75 Dutton 1936 Preston By-Election

The 1936 PRestON BY-eleCtiON The conduct of by- elections is one of many taxing problems confronting a coalition government. Governments fight by-elections in defence of policies they are already pursuing or are committed to pursuing in the present parliament. Granted that there is, or at least should be, only one set of coalition government policies, there is a strong argument for putting up just one coalition candidate at any by-election. Yet this approach too can cause problems. David Dutton examines the tensions generated between the Liberal Nationals and the Conservatives in the Preston by-election of November 1936. 20 Journal of Liberal History 75 Summer 2012 The 1936 PRestON BY-eleCtiON n the evidence available and a large number of by-elections conflict’.3 In the months that fol- so far, the present Con- took place. In these the chief prob- lowed the 1935 election, moreover, Oservative–Liberal Demo- lem facing the partners to the coa- Simon’s Liberal National faction, crat government appears to have lition was often the decision over once easily dismissed as a group concluded that its component par- which contributing party should of self-serving MPs representing ties should both fight by-election contest the by-election on the gov- no more than their own personal contests rather than uniting behind ernment’s behalf. The doctrine that interests, took on more and more a single candidate. Such a strategy the incumbent party should have a of the attributes of a traditional is no doubt designed to empha- presumed right to stand generally political party. Some of this devel- sise that the parties to the coali- applied, though there were excep- opment was already ongoing. As tion remain separate entities and tions as, for example, when it was Simon noted, ‘I have been very that they will resume their inde- judged urgently necessary to find a busy with the Liberal National pendent identities in time for the seat for Malcolm MacDonald, son organisation, which is now greatly next general election, anticipated of the former Prime Minister Ram- strengthened both as regards per- in 2015. It is also a gesture towards say MacDonald, representing the sonnel and funds’.4 Such activity the autonomy of local constitu- National Labour Party, after he had was now intensified. A monthly ency parties whose role in the selec- gone down to defeat at Bassetlaw in journal, the Liberal National Maga- tion of a parliamentary candidate the general election of 1935.2 Such zine, made its first appearance in is one of the few tangible rewards a doctrine, however, had the disad- March 1936, designed to propa- for a continuous and largely unsung vantage of entrenching the existing gate the party’s ideas and policies, round of fundraising activities and imbalance between the compo- while strenuous efforts were made delivered party leaflets.1 Yet there nent parts of the coalition. The by- to build up a national and regional is a potential problem here. Unlike election that took place in Preston infrastructure to cover the whole of general elections, by-elections are in November 1936 highlights the Great Britain. The Liberal National not fought on the basis of the future problems that could arise and the Magazine carried monthly reports policies that a particular party will resulting tensions between the gov- of the political and social activi- pursue, if elected, in the next par- erning parties. ties of these local bodies. The work liament. Governments fight by- After the general election of of consolidation culminated in the elections in defence of policies they November 1935 it was plausible holding of a first Liberal National are already pursuing or are com- to suggest that the National Gov- Convention in June 1936, attended mitted to pursuing in the present ernment, constructed four years by more than 700 delegates. By the parliament. Granted that there is, earlier as an emergency measure end of the year the Liberal National or at least should be, only one set to save the currency and balance Organisation had taken over addi- of coalition government policies, the national budget, was develop- tional office space in Old Queen the voters at by-elections could, in ing into something permanent. Street. ‘We shall then be in a better theory, be presented with two iden- Two general elections had resulted position’, noted the Liberal National tical sets of policies by the Conserv- in popular endorsements by the Magazine, ‘to deal with the rapidly ative and Liberal Democrat parties. electorate that were unmatched expanding work arising out of the In the wartime governments of in scale in the whole of the twen- development of our organisation the twentieth century the argument tieth century. As John Simon, the throughout the country.’5 of patriotic necessity offered ample leader of the larger of the non- Yet a major problem remained. justification for the avoidance of Conservative components of the Though the non-Conservative by-election contests, even before government, noted in his diary, elements were relatively well rep- the coalitions of May 1915 and May ‘the conception of a National Gov- resented within the government 1940 were formed. But in the cen- ernment corresponded with the – in the reconstructed Cabinet the tury’s longest period of peacetime outlook of ordinary citizens, who Liberal Nationals held four posts6 coalition, the National Govern- had come to believe that the best and the National Labour group ment that took office in August way out of our difficulties was by Preston in the three7 – the balance of strength 1931, no such imperative existed way of cooperation rather than of 1930s within the House of Commons Journal of Liberal History 75 Summer 2012 21 the 1936 PRestON BY-eleCTION was overwhelmingly weighted respectively. As recently as 1929 In the of the left-wing supporters of the towards the Tories. In the new the Liberal Party had attracted as National Government was becom- parliament 388 Conservatives sat much as 23.6 per cent of those who months that ing more imperative with every alongside 35 Liberal Nationals and went to the polls. By 1935, how- passing month. Otherwise, right- just 8 National Labour MPs. But ever, the independent Liberal vote followed the wing Conservatives would be able doing anything about this imbal- had dropped to just 6.6 per cent. It to argue that the Liberal Nation- ance was no easy matter, not least seemed reasonable to argue that at 1935 election, als and the National Labour group because Conservative party manag- least some of these missing Liberals did not stand for a sufficiently ers could readily take refuge behind were now supporting not just Lib- moreover, definite policy and that their influ- the autonomy of their local party eral National candidates but also, ence was therefore negative and associations. A National Co-ordi- because of their electoral partner- Simon’s Lib- their electoral usefulness doubtful. nating Committee had been set up ship with the Simonite group, the eral National Bernays called for weekly meet- in March 1933, one of whose tasks Conservatives themselves. ings of the Liberal National and was to find more opportunities for The first prominent figure to faction, once National Labour groups to decide representatives of the two minor speak out publicly on behalf of upon a common line and an agreed parties within the government. But the National Government’s jun- easily dis- spokesman on all important issues it had few tangible achievements to ior partners was Earl de la Warr, of government business. ‘A really its name, not least because it tended National Labour Parliamentary missed as a powerful group’, he judged, ‘would to draw back when confronted by Under-Secretary at the Board of revolutionize the viewpoint of the accusation that it was ‘giving Education in Stanley Baldwin’s group of self- our Conservative colleagues’ and away’ Conservative seats. Conserv- administration.9 Speaking to the perhaps ultimately attract the ative criticism of its activities was first Area Conference organised serving MPs adherence of moderate Tories and voiced at the meeting of the party’s by the National Labour Party in independent Liberals. Action was National Union Central Council Birmingham in May 1936, de la represent- urgent. With Baldwin’s retirement in March 1934. It was always pos- Warr declared that there were mil- believed to be imminent, Bernays sible that the future electoral tide lions of men and women who were ing no more warned that his successor might would swing even more favourably determined not to hand the coun- well try to take the government to towards the government, allow- try over to Attlee’s Labour Party, than their the right.11 ing Liberal National and National but equally determined not to vote Bernays’s letter gave rise to a Labour candidates to pick up addi- for a purely Conservative govern- own per- lively debate in the correspondence tional seats in constituencies they ment. He called for the creation columns of The Times. The newspa- were already contesting. In prac- of a strong, fighting centre group, sonal inter- per itself applauded his ideas to the tice, however, the election of each which would be more than a mere ests, took extent that it recognised the impor- new Liberal National or National coalition of the supporters of the tance of the National Government Labour MP would probably require government – ‘“fighting” because on more and pursuing radical social policies, but an act of self-denial on the part of a of its realism, and “centre” because it dismissed Bernays’s fears about well-established local Conservative it abhorred equally complacency more of the the future direction of the National organisation.

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