Alliance Days Richard Holme provides a few vignettes of the days of elation and experiment, frustration and failure.

First the famous, or no doubt to David Owen Another vignette, and I find it difficult to re-  member the date, is a recollection of walking infamous, Königswinter Compact. In in the the beautiful hills around Ettrick Bridge with margins of the annual Anglo-German Conference David Steel and his labrador, talking about the beside the Rhine there was a lunch at a riverside hotel name we should put on this new combination and agreeing ‘Alliance’ was the best option, followed by a walk up the Drachenfels. The lending itself to an alternating prefix. participants were Bill Rodgers, Shirley Williams, John And subsequently telling Roy Jenkins at a Roper, then SDP Chief Whip, David Steel and myself. rally at Central Hall that in the Croydon byelection Bill Pitt would be fighting as The SDP was in its first flush of heady opinion poll Liberal-SDP Alliance, and showing him stick- success, the subject of enormous interest among the ers and leaflets. He gulped but took the ‘bounce’ conference participants and understandably rather with his usual aplomb. Jennifer Jenkins was forthright in her support. pleased with itself. At the lunch there was white wine, pale spring sunshine and a lot of mutual teasing. Then there is the painful memory of negoti- ating the  manifesto. Negotiated manifes- Somewhat to my surprise we managed to tos are not a good idea, whether intra-party reach agreement in principle, without too or, as this was, between parties. They tend to- much difficulty, that the attempt to break the wards the lowest common denominator rather mould should be concerted rather than com- than the highest common factor. And whereas petitive. I set down, there and then, on a paper I am proud of my part in the  and  table napkin in rather blurred handwriting, the Liberal Democrat manifestos, I cannot say the three-point understanding which we had same of the last Alliance platform. It was bland reached: broad agreement on principles; seat and uninspiring. sharing rather than fighting each other, the The miracle is that we succeeded in get- details to be negotiated; and Joint Policy Com- ting agreement on anything at all. The prob- missions on major issues. On the way through lem was not with Ian Wrigglesworth and my- the winding alleys of the town towards the hill self, heading our respective teams, nor with after lunch I vividly recall Shirley saying to me Wendy Buckley and Peter Knowlson consci- ruefully that she supposed she would now have entiously servicing our labours. It was rather to support PR. with Michael Meadowcroft and Sue Slipman This event, and its consequences, were seen facing each other across the table – for whom subsequently as an historic sell-out of the iden- most issues were issues of principle and for tity and independence of the new party by whom differences of emphasis were David Owen. To David Steel and myself they unbridgeable chasms. I was not surprised that, seemed common sense. To the other SDP par- whereas most of us involved ended up in the ticipants I believed they seemed inevitable for same party, Michael and Sue decided to fol- two third parties in a political system with low their respective lonely paths. winner-takes-all voting. Then, as part of the follow-up to that agree- Then, who of those involved would not recall, ment, in constructing the broad agreement on generally with a feeling of furious sorrow, the principles I recall sitting with David Marquand events surrounding the Joint Defence Com- in the refreshment room at King’s Cross, in late mission. John Edmonds, an emollient and May, drafting and redrafting amid the puddles knowledgeable chairman had laboured hard of cold tea, the document which was to be called, over a compromise with a certain amount of at least officially, ‘A Fresh Start for Britain’. behind-the-scenes diplomacy between the

12 journal of liberal democrat history 18: spring 1998 equally knowledgeable John Roper when someone asked me how the which was in my mind when we and myself, less expert but willing. Assembly had gone, said that I was put together the team for the  It was clear that he had succeeded thinking of applying for political general election. when Bill Rodgers, with his own asylum. record of opposition to unilateral- The final vignette is of being taken ism in the Labour Party, gave his sup- Then, as for so many other Liberals out to lunch by Mike Thomas, David port to the report. We all thought and Social Democrats, there are the Owen’s most loyal henchman – we had built a bridge across which memories of the byelections. Croy- older readers will remember Roy people with different perspectives in don, and the recollection of break- Jenkins’ description of him as ‘the the Alliance could move freely and fast daily with Bill Pitt, the table a pint-sized Pavarotti’ – in early . without embarrassment. mass of newspapers and Weetabix, I was slightly surprised by the We had all reckoned without the preparing the rigours of the morn- invitation because we were hardly Doctor. Undoubtedly provoked by ing press conference which I soulmates. He made me a threat I David Steel, in the shape of a pre- chaired. could not refuse. I should desist from emptive briefing on publication of Or Roy Jenkins turning a narrow the so-called convergence strategy, of the report, his fellow leader went bal- defeat in Warrington into a moral vic- letting the two parties evolve towards listic. Every hawkish instinct came to- tory and then converting that into the closer union, putting no obstacle in gether with his barely concealed con- real thing at Hillhead. I remember the way of this, or something terri- tempt for lily-livered Liberals and his one lady in Kelvinside, of overpow- ble would happen. deep distrust of his collaborationist ering refinement herself, telling me – ‘What?’ fellow leaders. that although she was a lifelong Tory – ‘Good people like David Owen Eastbourne was not happy. I re- she would be voting for Roy because and myself will simply leave politics.’ member making a very poor speech he was such a gentleman. We didn’t – and they did. myself, in good company it must be Then minding Shirley for a day said, and leaving there miserably in Crosby and realising for myself Lord Holme of Cheltenham CBE was aware that the best of the Alliance that beneath the charm and President of the Liberal Party – was behind us. ‘ Never again glad wide-ranging policy interest, there and candidate for Cheltenham in  and confident morning.’ I went directly lay an incomparable election fight- ’. Made a life peer in , he was elec- to the British-American Project ing machine of great stamina and tion manifesto coordinator in  and conference in Philadelphia and, toughness of mind, something election campaign director in .

Research in Progress This column aims to assist research projects in progress. If you can help any of the individuals listed below with sources, contacts, or any other helpful information – or if you know anyone who can – please pass on details to them. If you know of any other research project in progress for inclusion in this column, please send details to the Editor at the address on page 2.

The party agent and English electoral culture, The Liberal Party and foreign and defence c.1880 – c.1906. The development of political agency policy, 1922–88. Book and articles; of particular as a profession, the role of the election agent in interest is the 1920s and ’30s; and also the possibility of managing election campaigns during this period, and the interviewing anyone involved in formulating the foreign changing nature of elections, as increased use was made and defence policies of the Liberal Party. Dr R. S. of the press and the platform. Kathryn Rix, Christ's Grayson, 8 Millway Close, Oxford OX2 8BJ. College, Cambridge, CB2 2BU; [email protected] The grass roots organisation of the Liberal Liberal defections to the Conservative Party, Party 1945–64; the role of local activists in the late c.1906–1935. Nick Cott, 24, Balmoral Terrace, 1950s revival of the Liberal Party. Mark Egan, First Floor Gosforth, Newcastle-upon-Tyne, NE3 1YH; Flat, 16 Oldfields Circus, Northolt, Middlesex UB5 4RR. [email protected] The political and electoral strategy of the The Liberal Party 1945–56. Contact with members Liberal Party 1970–79. Individual constituency (or opponents) of the Radical Reform Group during the papers from this period, and contact with individuals who 1950s, and anyone with recollections of the leadership of were members of the Party’s policy committees and/or the Clement Davies, sought. Graham Lippiatt, 24 Balmoral Party Council, particularly welcome. Ruth Fox, 7 Mulberry Road, South Harrow, HA2 8TD. Court, Bishop’s Stortford, Herts CM23 3JW.

journal of liberal democrat history 18: spring 1998 13