Liberal divisions Ian Hunter looks at the attempts to reunite the Liberal Nationals with the official Liberal Party in the 1940s TheThe finalfinal questquest forfor LiberalLiberal reunionreunion 1943–461943–46 he decline of the Liberal Party as a party of separate organisation from the Samuel-led Liberals Tgovernment during the first half of the twenti- and remained firm supporters of the Tory-domi- eth century was marked by a series of splits and per- nated National Governments. sonal rivalries. Most famous and most damaging was With the formation of Churchill’s Coalition the split in between the followers of H. H. Government in May , the Liberal Nationals and Asquith and David Lloyd George, which saw the Liberals again found themselves working alongside Liberal Party divided in allegiance from top to bot- each other in the national cause. The leaders of both tom until the mid s, although personal animosi- the Liberal Party and the Liberal National Party ties lasted much longer. (Sinclair and Simon) entered the government to- A further fault line divided the party again in the gether with the Labour Party leaders. Sir Archibald early s. This schism centred on a divide between Sinclair took over the responsibilities of the Air those Liberals who followed the then Liberal Party Ministry and Sir John Simon accepted a peerage and Leader and National Government Home Secretary became Lord Chancellor. For the Liberals, Sir Percy Herbert Samuel, and those who aligned themselves Harris became Deputy Leader and Ernest Brown with Sir John Simon, a leading Liberal and Foreign became the leader of the Liberal Nationals in the Secretary under MacDonald. The issue that divided Commons. This experience of cooperation and the the party on this occasion was less the personalities approach of the pending general election at the end of the leaders, although there was little love lost be- of the war ignited an outbreak of reunion negotia- tween Samuel and Simon, than their attitudes to the tions that ran from –. National Government. Simonite Liberals had found This interesting period of the Liberal Party’s his- that over the course of the period – they had tory has been mostly overlooked by political histori- become increasingly discontented with the record ans who have tended to focus on the wartime poli- of the Labour Government and more sympathetic tics of the Conservative and Labour parties during to and attracted by the policies of the Conservative the Coalition. Those historians who have covered Party. This preference grew through their involve- the period from a Liberal angle have argued that the ment in the National Government formed in . involvement of the leaders of the Parliamentary Lib- Simon had also abandoned the traditional Lib- eral Party in the Churchill coalition had a detrimen- eral commitment to free trade with his belief that tal effect on the prospects of the party. Malcolm tariff protection was necessary to help British in- Baines, for example, has argued that Sir Archibald dustry weather the storms of economic recession. Sinclair’s involvement as Air Minister ‘removed his This created a rift with the Samuelite Liberals in skilled management, which had helped preserve the National Government which proved unity in the thirties’. More recently, Garry Tregidga unbridgeable. In September , when the three has observed that in the traditional Liberal strong- Samuelite Liberal ministers in the National Gov- hold of South-West England, where by the ernment resigned over the Ottawa Convention’s Liberals had finally consolidated their position, ‘the tariff reforms, Simon and his followers (who were war years removed the possibility of a recovery. then known as Liberal Nationals) remained on the Sinclair’s effective absence from party politics meant National Government benches. For the rest of the that the Liberals lost the initiative.’ However, less period –, the Liberal Nationals operated as a frequently commented upon is the disastrous impact 12 Journal of Liberal Democrat History 32 Autumn 2001 that the Second World War had on the Brown’s offer of discussions. For the be underrated. The Prime Minister fortunes of the Liberal National party. Liberal Party the team included the [Churchill] was popular of course, but The formation of the Coalition Deputy Leader, Sir Percy Harris, Lord the Conservative Party was very un- Government in May initiated a Gilpin, Wilfred Roberts, Crinks popular. Even in this last year, in the period of formal electoral truce be- Johnstone, Geoffrey Mander and middle of a war, Independent candi- tween the main parties. With normal Dingle Foot. For the Liberal National dates, had got in, and polled big votes competition between the parties sus- Party the negotiators were Lord Teviot, against the Government.’ Foot ob- pended it might have been expected Sir Frederick Hamilton, Geoffrey served that Government candidates that each political party would remain Shakespeare, Alec Beecham, Stanley standing at by-elections were in effect on an even keel. However, while the Holmes and Henderson Stewart. Harris standing under a ‘coupon’ arrangement Sinclair Liberals suffered no desertions was elected as Chairman by both teams. and it was not doing them much good. or resignations from their parliamen- The main terms of the negotiations did The Liberal Nationals were of the view, tary team, the Liberal Nationals showed not focus on the position of leader, as however, that a ‘coupon’ election was significant signs of falling apart. In early Brown had previously indicated that he unavoidable and that those of a Liberal Clement Davies resigned the Lib- would be satisfied to serve under persuasion should be positioning them- eral National whip and sat as an inde- Sinclair. The key issues surrounding the selves in order to get the best deal pos- pendent Liberal, before rejoining the terms of reunion for the Liberal Na- sible in terms of seats. For the mainstream Liberal Party in early . tionals were highlighted at the start of Sinclairites, Sir Percy Harris stuck to Four more Liberal National MPs fol- the negotiations by Sir Geoffrey Shake- the line that they wanted the Liberal lowed Davies’ route, with Leslie Hore- speare. According to a memo written Party to remain free and independent. Belisha, Sir Henry Morris-Jones, Edgar by Dingle Foot to Archibald Sinclair Although the Liberal Nationals agreed Granville and Sir Murdoch Macdonald the Liberal Nationals were particularly that this was an admirable objective it relinquishing the whip or refusing to concerned with the following issues: was clear, in the words of Foot, that ‘we participate in Liberal National party ac- . The importance of the ‘gospel of understood very different things by the tivities – a loss of over % of the par- free enterprise’; words “independent” and “free”’. liamentary party. This situation was . The need for a ‘sound’ agricultural The pivotal position of Winston compounded in April by the loss policy; Churchill, himself a former Liberal, in of a further Liberal National seat at the . That the government post-war the strategic thinking of both groups of Eddisbury by-election, to the newly would not be a party government Liberals can be seen in Sir Percy formed Common Wealth party. but a continuance of the National Harris’s comment that ‘Winston was Coalition government of wartime; nearly sixty-nine and not immortal. In . That the Liberal Party could not the event of his breakdown or death The first round: support or put into office a minority they [the Liberal Nationals] should ask negotiations 1943–44 Labour government. themselves whether they were still pre- From this weakened platform in July The Liberal National Party’s willingness pared to commit themselves to close as- Ernest Brown inaugurated discus- to go into coalition with the Conserva- sociation with the Conservative sions with Sir Archibald Sinclair over tives after the end of the war proved to Party’. Foot’s impression of the Lib- fusion of the two parties. Negotiations be the main source of contention with eral Nationals was that they were continued until the end of November Sir Percy and his team. Crinks strongly in favour of a Conservative– , when they eventually collapsed at Johnstone, himself a minister in Church- Liberal coalition against Labour and Sinclair’s insistence that the Liberal ill’s government at the time, as Secretary that they dreaded and disliked the La- Party would not continue with the Na- for Overseas Trade, declared that it bour Party and its leaders. Foot com- tional or Coalition Government be- would be fatal to declare any willingness mented to Sinclair that the highest yond the end of the war. However, in to enter a coalition government after the hope and aspiration of the Liberal Na- the aftermath of the general elec- war. This would undermine the Liberals’ tionals, at the election expected at the tion, when both Liberal parties lost position; the only sensible policy was to conclusion of the war, ‘is a coupon their parliamentary leaders and many of continue to build from a platform of in- election with some charitable alloca- their remaining seats, reunion negotia- dependent strength so as to be in a good tion of seats’. The negotiations broke up tions were resumed during mid- to late position to make terms as and when the with the promise that the teams would . Papers that have recently come to time came. meet again and that the Liberal Nation- light during research on the Liberal The Liberal Party representatives als would consider their position over Party and its role in the Churchill coa- were of the opinion that something of a the issue of proportional representation lition have cast light on the reasons for Liberal revival was under way in the and read the resolutions and minutes the final failure to heal the long-stand- country and that many young candi- passed at the last two Liberal Party ing split within Liberal ranks.