nationalism, the Kingdom had emerged as a rival leading During the recess Derby chaired of Piedmont-Sardinia being seen parliamentary radical, spearhead- a Cabinet committee drawing up as the best hope for an accept- ing the ejection of Palmerston a government Reform bill. The able form of unification. Italian from office in February 1858. As main features of the measure drew nationalists wished to drive Aus- a consequence, radicals enjoyed on indications of what moderate tria out of Lombardy and Venetia, no greater unanimity than Whigs Whigs and Liberals would accept. overthrowing the Vienna Settle- and Liberals. In June 1858 the great majority ment of 1815. But British politi- Between October and Decem- of the Commons opposition had cians, while disliking Austrian ber 1858 Bright’s central theme supported a proposal to equalise repression, harboured a deeper was the continued dominance of the borough and county fran- loathing for the brutal corrup- landed power in British politics, chise at the £10 level. They had tion endemic in the Kingdom of suppressing popular liberties. He split over the introduction of the the Two Sicilies and contempt for

12 Journal of Liberal History 65 Winter 2009–10 celebrating 1859: party, patriotism and liberal values the temporal power exercised by government could hope to carry, offered the best prospect of unify- Pope Pius IX. Distrust of French given the temper of the Com- ing opposition feeling. Nonethe- ambitions in the Italian peninsula mons and the public mind. The less, Lord Grey thought Russell’s and anxiety that disruption of the Conservatives also brought for- resolution objectionable. Claren- status quo would forge a hostile ward proposals for law reform and don deemed it factious. Palm- Franco-Russian alliance exploit- legislation presented as a reason- erston indicated that the success ing Austrian weakness, moreover, able settlement of the church rates of Russell’s motion need not be tempered enthusiasm for Italian question. When Palmerston, with fatal to the bill if it led to desirable unification. Napoleonic aggran- Russell’s support, challenged the amendments. This milked Rus- disement, destabilising Austrian government’s Italian policy, sug- sell’s motion of its venom. humiliation and the incitement of gesting Malmesbury was failing In the Commons during Piedmont to acts of aggression as a to prevent a threatened war, while March Palmerston declared pawn of French ambition, leaving appearing indifferent to reform in his support for Russell’s reso- untouched the worst repression in the Papal States, Disraeli dramati- lution on the understanding the region existing in the Papal cally announced on 25 February that it would prompt changes States and the Kingdom of the that Lord Cowley was being des- to the Reform bill in commit- Two Sicilies, would, British poli- patched on a diplomatic mission tee. Bright dubbed the proposed ticians agreed, be too high a price to negotiate a settlement secur- merit franchises contained in the to pay for Italian liberty. Derby’s ing peace and desirable reforms. measure ‘fancy franchises’. Roe- Foreign Secretary, Lord Malm- Disraeli’s declaration swiftly pre- When, on buck urged the government to esbury, shaped British policy to empted Palmerston and Russell’s accept amendments to their bill this domestic consensus, adopt- hostile initiative and restored the 28 Febru- so that the opportunity to settle ing a vigilant non-intervention. parliamentary consensus over for- the question should not be lost. Palmerston agreed that, in the eign affairs. ary, Russell Gladstone’s convoluted state- event of war, neutrality was Brit- When, on 28 February, Rus- ment that he intended to vote ain’s only course. He had no wish sell and Bright criticised the and Bright against Russell’s motion, but did to see Austria crippled as a Euro- Conservative Reform bill for not not want this to be interpreted as pean power. Suspicions grew dur- enfranchising a larger portion of criticised the support for the government, was ing early 1859 that Napoleon III the working classes, Palmerston received with puzzled amuse- was cynically encouraging Pied- remained silent. Whigs and mod- Conserva- ment. Early in the morning of 1 mont-Sardinia to open hostilities erate Liberals nervously noted April Russell’s motion was passed against Austria, giving France an that Russell was adopting the tive Reform by 330 to 291 votes. Ambiguity opportunity to push troops into radical language of Bright. Rus- about the intended effect of the the region under the pretext of sell was dissuaded during March bill for not vote, whether or not it should be rushing to Piedmont’s aid. The from calling a general meeting enfranchis- regarded as a wholesale rejection Italian peninsula was in danger of the Liberal opposition, which of the bill, secured an opposi- of becoming a second Mexico, would prove ‘a Tower of Babel’.10 ing a larger tion majority. It was a victory Malmesbury feared, with Pied- Instead, he decided to proceed of sorts for Russell – but not the mont-Sardinia the tool of Napo- against the government Reform portion of unqualified personal endorsement leonic intrigue. bill by way of a resolution moved for which he hoped. The Queen Russell looked to the 1859 par- on the measure’s second read- the work- commented with irritation that liamentary session as his opportu- ing. Graham and Herbert per- the motion showed that Russell nity to recover the leadership of suaded Russell to temper the ing classes, was ‘ever ready to make mischief progressive opinion in Westmin- wording of his motion, reference and do his country harm’.11 Faced ster. The political agenda seemed to the ‘industrial classes’ being Palmerston with a choice between amending ideal. Parliamentary Reform was removed. What remained was an their measure, deferring further the main item of business and objection to the bill’s failure to remained consideration of Reform, resign- hopes for liberal reform in the lower the borough franchise and ing or dissolving parliament, Italian peninsula a supplemen- the denial of the ancient right of silent. Whigs Derby’s Cabinet decided to call tary issue. He came close to suc- urban forty-shilling freeholders an election. The Conservative cess. The dramatic theme in the to vote in county elections. The and moder- electoral text was the scuttling parliamentary politics of January Times observed that the second of their moderate Reform bill by to June 1859 is the frustration of reading of legislation was con- ate Liberals a factious and motley opposition Russell’s ambitions. Conserva- ventionally the opportunity to preferring party interest to the tive moderation, radical reticence, discuss the general principles of a nervously interest of the country. Peelite ambivalence and Palmer- measure. Russell’s motion imme- noted that Reform proved the main ston’s patience denied Russell the diately focused debate on specific subject of candidates’ hustings personal vindication he sought. clauses more properly left to the Russell was speeches over the following The Reform bill introduced by committee stage. This was the weeks. In London, on 15 April, the Conservative government tactical requirement of Russell’s adopting Russell dismissed the Conserva- in late February, as its authors position in opposition to a bill that tive measure as a sham, devoid intended, was not the sham meas- was more moderate than he had the radical of any honest intent to secure ure Russell anticipated. The Times predicted. Concentrating debate genuine Reform. But dramatic praised it for dealing with the on the particular inadequacies of language of international events between 19 question on honest and intelligible the bill, forestalling a broader dis- and 21 April allowed some, nota- principles, it being as strong as any cussion of the measure’s merits, Bright. bly Russell, to take up the cry

Journal of Liberal History 65 Winter 2009–10 13 celebrating 1859: party, patriotism and liberal values of Italian liberty. Contrary to Palmerston’s prospects became. platform at the beginning of expectation Austria, provoked by During late May intense con- proceedings he noticed the step Piedmont’s refusal to disarm prior sultation among the opposition was too high for the diminutive to participating in a Congress, ensued. Russell entered discussion Russell. To roars of droll laugh- issued an ultimatum demanding insistent upon two points: first, ter around the room Palmerston Piedmont’s disarmament or else that a prospective Liberal Cabinet assisted Russell on to the stage. hostilities would ensue. Advised must include Peelites and radicals The act held a poignant sym- by France to give a defiant reply, – it could not be a restoration of bolism. Palmerston spoke of his Piedmont portrayed the ultima- Palmerston’s former frontbench; readiness to cooperate with Rus- tum as an insult. Preparations for and second, that there must be sell in moving a general motion war promptly followed. The ulti- agreement on a Reform bill. against the government and was matum, a disastrous miscalcula- These conditions he saw as the received with great cheering. tion, immediately cast Austria as protection of his position. Palm- Russell followed, expressing his the aggressor and dramatically erston responded that any motion willingness to serve under Palm- wrong-footed Derby’s policy. brought against the government erston if asked to form a ministry. The diplomatic tables appeared could not contain a commitment Palmerston whispered to Russell. abruptly turned. France, suspected to introducing a Reform bill or Russell then added that Palmer- of preparing for war without a a condemnation of Conservative ston agreed to the same if Russell pretext, assumed the role of an foreign policy. He would only was sent for by the Queen. Bright injured innocent. This gave free support a general motion of ‘no promised cooperation and Her- rein to Liberal dislike of Austrian confidence’. Radical prevarica- bert preached union. Just a few of autocracy. In election speeches tion further weakened Russell’s those present expressed hesitation. on 23 and 25 April, Russell gave position. Bright held back from The meeting appeared a success. scant attention to Reform, but pressing for Russell’s return to the Palmerston judged the outcome elaborated on the falseness of Liberal leadership, and other radi- as ‘highly satisfactory’12 A united Derby’s policy of ‘armed neutral- cals, such as Roebuck and Milner Liberal opposition had been ity’, based upon misplaced suspi- Gibson, indicated that a substan- formed. It was noted that it would cions of France and concealing an tial measure of Reform might yet be difficult for Russell not to con- illiberal pro-Austrian bias. In a be secured from the Conservative cur in any arrangement after what hastily revised election address at ministry. In late May Gladstone he had said. Tiverton, Palmerston denounced made it known that Palmerston’s On Tuesday 7 June the oppo- the government’s foreign policy electoral statements about Italy sition Commons motion of ‘no as proof of the ministry’s inad- would justify his joining a Palm- confidence’ was moved by the equacies. The outbreak of war, erston Cabinet. On 30 May Palm- young Whig Lord Hartington. triggered by Austria’s ultimatum, erston was advised that, in the Disraeli attempted to catch the transformed the Italian question event of Derby resigning, there opposition unawares by calling for into an issue of party controversy. was now far less chance of Rus- an immediate division, but after The general election returned sell being sent for by the Queen. frantic scouring of the Commons 306 Conservative MPs and 349 Palmerston immediately wrote tea rooms the Liberal whips man- MPs identified as members of to Russell offering to serve under aged to keep the debate open and the opposition. Despite gain- him, if Russell would do the same eventually secured an adjourn- ing thirty-one seats, the Con- by him. Two days later Palmer- ment. The defeat of Austria by servative ministry remained in a ston and leading Whigs deter- French and Piedmontese forces Commons minority. The critical mined to call a general meeting at the battle of Magenta on 4 June question became the possibility of the opposition, which Palm- The meeting brought opposition accusations of the opposition majority, made erston would invite Russell to of Conservative incompetence up of various Liberal groupings, attend. On 2 June, Palmerston and appeared in foreign policy to the fore of approximately fifty radicals and Russell agreed jointly to address debate. Palmerston charged the a handful of prominent former a party meeting declaring their a success. government with alarming igno- Peelites, finding a common pur- readiness to serve under the other, rance as to the real state of Euro- pose. Palmerston rejected an although nothing was said about Palmerston pean affairs. The moderate Liberal overture from Disraeli invit- the future arrangement of minis- MP Edward Horsman censured ing him to join the Conservative terial places. judged the the Conservatives for a lack of Cabinet; the preferable alterna- So it was that, on Monday 6 foresight, capacity and imparti- tive, Disraeli suggested, to Palm- June 1859, Whig, Liberal, radi- outcome ality in their diplomacy. Bright erston finding himself a minister cal and a handful of prominent as ‘highly described the government’s prot- in a Russell government. Palm- former Peelite MPs (though not estations of neutrality as a pre- erston now looked to resuming Gladstone) met at Willis’s Rooms satisfactory’. tence disguising a pro-Austrian power on his own terms. Having to affirm their support for a bias. Milner Gibson also accused failed to assert his authority over motion of ‘no confidence’ in Der- A united the Conservatives of harbour- the Reform question in March, by’s government. Held on neutral ing Austrian sympathies. Russell, Russell’s plight brought the ground, rather than in the resi- Liberal oppo- while condemning the Con- engaging subplot of Palmerston’s dence of a leading politician, the servative Reform bill, declared intentions back into centre stage. gathering was publicly advertised sition had the ministry incapable of main- Moreover, the longer Russell’s in The Times two days before. taining neutrality in continental difficulties persisted the better When Palmerston ascended the been formed. affairs and guilty of diminishing

14 Journal of Liberal History 65 Winter 2009–10 celebrating 1859: party, patriotism and liberal values

Britain’s influence in the councils Russell’s civil liberty, fiscal accountability, was far broader. This was Russell’s of Europe. free trade and Christian humani- achievement. Palmerston’s minis- On Friday 10 June Harting- near-success tarianism grounded the Liberal try was a rich blend of those parlia- ton’s ‘no confidence’ motion was commitment to stable and ordered mentary ingredients comprising passed by 323 to 310 votes. The in 1859, how- progress. This was a moral political Victorian Liberalism: Whig leg- following day Derby’s Cabinet creed supporting a patriotic belief islative reform and disinterested resigned. The Queen sent for ever, ensured in Britain’s status as a civilised and governance, Peelite morality and Lord Granville, but Russell indi- enlightened polity, superior to cor- administrative expertise, and rad- cated difficulties in serving under that the rupt and repressive regimes abroad. ical notions of economic and effi- him. Victoria complained of the Palmerston played to patriotic cient government. prickliness of ‘selfish, peevish Liberal gov- faith in Liberal values as a celebra- Palmerston offered Cabinet Johnny’.13 On 12 June the Queen ernment was tion of Britain’s moral pre-emi- office to Cobden, but he refused. asked Palmerston to form a gov- nence in the world. Russell looked Prior to 1859, Whigs had shared ernment. A fortnight of intense not a narrow to personify enlightened reform a hostile disparagement of radi- ministerial negotiation followed. as the key to Britain’s political calism, radicals had found com- Russell insisted on the Foreign restoration stability and material prosper- mon purpose in decrying the Office, Italy being the issue on ity, safeguarding the nation’s oligarchic assumptions of Whig- which Whigs, Liberals, Peelites of Palmer- progress. Their rivalry during the gism, and Peelites had assumed and radicals were most closely 1850s turned on this difference of a self-adulatory sense of supe- agreed. He ‘might not at another ston’s former emphasis in the nature of Liberal riority enshrined in the cult of time have wished for it’, he told belief. Significantly, it was the cry their dead leader. After 1859, as Palmerston who was pressing Cabinet. of Italian liberty that provided Whigs, former Peelites and radi- Clarendon’s claims to being For- Liberals with common cause in cals shared office, such antipathies eign Secretary, ‘but that taking 1859. Italian unification brought were displaced by a Liberal vision such interest in foreign affairs at Liberals together. of administrative efficiency, free present he wished for that place’.14 Foreign affairs occasioned trade, national prestige abroad The former Peelite Gladstone major domestic political crises and civil and religious liberty at (despite having voted against throughout the 1850s. It was a home. Cobden’s role in negoti- Hartington’s motion) accepted the mismanaged Crimean campaign ating a free trade Anglo-French Chancellorship of the Exchequer, that propelled Palmerston to the commercial treaty in 1860 sym- the Duke of Newcastle took the premiership in 1855. It was accu- bolised the ascendancy of these Colonial Office, and Herbert the sations of toadying to French Liberal values. During the 1860s, War Office. The radicals Milner intimidation that ejected Palmer- the Liberal government drew to Gibson and Charles Villiers were ston from office in 1858. In 1859 itself the popular forces of militant appointed to the Board of Trade the patriotic perception of Britain Nonconformity, organised labour and the Poor Law Board. Whigs as the champion of liberal progress and an expanding press, fulfilling were appointed to just eight out of in Europe gave Liberals a unity the Russellite vision of a progres- sixteen Cabinet posts. of purpose over Italy denied by sive alliance. This prepared the The events leading up to the their differences on domestic way for Gladstone’s transforma- conception of the Liberal Party issues, particularly parliamen- tion from Peelite to ‘the People’s in 1859, revealing those antipa- tary Reform. Palmerston’s return William’ as he reaped the harvest thies which found resolution at to the premiership affirmed the of Russell’s near-success. Willis’s Rooms, explain how power of Liberal patriotism as the During the 1850s, Gladstone Palmerston, rather than Russell, basis of party unity. In 1861, fol- had been an isolated, restless and emerged as Liberal leader. The lowing the failure of his Reform tormented figure, many assum- broader context of Liberal belief, bill in 1860 and the dénoue- ing his future lay with the Con- framing the complex dynamics ment of the Italian crisis, Russell servative Party. In 1859 he voted of political manoeuvre, points to retreated to the House of Lords against Russell’s motion on the the basis upon which party unity with a peerage. Conservative Reform bill and was achieved. By the late 1850s a Russell’s near-success in 1859, against Hartington’s ‘no confi- set of shared assumptions defined however, ensured that the Lib- dence’ motion. Yet he hungered Liberal values. Effective and fair eral government was not a nar- for executive employment and government must rest upon liber- row restoration of Palmerston’s feared languishing in barren ties protected by the rule of law former Cabinet. As Palmerston political exile. The issue of Italy – government being in the inter- acknowledged, he was forced offered him a bridge to Palm- est of the nation as a whole, rather ‘to reconstruct the government erston’s Cabinet over which he than a particular section of society. upon a different principle and … crossed in June. After 1859 he Free trade, government economy out of a larger range of political metamorphosed into a Liberal and low taxation should encourage parties’; what Gladstone referred tribune, his religious conviction individual liberty, self-improve- to as ‘our strangely constructed and his praise for diligent self- ment and moral responsibility. Cabinet’.15 When, in late March reliant working men striking deep These beliefs affirmed Britain’s 1859, Palmerston drew up a list of chords of popular moral affinity. standing as a nation of lawful toler- possible Cabinet appointments it His speeches conveyed a powerful ance and moral decency, a bulwark contained no radicals or advanced sense of consecration to which his against intolerance and dogma- Reformers. The Cabinet he was popular audiences responded with tism. The historic constitution, actually required to form in June adulation. As Chancellor of the

Journal of Liberal History 65 Winter 2009–10 15 celebrating 1859: party, patriotism and liberal values

Exchequer his lowering of taxa- The circum- Dr Angus Hawkins is a Fellow of 5 Palmerston to Granville, 24 and 25 tion sought to liberate ‘the peo- the Royal Historical Society and a March 1857, cit. H. C. F. Bell, Lord ple’ economically, encouraging stances in member of the History Faculty at the Palmerston, 2 vols. (1936), ii, p. 170. diligence and self-reliance, rais- University of Oxford. He has writ- 6 Parkes to Ellice Jnr., 22 November ing civic maturity and stimulating which the ten extensively on Victorian politics. 1857 cit. Hawkins, Parliament, Party political responsibility. His most recent publication is a two- and the Art of Politics, p. 86. In 1868 Gladstone aligned his parliamen- volume biography of the 14th Earl 7 Clarendon to Howard, 26 February charismatic Liberal leadership of Derby entitled The Forgotten 1858, Clarendon Mss. C. 541, cit. with the transcendent cry of Irish tary Liberal Prime Minister. Hawkins, Parliament, Party and the Church disestablishment. This Party was Art of Politics, p. 115. united popular Liberalism with a 1 Herbert to Graham, 10 January 1859, 8 Russell to the Dean of Bristol, parliamentary party articulating conceived in cit. Baron Stanmore, Sidney Herbert, 9 April 1858, Russell Mss. PRO the aspirations of those dynamic Lord Herbert of Lea: A Memoir 2 vols. 30/22/13/F, fol. 24, cit. Hawkins, forces transforming mid-Victo- 1859 reveal (1906), ii, p. 165–66. The best over- Parliament, Party and the Art of Poli- rian society. It gathered a broad view of nineteenth-century Liberal- tics, p. 130. community of progressive moral the strengths ism is Jonathan Parry, The Rise and 9 Greville diary, 23 May 1858, cit. sentiment around the party Fall of Liberal Government in Victorian C. C. F. Greville, A Journal of the shibboleths of ‘civil and religious and stresses Britain (1993). See also T. A. Jenkins, Reigns of King George IV, King Wil- liberty’, ‘peace, retrenchment The Liberal Ascendancy, 1830–1886 liam IV and Queen Victoria, ed. H. and reform’, free trade, economy within mid- (1994) and Jonathan Parry, The Poli- Reeve, 8 vols. (1888), viii, p. 201. and improvement. Between 1868 tics of Patriotism: English Liberalism, 10 Ellice to Panmure, 4 March 1859, and 1874 Gladstone’s government Victorian National Identity and Europe, 1830– cit. Hawkins, Parliament, Party and disestablished the Irish Church, 1886 (2006). John Vincent, The For- the Art of Politics, p. 212. passed an Irish Land Act, intro- Liberalism. mation of the Liberal Party, 1857–1868 11 The Queen to the Prince of Wales, duced competitive examinations (1966), remains essential reading. 1 April 1859, cit. J. Prest, Lord John for entry to most areas of the civil Other valuable studies, as well as the Russell (1972), p. 383. service, abolished the purchase of works cited below, are Alan Sykes, 12 Palmerston diary, 6 June 1859, cit. military commissions, reformed The Rise and Fall of British Liberal- E. D. Steele, Palmerston and Liberal- education for children, abol- ism, 1776–1988 (1997) and Eugenio ism, 1855–1865 (1991), p. 93. ished religious tests for Oxford Biagini, Liberty, Retrenchment and 13 The Queen to the King of the Bel- and Cambridge universities, Reform: Popular Politics in the Age of gians, 14 June 1859, cit. Prest, Rus- reformed local government, and Gladstone 1860–1880 (1992). sell, p. 384. introduced the ballot for par- 2 Parkes to Ellice, 29 December 1856, 14 Wood diary, 12 June 1859, cit. liamentary elections. The ties Ellice Mss. 15042, fol. 45, National Hawkins, Parliament, Party and the between the state and the estab- Library of Scotland, Edinburgh. Art of Politics, p. 260. lished Church were loosened, 3 Palmerston to Lansdowne, 8 15 Palmerston to Bruce, 26 Novem- the patronage system reformed, December 1853, Palmerston Mss. ber 1859, cit. Steele, Palmerston and and greater efficiency and pro- GC/LA/111, cit. Angus Hawkins, Liberalism, p. 94; Gladstone memo, fessionalism established within British Party Politics, 1852–1886 20–25 May 1860, cit. The Prime the framework of economic (1998), p. 53. Ministers’ Papers: W. E. Gladstone, government. 4 Holland to Brougham, 14 July III: Autobiographical Memoranda The circumstances in which [1856], Brougham Mss. 16295, cit. 1845–1866 (1978), John Brooke and the parliamentary Liberal Party Angus Hawkins, Parliament, Party Mary Sorenson (eds.), p. 228. was conceived in 1859 reveal the and the Art of Politics, 1855–59 (1987), strengths and stresses within mid- p. 34. Victorian Liberalism. The force of Liberal patriotic faith in Britain as a moral champion of enlight- ened values in Europe secured for Liberal Democrat History Group plaque Palmerston both the party lead- appeal successful ership and the premiership. The belief that Liberal government As Dr Hawkins recounts in this article, the meeting of 6 June 1859 at Willis’s must embrace a broad alliance of Rooms in King Street, St James, London, marks the foundation of the Liberal progressive sentiment within the Party. country was testimony to Rus- To mark the 150th anniversary of this event, over the last three months, the sell’s near-success. Gladstone’s Liberal Democrat History Group has run a campaign to raise funds to pay for subsequent emergence as a popu- the erection of a Westminster Council ‘heritage plaque’ on the current-day lar tribune affirmed the Liberal site, Almack House in King Street, to commemorate the Willis’ Rooms meeting Party’s identification with the permanently emotive moral vision of a merito- We are pleased to be able to report that thanks to the generosity of many cratic society fostering self-disci- History Group members and supporters, sufficient funds have now been raised pline, individual reliance and free to meet the cost of the plaque and its installation (about £1,000). association. Reason enough, apart from commemoration of Dar- We are now just waiting for the council to confirm a suitable date for the win, Mill and Smiles, to mark the unveiling of the plaque; we will let all History Group members know the remarkable year 1859. arrangements via our email mailing list and website.

16 Journal of Liberal History 65 Winter 2009–10 The internet is an amazing tool for gathering information and provides a wealth USING WIKIPEDIA TO of helpful sites for learning about the people and events that LEARN ABOUT have made Liberal history – not least the LIBERAL HISTORY website of the Liberal Democrat History

Group itself (www. ikipedia is a what your purpose is.’ For exam- liberalhistory.org.uk). m u l t i l i n g u a l , ple, not all facts can be verified w e b - b a s e d straight away by reviewers but One great advantage enc yclopaed i a those articles that are subject to of the Internet as which uses links query will usually contain an alert Was cross-references to guide the at the head of the page indicating a research tool is reader from the initial article to that the reader should be cautious. related pages or to external web- Reasons vary, from insufficient the speed at which sites. Articles also include guides referencing and internal links to to further reading and contribu- articles that appear to contradict information can be tors tend to cite their sources themselves. Generally speaking, traced and accessed carefully (though not always!). Wikipedia facilitates the reader’s Its most innovative aspect is that research immensely via its mul- and the ease with Wikipedia articles are written by tiple internal and external links the public: anyone can log on and (just click on the highlighted which links can be create new pages or edit existing words) and its – usually compre- made to similar sites material. Volunteers do not need hensive – further reading and specialised qualifications to con- source lists. in order to build up tribute, since their primary role For the general reader or ama- is to write articles that cover their teur historian, it seems safest to a complete picture existing knowledge. However, in agree with those academics and practice, most entries are written teachers who advise that while of the chosen topic. by people who know their subject Wikipedia cannot be accepted or There are so many well or are experts or professionals cited as an authoritative source, in their sphere. Of course, there it remains a useful starting point websites relating to are standards to be maintained: from which to gain contextual the website is subject to edito- information about your subject subjects such as Liberal rial administration, oversight and matter and can point the way to history and politics management. Published editing more reliable and fuller source policies exist, which contributors material. that to list them would are requested to follow, and arti- In order to search for an arti- cles are subject to peer review in cle you need only to enter the prove to be an endless order to avoid plagiarism and libel text into the search box and press task. This article is and to ensure that articles are cor- ‘enter’. But be warned, Wikipe- rectly sourced with citations and dia can be very case- and punc- therefore confined references. tuation-sensitive – so be sure to follow the exact wording and to the consideration punctuation of the articles sug- of one specific, albeit Is Wikipedia a reliable source gested here to access the right for Liberal history? pages. huge, website – Wikipedia users do need to be Having arrived at the Wikipedia wary. Even the founder of Wiki- main page (http://en.wikipedia. Wikipedia. Graham pedia, Jimmy Wales, has com- org/wiki/Main_Page), where to Lippiatt explores mented that Wikipedia may not start? Below is a list of pages organ- be suitable for academic uses, ised around the theme of Liberal its possibilities – and saying, ‘It is pretty good, but you history: political parties, people, have to be careful with it. It’s good liberal philosophy, thought and limitations.. enough knowledge, depending on thinkers, parliamentary reform

Journal of Liberal History 65 Winter 2009–10 17 using wikipedia to learn about liberal history and legislation, parliamentary elec- Wikipedia and Joseph Chamberlain, which day, follows it. The three leaders tions, parliamentary constituencies split from Gladstone over Irish of the SDP are included in the and local elections. users do Home Rule in 1886 and formally Social Democratic Party (UK) page. The names of the relevant merged with the Conservatives For the period before the forma- pages in Wikipedia are shown need to be in 1912. tion of the Liberal Party see List here in italics. All page names of United Kingdom Whig and allied were correct at the time of going wary. Even • Alliance Party of Northern Ireland party leaders 1801–1859. to print. – Pages about the Liberal Demo- the founder crats’ sister party in Northern Ire- For details of Members of Parlia- land. The section about its origins ment there are a number of pages: Political parties of Wikipedia, connects to a short page about the Jimmy Wales, now-defunct Ulster Liberal Party • List of Liberal Party (UK) MPs • Liberal Democrats – This is about and biographies of its two MPs, – This lists all Liberal MPs from the present-day party, its structure has com- Albert McElroy and Sheelagh 1924–88 and their constituencies and policies and history from the Murnaghan. and takes you to constituency 1988 merger to date. mented that profiles and biographies of the • Liberal-Labour (UK) – The Lib- MPs where these exist. There are • Liberal Party (UK) – This article Wikipedia eral-Labour movement refers similar pages for the following rel- discusses the ideology, origins to the practice of local Liberal evant political parties: and history of the Liberal Party may not be associations in the late nine- from the Whigs until 1988 when teenth century accepting and • List of Social Democratic Party it merged with the Social Demo- suitable for supporting candidates who were (UK) MPs cratic Party. financially maintained by trade academic unions. These candidates stood • List of National Liberal Party (UK) • Social Democratic Party (UK) – for Parliament with the aim of MPs Information about the origins and uses. representing the working classes, history of the SDP from 1981–88. while remaining supportive of • List of Liberal Democrat MPs the Liberal Party in general. • National Liberal Party (UK) – The page has a link to the article • Members of the House of Lords – There were two distinct groups Category:Liberal-Labour politicians This gives profiles of most of the bearing the name National Lib- (UK), which gives biographies of current peers and lists their party eral. The first comprised the Lib-Lab MPs. affiliation and type of peerage. supporters of the Lloyd George coalition in 1922–23. The second • Lib-Lab Pact – This page not • List of Life Peerages – This page included those Liberals support- only describes the Parliamentary lists everyone who has been cre- ing the National Government arrangement of 1977–78 between ated a Life Peer from the intro- from 1931 onwards. From Octo- Liberal leader David Steel and duction of the Life Peerages Act ber 1931 they styled themselves Prime Minister Jim Callaghan, of 1958 until the present day. as Liberal Nationals and were but also looks at earlier attempts Unfortunately it does not show entirely separate from the offi- at cooperation between the Lib- their political party, so you have cial Liberals, who returned to eral and Labour parties and some to know who you are looking for, the opposition benches in 1933. more recent ones in the devolved but most entries have biographical These MPs and their supporters administrations since 1999. profiles. From this page you can in the constituencies gradually link to lists of all the hereditary moved closer to the Conserva- peerages and baronies but again, tives. After 1948, the party was People no political party affiliations are renamed the National Liberal Who interests you? You can start indicated. Party and was so closely aligned by going to the pages of any of the with the Conservatives that the great Liberals who have made his- • List of British Members of Parlia- two eventually merged in 1968. tory: Gladstone, Lloyd George, ment who crossed the floor (from 1945 Jo Grimond, Roy Jenkins, or you to 2008) – This is an interesting and • British Whig Party – A page about might prefer to start with key useful page for information on the Whigs, one of the groups thinkers like Adam Smith, John SDP members. from which the Liberal Party was Stuart Mill or William Beveridge. formed, from their origins around However, if you prefer a more sys- • Category:Liberal MPs (UK) – the Glorious Revolution of 1688 tematic approach, the best place to Here you will find listed alpha- to the formation of the Liberal begin is: betically all Liberal MPs elected at Party in 1859. any time where their biographies • List of United Kingdom Liberal feature in Wikipedia. • Peelites – Information about the Party leaders – this page lists lead- breakaway faction of the Con- ers of the party, leaders in the servatives from 1846 who became Commons and the Lords from Philosophies, thought and part of the Liberal Party in 1859. 1859–1988. A page entitled List of thinkers United Kingdom Liberal Democrat • Liberal Unionist Party – This was leaders, which takes the story from • Liberalism – This page offers a the party, led by Lord Hartington the merger of 1988 to the present good starting point for learning

18 Journal of Liberal History 65 Winter 2009–10 using wikipedia to learn about liberal history about the ideology of liberal- Parliamentary reform and many other obscure yet interest- ism. It is part of a series of pages legislation ing topics. about liberalism in its varied and Parliamentary reform is a key distinct forms. It has sections on area of Liberal thought and policy • MPs elected in the United Kingdom the development of liberalism, from the eighteenth century to general election, 1874 – This series the history of liberal thought and the present day; aspects of con- of pages contains information to contributions to liberal theory. stitutional, parliamentary and complement the lists of Liberal It provides information on the franchise reform can be followed MPs available in other articles. It various schools of liberalism – for through the Representation of the For the gen- lists every constituency contested, example, social liberalism, classi- People Act pages, which begin the MP elected and his/her party cal liberalism, American liberal- with the background to the Great eral reader and provides links to constitu- ism, libertarianism etc. – as well as Reform Bill of 1832 and trace the ency and MP profiles, where they links to pages concerning thinkers history, politics and some of the or amateur exist. The first page in the series is and ideas (e.g. laissez-faire, free- personalities involved as far as the historian, it on the 1874 general election. You dom, rights etc.) last Representation of the People can then, starting from this arti- Act in 2000. seems safest cle, follow the elections through • Radicalism – This article deals For legislation, go to List of Acts to 2005 and after – the series cur- with the Radical movement in of Parliament in the United King- to agree with rently ends with the next general Britain in the nineteenth century, dom. Here, you can research the election, to be held before June its relationship with overseas vari- Acts of Parliament passed under those aca- 2010. ants and how it overlaps with ele- any Liberal government by scroll- ments of liberalism. ing through the years during demics and which the Liberals were in power. Parliamentary constituencies • Progressivism – An analysis of Regrettably, there are very few teachers who some different understandings of links to pages with detailed infor- • List of United Kingdom Parliament progressive politics and how they mation on those Acts. advise that constituencies – These pages list connect to liberalism. current seats in Parliament with while Wiki- descriptions of the geographical • List of liberal theorists – This is an Parliamentary elections area that each covers, as well as the incomplete list of individual con- pedia cannot MPs (specifying political party) tributors to liberal political theory • United Kingdom general elections who have represented the seat on a worldwide scale, which also – Here you will find details of be accepted since it was created. Some (too includes links to biographies of all general elections since 1802, few, unfortunately) have recent many liberal thinkers and philoso- with dates, Prime Ministers, par- or cited as an election results in full and a hand- phers from Locke and Mill to fig- ties and majorities in the House of authorita- ful give full results going back to ures such as Keynes or Kymlicka. Commons. This page has internal the early twentieth century. links to detailed articles on each tive source, • Liberal reforms – This is a review general election from 1802 to • List of former United Kingdom Par- of the social reforms of the Liberal 2005 with information on seats, it remains liamentary constituencies – Details of government from 1906–14, which gains, losses, overall votes, etc. now defunct Parliamentary seats are considered as having laid the a useful going back as far as the thirteenth foundations for what became the • For UK by-elections, there is a century, again with descriptions welfare state. series of pages listing all parlia- starting of the geographical area covered mentary by-elections since 1885 and lists of MPs and their parties. • Oxford Manifesto – This is worth with dates and names of winners. point from visiting because the Oxford Many of these include details on • List of multi-member constituencies Manifesto, written in 1947, is the results and candidates. Start at the which to gain in the United Kingdom and predeces- document which inspired the page entitled List of United King- sor Parliaments – Multi-member creation of Liberal International, dom by-elections (1885–1900) and contextual constituencies, with more than the worldwide group that brings follow the series through to the one MP elected by first-past-the together Liberal parties from all present day. There is also a series information post, were common in Britain nations and promotes liberalism of Category pages, which contain until they were abolished in 1918. as an international philosophy. links to articles on selected by- about your This often meant that a constitu- The page includes a link to the elections in specific areas, such as ency was represented by MPs of article about Liberal Interna- Welsh constituencies, or jurisdic- subject mat- different parties, creating a crude tional, which in turn provides tions such as the Scottish Parlia- ter and can form of proportionality, thus ena- links to member parties from ment. Go to the ‘categories’ index bling the Liberal Party to make around the world, the umbrella page and type in by-elections in the point the arrangements with Labour in cer- groups for European liberal par- display box to show the list. tain industrial seats to ensure one ties, the Alliance of Liberals way to more member from each party would and Democrats for Europe and • United Kingdom by-election records be elected. These pages list the the European Liberal Demo- – this page contains informa- reliable and seats as far back as 1295 and some, crat and Reform Party, as well tion about notable records at but unfortunately not all, give full as other international Liberal by-elections, such as the biggest fuller source election results with names of all organisations, think-tanks and swings, lowest or highest shares of candidates, parties and numbers of foundations. the vote, smallest majorities and material. votes.

Journal of Liberal History 65 Winter 2009–10 19 using wikipedia to learn about liberal history

Local elections history of the London County biography opens up dozens of The information available on Council (LCC) from its founda- other potential links to internal local elections, election results tion in 1889 until its replacement Wikipedia or external internet and Liberal councillors is not yet in 1965 by the Greater London sites. But if the article or biog- well developed on Wikipedia. Council (GLC). It lists the lead- raphy or other information you However, a good starting point is ers of the LCC, the first four of want is not in any of the pages United Kingdom local elections, 1998. whom were Progressives (the recommended in this article or the This page is the first in a series, name by which Liberal support- links from them to other sites, just which can be followed through ers were known) on the council enter what you are looking for in to 2007, which shows the over- in the late nineteenth and early the Wikipedia search box and see all outcome for the parties in all twentieth century. The pages what comes up. If it cannot find local authority elections that took entitled Greater London Coun- an exact match it will give near place each year (including may- cil and Greater London Authority misses or suggestions for similar oral contests where appropriate). also contain information in elec- pages. And, if whilst browsing Unfortunately, it does not provide tions or provide links to related through Wikipedia you find a details on individual ward results pages. Alternatively you can go gap in the Liberal history knowl- with information on candidates to Category:Elections in London for edge base about which you are an and votes. information about GLC, GLA and expert, why not log on and create Mayoral elections in the capital some pages yourself? • London County Council – One from 1964 onwards. of the more useful pages about Graham Lippiatt is Secretary of the historical local authorities and You will tend to find that sim- Liberal Democrat History Group elections, this article recites the ply accessing a single article or

The papers of Herbert Samuel at the Parliamentary Archives

erbert Louis Samuel Liberal Party Organisation which Lord Samuel retained) and (1870–1963), 1st Viscount 1927–29; Chairman of the Liberal Cabinet Papers which, with a few HSamuel, was born on 6 Parliamentary Party 1931–35; and exceptions, he returned to the November 1870 in Liverpool. He Liberal Leader in the House of Cabinet Office. was educated at University Col- Lords 1944–55. On 8 June 1937, The largest series is SAM/A – lege School, London, 1884–88, and he was created Viscount Samuel Herbert Samuel’s papers relating Balliol College, Oxford, 1889–93. of Mount Carmel and of Toxteth to political matters, 1880–1962 He married Beatrice Miriam in the City of Liverpool. He died (163 files). SAM/A consists of Franklin on 17 November 1897. on 5 February 1963. subject files and general politi- He was Liberal MP for the Cleve- In 1963 the second Viscount cal files including a great deal of land Division of Yorkshire 1902– Samuel, on behalf of his father’s material relating to the internal 18, and for the Darwen Division of executors, deposited in the Par- affairs of the Liberal Party, and Lancashire 1929–35. liamentary Archives the papers correspondence with such promi- Positions Samuel held include: which now form series SAM/A– nent Liberals as Asquith, Herbert Parliamentary Under-Secretary F. The Samuel papers cover his Gladstone, Lloyd George, Runci- of State for the Home Depart- life and career from his childhood man, Reading, Crewe, Lothian, ment 1905–09; Chancellor of until the year of his death. Lord Lady Oxford, Archibald Sinclair the Duchy of Lancaster 1909–10; Samuel took care, so far as pos- and (overseas) W. L. Mackenzie Postmaster-General 1910–14; sible, to preserve intact both the King. There is also correspon- President of the Local Govern- personal and political letters, and dence with Fabians and Labour ment Board 1914–15; again also the papers which he received. leaders such as the Webbs, George Postmaster-General and Chan- In addition he kept drafts and Bernard Shaw, Graham Wallas, cellor of the Duchy of Lancaster copies of his own letters and made Ramsay Macdonald, Snowden 1915–16; Home Secretary 1916, a practice of writing notes con- and Charles Trevelyan. Particu- and again 1931–32; High Com- cerning any important events in larly notable are the files relating missioner for Palestine 1920–25 which he had participated at the to the Marconi Contract (SAM/ and also Commander-in-Chief time when they occurred. The A/38–9), Irish Affairs 1911–16 there 1922–25. For the Liberal principal gaps in the collection (SAM/A/41), the formation Party he was Chairman of the are Departmental Papers (few of of the Coalition Government,

20 Journal of Liberal History 65 Winter 2009–10 the papers of herbert samuel at the parliamentary archives

1915 (SAM/A/48), the Royal The other series are as Since 1963, additional onlineat: http://www.port- Commission on the Coal follows: material has been received cullis.parliament.uk. Enter Industry and the General SAM/B – Personal papers, and catalogued in further SAM in the RefNo field to Strike (SAM/A/66), the Lloyd including material relating to series as SAM/G–SAM/L. restrict a search to the Samuel George Fund (SAM/A/71), Samuel’s childhood, family, This includes leaflets and Papers. the formation of the National acquaintances, social activi- pamphlets, additional per- The Samuel Papers are Government (SAM/A/78), ties and awards,1871–1962 (22 sonal and political correspon- open for consultation Monday the National Government files). dence, and further literary, – Friday, 9.30–5.00, at the Par- and the general election, 1931 SAM/C – Photographs and philosophical and scientific liamentary Archives, Houses (SAM/A/81–2), the ‘Agree- sketches, 1870–1961 (96 files). papers. There are also photo- of Parliament, London SW1A ment to Differ’ on tariffs SAM/D – Press cut- copies of material concern- 0PW. Please phone 020 7219 (SAM/A/96), the Abdica- tings,1888–1961 (5 boxes). ing Israel and Jewish matters 3074 or email archives@ tion Crisis (SAM/A/101), the SAM/E – Literary, philo- (SAM/H); the original papers parliament.uk to make an Munich Crisis (SAM/A/110) sophical and scientific papers, are deposited in the Israeli appointment and order up the and the proposal for the 1885–1962 (83 files). State Archives. material you require. Practical Joint Select Committee on SAM/F – Grants of office and The Samuel Papers are information on visiting can be Colonial Affairs, 1942–45 ceremonial records, 1906–59 all fully catalogued to file found at http://www.parlia- (SAM/A/121). (54 files). level, and can be searched for ment.uk/archives. Liberal history quiz 2009 This year’s Liberal history quiz attracted a fair amount of attention at the History Group’s exhibition stand at the Liberal Democrat conference in Bournemouth in September. The winner was Michael Mullaney, with a highly impressive 20 marks out of 20. Below we reprint the questions – the answers are on page 41.

1. Sir Archibald Sinclair was leader of the Liberal Party from which has been recreated to appear as it was in the 1935–45. Which constituency did he represent throughout nineteenth century? his Parliamentary career? 12. A monument to which Liberal Prime Minister stands outside 2. In the general election of 1922, what description did those the west front of St Clement Danes Church in The Strand in Liberals who supported outgoing Prime Minister David London? Lloyd George take to distinguish themselves from the official 13. Who was the ‘spectacled, sallow, sombre’ Birmingham Liberals of H. H. Asquith? draper who was the first secretary of the newly formed 3. Which Liberal Prime Minister was a former pupil of the High National Liberal Federation after 1877? School of Glasgow? 14. To the statue of which Liberal did the suffragist Millicent 4. Name all five candidates who contested the 1999 election to Garret Fawcett lead a delegation of women, and lay a wreath succeed Paddy Ashdown as leader of the Liberal Democrats. in memory, after women had achieved the same voting rights as men, in 1928? 5. In 1951, Clement Davies was offered a cabinet post by Winston Churchill. He turned it down, probably saving the 15. Who was the Liberal candidate at the Brierley Hill by- Liberal Party from extinction. What post was he offered? election of 27 April 1967? 6. Who did Nick Clegg succeed as MP for Sheffield Hallam in 16. Which great Radical politician and campaigner was Liberal 2005? MP for Birmingham 1857–85? 7. What diplomatic post was held by Sir Herbert Samuel in 17. How many women served as Liberal MPs between 1918 and 1920–25? 1988? 8. Before becoming MP for Orkney & Shetland in 1950, Jo 18. Who was the only Liberal to be elected to the Northern Grimond worked as the secretary of which conservation Ireland House of Commons in the whole of its history from charity for the protection and promotion of Scotland’s 1921 to 1973? natural and cultural heritage? 19 Which Gladstonian Liberal, MP for Newcastle was appointed 9. Which former Liberal MP was described by Mr Justice Chief Secretary for Ireland in February 1886, only to lose the Cantley as ‘a crook, an accomplished liar … a fraud’ at the job when the Liberal government fell over the question of Jeremy Thorpe conspiracy to murder trial in 1979? Irish Home Rule five months later, in July 1886? 10 H. H. Asquith (1st Earl of Oxford and Asquith) died in 1928. 20. What was described by the National Liberal Party magazine Where is he buried? in 1942 as ‘absolutely contrary and opposed to Liberalism and which, if adopted, would be Hitler’s last triumph, for 11. What is the name of David Lloyd George’s boyhood home, Britain would then become a completely totalitarian state’? now part of the Lloyd George Museum in Llanystumdwy,

Journal of Liberal History 65 Winter 2009–10 21 a Liberal without a Home The Later Career of Leslie Hore-Belisha

In the simplistic and sometimes pernicious categorisations which have so often been applied to the political personalities of the 1930s – appeasers and anti-appeasers, a majority of dupes and a minority of the far-sighted, the decade’s Guilty Men and its isolated voices in the wilderness – Leslie Hore-Belisha has strong claims to be listed among the virtuous. David Dutton tells the story of Hore-Belisha – a Liberal without a home.

22 Journal of Liberal History 65 Winter 2009–10 a Liberal without a Home The Later Career of Leslie Hore-Belisha

rue, he was a member Belisha ticked most of the right his name. Promoted to be Secre- of the National Gov- boxes. tary of State for War when Nev- ernment for most of its The events of January 1940 ille Chamberlain became Prime existence and a Cabinet represented the abrupt termina- Minister in May 1937, Belisha set minister from Octo- tion of an apparently inexora- about reforming the entrenched berT 1936 until January 1940. But ble political ascent. Isaac Leslie upper echelons of the army and he was also a vigorous Minister Hore-Belisha was born in 1893, He was also War Office. During nearly three of War, who implemented a suc- the son of Jacob Isaac Belisha, a a vigorous years in this key post, he enhanced cession of much-needed reforms; businessman of Sephardic Jew- his standing with the public but he became disillusioned before ish origins. His father died when Minister inevitably trod on many signifi- most of his colleagues with what Leslie was only nine months old cant and sensitive toes. Chamberlain did at Munich; he and he only assumed his hyphen- of War, Nevertheless, at the time of pushed – albeit belatedly – for ated name when his widowed his removal from the government a ‘continental commitment’ mother married Sir Adair Hore who imple- in January 1940 no less a figure against the prevailing assump- in 1912. Educated at Clifton, the than Churchill, giving Belisha tions of ‘limited liability’; he Sorbonne and St John’s, Oxford, mented a credit for the introduction of took part in the Cabinet revolt of Hore-Belisha served in the First peacetime conscription, wrote 2 September 1939 which forced World War before returning to succession to express his regret at the course Chamberlain to issue an ultima- complete his degree. The first of events. ‘I hope that it will not tum to Germany without further post-war President of the Oxford of much- be long’, concluded the future delay; he enjoyed the distinc- Union, he moved naturally into a Prime Minister, ‘before we are tion of being sacked from the career in politics and was elected needed colleagues again, and that the government in January 1940, to parliament in 1923. Less than a temporary setback will prove no ‘the last positive achievement decade later his ministerial career reforms; serious obstacle to your oppor- of the appeasers’ in the words of began. He was appointed Parlia- tunities of serving the country.’3 one influential account of these mentary Secretary at the Board of he became Most of the press, which worked times;1 he lined up with those Trade in November 1931, Finan- the War Minister’s resignation brave dissidents who defied their cial Secretary to the Treasury in disillusioned ‘into a big story’, was of a simi- whip and voted against Cham- September 1932 and Minister of lar mind, confident that Belisha berlain at the end of the cel- Transport in June 1934, with a seat before most would soon be restored to office.4 ebrated Norwegian debate on 8 in the Cabinet from October 1936. of his col- As the diarist Harold Nicol- May 1940, the necessary prelimi- Here, Belisha transformed what son recorded: ‘It seems that the nary to Churchill’s elevation to was normally a ministerial back- leagues with country regard him as a second the premiership; and his name is water into a high-profile public Haldane and a moderniser of absent from the cast-list of Cato’s office. He introduced driving what Cham- the Army. The line is that he has Guilty Men, the extraordinarily tests, revised the Highway Code, been ousted by an intrigue of the influential polemic which fixed reduced road traffic accidents berlain did Army Chiefs, and there is a gen- popular perceptions of the 1930s and installed the ‘beacon’ pedes- eral uproar about being ruled by for decades to come.2 In short, trian crossings which still bear at Munich. dictators in brass hats.’5

Journal of Liberal History 65 Winter 2009–10 23 a liberal without a home: the later career of leslie hore-belisha

Yet there was no place for ‘the biggest political sensation and editors of the London press, Belisha when Churchill formed since hostilities began’. The gov- many of whom were only too his own administration just four ernment had ‘dealt itself a stag- ready to vent the frustration to months later, and he remained on gering blow. It had relapsed with which the inactivity of the Pho- the backbenches for the duration a thud lower into the morass of ney War had naturally given rise. of hostilities, until recalled briefly its own mediocrity.’10 Writing in The issue dominated the head- to the post of Minister of National the Sunday Pictorial, Hugh Cud- lines for several days and report- Insurance in the short-lived care- lipp argued that Chamberlain had ers besieged Belisha’s Wimbledon taker government between May meekly surrendered to an intrigue home during the weekend follow- and July 1945. Losing his parlia- ‘of brass-hats and aristocrats’. But ing his resignation. His opportu- mentary seat of Plymouth Dev- the British public would not stand nity would arise in the Commons onport in the Labour landslide for it. ‘You haven’t’, predicted resignation speech traditionally later that year, Belisha’s ministe- Cudlipp, ‘heard the last of Hore- accorded to departing ministers. rial career was now over. He stood Belisha or of his miserable mean Not for the last time, however, unsuccessfully for parliament in dismissal.’11 According to the Tory Belisha discovered that opposi- Coventry South in the general MP, Victor Cazalet, Chamberlain tion during wartime is a hazard- election of February 1950, before had succeeded in making him a ous undertaking. Criticism that accepting a peerage in the New ‘national hero’.12 Briefly, Beli- was too pointed and vocal inevi- Year’s Honours List of 1954. Aged sha himself seemed to sense his tably ran the risk of being seen just sixty-three, he died suddenly opportunity to seize the highest as disloyal and unpatriotic. Fur- in February 1957 while deliver- office of government. He was, he thermore, he certainly desired ing a speech in Rheims as head confided to Cudlipp, ‘in a won- to return to government at the of a parliamentary delegation on derful position heading straight earliest opportunity and would Anglo-French commercial rela- for the Premiership’.13 no doubt have recognised that tions. As Keith Robbins has writ- Chamberlain himself was suf- the dominant Conservative Party ten, the fates had contrived to ficiently concerned, and aware of remained firmly under Chamber- ensure that Belisha would ‘shine the ability of his media-conscious lain’s control. Recalling recent brightly’, but also ‘shine briefly’.6 ex-minister to stir up trouble in departures from the National Many of Belisha’s private the press, that he took the trouble Government, Lieutenant-Gen- papers, bequeathed to his devoted to record his own thirteen-page eral Henry Pownall, Director of secretary Hilde Sloan, appear to account of the events surround- Military Operations at the War have been destroyed. Much of ing Belisha’s resignation.14 This Office, noted that Anthony Eden what survived, dealing largely was to counter a version of those and Samuel Hoare had got back with his years in office, was pub- events presented by the former into office by ‘“going gracefully” lished nearly half a century ago.7 A War Minister to Lord Camrose of when they had to go. H-B may serviceable, if uninspiring, biog- the Daily Telegraph. This, Cham- think it best to follow their exam- raphy appeared in 2006.8 There berlain noted, contained ‘only a ple.’18 None the less, strengthened have also been useful studies of few statements which are directly by the support of the popular press his period as Secretary of State for at variance with the truth, but (though Harold Nicolson sensed War (1937–40), while his removal by suppression, by alteration of less of a ‘pro-Belisha than an anti- from office in May 1940 has been the setting and by direction of Chamberlain outburst’),19 Beli- thoroughly explored.9 But no emphasis, the whole picture is sha still seemed keen to make the detailed examination exists of completely distorted and gives an most of his chance when discuss- Belisha’s later career and therefore entirely false impression’.15 In the ing the details of his resignation of the failure of a man who, in the meantime there appeared in suc- By any objec- speech with Hugh Cudlipp as late early months of the Second World cessive issues of the journal Truth, as 13 January.20 War, was widely regarded, after certainly with Chamberlain’s tive criteria In the event, however, he drew Churchill, as the most dynamic knowledge and possibly also his back from a frontal attack on member of the War Cabinet, to connivance, a vitriolic attack on Belisha had a Chamberlain and his government. return to high office. The present Belisha’s integrity. These blatantly As he later reflected, ‘one must article seeks to fill this gap in the anti-Semitic articles, widely dis- bad war. His not do that sort of thing in time existing historiography. tributed within the Westminster of war’.21 By the Monday before village, accused the former min- greatest mis- his Commons speech, Belisha ~ ister of financial irregularities in was ‘less sure about the wisdom relation to a number of companies take was to of fighting’ and, when the crunch By any objective criteria Belisha ‘with which he was connected came, in front of a packed House had a bad war. His greatest mis- before he became Financial Secre- fail to attach which was ‘in a combative mood’, take was to fail to attach himself tary, all of which speedily came to he ‘climbed meekly down’.22 to the winning horse, Winston grief with the loss of shareholders’ himself to Pownall, one of his severest War Churchill. Yet, for a brief period money’.16 They amounted, in the Office critics, felt that he had after his resignation in January words of a post-war enquiry, to the win- made a speech ‘full of innuendoes 1940, it appeared possible that the ‘a deliberate attempt to kill Beli- ning horse, to those few who could discern former War Minister could engi- sha once and for all as a political them’, but the general feeling was neer a major crisis and even bring force’.17 Winston one of disappointment that an down Chamberlain’s government. Belisha was quick to do the opportunity had been missed.23 It It was, suggested the Daily Mirror, rounds of the leading proprietors Churchill. was ‘an innocuous speech about

24 Journal of Liberal History 65 Winter 2009–10 a liberal without a home: the later career of leslie hore-belisha nothing’.24 Belisha’s supporters, According resulting ministerial reshuffle. was Churchill who was invited ‘while admiring the dignified Cecil King recorded a change in to form a new government, it was manner of his speech … regret- to Beaver- Churchill’s attitude towards the hardly surprising that there was ted that he was impelled, no doubt fallen minister: no place for Belisha within it. by the circumstances of the time, brook, Beli- Churchill’s appointment as to mystify his friends and add fuel When I saw [Churchill] in Prime Minister occupies a seminal to the fire of his enemies’.25 Cecil sha was in a May or June [1939], he spoke position in Britain’s history. In the King, the proprietor of the Daily of Belisha without affection, threatening summer and autumn Mirror, took up Pownall’s com- dilemma. ‘He but said he was one of the best of 1940 the new premier came parison with Duff Cooper and men Chamberlain had. But on to epitomise the national will to Anthony Eden. Like them, Beli- cannot make this occasion his whole atti- survive and, ultimately, to prevail sha would not fight, but expected up his mind tude was quite different … over the Nazi menace. As a result, to be recalled to the Cabinet for He thought the work of the it is easily forgotten that his posi- being good and causing no trou- whether to War Office would go forward tion at the head of the administra- ble.26 Relieved that the threat to more smoothly and expedi- tion was never fully secure until his own position had been lifted, smash his tiously under Stanley [Belisha’s he was able to take some credit Chamberlain concluded that successor].29 for a change in Britain’s military the whole affair had been a flop, way into the fortunes. Granted the nation’s much to the disappointment of Belisha himself had come to share precarious survival through 1940 those MPs who had flocked to the Government the view of his former military and the further setbacks which House in the hope of witnessing a adviser, Basil Liddell-Hart, that resulted from the entry of Japan sensation.27 by attacking Churchill had never forgiven him into the war at the end of 1941 The question now was what for his role in the so-called Sandys and the subsequent rapid collapse line Belisha would take on the it or whether affair in the summer of 1938.30 of Britain’s Far-Eastern position, backbenches. Though the Cham- At all events, as the crisis of Churchill had to wait for Mont- berlain premiership had only four to wheedle May 1940 gathered momentum, gomery’s victory at El Alamein months to run, there were in real- Belisha seemed ready to attach in the autumn of 1942 before he ity few signs in the winter of 1940 his way in by himself to the cause of the vet- could feel total confidence in his that the Prime Minister’s days eran Conservative backbencher domestic political position. Dur- were numbered. A poll taken in praising it.’ Leo Amery, rather than to that ing the first two years of his pre- the third week of January showed of Winston Churchill. Amery’s miership, therefore, there were that 56 per cent of respondents Commons speech on 7 May repeated, if sometimes subter- still approved of his leadership. in which he roundly criticised ranean, grumblings about his As late as April the figure had not Chamberlain, quoting the famous performance as war leader and fallen. Only 30 per cent of those words of Oliver Cromwell – speculation about his possible questioned in December 1939 ‘In the name of God, go!’ – had replacement as Prime Minister. In had said that they would prefer badly, perhaps fatally, damaged this embryonic opposition group- to see Churchill in 10 Downing the Prime Minister, but he was ing Belisha, through speeches in Street. None the less, Belisha, scarcely in line for the succession parliament and a weekly column still in receipt of the government himself. None the less, on 9 May in the News of the World, came to whip, soon emerged as one of the Belisha approached Amery and occupy a significant position. administration’s leading critics. said that he and Max Beaverbrook For most of 1940, however, Writing in the News of the World in were agreed that what was now his attitude towards the new mid-February, he asked whether needed was a clean sweep of the administration was broadly sup- the allies should aid the Finns in Conservative old guard and that portive. Understandably, he was their forlorn struggle against the Amery should be Prime Minister rather bitter to be ‘doing nothing’ Soviet Union and, a month later, ‘as the man who had turned out when ‘one feels that one really criticised the government in the the Government and also as best could help’. Moreover, the Cabi- House of Commons for its inac- qualified all round’.31 But Amery net was, he claimed, a ‘one man tion and called for military inter- was too shrewd not to see through affair’, no doubt a reflection of vention in Scandinavia. By this Belisha’s motives. ‘The trouble his own desire to be part of it.34 stage he was clearly counting on a is that he no doubt started it in But he generally held back from change of regime, without which the hope that it might bring him criticising the Prime Minister his criticisms would inevitably back again as a reward for help- himself, disappointing Lord Win- thwart his own ambitions for a ing. And’, Amery concluded, ‘I terton by his failure to oppose the political renaissance. ‘No oppo- don’t think he is wanted back, at holding of secret sessions of the nent of the Government’, he told any rate yet.’32 By the following House of Commons.35 According W. P. Crozier, editor of the Man- day Belisha was even speculat- to Beaverbrook, Belisha was in a chester Guardian, ‘will get anything ing that his prospects would be dilemma. ‘He cannot make up his in the way of reward from the better if Lloyd George emerged mind whether to smash his way Whips.’28 as the new Prime Minister, but into the Government by attack- Even so, by the time that he was ‘not so confident of his ing it or whether to wheedle his Churchill succeeded Chamber- chances if Churchill has the job’.33 way in by praising it.’36 Belisha lain in May, Belisha had good A Lloyd George premiership was, probably still hoped that Church- reason to doubt whether he would however, even less likely than an ill would recall him when a suit- be among the favoured in the Amery one. When, therefore, it able opportunity arose. The final

Journal of Liberal History 65 Winter 2009–10 25 a liberal without a home: the later career of leslie hore-belisha resignation of Neville Cham- Much of down and used in evidence for the with power’, the Prime Minister berlain in the autumn of 1940 unmasking of both rascals.’41 was becoming a dictator and lead- might, he speculated, be such an Belisha’s Churchill’s attitude towards his ing the country to disaster.48 occasion. But when cancer forced critics was somewhat equivocal. Grotesquely inaccurate though Chamberlain’s withdrawal, Beli- criticism was On the one hand he viewed such Belisha’s assessment may now sha was not among the beneficiar- figures with private contempt. appear, the entry of Japan into the ies of the resulting reshuffle. His directed at ‘An Opposition is being formed war in December and the subse- speech in parliament in early Sep- out of the left-outs’, he told his son quent series of military disasters tember in support of the destroy- Churchill Randolph. ‘LG, Hore-Belisha, in the Far East gave some con- ers-for-bases deal therefore turned Shinwell, Winterton, and some temporary credence to his predic- out to be one of his last unequivo- himself. He small fry, mostly National Liber- tions. At the same time, however, cally pro-Churchill declarations. regarded als. They do their best to abuse us with the Soviet Union and the By mid-October he was com- whenever the news gives them an United States now allies, the tide plaining bitterly, albeit in private, ‘the PM as a opportunity, but there is not the of Britain’s war effort was bound about the government’s inability slightest sign that the House as to turn. A military combina- to win the war and of Churchill’s danger. He a whole, nor still less the coun- tion now existed against which foolishness in accepting the lead- try will swerve from their pur- Hitler could not hope to prevail. ership of the Conservative Party says he has pose.’42 When, in May, in a debate Meanwhile, Churchill skilfully in succession to Chamberlain. ‘I on assistance to Greece, Belisha removed one potential threat by have a feeling’, noted the journal- no judge- called for the creation of a single taking Sir Stafford Cripps, widely ist and former diplomat Robert Ministry of Defence and said that seen as the only realistic alterna- Bruce Lockhart, ‘all he wants is ment and the British army was in need of tive premier, into his government. a job in government’.37 By early ‘more mobility and more armour’, Still Belisha argued that ‘if things November the Tory MP, Beverley visualises the Prime Minister retorted by are not changed, we are going the Baxter, was reporting a dinner at reminding Belisha that some of right way as far as we can to lose the Savoy hosted by Belisha whose a position the responsibility for present defi- the war’.49 The fall of Tobruk in purpose was ‘to inflame opposi- ciencies must logically rest with June 1942 led to a censure debate tion against the Prime Minister’, when some his own tenure of the War Office during which Belisha made a while a week later another Con- between 1937 and 1940.43 But, at ‘brilliant, eloquent and damn- servative MP sensed that Belisha calamity will the same time, at least while any ing attack on the Government’.50 and other displaced malcontents question marks remained over his But John Wardlaw-Milne, who were now ‘gathering courage and arise as the own position, Churchill appears moved the censure motion, sniping at their successors’.38 result of his to have considered the possibil- destroyed its effect by suggest- The year 1941 offered plenty ity of silencing Belisha’s criti- ing that the Duke of Gloucester of opportunities to criticise the change of cisms by bringing him into the should be made Commander- government and to suggest that government. ‘Winston is inclined in-Chief of the armed forces, the British war effort lacked suf- stategy.’ to defeat opposition by means of a proposition that reduced the ficient energy. Belisha found him- favour rather than by fear.’44 For Commons to laughter. Even so, self involved with a motley group his part, Belisha ‘gladly pulls his Belisha was among twenty-five of parliamentary dissidents which punches if he thinks there is any MPs who went into the opposi- included the future Liberal leader, chance of getting back, even to tion lobby at the end of the debate. Clement Davies, and the social- the Ministry of Pensions’.45 Belisha believed that, without ists Aneurin Bevan and Emanuel The fall of Crete in June gave a change in personnel, further Shinwell. Much of Belisha’s criti- Belisha further scope for criti- disasters lay ahead, probably the cism was directed at Churchill cism, but again Churchill tried fall of Egypt.51 In fact, of course, himself. He regarded ‘the PM as to turn the tables on his opponent Egypt did not fall. On 23 Octo- a danger. He says he has no judge- by suggesting that Belisha had ber Montgomery launched his ment and visualises a position left the War Office in ‘a lamenta- decisive offensive at El Alamein. when some calamity will arise as ble condition’. At the end of the By early November Rommel’s the result of his change of stat- parliamentary debate the Prime army was in full retreat. Within egy.’39 The British people had been Minister took his critic into the days Churchill allowed the impressed by their leader’s ora- Commons smoking room and church bells to be rung for the tory, but ‘the country would soon delivered a headmasterly rebuke. first time since the beginning wake up and realise that speeches ‘If you fight me I shall fight you of hostilities. ‘This is not the were not victories, and that we back. And remember this. You end,’ he pronounced. ‘It is not were drugged with Winston’s ora- are using a 4.5 inch howitzer, even the beginning of the end. tory’.40 There is even a suggestion and I am using a 12 inch gun.’46 But it is perhaps the end of the that Belisha, together with the Though Churchill survived these beginning.’52 The Prime Minis- Labour MP Richard Stokes, made parliamentary encounters with- ter might have added that it was a trip to Templemore in Ireland to out damage, Belisha still argued the end for Leslie Hore-Belisha. investigate the details of Brendan Right: Hore- that the government’s position Perceptive observers recognised Bracken’s birth in the hope of Belisha at was ‘visibly weakening’ and that this, even if Belisha himself did confirming the widely circulat- different points events would soon bring about not. ‘The critics of the “Higher ing rumour that Churchill was in his career; a ‘complete reconstruction’ in direction of the war”’, noted his father. ‘Anything they picked bottom, with a which he might well emerge as Hugh Dalton, ‘the Shinwells and up in Templemore would be taken ‘Belisha beacon’ Churchill’s successor.47 ‘Drunk the Belishas and the rest – will all

26 Journal of Liberal History 65 Winter 2009–10 a liberal without a home: the later career of leslie hore-belisha have sunk well out of sight and one of the many Liberals of the mind today.’53 inter-war years whose prospects With the Prime Minister’s were thwarted by the decline of position unassailable, Belisha’s the political organisation which aim now reverted to securing a represented and championed recall to the existing government. their beliefs. He was among that ‘He had not made any consider- band of Liberals who seized their able speech of any kind’ for nine opportunity in the extraordi- months, noted the editor of the nary circumstances of 1931 and Manchester Guardian in March renewed their prospects of minis- 1943. ‘He didn’t intend to make terial advancement by joining the any attacking speech for the time Liberal National group headed by being unless there was some event Sir John Simon. But even among … so that he was morally com- this band of Liberal schismatics, pelled to take up a position and Belisha’s place was never ortho- criticise the Government.’ Aston- dox, comfortable or secure. ishingly, Belisha ‘didn’t know First elected to parliament in what influences were keeping 1923 for the Devonport division him out’ of the administration.54 of Plymouth, Belisha established Ready now to distance himself a reputation as a radical, interven- from the likes of Davies, Shinwell tionist Liberal with a keen interest and Bevan, he determined to fol- in social policy. Despite the party’s low the path of ingratiation. A rapid decline in urban Britain over speech in support of the govern- the following decade, Liberalism ment in October 1944 prompted held on in Devonport, champion- the Communist Willie Gallacher ing causes such as better houses to offer ironic congratulations ‘on for working-class families and the assiduous way in which the deriving benefit in this port con- Rt Hon. Member is working his stituency from the party’s contin- passage home.’55 Speaking on the uing commitment to free trade.58 Town and Country Planning Bill Motives varied, but the major- he had, according to the young ity of those who defected in 1931 Tory MP, Peter Thorneycroft, were from the party’s right wing ‘out Conservatived the Conserva- – former adherents of Asquith in tives’ in his efforts to please the the long-running intra-party feud party.56 Churchill, of course, pro- which had poisoned Liberal poli- fessed the virtues of magnanim- tics ever since 1916.59 Belisha, on ity in victory. This, or perhaps the other hand, was regarded as a more probably the need to show follower of Lloyd George; but he that the caretaker government, lost faith in the latter’s apparent which he formed in May 1945 on readiness to sustain the minority the departure of Labour and the Labour government of 1929–31 in Liberals from the wartime coali- office. More particularly, Belisha’s tion, was not purely Conservative defection in 1931 was motivated, in composition, prompted him to at least in part, by that govern- offer Belisha the post of Minister ment’s decision to reduce the size of National Insurance. His known of the Royal Navy. He had built skills as a publicist might convince his majority up to more than the electorate of the Conserva- 4,000 votes at the general election tives’ commitment to schemes of of 1929, but it still made sense to social insurance.57 But, with only keep an eye firmly on the inter- two months in office and a gen- ests of the electorate in a constitu- eral election to fight, there was no ency where the naval dockyard time for Belisha to build upon this was a major employer.60 Even so, partial restoration to front-line Belisha was a reluctant and cau- politics. tious defector, initially refusing to follow Simon when the lat- ~ ter resigned the Liberal whip in June 1931. The two men viewed Hore-Belisha’s career also illus- one another with scarcely con- trates the importance of party in cealed distrust and their relation- modern British politics and the ship was one of ongoing tension difficulties lying in the path of within the new Liberal National any individual politician, however party. Indeed, one of the group’s talented, who fails to enlist its MPs blamed Belisha for much support. Nor was Belisha simply of the press campaign directed

Journal of Liberal History 65 Winter 2009–10 27 a liberal without a home: the later career of leslie hore-belisha against Simon, conducted ‘with a by Conservatives in the House character and like many a view to his own advancement to of Commons, it was the Liberal reformer has antagonised Cabinet’.61 Nationals who gave the govern- powerful interests. His chief In all probability Belisha felt ments of Ramsay MacDonald, weakness is the lack of a party no compelling loyalty to party nor Stanley Baldwin and Neville to back him. But the 33 Lib indeed to Liberalism itself. He saw Chamberlain some credible claim Nat MPs, if united and deter- politics as a way of getting things to their ‘National’ identity. As mined, could reinstate him done while furthering his own a result, Belisha enjoyed prefer- before long in high office … interests and ambitions. Review- ment which might not otherwise Had we a strong leader we ing his career many years later, have come his way, rising steadily could do much but Simon is a the one-time Liberal chief whip, up the ministerial ladder, before clever piece of jelly and has no Percy Harris, recorded: becoming Secretary of State for backbone.70 War in May 1937. But, particularly His handicap as a politician after his appointment to junior Over the next two years the Lib- is that he has no fixed politi- office at the Treasury, where Nev- eral National group itself threat- cal creed. He started as an ille Chamberlain was Chancellor, ened to splinter into opposing ardent Radical, then became Belisha was regarded as a Cham- factions, with a number of its MPs a leading figure in the Liberal berlain man. Thereafter his career clearly believing that the time National group, practically its prospered only so long as he con- had come to reassert its influ- founder, left them and became tinued to enjoy the latter’s favour. ence within the government and an independent and is now a As Minister of War he was able end what was thought to be the Conservative.62 to survive a succession of crises, As Minister of too quiescent attitude adopted occasioned by his controversial under Simon’s leadership. When, Shortly before his migration changes in the senior personnel at War he was following the no-confidence to the Liberal National camp, the War Office at the end of 1937, vote of January 1942, two MPs Belisha seems to have contem- the Sandys affair in June 1938, and able to sur- – Morris-Jones and Edgar Gran- plated joining the so-called New a concerted attempt by a group of ville, the Member for Eye in Party, the ideologically confused junior ministers to remove him vive a succes- Suffolk – decided to sever their grouping which helped transport from office that December, largely remaining links with the Liberal Oswald Mosley from mainstream because of the by then Prime sion of crises National group, they found them- politics to overt fascism.63 By early Minister Chamberlain’s backing.67 selves, somewhat to their surprise, 1932, he was already discussing Once that support was removed, … largely joined by Belisha himself.71 In later with Baldwin and Neville Cham- however, as was clearly the case years, the three men went their berlain the possible fusion of the in January 1940, Belisha’s position because of separate ways. Morris-Jones soon Liberal National group with the was always going to be vulner- regretted his actions and sought Conservative Party.64 While, in able, especially granted his some- the by then and secured readmission into the his public pronouncements, he what detached position within the Prime Min- Liberal National fold. Granville insisted that the Liberal Nationals Liberal National party. rejoined the mainstream Liberal represented a viable and impor- The former War Minister con- ister Cham- Party in April 1945 and narrowly tant new force in British politics, fided that it was now his inten- retained his parliamentary seat in in private he expressed doubts tion to devise a policy to appeal berlain’s both the 1945 and 1950 general as to whether the party had any to all Liberals. ‘He believed that elections. Defeated in 1951, he future.65 He even seems to have the prevailing sentiment of the backing. quickly joined the Labour Party approached the chairman of the country was liberal and he could early the following year. By con- Kingston Conservative Associa- appeal to it. He hoped to advocate Once that trast, this was the end of Belisha’s tion some time after the Munich an advanced social policy.’68 But association with any branch of the Agreement with a view to his the Liberal National party contin- support was Liberal movement. adoption as Tory candidate at the ued to back the National Govern- ‘The nation had everything to next election. The chairman, ment, a fact that made Belisha’s removed, gain at this moment by patriotic ongoing criticisms of Chamber- out-spokenness’, Belisha insisted consulted the big shots of his lain’s administration increasingly however, as to his constituents.72 Nonethe- committee and found that they problematic. In this situation less, it was difficult to see how, were rigidly opposed to Beli- Simon sought and secured Beli- was clearly as an independent MP, his career sha’s candidature. The fact that sha’s removal as chairman of the could now prosper. For a while Belisha was willing to aban- Liberal National parliamentary the case there were rumours of moves to don his present party label did group in March 1940. Some Lib- in January create a new centre party, sup- not surprise or please them. eral National MPs were unhappy porting the socialist Stafford They looked upon Belisha as a at this treatment of one of the few 1940, Beli- Cripps for the premiership.73 But person willing to give up any political heavyweights in their the threat to Churchill’s position principles for much less than 30 ranks, but they had ‘no time to sha’s position had passed by the end of 1942 and pieces of silver!66 prepare or rally his defence’.69 Belisha was left to consider more According to Henry Morris- was always realistic options. Brendan Bracken None the less, it was as a Lib- Jones, MP for Denbigh, Belisha, had already advised him that he eral National that his minis- going to be would ultimately have to decide terial career had prospered. is a big man politically, a which of the two main parties to Though grossly outnumbered reformer full of zeal and vulnerable. join. ‘He thought the Tory party

28 Journal of Liberal History 65 Winter 2009–10 a liberal without a home: the later career of leslie hore-belisha would be more congenial to me as By the end Tory headquarters made strenu- is trying to be at his best and most one could be more independent in ous efforts to secure the early efficient. In him one sees very that party than in the Socialist.’74 of 1944 Cecil return, via by-elections, of several clearly those characteristics which Henry ‘Chips’ Channon, con- former ministers defeated at the inevitably, but inexplicably, make vinced that ‘Leslie’s talents are too King sensed general election, Belisha could Jews unpopular.’84 great to be thrown away as a free expect few comparable favours. A It is now generally agreed that lance in Opposition’, also urged that Belisha guest at the wedding of Church- a breakdown of personal relations the Tory option, a course which ill’s daughter Mary in February was at the heart of the process Belisha claimed, somewhat disin- was finally 1947, Belisha recorded Churchill’s that led to his removal from the genuously, never to have consid- disappointment at his failure to War Office. For some time before ered.75 But the real problem, was ‘moving into return to parliament. ‘It is a great January 1940 he was scarcely on whether the Conservatives as a the Tory nuisance’, said the old man, ‘that speaking terms with Lord Gort, whole would welcome him into the right people did not die to the Commander-in-Chief of the their midst, especially granted his fold’, but still make suitable by-election vacan- Army. ‘You couldn’t expect two recent record of parliamentary cies.’81 But Churchill’s well-oiled such utterly different people’ to opposition. Belisha knew only too had ‘no sense small talk at this family occa- get on, reflected Pownall. But well how ruthless the Conserva- sion may not have reflected his Pownall’s own sympathies were tive machine could be. It was: of direction’. true feelings. As late as October unequivocal. The contrast was 1950, by which time Belisha had between Gort, ‘a great gentle- even stronger than the Nazi made his one, unsuccessful, bid man’, and Belisha, ‘an obscure, party machine. It may have a to secure re-election to the Com- shallow-brained charlatan, politi- different aim, but it is similarly mons as a Conservative, Anthony cal Jewboy’.85 Belisha had grown callous and ruthless. It sup- Eden expressed his distaste for ‘bumptious and cocky with office, pressed anyone who did not toe this ‘nasty fellow’. ‘We don’t want and became just an impossible the line. He realised that they him back in politics. He doesn’t person with whom to work’.86 did not regard him as ‘one of know what it is to go straight.’82 There was something in the War them’.76 As a result, the limit of Belisha’s Minister’s character that alien- electoral reincarnation as a Con- ated the top brass of the army. By the end of 1944 Cecil King servative was to be returned, His informal style and personal sensed that Belisha was finally unopposed, for the Pall Mall ward self-indulgence did not appeal to ‘moving into the Tory fold’, but of the Westminster Council in battle-hardened generals, while still had ‘no sense of direction’.77 March 1947, a position he retained his impatience with red tape and He hoped that the Conservative until his death. tradition was bound to irritate and Liberal National parties in those with a vested interest in Devonport would combine and ~ the status quo. According to one that he would be able to stand at observer, he arrived at the front the forthcoming general election Eden’s words bring into focus in November 1939 ‘arrayed like a as a ‘National Conservative’ can- the final element of explanation Bond Street bum-boy, even wear- didate.78 In the event, moves to for Belisha’s political extinction ing spats’.87 amalgamate the Conservative and after January 1940 – his inability But his personal failings had Liberal National parties at con- to cultivate a significant body of been apparent throughout his stituency level were delayed until political support. Indeed, it was career. On his appointment as 1947 and it was as a ‘National’ the combination of political root- Financial Secretary to the Treas- (albeit unopposed by Conserva- lessness and personal unpopular- ury in 1932, the journalist Collin tives and Liberal Nationals alike) ity which ultimately proved fatal Brooks noted that he was ‘able that Belisha fought and lost his to Belisha’s career. The hostil- and energetic’, but also ‘greatly seat. Michael Foot, his Labour ity of most of his contemporaries disliked in the City as a push- opponent, sensing the shift in the more than outweighed the tran- ing Jew’.88 Neville Chamberlain public mood against the Con- sient support he enjoyed in pub- accepted him as a junior minister servatives, announced that he lic opinion and the press. When, ‘with reluctance’ and it was some would contest the election ‘on the in a Commons speech in 1943, he time before ‘I could get over the assumption that Mr Hore-Belisha referred casually to ‘his Honour- rather unpleasant impression I is a Tory’, a proposition which able friend’, one Labour back- had of his personality’.89 Anthony was not easy to deny, granted bencher interjected, ‘You have Eden later admitted that he was that Belisha appeared on several not got an Honourable friend in ‘never at … ease with him’, while Conservative platforms in neigh- this House’.83 For this, latent anti- his former Cabinet colleague, bouring constituencies during the Semitism, more common, par- Lord Hailsham, found him ‘a vul- election campaign.79 ticularly in Tory circles, in those gar unreliable man with a passion Only after the election was pre-Holocaust days than it is now for self-advertisment’.90 His friend over did Belisha actually join the comfortable to acknowledge, was and adviser, Liddell Hart, heard Conservatives, insisting now that at least in part responsible. This that as War Minister Belisha was the modern party was fully ‘lib- was the case even among those ‘hated in the cabinet’.91 Another eralised’ and had become a proper who admitted such prejudice ‘friend’ found him ‘amusing, scin- vehicle for the aspirations of those with reluctance. ‘He has a way of tillating and even inspiring, but who had once placed their faith in antagonising people’, noted John I did not like him and I did not the Liberal Party.80 But whereas Colville, ‘very often just when he trust him, though I felt sorry for

Journal of Liberal History 65 Winter 2009–10 29 a liberal without a home: the later career of leslie hore-belisha him’.92 Chamberlain’s assessment Belisha and to become the conductor supremely publicity-conscious at the time of Belisha’s resignation of it!97 politician at least succeeded in was both balanced and perceptive. lacked both permanently attaching his name. Hostility to him arose: Equally damaging was Belisha’s the self- almost total inability to appreci- David Dutton is the author of Lib- partly from his impatience ate the effect which his character erals in Schism: A History of the and eagerness, partly from a knowledge and manner had on others – and National Liberal Party (I.B. Tau- self-centeredness which makes his surprise and distress when ris, 2008) and is a regular contributor him careless of other people’s and the abil- he realised he was disliked.98 In to the Journal. feelings and partly from the ity to sense part this was a function of ‘his impression he creates that he is desire to believe what he wishes 1 M. Gilbert and R. Gott, The more concerned with publicity and react to to believe’.99 ‘I had the feeling’, Appeasers (London: Weidenfeld and and his own personal ambi- noted Chamberlain shortly before Nicolson, 1963), p. 348. tions than he is with the pub- the mood the crisis of January 1940, ‘that he 2 Cato, Guilty Men (London: Gol- lic interest. I believe this to be did not and could not see where lancz, 1940). fundamentally unjust. He has of others he had gone wrong.’100 It was evi- 3 W. Churchill, The Gathering Storm much more idealism and loy- dent, confirmed Liddell Hart, that (London: Cassell, 1948), p. 437. alty in him than he is credited which might he did not realise how General 4 K. Young (ed.), The Diaries of Sir with but that doesn’t alter the Ironside, the Chief of the Impe- Robert Bruce Lockhart 1939–1965 fact that his ways, his assert- have made rial General Staff, had turned (London: Macmillan, 1980), p. 46. iveness, his want of considera- against him and was siding with 5 N. Nicolson (ed.), Harold Nicolson: tion for the other man’s point him a more his enemies.101 Belisha lacked both Diaries and Letters 1939–45 (London: of view, create a bad impres- the self-knowledge and the abil- Collins, 1967), p. 56. sion and make him a ‘mauvais successful ity to sense and react to the mood 6 H. C. G. Matthew and B. Harrison coucheur’.93 of others which might have made (eds), Oxford Dictionary of National politician. him a more successful politician. Biography, vol. 4 (Oxford: OUP, Two character traits merit par- 2004), p. 893. ticular emphasis. The first was ~ 7 R. Minney, The Private Papers of his remarkably modern appre- Hore-Belisha (London: Collins, ciation of the value of public- ‘My position is good, I have my 1960). ity – the good story for the press, public, and if trouble comes and 8 I. Grimwood, A Little Chit of a Fel- the ‘photo-opportunity’, even there is a use for me, I shall be low (Sussex: Book Guild, 2006). the ‘soundbite’ – and the unfor- there. I shall be stronger, I think, 9 J. Harris, ‘Two War Ministers: tunate effect this had in his own than I was before.’102 So judged A Reassessment of Duff Cooper day in creating the conviction that Hore-Belisha six weeks after his and Hore-Belisha’, War and Society his only real interest was his self- resignation from the War Office. 6, 1 (May 1988); B. Bond, ‘Leslie advancement. ‘Not since Horatio The remark was characteristic Hore-Belisha at the War Office’ Bottomley had anyone been quite of the miscalculations and mis- in I. Beckett and J. Gooch (eds), so transparently on the make.’94 judgements which marked his Politicians and Defence: Studies in the Contemporaries noted with dis- later career. Trouble did come, Formulation of British Defence Policy taste the fact that he took his own but Churchill survived it, and, 1845–1970 (Manchester: Manchester photographer with him when having set himself up as one of University Press, 1981); A. Trythall, visiting army barracks. Similarly, the war premier’s leading critics, ‘The Downfall of Leslie Hore-Beli- he would get out of his official Belisha was never likely to recover sha’, Journal of Contemporary History car at Horse Guards and proceed his earlier prominence. Even had 16, 3 (July 1981); R. Wilkinson, to Downing Street on foot only an unforeseen military catastro- ‘Hore-Belisha: Britain’s Dreyfus?’, when confident that the press phe forced Churchill from power, History Today 47, 12 (December would capture his arrival. ‘Too Belisha was not well placed to 1997). childish for words’, concluded profit from such a situation. His 10 M. Edelman, The Mirror: A Political Gort.95 Those he befriended lack of both a solid party base and History (London: Hamish Hamil- often concluded that they were a strong personal following would ton, 1966), pp. 87, 91. being used, giving him what Lid- always have told against him. So 11 Sunday Pictorial, 7 January 1940. dell Hart called ‘his reputation Leslie Hore-Belisha joined the 12 R. R. James, Victor Cazalet: a Por- for sucking other people’s brains long list of ‘future Prime Minis- trait (London: Hamish Hamilton, and then leaving them high and ters’ who never made the grade. 1976), p. 223. dry’.96 It was the same tendency The man who aspired to be a sec- 13 W. Armstrong (ed.), With Malice sensed by Henry Morris-Jones ond Disraeli and who kept a bust Toward None: a War Diary by Cecil when he resigned from the Liberal of the Victorian statesman promi- H. King (London: Sidgwick and National Party: nently displayed in his library to Jackson, 1970), p. 17. remind him of his ambition is 14 University of Birmingham, Cham- Leslie with his clever Jewish consigned to the footnotes of his- berlain MSS, NC8/32/2, ‘Com- mind yesterday did some rapid tory. He is remembered, if at all, mentary’ by N. Chamberlain 17 calculations. Knew we were by a now ageing generation who January 1940. resigning at a good time on a learnt their highway code with 15 Ibid. good issue; decided to imme- the help of the eponymous flash- 16 Chamberlain MSS, NC 18/1/1139, diately jump on to our wagon ing orange beacons to which this Chamberlain to Ida Chamberlain

30 Journal of Liberal History 65 Winter 2009–10 a liberal without a home: the later career of leslie hore-belisha

20 January 1940. 1940. 20/41/105, J.P.L. Thomas to 80 The Times, 12 October 1946. 17 R. Cockett, ‘Ball, Chamber- 37 Young (ed.), Lockhart Diaries, p. Eden 27 October 1944. 81 Hore–Belisha MSS, HOBE lain and Truth’, Historical Journal 80. 57 Minney, Private Papers, p. 299. 1/10, diary 11 February 1947. 33, 1 (1990), p. 138. 38 A. Roberts, Eminent Churchil- 58 G. Tregidga, The Liberal Party 82 Young (ed.), Lockhart Diaries, p. 18 B. Bond (ed.), Chief of Staff: The lians (London: Orion Books, in South-West Britain since 1918 720. Diaries of Lieutenant-General Sir 1995), pp. 192, 194. (Exeter: University of Exeter 83 S. Ball (ed.), Parliament and Henry Pownall 1933–1940 (Lon- 39 Flintshire Record Office, Mor- Press, 2000), p. 33. Politics in the Age of Churchill don: Leo Cooper, 1972), p. 274. ris-Jones MSS, D/MJ/22, diary 59 For a more detailed discussion and Attlee: The Headlam Diaries 19 Nicolson (ed.), Nicolson: Diaries 24 April 1941. of the motivation of Liberal 1935–1951 (Cambridge: Cam- and Letters, p. 57. 40 R.R. James (ed.), Chips: The National defectors and their bridge U.P., 1999), p. 391. 20 Armstrong (ed.), With Malice, p. Diaries of Sir Henry Channon place on the political spec- 84 Colville, Fringes, p. 67. 17. (London: Weidenfeld and trum, see D. Dutton, Liberals in 85 Bond (ed.), Chief of Staff, p. 203. 21 F. de Guingand, Operation Nicolson, 1967), p. 304. Schism: A History of the National 86 N. J. Crowson (ed.), Fleet Street, Victory (London: Hodder and 41 A. Boyle, Poor, Dear Brendan: Liberal Party (London: I.B. Press Barons and Politics: The Stoughton, 1947), p. 42 The Quest for Brendan Bracken Tauris, 2008), pp. 41–44. Journals of Collin Brooks, 1932– 22 Armstrong (ed.), With Malice, (London: Hutchinson, 1974), p. 60 Tregidga, The Liberal Party in 1940 (Cambridge: Cambridge p. 17; J. Colville, The Fringes 18. South-West Britain, p. 62. U.P., 1998), p. 263. of Power: Downing Street Diaries 42 M. Gilbert, The Churchill War 61 Morris-Jones MSS, D/MJ/14, 87 Ibid., p. 259. 1939–1955 (London: Hodder Papers vol. 3 (New York: W.W. diary 20 and 24 November 88 Ibid., p. 39. and Stoughton, 1985), p. 71. Norton, 2001), p. 767. 1933. 89 Cha mberla i n MSS, NC 23 Bond (ed.), Chief of Staff, p. 277. 43 House of Commons Debates, 62 P. Harris, Forty Years In and Out 18/1/876, Chamberlain to H. 24 Armstrong (ed.), With Malice, p. 5th Series, vol. 371, cols 780, of Parliament (London: Andrew Chamberlain 1 July 1934. 17. 777 and 934–5; Nicolson (ed.), Melrose, n.d.), pp. 110–11. 90 Avon MSS, AP 20/1/22, diary 25 H. Morris-Jones, Doctor in the Nicolson: Diaries and Letters, 63 R. Skidelsky, Oswald Mosley 16 Dec. 1942; J. Vincent (ed.), Whips’ Room (London: Robert p. 164; Colville, Fringes, p. (London: Macmillan, 1975), p. The Crawford Papers (Manches- Hale, 1955), p. 114. 384; Earl Winterton, Orders 248. ter: Manchester University 26 Armstrong (ed.), With Malice, p. of the Day (London: Cassell, 64 Churchill Archive Centre, Press, 1984), p. 611. 17. 1953), p. 271; B. Pimlott (ed.), Hore-Belisha MSS, HOBE 91 Liddell Hart, Memoirs, ii, p. 82. 27 Cha mberla i n MSS, NC The Second World War Diary of 1/1, diary 12 February 1932. 92 Young (ed.), Lockhart Diaries, p. 18/1/1139, Chamberlain to Ida Hugh Dalton 1940–45 (London: 65 Morris-Jones MSS, D/MJ/19, 755. Chamberlain 20 January 1940. Jonathan Cape, 1986), p. 198. diary 25 May 1938; D/MJ/20, 93 Cha mberla i n MSS, NC 28 A. J. P. Taylor (ed.), W. P. Cro- 44 Colville, Fringes, pp. 376–7; see diary 1 February 1939. 18/1/1137, Chamberlain to Ida zier: Off the Record, Political also James, Cazalet, pp. 264–5; 66 R. Cockett (ed.), My Dear Max: Chamberlain 7 January 1940. Interviews 1933–1943 (London: J. Harvey (ed.), The War Dia- The Letters of Brendan Bracken 94 A. Clark, The Tories: Conserva- Hutchinson, 1973), p. 151. ries of Oliver Harvey 1941–1945 to Lord Beaverbrook 1925–1958 tives and the Nation State 1922– 29 Armstrong (ed.), With Malice, p. (London: Collins, 1978), p. 43. (London: Historians’ Press, 1997 (London: Weidenfeld and 21. 45 Armstrong (ed.), With Malice, p. 1990), p. 44. Nicolson, 1998), p. 123. 30 B. Liddell Hart, The Mem- 133. 67 Harris, ‘Two War Ministers’, p. 95 J. Colville, Man of Valour: Field oirs of Capt. Liddell Hart, vol. 46 Minney, Private Papers, pp. 69. Marshal Lord Gort V.C. (Lon- 2 (London: Cassell, 1965), p. 294–5. 68 Taylor (ed.), Off the Record, p. don: Collins, 1972), pp. 111–2. 228. When Duncan Sandys, the 47 Armstrong (ed.), With Malice, p. 133. 96 King’s College, London, Lid- young MP for Norwood, who 134. 69 Bodleian Library, Oxford, dell Hart Centre for Military happened also to be Churchill’s 48 Taylor (ed.), Off the Record, pp. Simon MSS 11 fos 70–1, diary Archives, Liddell Hart MSS, son-in-law, disclosed confi- 226–7. 20 March 1940; Morris-Jones 11/HB1938/147, note by Lid- dential information about the 49 Ibid., p. 308. MSS, D/MJ/21, diary 20 dell Hart 3 July 1938. inadequacy of the country’s 50 James (ed.), Chips, p. 334. March 1940. 97 Morris-Jones MSS, D/MJ/23, anti-aircraft defences, Belisha 51 Armstrong (ed.), With Malice, p. 70 Morris-Jones MSS, D/MJ/21, diary 13 February 1942. Edgar had over-reacted, referring the 181. diary 11 January 1940. Granville once confronted case to the Attorney-General. 52 M. Gilbert, Winston S. Church- 71 D. Dutton, ‘Opposing Church- Belisha about the latter’s short- 31 J. Barnes and D. Nicholson ill, vol. 7 (London: Heine- ill: Sir Henry Morris-Jones and comings: ‘Said all his political (eds), The Empire at Bay: The mann, 1986), p. 254. Wartime Politics’, Transactions philosophy was concentrated Leo Amery Diaries 1929–1945 53 Pimlott (ed.), Dalton War Diary, of the Denbighshire Historical on himself, that he makes use (London: Hutchinson, 1988), p. p. 514. Society, vol. 52 (2003), p. 190. of others, pumps them and 611. 54 Taylor (ed.), Off the Record, p. 72 The Times 16 February 1942. gives nothing in return’. Mor- 32 Ibid., p. 612. 343. 73 Pimlott (ed.), Dalton War Diary, ris-Jones MSS, D/MJ/22, diary 33 Armstrong (ed.), With Malice, p. 55 Colville, Fringes, pp. 522–3. pp. 369–70; Jefferys (ed.), 26 June 1941. 38. 56 K. Jefferys (ed.), Labour and Chuter Ede Diary, p. 50. 98 Colville, Man of Valour, p. 138. 34 Taylor (ed.), Off the Record, pp. the Wartime Coalition: From 74 Hore-Belisha MSS, HOBE 99 Liddell Hart, Memoirs, ii, p. 190–1. the Diary of James Chuter-Ede 1/9, diary 11 September 1941. 104. 35 A. H. Brodrick, Near to Great- 1941–1945 (London: Histori- 75 James (ed.), Chips, p. 341. 100 Chamberlain MSS, NC 2/24A, ness: A Life of Earl Winterton ans Press, 1987), p. 193. Eden 76 Liddell Hart, Memoirs ii, p. 228. diary 20 December 1939. (London: Hutchinson, 1965), p. was told that Belisha’s speech 77 Armstrong (ed.), With Malice, 101 Liddell Hart, Memoirs, ii, p. 239. was ‘considered to be an open pp. 282–3. 269. 36 House of Lords Record Office, application for membership of 78 Grimwood, Little Chit, p. 195. 102 Taylor (ed.), Off the Record, p. Beaverbrook MSS C308, Bea- the Tory Party!’ University of 79 Western Morning News, 9 June 137. verbrook to Hoare 14 August Birmingham, Avon MSS, AP 1945.

Journal of Liberal History 65 Winter 2009–10 31 craftsmanship. With the neces- sity for so many different types Reports of workers specialised in so many different skills, a collective work- ing-class identity, or collective trade union identity, found dif- Fighting Labour: the struggle for radical ficulty in emerging, as each group supremacy in Scotland 1885–1929 had its own interests and its own concern to define itself in terms Liberal Democrat History Group meeting, 13 March 2009 at of status and working pride. Such individualism was also the Scottish Liberal Democrat Conference, with Professor very much a part of Scottish political culture in the nineteenth Richard Finlay, Dr Catriona Macdonald and Jim Wallace. and early twentieth century: the Chair: Robert Brown MSP idea that you as an individual are responsible for your own actions. Report by Robert Brown And it is worth noting, too, that the notion of ‘self-help’ was developed by a Scot – Hadding- uring much of the nine- and when Liberal Democrats lead ton’s Samuel Smiles. As the party teenth century and the the administration in two out which best protected the rights Dfirst two decades of the of four of Scotland’s great cit- of the individual and which kept twentieth century, the Liberal ies, there may be parallels today. government at bay, the Liberal Party was the dominant politi- Perhaps consequently, the meet- Party could encapsulate this sense cal force in Scotland, not least in ing attracted a packed gather- of individual freedom and the urban Scotland. In 1906, the Lib- ing in the library of the Royal notions of laissez-faire and of a eral Party won fifty-eight Scot- George Hotel in Perth – indeed, meritocratic society, where those tish seats (out of seventy-two), in a phrase I have always wanted who had talent and ability would the Conservatives and Liberal to use about a Liberal meeting, prevail. Unionists twelve, and Labour people had to be turned away at Finlay’s second point was the two. In 1910, the Liberal Party the door. role of the Tory party as bogey- again held fifty-eight seats at both Our first speaker was Pro- man in Scotland in the latter part elections. In January 1910, they fessor Richard Finlay, head of of the nineteenth century and claimed 54.2 per cent of the vote, the History Department at the the early part of the twentieth ten times as much as the Labour University of Strathclyde, who century – as the antithesis of the Party on 5.1 per cent. has written extensively on the radical tradition and of freedom This dominance vanished, period.1 Richard noted that, in and progressiveness. The Liberal however, after the First World the latter part of the nineteenth Party was able to associate the War. But even before the party’s century, all of Scotland’s Con- Tory party with privilege, cor- renewal from the 1960s and 1970s servative MPs could be fitted in ruption, decadence, and with onwards, the Liberal tradition was one or two railway carriages, putting a break on the good occasionally capable of revival in while the Liberal Party enjoyed things within Scottish society. its former heartlands. Asquith’s real political hegemony in Scot- The strong Key to this was the remarkable by-election victory in Paisley land. He suggested four main rea- longevity of land issues within in 1920 is a well-known Indian sons for Liberal success: the cult of cult of indi- Scottish politics. Even after the summer event in the decline of individualism; the use of the Tory First World War, people were the party and, even as late as 1961, Party as a bogeyman; the broad vidualism talking about land reform (despite the late John Bannerman came church that the party appealed to; the fact that most Scots lived in only 1,658 votes short of regain- and its ability to portray itself as within Scot- an urban environment), which ing the Paisley seat. the Scottish party. enabled the Liberal Party to raise The Liberal Democrat His- The strong cult of individual- tish society the spectre of the demons, the tory Group’s first meeting at ism within Scottish society tends Tory aristocrats. a Scottish Liberal Democrat to be overlooked, but it appeared tends to be And, again, in terms of church conference looked at the Liberal in many aspects of Scottish soci- politics, the Conservatives greatly Party’s contribution to radical, ety at the time. One example overlooked, aided this development by a progressive politics in Scotland would be in the very late and but it constant tendency to shoot them- and its struggle with Labour in very weak development of trade selves in the foot. A very good the late nineteenth and early unionism in Scotland before 1914. appeared in example of this was their inability twentieth centuries, culminating This is, in part, explained by the to get their heads around Scot- in the years following Asquith’s Scottish economy, which was many aspects tish ecclesiastical politics. The by-election win in Paisley in very much an artisan economy Church Patronage (Scotland) Act 1920. The story of Liberal domi- dependent on activities such as of Scottish of 1711 was strongly opposed by nance and decline in Scotland shipbuilding and heavy engineer- the Church of Scotland because has many strands and, at a time ing. Although mass industries society at the of its intrusion into church elec- when the Labour vote has shrunk in many respects, these were tions, and the Tories were blamed to levels not seen in a century, also based on almost mediaeval time. for the consequent Disruption of

32 Journal of Liberal History 65 Winter 2009–10 reports

1843.2 By the time the Act was Richard of parts, who was done down by determined to set up farms in the finally repealed in 1874, too much the aristocracy – and, again, the Highlands. The Liberal Party antagonism had built up towards Finlay’s virtues that Burns extolles were was therefore caught: it presented the Tories for Scottish ecclesiasts ‘Scottish virtues’, which just itself as being above class interests to consider a rapprochement. And final point happened to be the same virtues and class sectionalism, a party of the Tories were further wrong- espoused by the Liberal Party. conciliation rather than of class footed with the formation of the was that Perhaps the Liberal Party’s war; but as a result, however, the United Free Church of Scotland greatest achievement was, by Conservatives sounded better at in 1900. So the Tories in Scotland the Liberal 1914, to have tied this belief in keeping the socialist bogeyman presented a stark contrast to the individualism to social policy. at bay. vision of what the Liberal Party Party was When the Liberals started to On the other hand, from stood for. very good at tackle social issues, it was done the point of view of the left, A third factor was that the not from the perspective of col- the Liberal Party was tarred by Liberal Party was very much portraying lectivism but from that of ensur- association with the dreaded a ‘broad church’ organisation: ing individual freedom – because Conservatives (irrespective of beneath an umbrella of high itself as the freedom without the means of the existence of the Asquithian principles was encompassed a realising it, such as education or splinter group), as a consequence wide variety of issues, from land ‘natural Scot- a minimum standard of living, of the wartime coalition. As Min- reform to church disestablish- was effectively meaningless. So ister of Munitions, for example, ment, from temperance to edu- tish Party’, the Liberal pursuit of social policy Lloyd George had been respon- cational reform. Indeed, up until became inextricably tied to indi- sible for the Munitions Act, 1914, Liberals were convinced the party vidual liberty, as a way to realise which had been used to quell the that the Labour Party was merely that liberty. This they did very working class. Again, the Liberal a more advanced section of the that was best cleverly, and as a result Labour Party was caught between two Liberal Party, and Liberals were made almost no inroads into stools. This was exaccerbated by very much involved in the Fabian suited to Scottish politics before 1914. the decision on the part of both Society. This broad approach All this was changed by Labour and the Conservatives to gave the party an enormous Scotland. the First World War, which attack the Liberal Party, and the elasticity which has sometimes unleashed forces within Scottish failure of the Liberals to grasp the been described as a weakness – society that fatally compromised implications. although the speed with which the Liberal Party. Firstly, there The final, critical factor the Liberal Party recovered in was the growth of collectivism, was poor organisation in the 1886 from the secession of the sectionalism, communism, or era of mass politics. One of the Liberal Unionists is testament to perhaps even just class. The indi- strengths of the Liberal Party in the strength of a broad church in vidualism which was such a key the period up to 1914 was a very its ability to withstand the loss of aspect of Scottish society before good organisation, but during one element. the war was swept away; the key the war that started to collapse. In Richard Finlay’s final point question became whether you contrast, the Conservative Party was that the Liberal Party was were middle class or working reorganised itself, building up its very good at portraying itself class, rural or urban. Under such organisation and becoming very as the ‘natural Scottish Party’, class polarisation, what mattered well funded. The Labour Party, the party that was best suited to was not the individual but groups, for their part, had access to trade Scotland. It was able to portray or sections within society. This union funds, members, organisa- many characteristics which use- obviously did not help the Liberal tion, and volunteers. After 1918, fully dovetailed with Liberal Party. the professionalisation of politics ideas – such as thrift, temperance, The second factor was that of stepped up a gear, and the Liberals hard work, meritocracy, honesty, an alternative bogeyman to the simply did not have the resources uprightness, and independence – Tories: the spectre of socialism. to compete. as being national characteristics Conventionally, historians talk This was not, however, the and good traditional Scottish about class polarisation and the end of Liberalism. Although after values. The way that the Liber- effect it had on the working class, 1924 the Liberal Party ceased to als were able to reinvent parts but far more significant was the command the central position in of Scottish history again tells a effect on the middle class, who Scottish society, that is not to say ‘Liberal tale’. In the nineteenth were much quicker at mobilis- that Liberal values disappeared. century, William Wallace became ing themselves, and displaying What Labour politicians were portrayed as a ‘man of the people’, a stronger sense of class identity saying in the early 1920s was not the ‘people’s champion’ – the per- and solidarity, in response to that different from what Liberal son of ability who stood up to the the threat of Bolshevism. It has politicians had been saying in corrupt aristocracy who would often been said that ‘Red Clyde- 1914. Many Liberal qualities, sell the nation out to Edward I of side’ was a myth, but it certainly principles and ideas, including England. This story was repeated did not seem to to middle-class laissez faire and the free trade in the idea of John Knox as a imaginations in Scotland. And economy, and an emphasis on man of the people, standing up it was not just a question of class: international diplomacy, carried for principle against the despotic rural Scotland was also terrified on. The Liberal Party left a con- Catholic tyranny of Queen Mary; of a land-grabbing invasion of siderable legacy which should not or in that of Robert Burns, a lad Glasgow slum dwellers somehow be forgotten.

Journal of Liberal History 65 Winter 2009–10 33 reports

If Professor Finlay’s contribu- By 1920, then, Paisley Liber- In Paisley, a questioning their loyalty to a tion was wide-ranging, our next alism had survived the various party that seemed strangely out of speaker, Dr Catriona Macdonald, threats posed by Chartism in the generation step with both the harsh realities Senior Lecturer in History at 1840s, Liberal Unionism in the of the modern world and, indeed, Glasgow Caledonian Univer- 1880s onwards, and, of course, of women the Liberal radicalism of the past. sity and Chair of the Scottish the burgeoning Labour interest in By the 1918 general election, Local History Forum,3 looked Scotland that had emerged most whose work- the sitting Liberal MP in Pais- at the story in microcosm. I had forcefully in the opening years of ley was John McCallum, a soap read and admired her book, The the twentieth century. Certainly, ing lives in manufacturer. He faced two Radical Thread,4 on Paisley politics for each generation, Liberal loyal- opponents. The first, brandish- between 1885 and 1924, but her ties had a unique dimension, but the thread ing the Coalition ‘coupon’, was a presentation was a real treat. As over the years a few factors were mills would Glasgow furniture maker called per her book, Dr Macdonald took consistently evident: well-known John Taylor – a Unionist and a the focus inwards to look at the local candidates; the influence previously member of the staunchly patriotic Paisley constituency in particular. of Liberal-inclined employers, British Workers’ League. On the She said it had been suggested most notably the Coates family; have ended left, with the hopes of this emer- that she call her contribution an unrelenting commitment to gent class interest squarely on ‘The Last Firework in the Dis- free trade in the burgh; a cer- in marriage his shoulders, was the third can- play’, but she decided instead on tain ‘vocabulary’ of democratic didate, J. M. Biggar – a housing ‘Paisley Patterns’. rights; an appeal to community; had become factor by profession and the new On 10 March 1920, in the the uncomfortably close relations Co-operative Party candidate wake of her father’s victory in between Unionist and Orange aware of for the Paisley burgh. McCallum the recent by-election, Lady Vio- forces in the burgh; and a Labour won with a wafer-thin majority lent Bonham Carter, daughter movement plagued by disunity their own of 0.5 per cent – just 106 votes of Herbert Asquith, breathlessly and, as Richard Finlay had sug- ahead of the Labour hopeful. It confessed at a meeting of the gested, by residual Liberal sympa- potential as is not surprising, therefore, that National Liberal Club that ‘there thies. All of these aspects together when McCallum died less than isn’t an inch of Paisley which grounded Liberal success in this they worked two years later, many feared that isn’t hallowed ground to me’. Just very proud burgh. the great and proud Liberal tradi- how a Scottish industrial burgh On first appraisal, therefore, on the town’s tion in Paisley would end with on the banks of the Cart River there appears little to explain him. came to occupy such a cherished when it comes to that iconic Lib- trams and The Paisley by-election of place in the heart of this Liberal eral victory of Herbert Asquith munitions 1920 necessitated by McCallum’s aristocrat in 1920 requires expla- in 1920. But things were not death was the first contest in an nation, since just a year before, that simple. As Richard Finlay factories and independent Liberal seat since the it certainly would not have been had suggested, war had changed 1918 election. Although in the immediately obvious. the political environment in acted as the mean time the Asquithian Liber- Paisley was famed for its tex- Scotland. In Paisley, a genera- als had notched up by-election tiles. After a trade depression tion of women whose working leaders of victories in Leyton West, Hull in the 1840s, the iconic Paisley lives in the thread mills would Central and Central Aberdeen- shawls had been replaced by previously have ended in mar- rent strikes. shire, by May 1919 it was clear thread as the town’s most famous riage had become aware of their that the initiative in the constitu- export. But other manufactur- own potential as they worked on encies had passed to Labour. Pais- ers were also evident: Brown & the town’s trams and munitions ley Liberals were realistic about Polsons and Robertson’s Pre- factories and acted as the leaders their chances. Their first plan was serves were, of course, household of rent strikes. A generation of to seek a compromise Coalition names, and there were also engi- young men had also been radi- candidate with the Unionists to neering works and shipbuild- calised as a result of their war ser- unify the anti-Bolshevik vote but, ing interests on the banks of the vice, the inspiration of Red Clyde just as this consensus was form- River Cart. So it is not surpris- leaders such as John MacLean or ing, rumours began to circulate ing that in 1911 over 77 per cent Jimmie Maxton, or their experi- that Asquith could be persuaded of the employed population of ence of what state intervention to challenge in Paisley. However, Paisley worked in industry. If we in the economy could achieve. as the Daily Record commented, take ‘class’ as our guide and noth- Whole families had become the Liberals were clearly not ing else, then it was not obvious acutely aware of their power as united behind him, and it took a territory for Scottish Liberalism’s consumers (something which is long time for the group to come ‘last hoorah’. However, in Paisley often forgotten), as numbers in together. In the end Asquith won burgh there was a Liberal tradi- the co-operative societies across the Liberal nomination with tion of long standing: in every Scotland rose dramatically in the only an eighteen-vote majority parliamentary election since the war years. And finally, whether over J. C. Watson, an Edinburgh Great Reform Act of 1832, Paisley disheartened by the fractured advocate and the son of the editor had elected Liberals, and, except Liberal leadership in wartime, of the Paisley Daily Express. And when the Liberal candidacy was the introduction of conscription, it was quite clear, too, that a joint contested, at no time did the Lib- the militarisation of society, or candidate would have been very eral majority drop below 10 per the compromises of Versailles, popular with the local Union- cent. many Liberal stalwarts were ists. Asquith’s celebrity and his

34 Journal of Liberal History 65 Winter 2009–10 reports gravitas no doubt carried much consistently resisted the female opinions. It can be seen almost as weight in a constituency eager suffrage throughout his premier- an interface between the old and to uphold its proud reputation ship. However, in 1920 his entou- the new. The question is, what against its neighbour Glasgow’s rage included secret weapons that happened next? The election claims that, by 1920, Paisley was would establish his claims to the results for the 1922 and 1923 con- little more than a suburb to the female vote and divert attention tests reveal, from an uncharitable second city of the empire. And from his pre-war record – namely point of view, that first Asquith nationally, the contest of 1920 his wife, Margaret Asquith, and, held on to the seat by the skin would be hailed as a ‘second more importantly, his daughter of his teeth in 1922 against the Midlothian’ – a reference point Lady Violet Bonham Carter. The unified Labour opposition, and in the Liberal history of Britain. Paisley Daily Express commented second, that he would have lost But from a local perspective, that Lady Violet had won the it in 1923 had it not been for a Asquith’s candidature merely sympathy of women voters; her divided Labour challenge and the papered over cracks within the unostentatious manner and racy emergence of a Unionist chal- local constituency party and left speeches (they did not record lenger who, having dared to split unresolved many of the dilem- them!) had secured her a very the anti-socialist vote, probably mas that war had brought to the large following. did Asquith a considerable favour surface. Asquith’s message, which by highlighting the real danger of Notwithstanding all that, Richard Finlay highlighted, of a Labour victory in Paisley. however, Asquith’s campaign community over class was also But there were other sto- sought to reaffirm the relevance pertinent in Paisley in 1920. ries behind these results. In the of the party identities that the Memories of the 1919 forty-hour 1922 election, Asquith had to post-war Coalition had under- strike were all too fresh in the fight both as a local MP and as mined. He stated: ‘We are per- minds of workers on the eve of a national leader, and it is very fectly contented with our old the poll. Those weeks of direct hard to do both. In one very name and our old creed’. But action had brought tanks on to mundane aspect he could not do this ‘old creed’ did have an air of the streets of Glasgow, and over both: Asquith’s national profile novelty in 1920. Asquith’s Pais- 15,000 people in Paisley alone meant that he spent many days ley speeches were collected and had been involved in strike action away from Paisley, and local published as the ‘Paisley Policy’ and in violent picketing. The colleagues did not appreciate in an attempt to assert the con- failure of organised Labour made coming second in his atten- temporary relevance of rather many rethink their flirtation with tions, not even to the gravest well-worn Liberal shibboleths: socialism. To them, Asquith’s affairs of state. He should have dominion self-rule for Ireland, words that no interest and no learnt that lesson in East Fife proportional representation, class was entitled to prevail over in 1918 but he did not, and he the establishment of a partially the dominant interests of the fell foul of it again in Paisley. nominated second chamber, cuts community offered reassuring Paisley was also a constituency in public expenditure, the taxa- consolation. In fact, despite pro- in which Labour were getting tion of land values, opposition to testations to the contrary, Labour their house in order. The Irish, nationalisation, the local veto, in Paisley were also divided. for example, had very little rea- and free trade. None of these J. M. Biggar was the candidate son to believe that Asquith, any would have seemed out of place yet again, and as a Co-operative more than Ramsay Macdonald, in a pre-1914 manifesto, but there candidate he was treated with would deliver on the Irish Ques- was something about 1920 which suspicion by many on the left tion by the early 1920s. But, affirmed their potency. of the party. Indeed, his Labour most importantly, there was Asquith’s close association endorsement had been carried the impact of the worsening with Irish home rule in the Asquith’s by only thirteen votes to twelve economic situation in Paisley at pre-war years paid dividends in in 1919, and, on his defeat in the time. It was clear that with 1920, as Paisley boasted a long- message, 1920, the ILP asserted their right unemployment and short-term established Irish community that to choose the next candidate in working, free trade would not was loyal to Liberalism. Indeed, which Rich- Paisley. secure the future of this burgh. it was not until 1919 that a Paisley So what did 1920 actually There had to be another alterna- branch of the Catholic Socialist ard Finlay mean? It is important that there tive. They did not like to think Society was formed, whereas a were clear local determinants of that they would find it in tariff branch was set up far earlier in highlighted, Asquith’s success. This was no reform, and Labour offered Glasgow. So when the election of commu- great, grand, national expression them an alternative, which was was called, Labour had had insuf- of Scotland’s ‘natural’ Liberal nationalisation. ficient time to secure the Irish nity over sympathies; there was a local story But Labour had been suffer- vote for their candidate, and there in all of this that is largely forgot- ing from an unpopular candidate. was evidence throughout the class was also ten in the literature so far. But J. M. Biggar, being a house factor, election period of disunity within there was also a national message. had to be dropped, and, in 1924, the United Irish League in the pertinent 1920 did not mean the rebirth of in stepped the new Labour cham- community. Liberalism, much as many would pion, Edward Rosslyn Mitchell. Asquith’s record on the female in Paisley in have hoped; rather, as the Paisley Mitchell was a lawyer and a franchise hardly endeared him to Daily Express put it, it was a point well-known Glasgow councillor the womenfolk of Paisley: he had 1920. where men hopped between two and magistrate. He had been an

Journal of Liberal History 65 Winter 2009–10 35 reports enthusiastic progressive Liberal the time encouraged people to or another. Would the Alliance before the war began. However, reach out to identities which they replace Labour in 1983? Would during the rent strikes of 1915, he knew had survived earlier crises the Liberal Democrats be finally had been an influential advocate and could possibly take them obliterated after the Euro elec- of the tenants’ case and in 1918 through this new one; it was no tions of 1989? When the Tories he joined the ILP. Importantly time to field a new independent won their fourth majority in for Mitchell, he had also fought Liberal candidate. But for Pais- 1992, pundits were drawing par- Bonar Law in 1922 in the Cen- ley, it sounded the death knell allels with Japan’s Liberal Demo- tral division of Glasgow and for Liberalism in the constitu- crats and the permanent hold on had reduced the Conservative ency – by that action, noted the office they apparently enjoyed. majority in that constituency to Paisley Daily Express, the Liberal By 1997, it was the Tories’ turn just 2,514. He contested that seat Party had ceased to exist so far as to suffer electoral defeat. Would again in 1923 against Sir Wil- Paisley was concerned: Liberal- they ever recover? And now it liam Alexander and slashed the ism had purchased victory at the is Labour, demoralised and dis- Conservative majority to just 416. expense of its own history. After united, over whom the question He was debonair, articulate and the war the seat was contested by mark hangs today. He made the middle class. With the experi- Lady Glen-Coats in the Liberal point that, if we cannot get it ence of having fought a major interest, but she secured only 10 The Labour right in predicting the immedi- parliamentarian, he was the ideal per cent of the vote.5 ate future on the evidence of the choice for the Labour Party in Dr Macdonald’s conclusion victory of present, are we more likely to see Paisley in 1924. was that the Liberal hegemony the future through the crystal ball The question to be asked about that had been sustained in Pais- 1924, how- of past history? that election is not why Asquith ley throughout the nineteenth The interesting point about lost but why Mitchell was not century through the influence ever, did not the 1906 election is just how dif- a Liberal. There was very little of the thread giants and the final ferent the electoral landscape in his message that would have vestiges of a local radical tradition represent looked. No woman had a vote. distinguished him from Asquith; had been eclipsed. The Labour Several MPs were returned unop- this was no wild Clydesider of the victory of 1924, however, did the birth of posed. Some cities and large Maxton mould – Mitchell himself not represent the birth of a new burghs had two or three seats joked that Davy Kirkwood had vision of the social order, but a a new vision to form the one constituency. offered him membership of the rearrangement of the political (I note in passing that my own Clydeside Paternity on condition chessboard whereby the Liberal of the social home area – the Royal Burgh of that he removed his spats – but traditions were subsumed into, Rutherglen – was represented in a different man altogether, and and perhaps diluted by, the new order, but a parliament until 1918 as part of what he offered was not a class- dominant political forces of the rearrange- Kilmarnock Burghs, a disparate based vision of society. His elec- Labour Party and Unionism. group of geographically uncon- tion pamphlets read like modern I had asked Jim Wallace, ment of the nected traditional burghs spread catechisms. If the message was former Deputy First Minister across the west of Scotland.) One then ostensibly a Liberal one, why of Scotland and Scottish Lib- political further, crucial difference was the did Asquith lose? The answer eral Democrat leader, to draw existence of electoral pacts and lies largely in the pact between together the strands of the discus- chessboard the rather loose understandings the Liberals and the Unionists in sion.6 Jim commented that, when at the margins about which whip Paisley in the 1924 election. More he had said that he was speaking whereby the elected MPs would take. so than anything else, this seemed at a fringe meeting on Liberal By the opening years of the to confirm Labour allegations Democrat history, he was asked Liberal tradi- twentieth century, there was that Liberalism had become a whether that was because he had a key group of ‘Lib-Lab’ MPs party of the establishment, that it now become history! tions were who took the Liberal whip, were had surrendered its radical inheri- He began by noting the claim concerned with workers’ issues tance and was ‘buried in the bow- that the real significance of the subsumed and were generally encouraged els of conservatism’. 1906 general election lay not in within the party. By 1906, there So what came after? 1924 rep- the landslide majority of Camp- into, and per- were approximately twenty- resented an organic crisis in the bell-Bannerman’s Liberal Party, five Lib–Labs, but the Labour heart of the Paisley Liberal Party, but the election of twenty-nine haps diluted Representation Committee when the traditional party of the MPs affiliated to the Labour Rep- (LRC) put up fifty candidates, burgh ceased to be recognised as resentation Committee (LRC). by, the new of whom twenty-nine won. such by the classes that had once So he took his starting point dominant Thirty-one out of the fifty did identified it as the main champi- as finding out more about the not have a Liberal opponent or ons of their political aspirations. twenty-nine, noting his debt to political ran in tandem with a Liberal in Labour won again in 1929, but Roy Douglas’s History of the Lib- a two-member constituency; of the Liberals retook the seat in eral Party for some of the analysis.7 forces of these, twenty-four were elected. 1931 and again in 1935. Their Jim entertained a healthy Only five were elected against candidate in those elections was scepticism about predicting seis- the Labour Liberal opposition, of whom Joseph Maclay – who was sup- mic political shifts. During his only one took a Liberal seat, in ported by a local Liberal–Union- political lifetime, there had been Party and Dundee (the pact between the ist pact – and it is understandable excited commentators foreshad- Liberal Party and the LRC did that the economic climate of owing the demise of one party Unionism. not extend to Scotland).

36 Journal of Liberal History 65 Winter 2009–10 reports

In short, the embryonic The moral of election was called, a substantial an electoral landscape had been Labour Party was given a huge ‘political fund’ had been created established that would persist hand up by the Liberal Party. the story is for the Labour Party – money for the rest of the century. And Given the size of the Liberal which could not be used for non- so it was that, in January 1924, win in January 1906, the archi- that, if Lib- political trade-union purposes. the votes of Liberal MPs helped tects may well have thought that So having given the Labour Party to defeat the Conservative gov- they had been vindicated. By 12 eral Demo- a helping electoral hand, a Liberal ernment and installed the first Februray, they may well have had government was also instrumen- Labour government. second thoughts, as the twenty- crats are to tal in ensuring it had the funds to Against that historical back- nine LRC members plus one Lib– fight an effective election cam- ground, Jim was sceptical about Lab member formed the Labour make further paign after the war. the lessons to be learned or paral- Party in parliament, established electoral To this was added the huge lels to be drawn today. It is incon- their own organisation and upheaval of World War I: mass ceivable that the Labour Party their own whip and sat on the progress, we conscription (not something will entertain any electoral pacts opposition benches (although which sat easily with Liberals); which would serve to advance Roy Douglas suggests that may cannot nec- the contribution of women to the the Liberal cause. Can we really have been more attributable to war effort, and by 1918, votes for imagine a Labour government overcrowding on the govern- essarily rely women over the age of thirty; and legislating to place the funds of an ment benches). Although the the total breakdown in relations opposition party on a more secure new Labour Party generally sup- on the other between the Liberal Party’s two footing? With the franchise now ported the Liberal government, biggest hitters – H. H. Asquith extended to women, there can be and did not always present itself parties to get and David Lloyd George – each no new increase in the electorate in a coherent way, the genie was of whom led a part of the Liberal which could suddenly upset the out of the bottle and the Liberal it spectacu- Party into the election. And then political balance. There are signs Party could be cast in the role of the situation was complicated of division within the Labour midwife of the birth of this new larly wrong; even further by the Lloyd George Party, but nothing on the scale of parliamentary party. Liberals entering into a coali- the split which took place when Arguably it was in the second rather, the tion with the Conservatives and, the SDP was formed in 1981, let decade of the twentieth century in the four years after the end of alone the factional experience that the tectonic plates of British challenge to the war, becoming increasingly of the Liberal Party after Lloyd politics shifted. By the 1910 elec- eclipsed by their Conservative George ousted Asquith – as Roy tions, miners’ MPs who had been us is to get it partners. The glory days were Jenkins said, at this crucial point elected as Lib–Lab members in right. well and truly over for the Liberal in Liberal Party history, the party 1906 were cajoled by the Min- Party. did not so much shoot itself in the ers’ Federation to stand as Labour Against such a background, foot as shoot itself much closer to candidates; twelve out of fifteen it can be seen that the Liberal the heart. did. Douglas records that there governments elected in 1906 and But, if this sounds a terribly is scant evidence of any counter- 1910 did much that was right. We negative approach, the moral of vailing pressure from the Liberal can proudly look back at the radi- the story is that, if Liberal Demo- Party. Various electoral agree- cal agenda implemented by our crats are to make further electoral ments were reached in individual political forebears – an agenda progress, we cannot necessarily seats, which does not give the which undoubtedly resonated rely on the other parties to get it appearance of coherence in han- with the working men (and later spectacularly wrong; rather, the dling this emerging political and women) who might otherwise challenge to us is to get it right. parliamentary force. have been attracted to the Labour And if we are looking for some In 1909, a Liberal railwayman Party. But Jim thought that the touchstone from the period in and trade unionist, Mr Osborne, unchecked growth of the Labour history to which this fringe meet- objected to his union paying Party, and the failure by the Lib- ing refers, there are key lessons to money to the Labour Party. He eral government to relate better take to heart: pursued his grievance through to the constituency of working • The party’s commitment to the courts, ultimately succeed- people, meant that the electoral Scottish Home Rule. ing in the House of Lords: it was benefits which should have • The importance of localism held that a trade union could not flowed from the government’s and local democracy. pay over money received as sub- record did not do so. By the time • The commitment to a fun- scriptions to the Labour Party. that the Lloyd George-led coali- damental change in welfare At a stroke the Labour Party’s tion fell in 1922, the party was in protection heralded by the main source of funding dried up. considerable disarray, with Natu- 1909 People’s Budget. Responding to the judgement, ral Liberals fighting Asquithian • The innovative new cam- the Liberal government brought Liberals. And although, in the paigning techniques pio- in a bill – later the Trade Union immediate aftermath of the elec- neered by Gladstone in Act – which stipulated that a sep- tions, Lloyd George and Asquith the Midlothian campaign arate fund had to be established, set up a reunited, if uneasy, party, (maybe not the technique for from which a member could the damage had probably already today, but in its time, well opt out. With the onset of war been done: Labour had become ahead of the rest). and no general elections held for the largest party in Scotland, • Upholding basic Lib- eight years, by the time the 1918 and, in many parts of Britain, eral principles such as

Journal of Liberal History 65 Winter 2009–10 37 reports

championing free trade In the last in 1924, given his charismatic T. M. Devine and Richard J. Finlay against protectionism. personality. (eds.), Scotland in the Twentieth Century A different time, a different analysis, did Three speakers, providing a (Edinburgh University Press, 1996); agenda; but on issues from the national and analytical perspec- Dauvit Broun, Richard J. Finlay, credit crunch to the global Scottish Lib- tive, a microcosm of political Michael Lynch (eds.), Image and Iden- environmental challenge, the change in Paisley, and the view tity: The Making and Remaking of Scot- essence lies in the articulation of eralism – and of a modern, practising politi- tish National Identity Through the Ages Liberal Democrat principles and cian, illuminated the story of the (Edinburgh: John Donald Publishers, radicalism. Liberalism dominance and decline of the 1998); Edward J. Cowan and Richard During the discussion that across the UK great Liberal Party in Scotland. J. Finlay (eds.), Scottish History: The followed the presentations, the The death of Liberal Scotland is Power of the Past (Edinburgh Univer- question was asked whether there – fail in the no less curious than the strange sity Press, 2003) was any difference between rural death of Liberal England. It tells 2 The break between the established and urban voting and between 1920s because us that political success has to Church of Scotland and the Free men and women in terms of their be based on relevance and cred- Church which split away from it on support for Liberalism? Richard it lost that ibility – a constituency of inter- the issue of patronage in 1843. Over Finlay said that the rural vote in est which identifies with ‘us’ 450 ministers left the Kirk to set up Scotland leaned heavily towards spark? rather than ‘them’, which attracts their own Free Church of Scotland, the Liberal Party – farms were people beyond its core voters by with major ecclesiastical and politi- smaller and the relationship the appeal of its message, which cal consequences which were not between farm owners and land is able to weave a story and healed until reunion in 1929. owners was not always that great. sing mood music which is both 3 Dr Catriona Macdonald is a senior Furthermore, the Liberals had contemporary but also tells the lecturer in History at Glasgow had plans to create smallhold- national story in a way which Caledonian University, and over ings which would have further matches the country’s beliefs her academic career has studied attracted the rural vote; the Con- – and an organisation fit for pur- at the Universities of St Andrews, servative Party was seriously pan- pose. In Scotland, the issue may Emory (Georgia, USA), Strath- icked by this suggestion because be whether we can build an alter- clyde and Heriot Watt. Her main they thought that it would native view of Scotland in Britain research interests lie in the late- diminish Conservative support to that of the Nationalists – a modern social and political history in rural constituencies. The war, view which again makes the Lib- of Scotland. Her major publications however, increased agricultural eral Democrats and Liberal ideals to date include The Radical Thread, productivity and death duties the natural expression of choice Unionist Scotland and Scotland and wiped out many of the big landed for our people. There are lessons the Great War. Her most recent estates. After 1918, the Conserva- to be learned from history, but monograph, Whaur Extremes Meet: tive Party said to people: ‘You the warning is that history never Scotland’s Twentieth Century was now own that land and you need repeats itself in the same way. published in October 2009 Birlinn. us to protect you from socialism.’ Finally, can we recapture that She is currently working on a his- So while Liberalism survived in inspiration and dynamism that tory of student politics in Scotland, some areas, such as the High- gave Liberalism in 1906 its special and – having completed the period lands, it lost the rural vote more quality? In these modern days of 1880–1948 – will be embarking on generally after 1918 due to the political disrepute, a political party an oral history of student political social changes. like ours must have a message of life in the years after 1948 over the Catriona Macdonald hope, of reform and of radicalism, next two years. explained that, with regard to which appeals to hearts as well 4 C. M. M. Macdonald, The Radical women, every constituency was as minds. In the last analysis, did Thread: Political Change in Scotland, very different because, even Scottish Liberalism – and Liberal- Paisley Politics, 1885–1924 (Tuckwell though the franchise regula- ism across the UK – fail in the Press, 2000). tions seemed general, they had 1920s because it lost that spark? 5 Lady Glen-Coats was later Chair- very nuanced differences in the man of the Scottish Liberal Party. various constituencies. In Pais- Robert Brown is Liberal Democrat As the last political representative ley, Annie Maxton blamed the MSP for Glasgow, and former Con- of a famous Paisley Liberal dynasty, women of Paisley for Liberal vener of the Scottish Liberal Democrat she survived to see the first fruits of dominance in the 1920s – partly Policy Committee. Liberal revival under Jo Grimond, because it was the older women himself, of course, married to who were enfranchised. Unlike 1 Professor Richard Finlay’s publica- Asquith’s grand-daughter. Dundee, where there was a tradi- tions include Independent and Free: 6 Jim Wallace, now Lord Wallace tion of working married women, Scottish Politics and the Origins of the of Tankerness, MP for Orkney & women in Paisley did not tend to SNP (Edinburgh: John Donald Pub- Shetland 1983–2001, MSP for Ork- go out to work in this period. So lishers, 1994); A Partnership for Good? ney 1999–2007, Leader of the Scot- the Liberal Party in its domestic (Edinburgh: John Donald, 1997); with tish Liberal Democrats 1992–2005, agenda very much spoke to these Edward J. Cowan, Scotland since 1688: Deputy First Minister of Scotland enfranchised older women vot- The Struggle for a Nation (London: 1999–2005. ers. However, although this was Cima Books, 2000); Modern Scotland: 7 Roy Douglas, The History of the a factor in Asquith’s success, it 1914–2000 (London: Profile, 2003). Liberal Party 1895–1970 (London: also worked in Mitchell’s favour He has also edited such books as Sidgwick and Jackson, 1971).

38 Journal of Liberal History 65 Winter 2009–10 reports A delicate balance both Labour and the Conserva- Fringe meeting (supported by The Guardian), 20 September tives should be voted down, hoping that the Liberals would 2009, Bournemouth, with Professor Martin Pugh, Lord Tom therefore be given a try. Be bold, be quick in voting down a minor- McNally and David Laws MP; Chair: Duncan Brack (Editor, ity government – and hope some- Journal of Liberal History). thing better would emerge. This call for boldness did not Report by Mark Pack carry the day, and Labour under Ramsay MacDonald formed a minority government. MacDon- n his introduction, the meet- still badly divided between the ald had clear, long-term strategic ing chair Duncan Brack Asquith and Lloyd George camps, aims: keep the Liberals out of Iexplained that the reason for even though the domination of power and further strengthen picking the topic was that work the 1923 election by the question the position of Labour relative to such as that by John Curtice has of free trade had helped to bring the Liberals. While Labour was shown that the odds of the next them together. The outcome of pursuing its long-term vision of general election producing a hung that election was a hung parlia- replacing the Liberals, Liberal parliament are much higher than ment: 258 Conservative, 191 MPs were shocked to discover they have been for many years – a Labour, 158 Liberal. that Labour did not cooperate in point also made earlier this year Based on his experience of parliament and, in the constituen- by BBC Newsnight’s Michael the First World War, Asquith cies, was gunning for their votes Crick.1 The point of the meeting did not want a coalition govern- and seats. This included running was to examine how the Liberal ment to be formed with either candidates in many seats where Party, or Liberal Democrats, had party. The Liberals did, though, they would split the anti-Conser- handled the situation when it have a choice of which party to vative vote and so let Conserva- found itself holding the balance let form a minority administra- tives win from the Liberals. For of power: at Westminster in the tion. Asquith took the view that Labour, the short-term pain of 1920s and 1970s and in the Scot- a Labour government was inevi- strengthening the Conservatives tish Parliament in 1999. table at some point in the future – was worth it for the long-term Professor Martin Pugh kicked and so better to ‘trial’ one now in gain of British politics becoming off the trio of talks, looking at the, as he thought, safe conditions solely about two parties, with the the two Labour governments of a hung parliament. Churchill Liberals not one of the two. of the 1920s. The Liberals were and others argued, however, that The 1924 electoral landslide for the Conservatives at the end of this period of minority Labour rule was, therefore, not as bad for Labour as it may have seemed. A result of Conservative 412, Labour 151, and Liberal 40 may have been poor for Labour in the short run, but the gap between Labour and the Liberals had nearly trebled. Despite the Conservative land- slide, their hold on power was fragile and the late 1920s saw both a revival for the Liberals under Lloyd George and then a hung parliament after the 1929 elec- tion: 288 Labour, 260 Conserva- tive and 59 Liberal MPs. Again, a minority Labour administration was formed. Although the Liberal revival in terms of votes did not turn into many more seats, Lloyd George was confident of the strength of his position, believing (rightly) that many people had voted Labour because they hoped that the party would implement some of the policies to tackle unem- ployment that the Liberals had Photos: Chris been proposing. By the spring of Millington 1930, Lloyd George was involved

Journal of Liberal History 65 Winter 2009–10 39 reports in behind-the-scenes talks with aim, recounting his memories Labour also hung parliament that arose from Labour on policy areas such as of Paddy Ashdown returning the first elections to the Scot- unemployment and house-build- ‘bouncing’ around after meet- found it hard tish Parliament. He talked about ing in rural areas. This developed ings with Tony Blair despite it not 6–13 May 1999, the period when into a stable relationship, with being clear what he had achieved. to under- the coalition agreement was put weekly meetings by spring 1931. On the Lib–Lab Pact itself, together. Looking at the experi- Again, however, MacDonald’s McNally challenged the consen- stand the ence of this week, he derived long-term vision was not one of sus in Liberal circles that the Pact seven rules of coalition negotia- cooperation. He wanted to ensure was a disaster. The years 1976–78 consultative tion for Liberal Democrats: that Lloyd George did not back were the period when Britain was 1. There is huge pressure from the Conservatives, but he did at its most equal, which McNally internal pro- the media, and others, to see not really believe in cooperation attributed to the Pact’s influ- cesses that a deal struck quickly, if at all. and did not trust the Liberals. He ence. Moreover, it was sensible 2. About 20 per cent of col- wrote privately about the need for the Liberal Party to act in the Liberal leagues will be happy with ‘to humour’ the Liberals. When it such a way as to avoid a general any sort of coalition, 30 per came to electoral reform, there- election in 1976, the outcome of Democrats cent will oppose any sort of fore, there were talks – sufficient which would have been far worse coalition, and the rest will to humour the Liberals – but than the Pact. At the time, many followed. But decide based on the details of MacDonald was not a believer in serious editorials were asking the proposal. electoral reform, even the alter- whether Britain was still govern- these pro- 3. Any coalition has to address native vote, despite the tempta- able – and again, for McNally, the issues of policy substance. tions of it delivering more seats Pact was a success in showing that cesses were 4. You have to be tough and for Labour. That was outweighed it was. By 1978 every economic prepared to walk away to get in his eyes by the way in which indicator was moving in the right crucial, not a good deal. AV would help sustain the Liber- direction, but the problem was 5. But you can agree to post- als and a three-party system. In that the Liberals were getting just to how pone tackling some large and the end, he was content for the almost no credit for it. complicated issues if more House of Lords to mangle an So what was wrong with the the party time is genuinely needed electoral reform bill. Pact? For Labour Prime Minister to work out a compromise For the Liberals, there were James Callaghan, and for Labour operates but – and if there is always the two problems – that of propping as a whole, it was only a shotgun threat that the coalition will up a failing government and that marriage of convenience; there also to mak- end if compromise is not of unity. There were persistent was no parity of esteem between ing an agree- reached. rumours that the Conservatives the two parties. There was also 6. You need to get commit- would give a free run to any MPs a complete lack of parity of ment that ments in writing about the who opposed Labour and there resources. Both of these echoed administrative details of how was a group of Liberal MPs who, the position in 1920s, as did the could last coalition government will by the end, were regularly voting third problem – the failure to work. against the Labour government. achieve electoral reform. As in – and it did, 7. Vigorous internal party Lloyd George had got sucked into the 1920s, David Steel did not debate over the proposed talking details with the govern- push the issue to breaking point in effect for terms is vital for any deal to ment, but without an overall stra- –though it was McNally’s opin- stick. tegic aim and without delivering ion that he had no alternative, as eight years. Recounting the events of 1999, the big prize of electoral reform. Labour was not willing to move. Laws said he was struck at the Given how he had also messed This was in contrast to the time by how, due to the heavy up getting electoral reform dur- Cook–Maclennan Labour/Lib focus on fighting the elections, ing the First World War, Martin Dem constitutional talks in the there was relatively little prior Pugh suggested it was an issue run-up to 1997, when the Liberal attention paid to what a coalition he never really got to grips with. Democrats went in well briefed might involve. He had had two All was then swept away by the and with a clear idea of what documents as a jumping off point economic crisis of 1931: Mac- they wished to achieve, whilst – a draft coalition document that Donald formed a coalition with Labour had no clear set of objec- had been going round the party the Conservatives, Labour split tives. Back in the 1970s, the idea since the 1970s, which was of and the National Government of working together was still very limited use, and the Scottish won a huge landslide in the 1931 too hard for Labour to stomach. elections manifesto. Laws there- election. There was no long-term stability fore modelled his first draft of an It was not until the 1970s that based on shared commitment and agreement on the New Zealand the Liberals next had a chance shared objectives. coalition document that he and of power courtesy of a hung It was in 1999 that there was Malcolm Bruce MP had studied parliament. The story of the the next round of Labour–Lib on a prior visit there. This had a Lib–Lab Pact was taken up by Dem talks, a story taken up by very detailed section on how a Tom McNally, who had worked David Laws. He is now MP for partnership would work, along in Downing Street in the 1970s Yeovil, but in 1999 he was the with sections on each policy area. and subsequently became a Lib party’s Policy Director and gave There was – as always – huge Dem peer. He echoed the dangers advice to the Scottish Liberal pressure from the media to make of losing sight of the strategic Democrats on how to handle the very quick decisions after the

40 Journal of Liberal History 65 Winter 2009–10 reports election, despite the time – which is why the discussions also came from fixed-term difficult to deal with and put that consultation takes and had to be heavy on policy parliaments for Scotland. In the Liberals on a hiding to the exhaustion of everyone at detail in order to convince all the other cases discussed nothing in the 1920s, he sug- the end of a campaign. Laws them that an agreement in the meeting, the Prime gested that Gordon Brown erred on the side of believing would deliver enough of what Minister had had the nuclear would be similarly impossible in the importance of speed, they believed in. The subse- option of calling a general to deal with. Laws echoed this in part because of the need quent negotiations were very election at any time. and recounted how Gordon to build confidence that an intensive: Laws showed the Another question was Brown was brought in to the arrangement would work. meeting four different drafts from Michael Meadowcroft, Scottish negotiations at one The draft agreement went of the agreement that were who highlighted the lack of point and shifted his argu- through detailed consulta- produced in just one after- unity between the Asquith ments around in a way which tion with the Scottish Liberal noon. The civil servants were and Lloyd George camps in made negotiation extremely Democrats over two days, not impartial, very much see- the early 1920s. He had met difficult. On that rather con- and then went over to Labour ing themselves as working for someone employed to work temporary note, the meeting by the Sunday evening fol- the largest party. on a by-election of the time. concluded. lowing the election. Labour’s Labour believed that the The by-election team was response was an extremely lure of ministerial jobs would based in one building, but Mark Pack is co-editor of Liberal brief document – only eventually mean that the Lib- split between the two camps Democrat Voice (www.LibDem- four sides – which was not eral Democrats would weaken over two floors – and the per- Voice.org) and a member of the much of a coalition offer. It their demands and agree. But, son he met was employed to Journal’s Editorial Board. talked about ‘implementing by being clear that they would run messages back and forth Labour’s manifesto’ and on not fold, the Liberal Demo- between them. the big issue of tuition fees crats extracted a much more In concluding comments, A short report of this meeting was only offered to monitor the substantive and amenable Tom McNally highlighted posted on the Reuters website on situation for three years. proposal. Labour also found it how similar the lessons 21 September; see http://blogs. One reason why Laws did hard to understand the con- were from all the historical reuters.com/uknews/2009/09/21/ not believe that this was suf- sultative internal processes examples, in particular the liberal-democrats-and-the-bal- ficient was due to his observa- that the Liberal Democrats importance of a united party ance-of-power/ tion that around 20 per cent followed. But these processes with a clear strategy and of of a leader’s colleagues were were crucial, not just to how party consultation, effec- 1 Michael Crick, ‘Why a keen on agreement at any the party operates but also to tive but quick. Martin Pugh hung Parliament is a good price, and around 30 per cent making an agreement that echoed the point, talking bet’, http://www.bbc.co.uk/ wanted no coalition under could last – and it did, in of the need for personalities blogs/newsnight/michael- any circumstance, while effect for eight years. to gel across the agreement. crick/2009/04/why_a_hung_ the remaining 50 per cent Michael Steed in questions Looking at MacDonald’s parliament_is_a_goo.html. were willing to be persuaded raised the point that stability flaws, which made him very

Liberal history quiz 2009: answers (See page 21 for the questions.)

1. Caithness and Sutherland 12. W E Gladstone 2. National Liberals 13. Francis Schnadhorst 3. Henry Campbell-Bannerman 14. John Stuart Mill 4. Charles Kennedy, Simon Hughes, Malcolm Bruce, Jackie 15. Michael Steed Ballard, David Rendel 16. John Bright 5. Minister for Education 17. Six: Margaret Wintringham, 1921–24; Lady Vera Terrington, 6. Richard Allan 1923–24; Hilda Runciman, 1928–29; Megan Lloyd George, 1929–51; Elizabeth Shields, 1986–87; Ray Michie, 1987–88 7. High Commissioner for Palestine (and 1988–2001 as a Liberal Democrat) 8. The National Trust for Scotland 18. Sheelagh Murnaghan 9. Peter Bessell 19. John Morley, Viscount Morley of Blackburn 10. All Saints Church, Sutton Courtenay, Oxfordshire 20. The Beveridge Report 11. Highgate

Journal of Liberal History 65 Winter 2009–10 41 government interference in the land question marked an unwar- Reviews ranted invasion of established property rights. For Liberals, this involved arguing that land was different Land and nation in England from other kinds of property because it was God-given rather Paul Readman, Patriotism, National Identity, and the Politics than man-made. They saw the of Land, 1880–1914 (Royal Historical Society, Studies in enclosures of the eighteenth cen- tury as an act of dispossession of History New Series , 2008) the people that could be put right now that democracy had replaced Reviewed by Iain Sharpe aristocracy as the basis for gov- ernment. They wanted to give he notion of ‘the land for Dr Readman examines how local authorities compulsory pur- the people’ has become an Liberals, Conservatives and chase powers to create allotments Talmost mythical tradition socialists each engaged with and smallholdings so that rural of British liberalism, perhaps these issues. He does this with dwellers once again had a stake in because land reform was such an an emphasis on political lan- the land. Legislation in the early important issue during the late- guage, and in particular on years of the 1905–15 Liberal gov- Victorian and Edwardian periods the ways in which politicians ernment had only limited success – the final years when the Liberal approached the issue in terms of and was ultimately followed by Party retained its position as one patriotism, national character and the launch of Lloyd George’s land of the two great parties of state. the relationship between land campaign in 1913, which sought Lloyd George’s land campaign, and ‘Englishness’. The author not only to transform land tenure, launched in 1913, is one of the finds it ‘astonishing’ that previ- but also to improve rural wages great might-have-beens of Lib- ous scholars have not made the and housing conditions as part of eral politics, offering the possibil- link between land and national a comprehensive programme for ity that, but for the intervention identity and aims to fill the gap. the reform of rural England. of the First World War, it might I don’t quite share the author’s It may too easily be assumed have reinvigorated the party and surprise, since, although recent that this was a sign of the Liber- prolonged its electoral success. Of years have seen a greater interest als’ embrace of a more collectivist course, it was not to be, with the among historians in the theme political approach associated with Liberal Party and the land ques- of patriotism (whether British, the so-called New Liberalism. Dr tion alike fading from the politi- English, Scottish, Irish or Welsh), cal spotlight after the First World it has generally been considered War. Dr Readman’s study of the in the context of social, cultural land question in England during or intellectual, rather than politi- the twenty-five years before 1914 cal, history. However, I certainly will therefore be of particular agree that, in linking the practical interest to students of Liberal question of land reform with the history, even though its scope more abstract question of patrio- extends well beyond the realm of tism, Dr Readman is undertaking any one political party. a welcome new departure, which There were a number of rea- will hopefully lead to fruitful sons why land reform was consid- areas of further research. ered of such importance during Many historians have argued, this period. In the late nineteenth and it is easy therefore to assume, century there was widespread that during the late-Victorian concern about the perceived and Edwardian periods, patriotic decline of British agriculture language was largely the preserve and the twin problems of urban of the political right, from Dis- squalor and rural depopulation. raeli giving Queen Victoria the English systems of land tenure, title of Empress of India through including primogeniture and to the riotous celebrations of the entail, designed to keep estates relief of Mafeking during the together, made the free sale of Boer War. The author demon- land impossible, reducing the strates clearly that this was not dynamism of the rural economy. the case – while Conservatives Ideas about spreading land own- and Liberal Unionists did attempt ership and tenure were discussed to exploit a patriotic agenda for as a key to both economic and electoral gain, both Liberals and social progress, for rural commu- socialists developed their own nities and the country as a whole, patriotic narrative of land reform by halting national decline. and challenged the notion that

42 Journal of Liberal History 65 Winter 2009–10 reviews

Readman questions this, pointing While each of land being held in common But patriotic rhetoric can be used out that much Liberal rhetoric was by the people, and regarded the in different ways: for example, as about putting the land on a busi- party offered Reformation and dissolution of an offensive or defensive weapon ness footing and also about land the monasteries as the moment or to reassure or inflame popular reform as a democratic measure different when the land was stolen from the opinion. During this period, the – a continuation of the Liberal people. In contrast with Liberals Unionists clearly used empire and commitment to creating class solutions and Conservatives, their preferred national defence to question oth- harmony. While state interven- solution was land nationalisation ers’ patriotic credentials as well as tion in land ownership and tenure to the land rather than widening access to the to establish their own, and Liber- was clearly not compatible with land for individuals. als struggled to counter this. One hard-line laissez-faire economics, questions, While each party offered dif- wonders whether Liberal and such views had always had rather the com- ferent solutions to the land ques- socialist patriotic language over less purchase on the Liberal Party tions, the common thread was the land question was motivated than is often thought. Liberal mon thread that all sought to present historical by a genuine wish to contrast commitment to land reform there- precedents that provided a patri- their own patriotic vision with fore represented continuity rather was that otic dimension to their plans. that of their Unionist opponents. than a new departure. Of course, The importance of patriotism as Alternatively, it may simply Conservative opponents tried to all sought a factor in British politics is often have been a means of shielding present Liberal land legislation overlooked, perhaps because it is themselves against accusations of as socialist in intent and effect. to present so much easier to focus on con- introducing alien revolutionary However, partly as a shield against crete ‘issues’ rather than abstract ideas into British politics. Was such accusations, the Liberals were historical ‘themes’. Dr Readman therefore patriotism a motivating factor in careful to situate their reforms breaks new ground in discussing views of the different parties or within a tradition of Englishness, precedents the land issue within the context of merely a rhetorical device? One looking backwards both to the Englishness and national identify. hopes that the publication of Dr pre-enclosure times and to some that provided Inevitably, though, in breaking Readman’s excellent book will extent to the ‘popular system of new ground, the book suggests trigger further debate among his- self-government’ that applied in a patriotic questions as well as answer- torians on these and other issues villages in Anglo-Saxon England. ing them. The most important concerning the role of patriotism Liberal attitudes to land reform dimension to of these concerns the intention within political discourse. contrasted with those of both behind the politicians’ use of Conservatives/Unionists and their plans. patriotic rhetoric. It is no surprise Iain Sharpe is working on a PhD socialists, in terms not only of that patriotism was a feature of thesis on the Liberal Party in the practical solutions, but also of the debates over land reform – for early twentieth century at the Insti- historical precedents they cited. politicians seeking to win votes it tute of Historical Research, Univer- Many traditional Conservatives is probably a good idea to articu- sity of London. He is leader of the were sceptical of any attempt to late an uplifting view of the land Liberal Democrat group on Watford widen access to land, regarding and people they seek to govern. Borough Council. such things as an attack on prop- erty rights and an unviable way of organising agriculture. However, the widening of the franchise fol- lowing the 1884–85 reform acts and the accession to the Conserva- A tale of two symbols tive ranks of the Liberal Unionists meant that a simple defence of the Frank Trentmann, Free Trade Nation: Commerce, status quo was no longer a real- istic option. Instead, Unionists, Consumption and Civil Society in Modern Britain (Oxford driven in part by Jesse Collings, an acolyte of Joseph Chamberlain, University Press, 2008) sought to widen land ownership Reviewed by Tony Little through the revival of the yeoman class of peasant proprietors that had existed before the enclosures. mong Liberal Democrat most notably in September 2006 This approach had briefly held activists traditions are in when the neo-New Liberals attractions for Liberals too, but the Aconflict. The legatees of were prominent in the debate on latter had concluded that it would the classical liberalism of Adam whether the party should retain merely widen social divisions by Smith and John Stuart Mill, gath- a 50 per cent income tax rate, strengthening the ranks of landed ered round the contributors to not for its revenue potential but proprietorship, rather than giv- the The Orange Book, dispute with as a totem of the party’s concern ing all classes access to the land. the inheritors of New Liberal- for the less well-off. The clash Socialist writers such as Robert ism, who published Reinventing is evident whenever the party’s Blatchford and H. M. Hyndman the State. Battle has been joined Shadow Chancellor, Vince Cable, likewise had their distinctive per- in fringe meetings at the party’s suggests that freer trade might be spective. They stressed medieval federal conferences but also sur- in the interest of less developed traditions of ‘Merrie England’, faces in conference resolutions, countries.

Journal of Liberal History 65 Winter 2009–10 43 reviews

An Edwardian Liberal would protectionist, to shelter infant find most of this split incompre- industries, or, as in the case of hensible. Ministers responsible for Canada, more concerned with the implementation of the New nearer neighbours than with the Liberal ideas after 1905 were con- distant mother country. Never- vinced believers in classical lib- theless, his panacea came gradu- eralism and, equally, proponents ally to dominate Tory thinking, of classical economics. It might and free trade was a significant even be argued that some of the factor in the remaining elections celebrated elements of the New before the Great War. Liberalism, such as the People’s Trentmann does not give the Budget of 1909, were the result of details or a comprehensive narra- expediency rather than planning. tive of the Chamberlain propos- Would Lloyd George’s income als. Rather he is concerned with and land tax proposals have been the reaction to them. And it is so radical if he had not had to here, in the first half of the book, fund a naval arms race as well as that Trentmann is at his most old age pensions? valuable, by illuminating the Edwardian Liberals were fer- popular campaigns and explain- vent believers in free trade, and ing the rationale behind them. I use the word fervent advisedly. When I learnt economics, Frank Trentmann’s Free Trade many years ago, we were intro- Nation is the story of the defence duced to free trade through the of free trade in the first decade model of a simplified two-coun- of the twentieth century and the try, two-product world market. undermining of the old order As the assumptions behind the during and after the Great War of model were modified it remained 1914–18. the conclusion that trading was Free trade was central to Vic- in the best interest of both coun- holiday season, sometimes in torian Liberalism. It was the fac- tries, even if one could make both defiance of local by-laws. Natu- tor which first brought together products more cheaply than the rally posters, pamphlets, parodies the elements of what became the other. Tariffs made the products and cartoons played their part, Liberal Party. It split the Tories more expensive and damaged both but, perhaps more surprisingly, so badly in 1846 that they were employment and consumers. The recently developed technologies out of power for a generation and models can be made more com- were pressed into action. In one only clawed their way back after plex and more dynamic but today constituency a pantechnicon van, disowning protectionism. The the arguments of those proposing adapted to show early propaganda British political establishment reducing trade barriers are largely films, attracted large crowds. accepted unilateral free trade as conducted in the rational logical Elsewhere, moving pictures of official policy for the remainder style of the economist. The passion party leaders speaking were syn- of Victoria’s reign, despite some and emotion of the trade protest- chronised with gramophones, and chuntering from the Conserva- ers is dismissed as misguided and lectures were routinely illustrated tives and misgivings about the harmful to the interests of those by magic lantern slides. The more protectionism adopted in Amer- on whose behalf the students dem- enterprising organisers projected ica’s growing economy and the onstrate. Consequently, free trade images on the outside walls of newly created Germany, which does not engage the interest of the buildings. One of the strengths of both threatened British manufac- consumer and there is no popular Trentmann’s book is the use of a turing supremacy. lobby in its favour. fraction of this wealth of propa- Joe Chamberlain crushed the Edwardian Britain was very ganda material as illustrations in cosy consensus in 1903 when different. Pro- and anti-free trad- the text and, at least in the hard- he spoke in favour of giving ers set up displays in high street back edition, as colour plates in preference to imports from the stores. Parades and tableaux were the centre of the book. colonies, imitating the German organised. Trentmann has incor- The use of high street shops customs union across the Brit- porated photographs of the shops, illustrates that much of the cam- ish Empire, and simultaneously of the participants in the tableaux paigning was aimed at the end providing the funding for old or plays, and of the everyday user of imports and suggests that age pensions. Chamberlain’s campaigners haranguing passers- the ‘citizen consumers’ acknowl- proposals initially split Balfour’s by in the streets. Packed mass edged their dual role. One of the government, an alliance of Con- meetings lasting up to two and difficulties for the modern cam- servatives and Liberal Unionists, a half or three hours were held paigner against tariff protection contributing to its landslide defeat with songs sung and hecklers is that while it is relatively easy to in 1906. Curiously, as Trentmann infiltrated into the opposing identify the producers who might makes clear, Chamberlain’s plans camps. Indeed, free trade lectures lose from free trade, whether were not wholly welcomed by were so popular that they were small African farmers or aspiring the Empire. The white settler organised by their hundreds in British manufacturers, consum- colonies were often themselves the popular seaside resorts in the ers rarely see their purchasing

44 Journal of Liberal History 65 Winter 2009–10 reviews as something through which Inadver- competition allocate resources. until, when the depression of they interact with government. The national interest required 1929 struck, free trade no longer Edwardian free traders were able tently gifted that Britain be self-sufficient in had a popular foundation, and to encapsulate the threat to the some commodities, whatever the when Chamberlain’s son, Neville, consumer by the first of Trent- to the Liber- economic theory of comparative pronounced the obsequies, few mann’s symbols, the white loaf. advantage suggested. Trades dis- mourned its passing. Inadvertently gifted to the Liber- als by Cham- rupted by the war and its aftermath The second part of Trentmann’s als by Chamberlain, the threat to required protection to survive. book deals with this decline of free the price of bread, a significant berlain, the Cartels and mergers, securing trade, with a coda about modern part of the working-class diet, economies of scale, could, argu- trade talks made even more rel- dominated the debate and few threat to ably, produce more efficiently than evant by the financial crisis and the speakers neglected to bring large the price of old-fashioned smaller firms. temptation towards beggar-thy- and small loaves to clinch their Each of these developments neighbour policies that occurred case. Other components of the bread, a sig- peeled away free trade support- after his text was written. He has breakfast table played their part ers, including lifelong Liberals. In focused on the details of the vari- in homely illustrations to rouse nificant part future, the state would be more ous bodies that considered post- the passions of the voters, while active: no longer the umpire but Great War trade, and on the elite elderly members of the audience of the work- a player in securing cooperation thinkers, such as Keynes, who were primed to reminisce about among producer interests, epito- provided the intellectual under- the ‘hungry [Eighteen] Forties’, ing-class mised by Trentmann’s second pinning for the changing climate. when Britain had the Corn Laws. symbol – milk. The white loaf was While these chapters lack the nov- Passions were roused to the extent diet, domi- demonstrated to be deficient in elty of the material on the popular that a riot occurred in Wycombe, food values – wholemeal bread was endorsement of free trade, Trent- which ended with the trashing of nated the better and wasted less of the wheat mann has produced a valuable a protectionist ‘Dump Shop’. made scarce by war. Milk, on the guide to the process by which an But, as Trentmann argues, it debate and other hand, was not only vital but argument, and the party that pro- would be a misunderstanding to required the assistance of active moted it, were at first sustained and analyse Liberal commitment to few speakers government to secure its purity, to later undermined. What changed free trade as a cynical exploita- prevent profiteering and to orga- was not the economics but the tion of consumer fears. Cobden’s neglected to nise cooperatives of appropriate public engagement with an ideal. Anti-Corn Law League was not magnitude along the supply chain. seeking merely to cut the price bring large Gradually the number of Tony Little is Chair of the Liberal of cereals. It undermined the and small exceptional treatments built up Democrat History Group. influence of the largest landown- ers who dominated politics as loaves to a specially privileged producer interest. Cobden and Bright clinch their promoted trade to secure world peace and undermine the aristo- case. Edwardian Liberalism cratic system of diplomacy with its vested interest in competition H. V. Emy, Liberals, Radicals and Social Politics, 1892–1914 between nations and the expan- sion of empires. Under the Liber- (Cambridge University Press, 1973; reprinted 2008) als, the state had become not the handmaiden of an elite but a dis- Reviewed by Ian Packer interested or neutral umpire in a pact with all citizens represented hen this book was first embraced social reform, and so under a gradually widening fran- published in 1973 it outflanked the embryonic Labour chise. Taxes were levied fairly on Wappeared at an oppor- Party as the obvious choice for all, through a mix of income and tune moment. Only two years working-class voters. Ross McK- indirect taxes rather than dispro- previously, Peter Clarke’s Lan- ibbin’s Evolution of the Labour portionately on the poor through cashire and the New Liberalism had Party, 1910–24 (1974) responded by charges on basic necessities. Free ignited a wide-ranging debate claiming that Labour’s appeal was competition should work in about the nature and fortunes of based on its identity as a working- favour of all groups in all nations. Edwardian Liberalism. Clarke class party, whatever policies However, it was this moral case had argued that the pre-1914 were pursued by the Liberals, for free trade that was its undoing. Liberal Party was in good health and that Labour’s organisation The Liberals won the 1906 elec- and showed few signs of the rapid and electoral performance were tion and both the elections of 1910 decline that was to set in after the growing strongly before 1914. with free trade as an important Lloyd George–Asquith split of Emy’s book made an impor- part of their armoury. But after 1916 and which was to lead to the tant contribution to the some- World War I popular support faded party’s replacement by Labour times fierce debate that ensued and with it support for Liberalism. as the main anti-Conservative between Clarke’s and McKibbin’s Trade clearly had not preserved force in Britain. The key to viewpoints. Liberals, Radicals and world peace. Winning the war Clarke’s case was his contention Social Politics is a study of politi- was not achieved by letting free that Edwardian Liberalism had cal ideas at the national level in

Journal of Liberal History 65 Winter 2009–10 45 reviews

ideology. In addition, the book context of subsequent scholarship, made a range of important and which suggests that the book’s innovatory points: it emphasised picture of the scale and nature of the significance of looking back the changes in Edwardian politics to the 1880s and 1890s to trace need to be treated cautiously. developments in Liberal thinking; E. H. H. Green’s The Crisis of examined the use of speeches in Conservatism (1995) has drawn Parliament and the press, together attention to the way in which with pamphlets and books, to many Tories favoured state inter- uncover the nature of Liberal vention in the economy through thought; used Parliamentary vot- tariffs and, to some extent, social ing patterns to try and identify reform. This suggests that the who the advocates of social reform debate between Conservatives were among the Liberal MPs; and and Liberals on the economy emphasised the significance of before 1914 was not a straightfor- the long-overlooked issue of land ward matter of laissez-faire eco- reform to Edwardian Liberalism. nomics versus state intervention. Yet, despite this impressive list of Duncan Tanner’s Political Change achievements, Emy’s book never and the Labour Party, 1900–1918 quite achieved a central position in (1990) argues convincingly that the debates about Edwardian Lib- Liberal organisation and finances eralism that Clarke had unleashed. in the Edwardian era were fairly This was partly because it was not robust and efficient and not obvious on which side of the argu- subject to the decline that Emy ment Emy stood. His emphasis on posits. Most importantly, G. R. the importance of New Liberal Searle’s article, ‘The Edward- ideology could be read as support ian Liberal Party and Business’ for Clarke’s case that the Liberal (English Historical Review, 98, 1983) Party had been transformed in the pointed out that the percent- years before 1914 into a vehicle age of businessmen in the ranks the late-nineteenth and early- for working-class aspirations. Yet of Liberal MPs was not falling twentieth centuries. It argues that Emy was not convinced that the substantially in the Edwardian the central division between the New Liberalism would do the era and that they still made up Conservatives and the Liberals Liberal Party any good in the long nearly 40 per cent of Liberal MPs was becoming their disagree- run. He suggested that support for in 1914. The business element in ment over the extent to which social reform created severe strains Edwardian Liberalism remained state intervention in the economy within the Liberal Party and, by powerful and had not been alien- could be justified, especially in the alienating its business supporters, ated by social reform policies to arena of social reform. While the led to organisational weakness and the degree Emy argued. Some Conservatives defended a minimal imminent financial collapse. supported the New Liberalism, role for the state in the economy, But Emy’s book was also while others were still attracted the Liberals increasingly modified overshadowed by later works on by the party’s continuing devo- their ideology to accommodate New Liberal thinking, especially tion to causes like free trade increased direct taxation and wel- two books that appeared in 1978: and its close identification with fare provision – the ‘New Liberal- Clarke’s Liberals and Social Demo- religious Nonconformity. The ism’. Emy concentrates on how crats and Michael Freeden’s The Liberal Party remained a house of Liberals made the general argu- New Liberalism. Clarke’s work was many mansions, and while social ments for this departure and, in a superb in-depth study of the reform was an important part of particular, on the group of young interlinked lives and thought of a Liberal identity by 1914, it was men from the professional classes key group of New Liberal writers only one element. who were committed to these and intellectuals, while Freeden Cambridge University Press’s ideas and who entered Liberal expanded the analysis of New decision to reprint Liberals, politics and journalism in the late- Liberalism to look at its relation- Radicals and Social Politics is very nineteenth and early-twentieth ship to theories about character, welcome. The debate on whether centuries. Indeed, he suggests that ethics, evolution and society. Emy, the Liberal Party was in decline the Liberal Party could only adopt however, published nothing fur- before 1914 still continues, and the cause of social reform because ther on Edwardian Liberalism. By hopefully the wider availabil- economically conservative busi- the time Liberals, Radicals and Social ity that a reprint will bring to nessmen were declining as a per- Politics appeared he had already this book will lead to a renewed centage of Liberal MPs and being taken up a post in the politics appreciation of its significance. replaced by middle-class lawyers department at Monash University But this reprint comes thirty- and writers with a strong interest in Australia, where he has pursued five years after Emy’s book was in social reform. a distinguished career as an analyst first published and a great deal Liberals, Radicals and Social Poli- of modern Australian politics. has been written on Edwardian tics was one of the first extended Moreover, some of Emy’s con- Liberalism since then. It would studies of New Liberalism as an clusions need to be put into the have been helpful if the reprint

46 Journal of Liberal History 65 Winter 2009–10 reviews had contained at least a new Ian Packer is Reader in History at the novel Love on the Dole (1933), an preface to take account of recent University of Lincoln and author of acclaimed best-seller almost over- developments in the historiogra- several works on Edwardian politics, night, which quickly spawned a phy about Liberalism before 1914 including Lloyd George, Liberalism stage play which ran for no fewer and to relate Emy’s work to these and the Land and Liberal Govern- than 400 nights (pp. 70–74). developments. ment and Politics, 1905–15. Equally compelling is the analysis of the publication and impact of the Webbs’ massive tome Soviet Communism: a New Civilisation?, which eventually appeared in two volumes, running to no fewer British intellectual life, 1918–39 than 1,174 pages, in the high summer of 1935. It was a major Richard Overy, The Morbid Age: Britain Between the Wars enterprise which had cost the ageing Webbs dearly during the (London: Allen Lane, 2009) first half of the 1930s. As Overy outlines, the work developed a Reviewed by Dr J. Graham Jones fascinating history all of its own and made a major impact at the ichard Overy, Professor of such as Sigmund Freud and Ernest very time of the Soviet purges History at the University of Jones (both of whose papers the and the growing cult of Stalin in RExeter, is renowned for his author has extensively quarried). Russia (pp. 294–95). numerous highly esteemed vol- Readers of the Journal of Liberal Equally absorbing is the story umes on the history of the Second History devoted to the history of of the success of the Left Book World War, notably The Origins of their party in a strictly narrow Club launched by Victor Gollancz the Second World War, Why the Allies party-political sense are likely to in 1936, which attracted a mem- Won and the award-winning The be disappointed. There is a passing bership exceeding 50,000 within Dictators: Hitler’s Germany, Stalin’s reference to former Liberal J. A. two years (pp. 304–05). Its growth Russia, which was awarded the Hobson joining the Labour Party and influence prompted bookshop prestigious Wolfson Prize for His- (p. 62), and a mention of Lloyd owner W. A. Foyle to launch a tory and the Hessell Tiltman Prize. George, as premier of the post-war rival (but rather less successful) The present voluminous coalition government, arguing Right Book Club in the following tome is really a history of ideas powerfully the case for practising year. The other great publishing during the predominantly sad birth control – ‘it was not possible success of the second half of the inter-war period when many to run an A1 empire with a C3 1930s was the series of Penguin people became convinced that population’ (p. 98). Long-serving the West was facing a real crisis Labour MP Philip Noel-Baker, of civilisation. Overy’s research lover of Megan Lloyd George, is work is awesomely impressive described as ‘a tall, distinctively and complete, comprising mate- good-looking man, a sociable rial from a wide range of archival teetotaller well known for his repositories (most notably the dizzying energy, who sustained holdings of the London School of a lifelong commitment to sport’ Economics, the British Psycho- (p. 225), and here discussed in the Analytical Society, King’s Col- context of pacifist movements in lege, Cambridge, and the British the 1920s and 1930s. Library, London), newspapers and But devotees of ‘liberal’ history journals, and a huge amount of more broadly will find much of contemporary literature and more interest here on the role of pacifist recent secondary sources. This movements like the League of wide range of disparate source Nations Union (pp. 225–26), the materials is skilfully brought most prominent anti-war society together in a compelling narra- of the 1920s, and the ‘People’s tive and analysis. Front’ of the 1930s, championed A good number of fascinat- by the so-called ‘Popular Front’ ing individuals are covered in (pp. 302–04). The varying for- this study, many of them literary tunes of more minor parties like figures like Aldous and Julian the Communists and the British Huxley, Sidney and Beatrice Union of Fascists are discussed in Webb (also very much political the context of inter-war British activists, too, of course), H. G. political evolution (pp. 266–68). Wells, and George Bernard Shaw. There are many passages here There are also political figures like of exceptional interest and highly J. A. Hobson, historians like the readable too, among them the Oxford don Arnold Toynbee and story of Walter Greenwood’s G. D. H. Cole, and psychoanalysts ground-breaking, highly timely

Journal of Liberal History 65 Winter 2009–10 47 A Liberal Democrat History Group evening meeting what’s left of gladstonian liberalism in the liberal democrats? Since the publication of The Orange Book: Reclaiming Liberalism in 2004, there has been an ongoing discussion in the Liberal Democrats about whether the party needs to return to its nineteenth-century Gladstonian inheritance of non-interventionism in economic and social affairs, self-help and an emphasis on personal and political, as opposed to social, liberalism.

Now, in celebration of the bicentenary of the birth of William Ewart Gladstone in 1809, the History Group is holding a meeting to find out what Gladstonian Liberalism was and how it came to dominate late Victorian politics – and to discover just how much of the classical liberal inheritance the Grand Old Man has actually passed down to the current-day Liberal Democrats.

Speakers: Dr Eugenio Biagini (Sidney Sussex, Cambridge; author of many works on 19th century history and ideas, including Liberty, Retrenchment and Reform: Popular liberalism in the age of Gladstone, 1860–1880); Chris Huhne MP (Liberal Democrat Shadow Home Secretary).

7.00pm, Monday 25 January 2010 (immediately following the History Group AGM at 6.30pm) David Lloyd George Room, National Liberal Club, 1 Whitehall Place, London, SW1A 2HE

Specials launched by Allen indeed compelling) section of of contemporary photographs subsequent long lock-out in the Lane to reach ‘a vast reading the book is the closely argued and illustrations, but these are coal industry, the international public for intelligent books at Chapter 8, which traces the simply printed as part of the slump of the period 1929–32, a low price’. No fewer than ideas which evolved and devel- main text rather than pub- the rise of the dictators on the seventeen paperbacks, mostly oped during the long, tortuous lished as independent plates, continent, and Stalin in Russia priced at 6d, appeared during build-up to the outbreak of which would have been more in the 1930s, and the politics 1938 alone and made a major the Second World War in Sep- effective and enjoyable. The of appeasement, all added to impact on the British reading tember 1939, particularly the reproduction of the front cov- the development of this, the public who bought hundreds circumstances of, and reaction ers of numerous books and ‘morbid age’. As Overy argues of thousands of copies and to, the Munich Conference of pamphlet publications dis- convincingly, the outbreak of trebled the takings of Penguin September 1938 and subsequent cussed in the text is especially World War Two was almost Books (who, by a happy coin- agreement. The growing fear, welcome. welcomed as a means of resolv- cidence, have published the present ever since 1918, that a Strangely, there are but few ing the many contradictions present volume). terminal crisis of civilisation references to the impact of and anxieties which had been Another absorbing read is was about to engulf the West- the First World War and the building up over the previous the story of George Orwell, ern world reached its crescendo huge trauma which inevita- two decades. The second war, who travelled from London to during these fateful years. bly resulted for the survivors it was widely believed in 1939– Barcelona in December 1936, From beginning to end the and the bereaved, all of which 40, would either save or totally but was soon compelled by a book is a good read, but it is formed the backdrop to the destroy Western civilisation as sniper’s bullet to return to Eng- sometimes a shade verbose and obsession with pessimism it was known. land where, exceptionally lucky rather heavy going at times; which followed and the visions to have escaped with his life, he on occasions the facts crowd of a catastrophic future to Dr J. Graham Jones is Senior wrote his brilliant book Homage in and become difficult to come. Subsequently, the trau- Archivist and Head of the Welsh to Catalonia (pp. 322–24). Prob- absorb. The volume is well matic experiences of the Gen- Political Archive at the National ably the most substantial (and illustrated with a wide range eral Strike of May 1926 and the Library of Wales, Aberystwyth.