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Liberal Post-War By-Elections the Inverness Turning Point

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LIBERAL POST-WAR BY-ELECTIONS THE INVERNESS TURNING POINT The by-election HE 1951 election is widely broad front of 475 in 1950, inevi- accepted as the low point tably meant a drastic reduction victories at Torrington in Liberal general elec- in the total number of votes in 1958 and Orpington tion performance. It cast for the party. The Liberals’ saw the party’s lowest share of the vote collapsed to in 1962 confirmed Tshare of the total vote, lowest 2.5 per cent, down from 9.1 per that the Liberal Party’s number of candidates and a fall cent in 1950. The party polled in the number of MPs elected only 730,556 votes, compared to recovery from its to its lowest level at a general 2,621,548 in 1950. election.1 At the following gen- The most high-profile casu- low point of the 1951 eral election in 1955 the average alty among the Liberal MPs at general election – only share of the vote per Liberal the 1951 election was the party’s candidate increased slightly, to Deputy Leader, Megan Lloyd about a hundrded 15.1 per cent from 14.7 per cent. George, who lost Anglesey to candidates, only six Fewer deposits were lost in 1955, Labour by 595 votes, after hav- despite an increase of one in ing represented the constitu- of whom were elected the number of candidates. All ency without a break since 1929. – was under way. But six Liberal MPs who fought the Emrys Roberts lost Merioneth, 1955 election were returned – the also to Labour. The other two when did the recovery first election since 1929 when losses were both to the Con- start, and was there an the party did not suffer a net loss servatives: Edgar Granville lost of seats. These figures suggest Eye in Suffolk, having repre- identifiable turning that a recovery may have started sented the constituency since point? Fifty years between 1951 and 1955. 1929, and Archibald Macdon- ald lost Roxburgh and Selkirk, on, Alun Wyburn- only eighteen months after first Powell examines The 1951 general election capturing the seat. The Liberals’ and its aftermath one gain in the 1951 election was how the Liberals’ The Liberals had entered the at Bolton West, won by Arthur 1951 general election with nine Holt. Here a pact had been little-remembered 1954 seats; five were held, four were agreed with the Conservatives, by-election near-miss lost and one new seat was cap- who did not contest the constit- tured, resulting in a new low uency in return for the Liberals’ at Inverness marked of only six. The party had only standing aside in neighbouring a step-change in the been able to field109 candidates Bolton East. and, of these, only 45 were fight- In 1951 only eleven Liberal Liberal Party’s electoral ing the same seat as in 1950. The candidates managed to achieve fortunes. severe pruning of the number second place. Even this figure of Liberal candidates, from the flattered the real achievements 18 Journal of Liberal History 53 Winter 2006–07 LIBERAL POST-WAR BY-ELECTIONS THE INVERNESS TURNING POINT and gave little optimism for cross-section of society: it com- of mind and may be quite illogi- future breakthroughs, as four prised five lawyers and a hosiery cal. However, there it is.’4 But of them were the sitting Liberal manufacturer.3 All were men; Davies’ curious statement may MPs who had been defeated. half were Welsh. Only one of the have been based on more than Another two, Frank Byers and Liberal MPs, Jo Grimond, had mere wishful thinking. His Dingle Foot, were former Lib- faced a Conservative opponent own position as party leader eral MPs from earlier parlia- at the election. In the space of six had, perversely, been strength- ments attempting to return.2 years and three general elections ened by the bad result of the Another, Violet Bonham Carter, all except one of the MPs had election.5 For the first five years came second out of two in Colne changed. The party leader, Clem of his leadership from 1945, his Valley, where the Conserva- Davies, was the only Liberal MP predecessor, Archie Sinclair, had tives had stood aside. Only four who had sat continuously in the been expected to return to the other Liberal candidates man- Commons since before 1945 and Commons and retake the helm. aged second place in 1951. John he had only returned to the Lib- Sinclair was by now extremely Halse achieved this in Honiton, erals in 1942, having been out- unlikely to stage a comeback, but was over 17,000 votes away side the party for eleven years, as having failed to regain his seat from victory. Roy Douglas an Independent and, before that, in 1950 and then not having came 15,595 votes behind the a Liberal National. stood again in 1951. The 1951 Labour victor in Bethnal Green, election had removed from the a constituency which had been Commons the three left-wing represented by a Liberal MP, Sir Any hope for the future? MPs who had been most vocal Percy Harris, as recently as 1945. In the aftermath of the 1951 in their opposition to the par- Stuart Roseveare came slightly general election, Clem Dav- ty’s leadership and direction closer, but was still nearly 10,000 ies wrote: ‘Curiously, I am – Megan Lloyd George, Edgar votes adrift of being elected less depressed today than I was Granville and Emrys Roberts. in Bodmin – the constituency in 1945 or 1950. I cannot give a Megan Lloyd George’s and which had been held by Din- reason for this. It is just a state Violet Bonham Carter’s defeats gle Foot’s father, Isaac, for the Liberals until 1935. Lastly, John Liberal Party general election performance 1945–1964 Junor, the journalist, achieved a strong showing in Dundee West Election date Number of Liberal Number of Liberal MPs Liberal share of total candidates elected vote (%) in the absence of a Conservative opponent, gaining over 25,000 1945 306 12 9.1 votes but still falling 3,306 short 1950 475 9 9.1 of victory. 1951 109 6 2.5 The Parliamentary Liberal 1955 110 6 2.7 Party which emerged after the 1959 216 6 5.9 1951 election could hardly have claimed to represent a broad 1964 365 9 11.2 Journal of Liberal History 53 Winter 2006–07 1 THE invERNESS TURning POint By-elections contested by Liberals, Tories and Labour 1945-1959 motives for making the offer. He was indebted to Clem Dav- By-election date Constituency Liberal share of vote Change in Liberal (%) share of vote ies for the part he had played from last general in Chamberlain’s downfall in election (if fought) May 1940, which had cleared (%) the way for Churchill’s pre- 14 Nov 45 Bromley 11.3 –9.7 miership. Churchill wanted 15 Nov 45 Bournemouth 19.5 –3.4 to shore up his parliamentary majority of eighteen seats and 19 Nov 46 Bermondsey 22.6 was keen to bring the Liberal 11 Sep 47 Liverpool Edge Hill 4.4 Party into his government. He 25 Sep 47 Islington West 16.0 also hoped to include the sons 27 Nov 47 Howdenshire 10.5 –4.4 of Asquith and Lloyd George 27 Nov 47 Edinburgh East 10.1 in his team. Former Liberal MP, Gwilym Lloyd-George,8 had 4 Dec 47 Surrey, Epsom 7.5 –4.7 by then become a Conservative 28 Jan 48 Glasgow Camlachie 1.2 MP and was appointed Minis- 11 Mar 48 Croydon North 9.4 –9.4 ter of Food, but Cyril Asquith, 8 Dec 49 Bradford South 6.3 –8.1 a lawyer, rather than a politi- 30 Nov 50 Bristol South East 8.1 –1.4 cian, declined the Woolsack on 6 Feb 52 Bournemouth East 10.1 –1.5 health grounds. Although Clem Davies realised that Churchill’s 6 Feb 52 Southport 9.5 –5.5 offer would almost certainly 13 May 53 Sunderland South 5.3 provide his last opportunity to 30 Jun 53 Abingdon 7.1 serve in government, he knew 19 Nov 53 Holborn & St Pancras 2.3 –1.7 that it would not be in his par- 3 Feb 54 Ilford North 7.9 +1.4 ty’s interests to accept. Davies 30 Sep 54 Croydon East 8.0 was desperately tempted but decided to decline, as long as his 21 Dec 54 Inverness 36.0 party managers agreed with his 15 Dec 55 Torquay 23.8 +9.6 decision.9 Davies called a meet- 14 Feb 56 Hereford 36.4 +11.6 ing of his twelve most senior 14 Feb 56 Gainsborough 21.6 colleagues, explained the posi- 1 Mar 56 Walthamstow West 14.7 tion to them and left the room while the group debated the 15 Nov 56 Chester 12.1 +0.4 decision. Eleven of the twelve 29 May 57 Edinburgh South 23.5 felt that Davies should decline 27 Jun 57 Dorset North 36.1 +3.7 the offer. Only Violet Bonham 12 Sep 57 Gloucester 20.1 Carter was minded to press for 24 Oct 57 Ipswich 21.5 acceptance.10 It later became 5 Dec 57 Liverpool Garston 15.2 clear that, in addition to her per- sonal admiration for Churchill, 12 Feb 58 Rochdale 35.5 she also believed that she would 27 Mar 58 Torrington 38.0 have been offered a junior min- 12 Jun 58 Ealing South 17.2 +7.6 isterial post.11 12 Jun 58 Weston-Super-Mare 24.5 In 1951 the Liberal Party 12 Jun 58 Argyll 27.5 could have been taken over by 20 Nov 58 Aberdeenshire East 24.3 the Conservatives or have been obliterated, but instead it sur- 29 Jan 59 Southend West 24.2 +9.2 vived this testing time intact.
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