SIR ARCHIBALD SINCLAIR, THE LIBERAL PARTY AND THE ABDICATION OF EDWARD VIII
Sinclair’s instincts were sound, Papers F; Philip Murphy, Alan in February he was inter- even if he never quite succeeded Lennox-Boyd: A Biography (London: I. viewed in the House of Lords by in imposing his strategy. B. Tauris, ), p. . Dr Russell Deacon. . Martin Gilbert, Winston Churchill Vol. V – (London: Heinemann, Martin Pugh was Professor of Modern ), pp. –. How did you come to fight Cardi- British History at Newcastle Univer- . PRO CAB//-, ‘King gan? sity until and Research Professor Edward VIII Notes by Sir Horace I had been a Cardiganshire Lib- at Liverpool John Moores University Wilson’. eral for a long time before I went . PRO PREM /, Cabinet meet- –. His latest book is The ing Notes, and December . into national politics. I’d won Pankhursts (Allen Lane, ) and . PRO PREM /, Cabinet meet- a council seat in and got he is currently completing a book on ing Notes, December . really active with the Welsh Lib- fascism in Britain between the wars. . Daily Express, December . erals in the mid-s. In . Times, December . Roderic Bowen lost the seat and . Times, December ; Daily . See Keith Middlemas and John Express, December . so I stood in the selection contest Barnes, Baldwin: A Biography (Lon- . PRO CAB/. to become the next Liberal can- don: Weidenfeld and Nicolson, . Gerrard De Groot, Liberal Crusader: ); Philip Ziegler, King Edward didate. I only received four votes; The Life of Sir Archibald Sinclair (Lon- VIII (London: Collins, ); Frances the executive who voted for don: Hurst and Company, ), pp. Donaldson, Edward VIII ( London: Huw Lloyd Williams was also full –. Weidenfeld and Nicolson, ); a . Gilbert, Winston Churchill, pp. –; of his friends and relatives. Later revisionist approach is Susan Wil- Michael Bloch, The Reign and Abdi- on I also went for the Meirion- liams, The People’s King: the True Story cation of Edward VIII ( London: Cape, of the Abdication (London: Allen Lane, nydd seat, which was then a ), p. . ). Labour–Liberal marginal. Once . Bernard Wasserstein, Herbert Samuel: . For some indiscretions see Cam- again I lost. This was a real pity as A Political Life (Oxford: Clarendon bridge University Library: Temple- Press, ), pp. , , –. I felt that I could have won that wood Papers RF, p. ; Ziegler, King . Bloch, The Reign and Abdication of seat back for the Liberals. Instead Edward VIII, p. ; Barnes and Mid- Edward VIII, p. . dlemas, Baldwin, p. . they chose I. E. Thomas who put . Lloyd George to Megan Lloyd . Churchill College Cambridge: Duff us into third position behind the George, December , in Cooper Papers /, Abdication K. O. Morgan ed., Lloyd George: Fam- Nationalists. I ended up fight- Diary, November . ily Letters, – (Cardiff: Univer- ing Brecon & Radnor. The seat . House of Lords Record Office: Sam- sity of Wales Press, ), p. . was almost derelict in terms of uel Papers A/, Lord Salisbury to . News Chronicle, December . Herbert Samuel, November ; Liberal supporters: they hadn�t . News Chronicle, December . Samuel to Salisbury, September had a candidate there for twenty . News Chronicle, December . . . News Chronicle, editorial December years. It was there that I helped . Kenneth Harris, Attlee (London: Wei- . build up the constituency and denfeld and Nicolson, ), –. . Hansard, House of Commons won almost per cent of the . Daily Worker, December ; Los Debates, , December , Angeles Times, November . vote. This planted the seeds for c.–. . Daily Mail, , , December ; Richard Livsey’s victory fifteen . De Groot, Liberal Crusader, . Daily Express, , December . years later. . Notably in December at the . Times, December ; Barnes and Duchess of Atholl’s by-election in Huw Lloyd Williams lost Car- Midlemass, Baldwin, p. ; Lyming- West Perth and Kinross. digan for the Liberals in , ton to the King (draft), December , Hampshire CRO, Lymington and in I stood again for I was a selection and was not opposed. I made sure that time that my Welsh friends were on the executive to national- support me. I was determined to rebuilt Cardigan as a Liberal ist and a seat. In I persuaded a large number of Independents to stand Liberal as Liberals. They took nine seats. INTERVIEW Although the Independents as well. still had the largest majority the There was Liberals were by far the largest Lord Geraint of Ponterwyd political group in the county. no need to They were the largest Liberal Interview by Russell Deacon group in Wales at the time. We join Plaid remained the largest political group on the council until I was eraint Howells (– Ceredigion & Pembrokeshire Cymru with defeated in – perhaps also ) was Liberal and North (–) from February those cre- the largest Liberal group in Wales GLiberal Democrat MP to . Ennobled as Lord for that period. for Cardiganshire (–) and Geraint of Ponterwyd in , dentials.
22 Journal of Liberal History 44 Autumn 2004 INTERVIEW: LORD GERAINT OF PONTERWYD
How did you defeat Labour in the again, because we had supported seat? Labour, they changed their mind Cardigan is naturally a Liberal in time for the general elec- seat. It has an Independent tradi- tion, when I kept the seat with a tion which means that the peo- smaller majority. In that election ple there don’t readily support Emlyn Thomas, the Conserva- either Labour or the Tories. In tive candidate, came second with Elystan Morgan (the sit- almost per cent of the vote. ting Labour MP) was unpopular: Thomas had been general sec- he was seen as a traitor because retary of the Welsh Liberals in he had moved away from Plaid , based in Aberystwyth, and Cymru (he’d left them in ). was someone who I’d known He was also against the Welsh well. He operated an office with School in Aberystwyth. I there- a staff of two. The office flopped fore got the Plaid Cymru sup- and Thomas lost his enthusiasm porters to back me in order to get after a year. The result was that he him out. This pushed down the later defected to the Conserva- vote of the Plaid Cymru candi- tives and fought against me in date, Clifford Davies, but gave me . enough support to win the seat. Also in we fought the The Cardigan Liberal campaign devolution referendum. We team also worked very hard to worked very hard but knew that bring a Liberal back into the seat. it was lost as the Conservatives had been using it to attack the Why were you a Liberal and not a government and we couldn’t Geraint Howells it the Social and Liberal Demo- Welsh Nationalist? fight against that. We were too (Lord Geraint crats. I was proved right, however, I was a Welsh nationalist and a closely linked to them. of Ponterwyd) when the following year, , (1925–2004) Liberal as well. There was no need we changed our name again to to join Plaid Cymru with those What happened in the s? Liberal Democrats. credentials. Liberalism was in my In , as a result of the fall- blood and that of my family. My out from the Lib–Lab Pact and Why did you lose Cardigan? grandmother was nearly thrown the referendum result, Emlyn I knew I had lost my seat, off her farm for voting Liberal [Hooson] lost his seat. I was then because my campaign team in the s by the Conservative the sole Liberal MP in Wales. I was weak. They thought that landlord. I never thought of being was both the leader of the Welsh they’d win but I knew that in in any other party. party and agriculture spokesman. my heart that this wasn’t going It was very hard: you ended up to be the case. Everyone seemed What happened after you were speaking everywhere. I was glad, convinced we’d win except me. elected, in the s? therefore, when Alex [Carlile] Cynog Dafis (Plaid Cymru) was In October Elsytan Morgan won Montgomeryshire back in able to more than double his vote tried to regain his seat but failed, . It got even better in from the previous election. My and I increased my percentage when Richard [Livsey] won Bre- key supporters who had won the of the vote. I could then con- con & Radnor and there were seat for me in had by then centrate on being an MP. One of then three Liberal MPs in Wales. died off. The seat is winnable the best things of the s was After the election had ended again for us though. Mark Wil- the Lib–Lab Pact. I always I pushed for the establishment liams has brought the vote back supported the Pact, even though of SC (Welsh Channel ). The up; we’ll get the seat back again. Emlyn [Hooson] was later in Conservatives had gone back on favour of ending it. I took up an earlier promise to set it up. What did you do then? the agricultural spokesmanship We put a lot of political pressure After going into the Lords I partnering Labour’s John Silkin, on them but it was Cledwyn became Lord-in-Waiting to Her whom I got on really well with. Hughes (former Labour Welsh Majesty the Queen – the first I was able to persuade him to get Secretary) who had the most Liberal to hold the position for the government to recognise the influence. a century. I am the Queen’s rep- Farmers Union of Wales (FUW), The s saw the arrival of resentative for foreign heads of which I had been a founder of. the SDP in Wales. I was always state. I have met President Moi of Roderic Bowen had always been a Liberal and I was keen that Nigeria and the Sultan of Brunei. against this idea – something that SDP members became Liberals. helped him lose the seat in . I therefore wanted the merged Dr Russell Deacon is a lecturer at the Although many in Ceredigion party to be called after its Liberal Centre for Humanities at the Univer- said they wouldn’t vote Liberal name but I lost when they called sity of Wales Institute, Cardiff.
Journal of Liberal History 44 Autumn 2004 23