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 Journal of Liberal History 51 Summer 2006 Journal of Liberal History Issue 51: Summer 2006 The Journal of Liberal History is published quarterly by the Liberal Democrat History Group. ISSN 1479-9642 The Real Lloyd George 4 Editor: Duncan Brack J. Graham Jones discusses A. J. Sylvester’s classic semi-biographical work, Deputy Editor: Sarah Taft and assesses its impact and reactions to its contents and influence. Assistant Editor: Siobhan Vitelli Biographies Editor: Robert Ingham Reviews Editor: Dr Eugenio Biagini Gladstone’s library under threat 12 Deputy Reviews Editor: Tom Kiehl The Gladstone Project aims to safeguard Gladstone’s library at St Deiniol’s; by York Membery. Patrons Dr Eugenio Biagini; Professor Michael Freeden; Sir Frank Medlicott (1903 – 72) 14 Professor John Vincent David Dutton analyses the life and political career of a Liberal and Liberal National MP and activist. Editorial Board Dr Malcolm Baines; Dr Roy Douglas; Dr Barry Doyle; A meeting place for Liberals 18 Dr David Dutton; Professor David Gowland; Dr Richard Grayson; Dr Michael Hart; Peter Hellyer; Ian Hunter; History of the National Liberal Club; by Peter Harris. Dr J. Graham Jones; Tony Little; Professor Ian Machin; Dr Mark Pack; Dr Ian Packer; Dr John Powell; Jaime Organiser par excellence 24 Reynolds; Iain Sharpe Lawrence Iles examines the career of William Gladstone’s youngest son, Herbert Gladstone (1854 – 1930). Editorial/Correspondence Contributions to the Journal – letters, articles, and book reviews – are invited. The Journal is a refereed Letters to the Editor 31 publication; all articles submitted will be reviewed. Election 2006 (Antony Wood). Contributions should be sent to: Duncan Brack (Editor) 1906: ‘Blissful dawn’? 32 38 Salford Road, London SW2 4BQ Lord Kenneth Morgan: lecture to the Corporation of London, February 2006. email: [email protected] All articles copyright © Journal of Liberal History. Reviews 38 Hunter (ed.): Winston and Archie: The Letters of Sir Archibald Sinclair and Advertisements Winston S. Churchill, reviewed by Richard Toye; Barber: Political Strategy: Full page £100; half page £60; quarter page £35. Modern Politics in Contemporary Britain, reviewed by Richard Holme; Cook: Discounts available for repeat ads or offers to readers The Routledge Guide to British Political Archives: Sources Since 1945, (e.g. discounted book prices). To place ads, please reviewed by J. Graham Jones; Russell and Fieldhouse: Neither Left Nor contact the Editor. Right? The Liberal Democrats and the Electorate, reviewed by Duncan Brack. Subscriptions/Membership An annual subscription to the Journal of Liberal Archives 44 History costs £20.00 (£12.50 unwaged rate). This Sources in the Manuscript Division of the National Library of Scotland; by includes membership of the History Group unless you Alan R. Bell. inform us otherwise. The institutional rate is £30.00.

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Journal of Liberal History 51 Summer 2006  The Real Lloyd George

In 1947, Lloyd George’s former private secretary, A. J. Sylvester, published The Real Lloyd George, an insider’s look at Lloyd George as he really was. Although much of the contents of the book were pedestrian, it still remains an important addition to the huge Lloyd George bibliography, if only because of its author’s closeness to his subject from 1923 until his death twenty-two years later, and his habit of keeping a full diary of the events which he observed at first hand. Dr J. Graham Jones discusses the classic A. J. Sylvester and lbert James Sylvester age and secured employment as a Lloyd George. semi-biographical (1889–1989) experi- clerk at Charrington’s brewery. enced a quite unique During these years he attended work, and assesses its life and career.1 Born evening classes in shorthand and impact and reactions at Harlaston, Stafford- typing, gained professional quali- Ashire, the son of a tenant farmer of fications in these subjects and to its contents and very modest means, he was com- attained champion speeds in both pelled by family poverty to leave skills. He then migrated to Lon- influence. school at just fourteen years of don in 1910, eventually setting

 Journal of Liberal History 51 Summer 2006 The Real Lloyd George

up his own business as a freelance of Caernarfon Boroughs. He also on indispensable, begged him to shorthand writer at Chancery made the practical arrangements remain in post. This was espe- Lane, before, early in the First for Lloyd George’s numerous cially true during the autumn World War, securing a position as trips overseas, and, increasingly of 1944 after Lloyd George and a stenographer (shorthand writer) as the 1930s ran their course, he Frances had returned to live in in the office of M. P. A. Hankey was regularly in attendance at their new North Wales home, (later Lord Hankey), who was at Westminster, acting as his employ- Ty Newydd, Llanystumdwy. Syl- the time Secretary to the Com- er’s ‘eyes and ears’ in the House vester soon began to resent stay- mittee of Imperial Defence and of Commons. Sylvester was also ing on indefinitely in this remote thus at the heart of the Allied war much involved in the research and area and threatened to return to campaign. This auspicious move preparation of the mammoth War the south-east, feeling that he was to launch Sylvester on his Memoirs which occupied so much had been badly treated by his professional career. He became of Lloyd George’s time during the employers – who implored him the first man ever to take short- long 1930s. He undertook some to remain in their service: hand notes of the proceedings of of the research himself, arranged a cabinet meeting – a truly pio- for the classification of the mas- Frances assured me that things neering task. sive archive of official and private would be all right for me later. In 1916 he became Hankey’s papers which Lloyd George had (All she did was to double cross private secretary, and in 1921 took accumulated, and conducted often me, and she did NOTHING.) up a similar position in the employ lengthy interviews with many In this controversy LG himself of David Lloyd George, then former ministers of the crown. said not a word to me: neither I Prime Minister of the post-war Sylvester was also heavily impli- to him. The whole attitude and coalition government. Although cated in his employer’s complex, atmosphere was: He must not be he initially remained at 10 Down- bizarre personal and family life, bothered about things like this’2 ing Street when his employer fell becoming closely involved with from power in the autumn of almost all members of the sprawl- Lloyd George died at Ty Newydd 1922, a year later Sylvester gladly ing Lloyd George family, spanning on 26 March 1945. Sylvester, who rejoined his ‘old chief’ as Princi- three generations, and experienc- had been present at the deathbed pal Private Secretary (a title upon ing an especially delicate relation- Sylvester scene, suddenly found himself out which he himself insisted), remain- ship with Frances Stevenson, LG’s … became of a job for the first time in his life, ing in this position for more than secretary, mistress and eventually at fifty-five years of age. Within two decades until Lloyd George’s (from October 1943) his second the first days of her husband’s death, death in March 1945. wife. Frances told him in no uncertain In this privileged position his A. J. Sylvester remained loyally man ever terms that she had resolved to dis- duties were necessarily wide- in Lloyd George’s employ until pense with his services. The man ranging, onerous and demanding. the very end, long after it was to to take who had been considered indis- He ran Lloyd George’s London his personal advantage to remain shorthand pensable as long as Lloyd George office at Thames House, Westmin- in the position. After Lloyd lived was now, it seemed, suddenly ster (which sometimes employed George had married Frances, Syl- notes of dispensable. Any aspirations which a staff of more than twenty indi- vester often felt uncomfortable, Sylvester might reasonably have viduals), he dealt, often on his even embarrassed, at the new the pro- entertained that he might have own initiative, with his employer’s situation which had arisen. Yet, been kept on to collaborate with massive postbag, he acted as LG’s when he displayed any inclina- ceedings of the Dowager Countess (as she press officer and responded to tion to depart for a new career, a cabinet had now become) in perpetuat- most of the requests and demands both Lloyd George and Frances, ing LG’s good name and memory, which came from his constituency clearly considering him nigh- meeting. and in working on the massive and

Journal of Liberal History 51 Summer 2006  the real lloyd george important archive of papers left by By the time ran to more than 200,000 words. simultaneous publication on both him, had been cruelly and finally A diary which its compiler had sides of the Atlantic. The text was, dashed. It should be noted, how- of Lloyd originally intended to be a pri- however, generally badly received ever, that he was given three years’ vate record was now to be made by readers in the USA: ‘The book salary, a substantial sum, in lieu George’s available to the public at large. is an intimate, gossipy record of of notice, and that he also inher- Although Sylvester was himself political anecdotes and small talk ited the sum of £1,000 under the death Syl- a competent and accurate typist, centering around Lloyd George terms of Lloyd George’s will. vester’s his voluminous text was retyped … We don’t believe there would Sylvester’s first subsequent by Alex McLachlan of St Leon- be a large enough market for it employment after Lloyd George’s diaries ards, Sussex, who made use of to justify publication by us.’; ‘The death was on the staff of Lord economy spacing so that it might author intrudes himself into every Beaverbrook at the Daily Express were an be published as a single volume situation, thus making them seem on a three-year contract. From his by Cassell & Co. the following more trivial than they may actu- earliest forays into British public immensely year. Sylvester was himself a little ally have been.’; ‘We old people life during World War One, Syl- detailed, unhappy with the proposed title may know of Lloyd George, but vester had been an instinctive, ‘The Real Lloyd George’, fearing he is only a name to a great many compulsive note-taker, a practice percep- that it ‘might possibly produce and a name in not too good odor naturally much facilitated by his the idea that the book contains an [sic] at that’.5 It was quite clear fluent shorthand. He wrote espe- tive source attack which it does not’. Rather, that the idea of simultaneous cially detailed notes on the semi- he proposed ‘Lloyd George as I publication on both sides of the nal events which he witnessed, of quite Knew Him’, ‘The Lloyd George Atlantic was a non-starter. and at times he took to keeping unique I Knew’, or ‘Lloyd George – a A little later Sylvester a diary, albeit spasmodically. Many Close Up’. The publishers, how- approached a number of editors of those around him, especially informa- ever, preferred to stick with the of British newspapers requesting the eminent newspaper propri- original title. them to publish lengthy extracts etor Lord Riddell, impressed tion about As the publishers began to from The Real Lloyd George as a upon him that he should record make arrangements for the pub- series to whet the appetite of the in detail everything that Lloyd the former lication of the volume, Sylvester post-war British public prior to George did or said. The result was Prime Min- forwarded a copy of the type- the book’s subsequent appearance that certainly from 1931 onwards script to his employer Lord Bea- as a monograph. The proposal Sylvester went to great pains to ister and verbrook in the hope that the was sympathetically considered, chronicle his famous employer’s press magnate might adhere to but eventually rejected, by the doings and sayings. It became his family, his previous half-promise that Evening Standard and the Sunday his regular pattern late at night extracts might be published in the Express. As paper was in notably to keep his diary in his meticu- intermin- Sunday Express prior to the vol- short supply during this period of lous Pitman’s shorthand, partly gled with ume’s appearance: ‘The mere pos- severe austerity in the late 1940s, to achieve speed, partly for secu- sibility of such a book has been editors tended to shy away from rity reasons. By the time of Lloyd much very kept secret. The reason is that I entering into such a commit- George’s death Sylvester’s diaries have competitors, and I mean to ment, arguing the necessity of were an immensely detailed, per- personal be first in the market.’ He wrote focusing on current affairs rather ceptive source of quite unique to Beaverbrook: than material with a strong his- information about the former material. torical or personal slant – like the Prime Minister and his family, In dealing with my late Chief book in question. The author was intermingled with much very nothing whatever has been said especially hurt by the refusal of personal material. to belittle his great reputation, the Sunday Express, owned by his Once Lloyd George had died, still less to attack him. There is employer, to serialise the work: ‘It Sylvester immediately began to nothing ‘catty’ in this book. He is grieves me a little that, after your make use of his run of diaries and shown as the greatest man I have kindness to me, it is not possible the more modest archive of cor- known; a Genius, but, like us all, for some space to be found in respondence and papers which with weaknesses, and is therefore your papers for something about he had carefully squirreled away intensely human. An endeavour L.G. to whom I know you were to pen a semi-biographical vol- has been made to show him in so personally attached. I am, too, ume about his former employer all his moods. This has been in a personal dilemma, because with a view to immediate pub- done by reciting incidents and my agents will obviously attempt lication. He laboured away with leaving them to produce their to get this serialised elsewhere. extraordinary speed and diligence own effect.4 What am I to do?’6 so that a typescript draft of the Within days his prophecy had projected volume, provision- At about the same time copies come to fruition when he was ally entitled ‘The Real Lloyd were despatched to a number informed by his literary agents George’, had been completed of literary agents in the United that the first British serial rights of by May 1946. The original text States in the hope of securing the volume had been purchased

 Journal of Liberal History 51 Summer 2006 the real lloyd george by the Sunday Dispatch for £500.7 SECRETARY AT THE were well received and increased Arrangements were then final- AGE OF 80 admiration for Sylvester. Some ised for extensive extracts to be – THE DIFFICULTY OVER critics vocally protested that Lloyd published in the Dispatch at the LLOYD GEORGE’S George should be judged by his beginning of 1947 several months TITLE many achievements rather than before its appearance as a mono- by his more dubious personal and graph. Some publicity was also Outspoken extracts from the book family life: ‘I cannot see that your given to its publication as a book were given advance currency: book can serve any other pur- before the end of the same year.8 pose than to grieve the relatives ‘You must have worked very hard Lloyd George gained a repu- & friends of Lloyd George’.13 on it’, wrote Dr Thomas Jones tation as a great organiser. In This was, however, very much a CH, the former Deputy Secre- some ways that reputation was minority viewpoint. Generally tary to the Cabinet, who was at justified, but in others it was far the articles which saw the light of the time also writing a full biog- from justified. The plain unvar- day in the Dispatch whetted the raphy of Lloyd George, ‘& it is nished truth is, left alone he was appetite for the publication of the sure to meet with great success. a most unholy muddler. Left to entire volume, which was sched- For myself my pace is that of a himself he could not even dress uled to appear on 25 September. septuagenarian & a slow one at without upsetting everything in The final published work that’. ‘I am waiting for your Life’, the room and losing half of his ran to 322 pages and contained responded an appreciative Syl- clothing. Give him an important twenty-four chapters, some of vester, ‘for you can give the Celtic document and the next moment them very brief, and nine photo- touch, with your knowledge and he had lost it. That did not trou- graphs. It sold for eighteen shil- experience of the subject which ble him. Someone could search lings. The opening passages set no other can excel’.9 for it. the tone of the volume: As the Sunday Dispatch proudly announced its inten- And again: That David Lloyd George was a tion to publish extracts from the genius, few even among his most book beginning on 2 February Domineering as he was, there bitter enemies will deny. He had 1947, Sylvester wrote reassuringly was one person who bossed him. all the strength of genius, but to Lady Megan Lloyd George, She was the one woman who ‘My admi- like others equally gifted, he had youngest daughter of the subject could and did put Lloyd George ration and weaknesses. In presenting this of his volume, still the Liberal MP in his place. She was no respecter picture of David Lloyd George, for Anglesey, who was especially of the dignity of Cabinet rank loyalty did let me say at the outset, he had sensitive to her father’s reputation, or Premiership. To her, Lloyd no greater admirer or more loyal memory and good name: George was just a spoiled child not blind servant than I. But, my admira- who needed correction and got tion and loyalty did not blind me It is not a life. It is a portrait of it. Once he entered his private me during during the thirty years that I was the greatest and most remarkable apartments at No. 10 he had to the thirty in almost daily contact with him man I have ever known, with all reckon with her.11 as secretary and confidant, to the or rather some of his strength years that weaknesses in his make-up. and some of his weaknesses. This This was a reference to LG’s A strange complex character I have done by way of relating housekeeper, Miss Sarah Jones, I was in this Welshman, to my mind the events and leaving the reader to who had served the family loyally greatest Parliamentarian since Pitt. make up his own mind. It is inti- for decades. The article about her almost Dominating, impulsive, mas- mate and dignified, and there is – ‘The woman who bossed Lloyd daily con- terful, emotional to a degree, yet no ‘dirt’ in it.10 George’ – was the second in the often peevish and childish, a man series, published on 9 February tact with possessed of unbounded moral The Dispatch predictably gave the 1947, and provoked protests from courage but strangely lacking in work maximum publicity, point- the good lady herself (by then in him as physical courage, a leader, great ing to its unique originality and the employ of Lady Megan Lloyd in conception, but in some ways frankness and drawing attention George at Brynawelon) whom secretary lacking the power of execution to some of the more dramatic Sylvester was then obliged to and con- and follow through; in big things chapter headings: attempt to pacify: ‘I have nothing a man of action and instant deci- but the greatest admiration for fidant, to sion, but in smaller things, slow – THE WOMAN WHO Miss Sarah Jones, and have always and hesitant. To him small mat- BOSSED LLOYD said so, and have expressed that the weak- ters were a bore and unworthy of GEORGE admiration in everything that I his consideration. They could be – LLOYD GEORGE AND have written.’12 nesses in left to others while he devoted HITLER On the whole the extracts his make- his attention to the direction or – LLOYD GEORGE’S published in the Sunday Dispatch conception of policy. MARRIAGE TO HIS during the early months of 1947 up.’

Journal of Liberal History 51 Summer 2006  the real lloyd george

Full of audacity and daring, a then the contents of the pocket are pointless and without sig- great showman, confident of his would be transferred to a drawer nificance, the anecdotes without own judgment, in many things or desk and forgotten. Other wit.’19 Writing in the News Chron- vain, able to sway the crowd letters, some opened, some not, icle, A. J. Cummings dismissed even in the teeth of the most bit- would be dropped or left lying the volume not only as ‘incom- ter opposition. Keen student of about in one room or another plete’ but also as ‘a superficial and ‘mob psychology’, Lloyd George until the fit to dictate a reply to somewhat distorted characterisa- suffered from an inferiority one or another of the opened tion of a great man in which his complex, which in later life may letters seized him.16 peccadilloes are made to take on possibly have accounted for his a solemn and exaggerated impor- soured outlook, his suspicions In the first page of the last chap- tance’.20 Sylvester’s own postbag and jealousies. ter, Sylvester wrote: predictably contained more ful- Throughout his life he some communications.21 Dr Tho- preached democracy, but in his Whether presiding over an allied mas Jones, who was at the time own life he practised autocracy. conference; or handling potatoes himself writing a single-volume No greater autocrat than Lloyd or apples at Churt; or whether biography of Lloyd George (a George ever lived, yet he failed just looking at his pigs or with work which eventually appeared completely to realise he was an his dogs, wherever that personal- in 1951), wrote to Sylvester, ‘So autocrat, just as he failed to real- ity went newspaper men always long as interest is taken in L.G., ise that he had become soured found in him good copy. As the your book will be indispensable and embittered.14 years rolled on, however, it was to an intimate understanding of disappointing to find him using his character’. In reply, Sylvester Generally, the book’s rather sen- his great gifts in such petty ways. explained that the volume had sational title was not reflected in L. G. became sour. This, together Far from been prepared hastily, mainly its contents. Much of it consisted with his intense jealousy of the between December 1945 and of trivia. The main feature of his- ‘other fellow’, were more respon- being May 1946, usually written during torical interest was the revealing sible than anything else for his weekends and late at night.22 The account of Lloyd George’s sec- never returning to power, and for the great book predictably sold quickly and ond meeting with Hitler in 1936 his attitude in the last war. was out of print within weeks of which was genuinely informative As the war developed, he organiser publication. A reprint was at the and broke new ground. Other- quarrelled or cold-shouldered of social time impossible because of the wise, some observers were non- one after another who did not extreme shortage of paper during plussed at the picture of Lloyd agree with him, and became security the immediate post-war years. George which emerged compel- a very lonely figure. He had There was inevitably a great lingly from a perusal of the book’s favoured a peace by negotiation after 1906 deal of speculation over how pages. In his old age Sylvester’s in the early days of the war, as Frances, the Dowager Countess employer had become a soured, some others like him had also and the Lloyd-George, would react to autocratic and peevish old man. done. But the others, realising architect the publication and revelations Far from being the great organiser that was quite impossible of of The Real Lloyd George. There of social security after 1906 and attainment, threw their energies of victory had inevitably been some latent the architect of victory of 1916– into the national effort.17 friction and antagonism between 18, he had degenerated into an of 1916– Frances and Sylvester ever since absolute muddler, constantly los- The volume immediately he had re-entered Lloyd George’s ing letters and frequently chang- attracted a great deal of atten- 18, he had employ in the autumn of 1923, ing his mind at a mere whim, tion, some of it complimentary. degener- imperiously demanding to be scarcely capable of even dressing ‘Much of the real Lloyd George called ‘Principal Private Secre- himself without knocking things is undoubtedly there’, claimed ated into tary’ (a title which implied a posi- over and losing his clothes.15 The the Manchester Guardian, ‘What tion somehow superior to hers), following passage is fairly typical: one fails to find is the whole an absolute and insisting on a substantial pay Lloyd George. … Undoubtedly hike and generous compensation In his last years spent at Churt, he it is when dealing with Lloyd muddler, for forfeited civil service pension one day made up his mind that he George’s defects, which he does constantly rights. Aware of Sylvester’s many would open all letters addressed fully, sometimes even harshly, that virtues and loyalty to LG, she to him and gave instructions that he gets close to the real Lloyd losing let- grudgingly accepted the situation, none was to be opened by the George’.18 ‘Mr Sylvester valiantly but remained rather peeved.23 staff. The result was that a few asserts the greatness of his mas- ters and Since working for Lloyd George letters were opened, but the vast ter’s genius’, responded the Daily was a task at best fraught with dif- majority remained sealed up. He Telegraph, ‘but all he succeeds in frequently ficulties, problems and tensions, would push some in his jacket showing us comes very close to changing the two collaborated reasonably pocket until it was so full that it being a catalogue of his littleness. well for rather more than three could not contain another one, … Many of the incidents related his mind. decades. Interviewed in 1984

 Journal of Liberal History 51 Summer 2006 the real lloyd george when he was ninety-five years Frances, us and I can only put it down to to imagine that my husband of age, Sylvester recalled, ‘Frances a desire to get some money by whole-heartedly approved and and I were colleagues for over although writing sensational nonsense. To admired the Nazi policy and thirty years. We worked together suggest that your husband was activities, which is the reverse of and never had any quarrel or dis- aware of so friendly with Hitler is really the truth.29 agreement of any kind. You had a vile libel on a great British to work together in order to deal Sylvester’s patriot and Mr Sylvester seems Sylvester responded to this attack with a man like Lloyd George. He strengths to forget entirely 1914–1918. simply by stating, ‘My account could have a filthy temper.’24 The name of Lloyd George will was written from day to day in Beneath the surface, however, and useful- live as long as this country has a Germany and is accurate’.30 Gen- the relationship between them history; his unworthy ex-Secre- erally Frances was, and indeed was far from harmonious. In her ness, con- tary and his wretched book will remained, highly upset by Sylvest- heart of hearts, Frances, although soon be forgotten.27 er’s portrayal of her late husband aware of Sylvester’s strengths and sidered him which, she felt, focused unduly usefulness, considered him to be to be vain, There was particular annoyance on his petty domestic failings and vain, over-ambitious and touchy. at Sylvester’s accounts of Lloyd the awkward traits in his person- Behind his back she would always over-ambi- George’s visits to Hitler at Ber- ality and tended to play down his laugh at him and his voice which chtesgaden in 1936 and his sug- undoubted charm, humour and had a strong nasal twang overlay- tious and gestion of LG’s strong pro-Nazi many inspiring qualities.31 On ing a marked Staffordshire accent sympathies at that time. the whole, however, the alleged and his tendency to rub his hands touchy. Frances, who had inherited defects in Lloyd George’s charac- together rather subserviently her husband’s massive archive of ter revealed to the world in The which made him appear, in her private and official papers at his Real Lloyd George were relatively view, a modern day Uriah Heep. death, had felt uneasy when she innocuous, and the volume did Sylvester in turn accused Frances had read in the ‘Books to Come’ not reveal a great deal about LG’s of being prim, stiff, and intent only column of the Times Literary secret personal double life. Its on providing comfort for Lloyd Supplement during January 1947 tone reflected a heartfelt indigna- George and personal self-seeking. that Sylvester’s book on Lloyd tion on the part of its author that Once Lloyd George had died George was to appear that year, he had not been asked either to and Frances had rather uncer- and instructed her solicitors to write, or at least to collaborate emoniously dispensed with Syl- write to the author. ‘No rights in, the writing of Lloyd George’s vester’s services just days later, the of Frances under LG’s will have ‘official biography’ which was latent antagonism between them in any way been contravened’ then being prepared by Malcolm burst out into the open. When was Sylvester’s dusty response.28 Thomson. the articles derived from The She herself bit her tongue until In turn, one of the reasons for Real Lloyd George were published the publication of the article on Frances’s annoyance was that Syl- in the Sunday Dispatch in the LG’s visit to Hitler, a piece which vester’s book had appeared before opening weeks of 1947, Franc- provoked her to write to Charles Thomson’s. In press columns es’s postbag contained a number Eade, editor of the Sunday Dis- she condemned The Real Lloyd of highly indignant letters: ‘I am patch, a letter which was duly George as ‘a most unfortunate and merely writing to say how furi- published in the paper the fol- regrettable book’.32 Even before ously indignant I feel towards lowing Sunday: the volume had appeared in book Mr Sylvester for his vulgar arti- form, the extracts published in the cle on LG in the current Weekly Mr Sylvester, by exaggerating Sunday Dispatch at the beginning Dispatch. It will be disliked by certain incidents, and ignor- of the year had provoked Frances thousands & I really cannot think ing others, presents a distorted to write to the paper condemn- what possessed him. … It always view of events, as indeed he does ing them as ‘beneath contempt hurts when a faithful dog turns & of my husband himself. To give and beneath comment’, while bites his master.’26 Another cor- two instances, where I could cite Sylvester was, she wrote, typical respondent wrote to express his many: he does not mention the of ‘a man who, after his master ‘disgust at reading the extracts fact that my husband took Hitler is dead, betrays intimate, if inac- in the Sunday Dispatch from Mr. to task for his treatment of the curate details of his private life’.33 Sylvester’s book and my utter Jews and attempted to influence In April Sylvester wrote to E. P. disapproval of that newspaper in him on that matter; nor does Evans, formerly Lloyd George’s printing such rubbish’. Warming he mention the fact that my loyal political agent in the Caer- to his theme, he went on: husband did not conceal from narfon Boroughs: Hitler his opinion of Germa- He was always a good friend to ny’s action in breaking the naval As for the Dowager, it seems she Mr Sylvester who would not clauses of the Treaty of Versailles. is a little annoyed. Of course! dare to write as he does were Mr Sylvester prefers to present a Because I have come out first. David Lloyd George still with picture which would lead one She made the initial mistake in

Journal of Liberal History 51 Summer 2006  the real lloyd george 1945 in not keeping her word ­planning to contest the will on Even when though I gather that Frances is with me. After LG’s death she the grounds that Frances had exer- not inclined to fall in with this invited me to help in the writing cised undue influence over her ail- she penned opinion. I am so glad that your of his Life. An eminent historian ing husband, fulsomely applauded book has appeared before any was to be chosen from a selected The Real Lloyd George in a lengthy her auto- other less authoritative work, of list. She was to write suggesting letter published in the Sunday Dis- which I suppose there will be a terms to me. At her invitation I patch following the appearance of biography few in due course.38 actually started up negotiations extracts from the book: years later with the Literary Agent. Only ‘I understand that the Dowa- after many weeks did I hear that Mr Sylvester I have known for in the mid- ger [Frances] is annoyed that my she had made other and different over thirty years, and no more book is out before hers’, replied arrangements, and that I was to loyal, efficient and hard-work- 1960s, Sylvester, ‘but I have found no play no part. ing private secretary could any one who blames me for that! As She does not realize what a Minister wish to have. Know- Frances a boxer you will appreciate the mistake she made. LG’s great ing his methods and his careful recalled importance of getting in the first achievements will not live by note-taking, I can vouch for the blow!’39 merely building him up as a good accuracy of everything you have The Real The Real Lloyd George was and godly old man. He wasn’t printed. by far the most successful book anyhow. Read my Boswellian To put it mildly, my father Lloyd published by Cassell and Co. for account of him when the book was, as Mr Sylvester says, ‘a very many years. Within months of is out, and then I shall welcome difficult man’. You could never George publication copies were no longer your reactions.34 pin him down to anything, as ‘a available, and Sylvester felt some whether to a decision or an frustration that the acute shortage Even when she penned her opinion – he was as slippery as mean and of paper supplies experienced dur- autobiography years later in the an eel, more particularly during ing the immediate post-war years, mid-1960s, Frances recalled The the last twenty-five years of his unlovely and problems with bookbinding, Real Lloyd George as ‘a mean and life. That is why this story of his meant that the publishers failed unlovely book’. As it was her wobbling about retiring from book’. to produce a second edition. But opinion that Lloyd George had the House of Commons and he was gratified by the generally made ample provision for Syl- accepting a peerage makes such fulsome reviews published in an vester, ‘It was not necessary for extraordinary reading to those array of newspapers and journals him to get money in that way’.35 who knew the old Radical in and by the substantial appreciative She had dismissed Sylvester from the heyday of his great powers.37 postbag which came in. Franc- her employment shortly after es’s opinions were very much Lloyd George’s death, and there Within months poor Dick had a minority viewpoint.40 Most was little contact and no recon- been forced to file for bankruptcy. members of the Lloyd George ciliation between them thereafter. Dick’s son Owen, too, wrote family, estranged from the Dowa- In conversations and in his cor- appreciatively to Sylvester on ger Countess since LG’s death, respondence Sylvester was apt reading the full text of the book were pleased that Sylvester’s vol- to dismiss Frances as ‘the Dowa- in October: ume had appeared before the so- ger’. He knew very well that she called ‘official biography’, which was often very short of money I am truly glad that you took was being written by Thomson, after 1945. Hence her decision upon yourself the undoubtedly who had been chosen for the task to sell the massive archive of difficult task of producing an by Frances personally, granted full Lloyd George’s papers to her near intimate picture of Taid [Gran- access to the Lloyd George papers neighbour Lord Beaverbrook in dad] for had you not done so I in her custody and worked with 1948–49. Sylvester took pride in am sure that all of us who knew her full co-operation and support. stories that, having searched high him and loved him, would have His biography was not destined to and low for mementos and sou- been the losers thereby in no appear until 1948. venirs of her late husband, she small measure. The illustrations In the wake of the publica- banged on Beaverbrook’s front are so well chosen and I think tion of The Real Lloyd George, it door begging him to buy them. It the one of Taid standing on the was mooted that Sylvester might was said that she even offered him bank above the [river] Dwyfor is then be knighted in recognition her husband’s empty wallet!36 quite remarkable. of his long role as Lloyd George’s Other members of the Lloyd I feel I must say that you have principal private secretary. George family were, how- handled the family side of it with Among Frances’s papers is a draft ever, much more conciliatory. infinite tact and consideration, of a letter from Lloyd George to Dick Lloyd-George, the second particularly in view of the cur- Churchill, probably written in earl, who had been completely rent scope for treading on toes December 1944 (shortly before excluded from his father’s last (!), and I cannot see personally LG was awarded an earldom) will and testament and was thus what anyone can find fault with, which includes the following

10 Journal of Liberal History 51 Summer 2006 the real lloyd george sentence: ‘There has been on earned his living as one of LG’s ­unexpected, end of his three-year my conscience an earnest desire team of secretaries from 1925 contract in the previous Septem- to obtain a knighthood, and that until 1940. He was, as a result, ber with Express Newspapers and is for Sylvester, who has served fully familiar with the extensive his old ally Lord Beaverbrook me so devotedly for over twenty Lloyd George archives. In a rather who now spent most of his time years’.41 This approach evidently lengthy, gushing introduction in Canada and the West Indies came to nothing; competition which she contributed to the vol- and seemed to have given up on for knighthoods was especially ume, Frances wrote: his British interests. Subsequently strong during the war years, and Sylvester worked for about a year Churchill generally felt that such I make no apology for having – 1949–50 – as an unpaid assistant an award required a particularly asked him to write my hus- to Liberal Party leader Clement good reason. Nor was his succes- band’s Life. He can claim that Davies before resolving to retire sor, the Labour premier Clement he has an intimate knowledge to Wiltshire to farm for the rest of Attlee, a close personal friend of of his subject, first in London his days. Lady Megan Lloyd George, more in the compilation of various Although much of the con- accommodating. As he wrote to books dealing with schemes for tents of The Real Lloyd George her in September 1948, ‘I gather Social Reform; and later, while was pedestrian, it still remains an this has been considered before the Memoirs were being written, important addition to the huge but was not approved; it was con- at Churt. He had the rare privi- Lloyd George bibliography, if sidered that his C.B.E. was an lege of talking with L.G. day in only because of its author’s close- adequate recognition. I should and day out, of hearing from his ness to his subject from 1923 like to know how you feel about own lips stories of the varied until his death twenty-two years the whole matter – in particular incidents of his life, of studying later, and his habit of keeping a about his book about your father his character at first-hand, of full diary of the events which he – which I do not think was very gaining L.G.’s confidence over observed at first hand. Although good.’42 Attlee, clearly, did not the work with which he was Lloyd George was a wily operator, like Sylvester personally, did not entrusted. I have an instruction Sylvester was privy to most of his like his politics, and was not an from L.G. that if anything hap- thoughts and viewed his actions admirer of his biography of Lloyd pened to him before the Memoirs at close quarters. The book con- George. Sylvester did not let the were completed they were to be tained significant new informa- matter rest there. During the finished by Malcolm Thomson tion on, especially, the second LG 1950s he again initiated several and myself.44 visit to Hitler at Berchtesgaden in attempts to secure a knighthood, the autumn of 1936 and includes using his links with Gwilym In his author’s preface, Thom- other fascinating side-lights and Lloyd-George, who again held son claimed that he had won his snippets of information. In 1975, cabinet office under Churchill spurs through working ‘most of Sylvester was to publish Life with and Eden, but once again without the time’ as Lloyd George’s ‘lit- Lloyd George: the Diary of A. J. Syl- success.43 erary secretary’ from 1925 until vester, 1931–45 which comprised The year 1948 eventually saw 1940.45 Sylvester was predictably extensive extracts from his dia- the publication of the ‘official Although incensed at the lavish claims made ries, carefully edited by his friend biography’ of Lloyd George by by Frances and Thomson, roundly Colin Cross who also contrib- Malcolm Thomson. After LG’s Lloyd condemning them to Dr Thomas uted a valuable introduction to death Frances had given long Jones as ‘ poppycock. … When it the book. The second volume was and serious consideration to the George was was once mooted L.G. got wild at potentially more revealing and choice of a biographer who was a wily oper- the mere thought that HE should fuller than the guarded account to enjoy full access to her papers require a “Literary Secretary”! … given to the world in 1947. Even and her assistance. (At the same ator, Syl- Between them [Thomson and so, much fascinating material was time she was also anxious to set Frances] they have presented to excluded from both volumes, up a Lloyd George museum at vester was the public the L. G. the Dowa- partly for reasons of space, partly Llanystumdwy to house the many ger wanted to produce. That is in the name of discretion. The ‘freedoms’ and other memorabilia privy to scarcely the great dynamic figure original full typescript texts of the which he had bequeathed to her.) most of his you and I knew so well, and, with diaries among the A. J. Sylvester Her choice of biographer fell on it all, thought so much of.’46 He Papers purchased by the National Thomson, an old acquaintance thoughts regretted that Frances had not Library of Wales in 1990 are cer- whom she liked and who had commissioned an eminent his- tainly worth consultation by the worked alongside her as one of and viewed torian to prepare a full-length historian who can still unearth the team of researchers responsi- biography of Lloyd George, a a mass of new information from ble for preparing the War Mem- his actions project in which he would gladly this important source. oirs. Thomson, born in 1885, had at close have participated.47 At this time served as a Baptist army chaplain he was rather licking his wounds Dr J. Graham Jones is Senior Archi- from 1917 until 1920, and had quarters. at the somewhat abrupt, perhaps vist and Head of the Welsh Political

Journal of Liberal History 51 Summer 2006 11 the real lloyd george

Archive at the National Library of 17 Ibid., p. 293. George and the serialisation of extracts Wales, Aberystwyth. 18 Manchester Guardian, 2 October 1947. in the Sunday Dispatch are preserved 19 Daily Telegraph, 26 September 1947. in NLW, Frances Stevenson Family 20 News Chronicle, 25 September 1947. Papers, file FCG2/17. 1 A helpful, brief account of A. J. Syl- 21 See NLW, A. J. Sylvester Papers, file 34 NLW, A. J. Sylvester Papers, file D6, vester’s life and career is now available D6. AJS to E. P. Evans, 3 April 1947 (‘Pri- in John Grigg’s article in the Oxford 22 Ibid., Thomas Jones to Sylvester, 18 vate and Confidential’) (copy). Dictionary of National Biography, Vol. September 1947; Sylvester to Jones, 35 Frances Lloyd George, The Years that 53 (Oxford, 2004), pp. 566–67. See 18 September 1947 (copy). are Past, p. 213. Lloyd George had in also J. Graham Jones, ‘Keeper of 23 See Ruth Longford, Frances, Coun- fact left Sylvester the sum of £1000 Secrets’, Journal of Liberal History 44 tess Lloyd George: More than a Mistress in his will in 1945. There is a copy of (Autumn 2004), pp. 24–29. A much (Leominster, 1996), p. 82. the will in the NLW, Frances Steven- fuller account by the same author 24 Wiltshire Scene, 5 October 1984. son Family Papers, file FB1/1. will appear in the National Library of 25 Longford, op. cit., pp. 158–59. 36 See Sylvester’s obituary in The Inde- Wales Journal during 2006. There is 26 NLW, Frances Stevenson Family pendent, 30 October 1989. also much helpful material in Colin Papers, file FCG2/17, Constance 37 Sunday Dispatch, 16 March 1947. Cross (ed.), Life with Lloyd George: the Miles, Guildford, to Frances Lloyd- 38 NLW, A. J. Sylvester Papers, file D6, Diary of A. J. Sylvester, 1931–45 (Lon- George, 4 February 1947. Owen L-G to AJS, 19 October 1947. don, 1975), pp. 11–18 (introduction 27 Ibid., John P. Smart, Birmingham, to 39 Ibid., AJS to Owen L-G, 8 November to the volume). Frances Lloyd-George, 23 February 1947 (copy). 2 National Library of Wales (hereaf- 1947. 40 Ibid., memorandum from Sylvester to ter NLW), A. J. Sylvester Papers A57, 28 NLW, A. J. Sylvester Papers, file D6, Lord Beaverbrook, 21 October 1947 diary entry for 31 October 1944. J. E. Morris, Solicitor, Lincolns Inn, (‘Private and Confidential’) (copy). When he came to edit his diaries for London WC2, to AJS, 17 January 41 Cited in Longford, op. cit., p. 159. publication in the early 1970s, Syl- 1947; AJS to JEM, 20 January 1947 42 NLW MS 20,475C, no. 3165, Clem- vester still felt bitter about Frances’s (copy). ent Attlee to Lady Megan Lloyd failure to keep her promise to him in 29 Ibid., Frances Lloyd-George to George, 4 September 1948 (‘Confi- 1945: ‘She did nothing to keep this Charles Eade, [February 1947]. The dential’). promise!’ (Cross (ed.), Life with Lloyd letter was published in the Sunday 43 NLW MS 23,668E, ff. 174–76, AJS to George, p. 333). Dispatch, 18 February 1947. Gwilym Lloyd-George, 22 January 3 NLW, A. J. Sylvester Papers, file D6, 30 Cited in Longford, op. cit., p. 172. 1953 (‘Private and Confidential’). Sylvester to ‘Miss Thomson’, 17 May 31 Ibid. 44 Malcolm Thomson, David Lloyd 1946 (copy). 32 NLW, A. J. Sylvester Papers, file D6, George: the Official Biography (London, 4 Ibid., memorandum from Sylvester Sylvester to Owen Lloyd-George 1948), p. 9. to Lord Beaverbrook, 15 May 1946. (son of Richard, the second earl), 8 45 Ibid., p. 32. (‘Confidential. Personal’) (copy). November 1947 (‘Private’) (copy); 46 NLW, A. J. Sylvester Papers, file C94, 5 See the American readers’ reports Sylvester to Lord Beaverbrook, 21 Sylvester to Dr Thomas Jones CH, 4 preserved ibid. October 1947 (copy). January 1949 (‘Personal’) (copy). 6 Ibid., memorandum from Sylvester 33 Sunday Dispatch, 18 February 1947. 47 Ibid., Sylvester to E. P. Evans, 3 April to Lord Beaverbrook, 26 July 1946. Letters sent to Frances concerning 1949 (‘Personal’) (copy). (‘Confidential and Personal’) (copy). the publication of The Real Lloyd 7 Ibid., Sylvester to Miss Christine Campbell Thomson, 6 August 1946 (copy). 8 See e.g. the Times Literary Supplement, 21 December 1946. 9 NLW, A. J. Sylvester Papers, file D6, Gladstone’s library under threat Thomas Jones to AJS, 23 December 1946; AJS to TJ, 29 December 1946 by York Membery (copy). 10 Ibid., Sylvester to Lady Megan Lloyd George, 20 January 1947 (copy). ust about every modern US maintenance work is undertaken 11 Sunday Dispatch, 26 January 1947. president established a grand on the roof of the century-old These provisional chapter headings library in their honour upon library, the collection of some were not all retained in the final pub- J lished volume. leaving office. However, the only 250,000 historic and theological 12 Ibid., 9 February 1947, p. 4; NLW, A. J. such institution in Britain – the books, many of which are irre- Sylvester Papers, file D6, Rev. R. G. prime ministerial library founded placeable, could be put at risk. Hughes, Portmadoc, to AJS, 17 Feb- by the Liberal leader and four- The cost of repairs and refurbish- ruary 1947, and AJS to RGH, 21 Feb- time premier William Gladstone ment is estimated at £1.3 million ruary 1947 (copy). 13 NLW, A. J. Sylvester Papers, Kathleen – is under threat unless £500,000 and while around half the money Harvey, South Shields, to AJS, 1 Feb- can be found to undertake vital has been raised as a result of Lot- ruary 1947. conservation work. tery Heritage Fund and other 14 A. J. Sylvester, The Real Lloyd George The St Deiniol’s archive, in grants, the library still faces a (London, 1947), pp. 1–2. Hawarden, North Wales, houses £500,000 shortfall. 15 See Sylvester’s obituary in the Daily Telegraph, 30 October 1989, and Ken- one of the country’s most impor- This year therefore saw the neth O. Morgan, ‘Lloyd George and tant collections of books, dating public launch of the ‘Gladstone the historians’, Transactions of the Hon- back to the nineteenth century Project’ in a bid to raise the nec- ourable Society of Cymmrodorion 1971, and beyond, and is the United essary money and safeguard the pp. 70–71. Kingdom’s foremost residen- historic library for the nation. 16 Sylvester, The Real Lloyd George, p. 43. tial library. But unless essential Charles Gladstone, the great-

12 Journal of Liberal History 51 Summer 2006 gladstone’s library under threat great-grandson of William Gladstone and president of the Gladstone Project, inau- gurated the appeal at St Dei- niol’s on 2 May 2006 and at the National Liberal Club in London on 3 May 2006. ‘It is absolutely vital that we meet our target because without the money that we’re trying to raise this unique collection of books will be profoundly compromised,’ he said. The main library is housed in the closed access area, Gladstone: The literary PM in an imposing purpose- mainly concerning theol- ogy and church history. They built structure designed by ladstone, despite the The first step towards ful- include a rare copy of Eras- the architect John Douglas numerous demands filling his vision was taken in mus’s Paraphrase of St John’s which was opened in 1902. on his time posed by 1889 when two large rooms Gospel translated by the Tudor G Commissioned following a career in politics spanning were erected, with six or Princess Mary, and Glad- Gladstone’s death in 1898 at sixty years, was a voracious seven smaller rooms to act as stone’s own annotated copy the age of eighty-eight, it was reader. During the course of studies, near his Hawarden of the third edition of Mary designed to serve as a fitting his life he is known to have home. By then he might have Wollstonecraft’s Vindication repository for Gladstone’s read at least 22,000 books and been eighty but that didn’t of the Rights of Woman. Many books and act as a lasting to have bought some 32,000 stop him from transferring of these items are so sensi- monument to the library’s – which form the heart of his 32,000 books himself, tive that they are locked away founder. It was paid for by a today’s St Deiniol’s collection. helped only by his valet and a in a temperature-controlled £40,000 endowment made Gladstone caught the daughter. room and can only be han- by Gladstone, and a public book bug when, as a young The temporary building dled with gloves. The library’s appeal. Five years later, the boy, he was presented with was only the start of realising collection also includes some Gladstone family funded the a copy of Sacred Dramas by his ambition to create a resi- of Gladstone’s Eton school- building of the twenty-six- its author, Hannah More. dential library. He endowed books, containing caricatures bedroom residential wing He acquired more books at the library with £40,000 of his masters, as well as a – providing the ‘inexpensive Eton and the collection really – indicating that this was to collection of Bibles translated lodgings’ and ‘congenial soci- began to grow during his be his major bequest. And into everything from Inuit to ety’ that were central to their time at Oxford University. following his death a pub- Blackfoot Indian. founder’s vision – to create While at Eton, Gladstone, lic appeal raised a further The Gladstone Project today’s unique institution. the son of a wealthy Liver- £9,000, allowing his vision – which will also fund much- Today, however the historic pool merchant, developed to become a reality within a needed improvements to the fabric of the main library the habit of making detailed few years. library’s facilities which are building is showing its age and annotations in the margins His great-great grandson designed to enhance its posi- is in desperate need to repair. of books, registering his Charles Gladstone believes St tion as a centre for learning, ‘While it was built to a high approval or disapproval of an Deiniol’s is a fitting tribute debate, reflection and prayer standard and has been con- author’s ideas, using his own to the Grand Old Man, as he – has the backing of high- scientiously maintained, the system of symbols and Italian was affectionately known by profile supporters including repair and restoration work words, of which ‘ma’ (but) is his supporters. He said: ‘The the historian Lord Briggs now needed cannot be funded the most frequent. books of St. Deiniol’s tell you and Loyd Grossman, a patron from the annual maintenance In later life, Gladstone more about the kind of man of the project. Lord Briggs, budget,’ said Mr Gladstone. decided to make his personal William Gladstone was than author of classics such as The Essential repair work includes library accessible to others. could any statue.’ Age Of Improvement and Vic- the renewal of leadwork on He thought his theologi- torian Cities, said: ‘The library roofs and gutters, stabilisation cal and other books would York Membery is a contributor has one of the most important and repointing of high-level be of value to members of to BBC History and History collections of books not just stonework, and replacement all Christian denominations Today among many other pub- about Gladstone, but about of the boilers and renewal but he wanted all students to lications. nineteenth-century history of the old Victorian heating have access to them. He also generally, anywhere. People system. dreamt of creating some- come from all over the world Among the books at where they could stay and For more details on the Library: to view the collection – and I danger from potential water read and write in a scholarly see: www.st-deiniols.co.uk. am fully behind this campaign. damage unless the conserva- environment. tion work is undertaken are The library has a fascinating the 7,000 pre-1800 volumes past and a promising future.’

Journal of Liberal History 51 Summer 2006 13 Sir Frank Medlicott (1903–72) Biography of the Liberal and Liberal National MP and activist, by David Dutton

rank Medlicott began on 26 January 1939, four months the armed forces. Indeed, in 1940 and ended his long after the notorious Munich Set- he was a member of the influ- political career as a Lib- tlement, he won election as a ential Service Members Com- eral. But for much of supporter of the National Gov- mittee. He had enlisted in the the intervening period ernment and of Neville Cham- Territorial Army in 1937 and, by Fand for the entirety of his par- berlain’s foreign policy. The the outbreak of war, was a lance- liamentary career he was closely circumstances of his selection as bombardier in the Royal Artil- associated with the Conservative ‘Liberal and Conservative’ can- lery. In parliament he spoke of Party. didate merit attention. Meeting the ‘almost bewilderingly speedy Medlicott was born in Taun- separately, the local Conservative promotion which [had] thrown ton, Somerset, in November association originally chose a local [him] into the higher ranks.’1 He 1903 and was educated at North candidate, more representative of was summoned by the War Office Town Elementary School and the Norfolk agricultural interest to organise the army’s first ‘legal Huish’s Grammar School. He than the London solicitor. Only aid’ section in the Aldershot com- was an accomplished sportsman after a joint meeting of the Con- mand. The success of his initiative and played rugby for Harlequins servative and Liberal associations led to legal aid being extended to and Somerset. He qualified as a was Medlicott narrowly selected the whole of the army. Medlicott solicitor at the age of twenty-one and correspondence followed was made a major in 1940 and and practised in London from in the press which indicated the honorary colonel the following 1927. He stood, unsuccessfully, as difficulties the government was year. In 1943 he became Director a Liberal in Acton, West London, experiencing in maintaining its of Army Welfare Services with in the general election of 1929, ‘National’ credentials in the face the 21st Army Group and in July the last occasion that the party of the overwhelmingly Con- of the following year he crossed approached a national contest servative basis of its parliamentary to Normandy and took control with even a faint hope of forming support. of organising all the army wel- the next government. Thereafter As an MP Medlicott rapidly fare services for British troops in Medlicott concentrated on his changed his opinion about the North-West Europe. Mentioned legal career and it was not until merits of the Prime Minister in dispatches, he was awarded a by-election ten years later in and, although he did not speak the Bronze Star of the USA and the very different constituency of As an MP in the crucial Norway debate of a CBE in 1945. At the same time Norfolk East that he secured his 7–8 May 1940, he was among he continued to serve as an MP passage to Westminster. Medlicott that band of thirty-eight mem- and in 1943 had become Parlia- The vacancy occurred because bers who withdrew their support mentary Private Secretary (PPS) of the elevation to the peerage of rapidly from the government and voted to Ernest Brown, by then leader the sitting MP, Viscount Elmley, changed in the Labour lobby – a defec- of the Liberal National group and as Earl Beauchamp. The seat had tion which, if it did not actually Minister of Health in Churchill’s alternated between the Liberals his opinion lead to the government’s defeat, coalition government. and the Conservatives during the was a decisive factor in Chamber- In the post-war era the Lib- 1920s. Elmley had been elected as about the lain’s resignation and replacement eral Nationals (renamed National a Liberal in 1929 but had defected by Winston Churchill two days Liberals in 1948) became increas- to the Liberal Nationals in 1931. merits of later. ingly difficult to differentiate Medlicott himself had joined the the Prime By this stage Medlicott was from Conservatives, particularly breakaway Liberal National group dividing his time between his after the Woolton–Teviot agree- headed by Sir John Simon and, Minister. political activities and service in ment of 1947. This allowed for

14 Journal of Liberal History 51 Summer 2006 sir frank medlicott the selection of candidates by vehicles. Many motorists were of Medlicott Liberalism had been destroyed. joint Conservative and Liberal the opinion that these indicators Logically, that group of Con- National constituency associa- were a blinking nuisance.’3 Indus- never rose servatives who should have felt tions. In practice, the majority trial relations and trade union most alienated from their party of these were typical Tories. But restrictive practices were a matter to ministe- by what happened in 1956 was Medlicott, who held on to his of particular concern and in Feb- the dwindling band of National seat in the Labour landslide of ruary 1956 he called for recogni- rial rank Liberal MPs. In practice, how- 1945 when neighbouring Con- tion of the status of ‘conscientious but devel- ever, all seem to have accepted servative constituencies were fall- objector’ for those workers who the Eden government’s actions ing around him, retained many wished to opt out of collective oped a – with the solitary exception of views that were distinctively ‘lib- industrial action. As was normal Frank Medlicott. eral’ and reflective of his noncon- with long-serving Conservative reputation As was perhaps appropriate for formist background. He opposed backbenchers without serious an MP who had himself served hanging, warned of the dangers expectation of ministerial office – as an invet- in the armed forces, Medlicott of drink and protested at the cru- even those masquerading behind erate poser kept his counsel until a cease-fire elty of the Grand National and its the label of ‘National Liberal’ in Egypt had been declared. But annual tally of equine casualties. – Medlicott was rewarded with a of parlia- then, on 8 November, he was one Most problematically, in a largely knighthood in 1955. of just eight government sup- rural constituency dominated by But the issue which trans- mentary porters who abstained from vot- prosperous Conservative farmers, formed his career and reawakened ing on a motion of confidence. he opposed blood sports and once Medlicott’s dormant ‘liberalism’ questions. His fellow rebels included Rob- described stag hunting as ‘utterly was the Suez crisis of 1956. A sur- ert Boothby, Nigel Nicolson and inconsistent with the high tradi- vey, undertaken in 1995, of Lib- Edward Boyle. In a published let- tions of treatment of animals of eral Democrat MPs, MEPs, peers ter to the Prime Minister, Medli- which this country in all other and members of the party’s Fed- cott declared: respects was justly proud’.2 Such eral Executive and Federal Policy beliefs led to a somewhat uneasy Committee singled out Suez as Throughout this whole crisis but not as yet antagonistic rela- the most frequently cited event in there have been on the part of tionship with his local constitu- the lifetime of those questioned millions of people grave doubts ency party. When the Norfolk in terms of its effect on their as to whether we have had any East division disappeared because political beliefs.4 For Liberals of moral justification at all for our of boundary changes, Medlicott the mid-1950s it was certainly a action in bombing Egypt and secured selection as National watershed, all the more poign- landing troops on Egyptian ter- Liberal and Conservative candi- ant because of Prime Minister ritory. These doubts will become date for Norfolk Central, which Anthony Eden’s well-deserved certainties if we continue with contained much of his old seat. reputation until that time for his our military occupation of the He secured re-election by 3,891 commitment to the principles Egyptian territory in face of the votes in the general election of of liberal internationalism. The UN resolution.6 1950 and successively increased government’s handling of the his majority in 1951 and 1955. crisis put an end to a twenty-year Medlicott’s actions immediately Medlicott never rose to min- period in which the Liberal Party created conflict with his local isterial rank but developed a had in general drifted progres- party, as the Central Norfolk reputation as an inveterate poser sively towards the right, narrowly association declared its support of parliamentary questions. In escaping the complete embrace for the Prime Minister. The asso- the period 1945–53 he put down of the Conservative Party in the ciation did not quite go so far as no fewer than a thousand. The wake of the 1951 general elec- to tell Medlicott that it wanted range of his interests was catho- tion, when Clement Davies a new candidate, but the sitting lic. His queries related, inter alia, – with some reluctance – turned MP was prevented from speak- to issues of health, food produc- down Churchill’ s offer of a place ing to the constituency branches tion and road safety. In November in his government as Minister of and he received a letter from the 1955, Medlicott asked the Minis- Education. Violet Bonham Carter local chairman gently suggest- ter of Transport if he could make later confessed that she had ing his retirement from political a statement about the inquiries ‘almost persuaded’ herself ‘dur- life. Conservative Central Office he had conducted into the use ing the 51–56 government [that] declined to become involved in of winking traffic indicators on Toryism was shading into Liber- what it insisted was a local dis- motor vehicles. ‘These indicators alism’. After Suez, however, she pute, but, fearful of the outcome were irritating, confusing, dis- concluded that there had been a of a by-election, did tell Med- turbing and dangerous to pedes- ‘reversion to type’.5 For at least a licott that he should not stand trians and motorists and would generation the image of the Con- down from parliament. But in become progressively more so servatives as the natural repository May 1957 it was announced that with the increasing number of for the best traditions of British he would not be standing at the

Journal of Liberal History 51 Summer 2006 15 sir frank medlicott next general election. Drawing a was ready to take the plunge. Liberal vote should be cast in veil over what had become a bit- Now out of parliament, he wrote your favour’. Medlicott professed ter disagreement, the president of to the Liberal leader, Jo Grimond, deep respect for Wilson’s ‘ability, the Central Norfolk association admitting that there had been integrity and dignity’, adding, ‘I insisted that ‘all, including those ‘profound moral objections’ to believe that the essential char- who had been most angry with the government’s Suez policy acteristics of Liberalism will be him, would recognise that for and announcing his wish to join safeguarded by you’.11 twenty years he had been a very the Liberal Party. At the Liber- Over the next few years Med- good member’.7 Medlicott, how- als’ annual assembly that year he licott became increasingly active ever, was determined that his real seemed ready to admit the error of inside the Liberal ranks and in motivation for retirement should his earlier ways. For three decades, 1969 he was appointed party become known and he informed he now conceded, the Liberals treasurer. It was an inauspicious the press that his reason ‘reflects had soldiered on through the wil- time at which to assume respon- little credit on those who are derness whilst the National Lib- sibility for Liberal finances. The running the affairs of the associa- erals had sojourned in the tents of party had recently been obliged tion’. The latter wanted ‘to be free the unrighteous. Though Labour to leave its Smith Square head- to choose a party hack, prepared and the Conservatives seemed quarters on grounds of economy to throw overboard everything in intent, in the early 1960s, to con- and was in debt to the tune of which he believes if only he can test the centre ground of British around £100,000. Medlicott set cling to his seat in parliament’.8 politics, Medlicott championed out to bring order to the array Over the remaining months the Liberal claim to a distinct of party accounts, which had of his parliamentary career Med- and viable identity. Responding developed haphazardly over the licott increasingly distanced to a suggestion in The Times that years and only some of which himself from the Conservative the larger parties had now outbid were under the direct control of government and in November the Liberals in the field of social the treasurer. ‘I think it is essen- 1957 he resigned the whip. The politics, he insisted that the lat- tial for all money to pass through following March he spoke out ter, ‘historically and in terms of the party’s bank account under against the Conservative Party authorship and capacity’, had the jurisdiction of the party chairman, Lord Hailsham, when the right to offer themselves as treasurer,’ he insisted. ‘If not, we the latter appeared to suggest more likely than either of the For three run the risk of the party having that his party had a monopolistic other parties to translate propos- decades, as many treasurers as it has bank claim to patriotism. In February als for social reform into effective accounts.’12 But this attempt he joined the Liberals in signing a action. In addition, he stressed the he now to bring order out of chaos led petition against supplying nuclear Liberal Party’s faithful support Medlicott into direct conflict weapons to West German forces for the United Nations, its rejec- conceded, with the party leader, Jeremy and in June he asked the Home tion of the policy of independent Thorpe, who seemed to believe Secretary to consider legislating nuclear deterrence and its staunch the Liber- that his own position gave him for the introduction of propor- belief in a European community, als had the right to dispense with normal tional representation for elections a cause for which Medlicott him- accounting procedures. Liberal to the House of Commons. But, self had expressed sympathy in soldiered finances were still in a parlous despite being invited by the local the immediate post-war era.10 state on the eve of the 1970 gen- party to stand as Liberal candi- Determined, it seemed, to on through eral election. By mid-May just date at the next election in his old cut all links with the Conserva- 286 prospective candidates were constituency, he drew back from tives and in no doubt that, in the the wil- in place. Only when Thorpe a formal transfer of political alle- absence of a Liberal candidate, derness announced a sudden windfall of giance, protesting that it would be Labour was the better alternative, donations, later attributed by The too painful to oppose ‘those with he sent good wishes to Labour’s whilst the Times largely to the generosity of whom I have worked for so many George Thomas, standing for Car- the multi-millionaire business- years’.9 Indeed, that November he diff West at the general election of National man Jack Hayward, did this total asked, successfully, for the whip to 1964, as the ‘candidate most likely rise to 332. Medlicott hoped to be restored to him. Nonetheless, to uphold the principles and Liber- use the Hayward donation to there was no question of Medli- traditions that are dear to Lib- als had pay off the party’s debts and pro- cott standing again as a Tory ally eral men and women’ and even posed the setting up of a trust to and his career as an MP came to advised Liberal voters in Huy- sojourned ensure that the money was spent an end with the general election ton to support the Labour leader, wisely. But Thorpe insisted that of October 1959. Harold Wilson. ‘Liberalism and in the tents this donation, for which he took By 1962, however, with the Conservatism’, he now declared, personal credit, should remain Macmillan government sinking ‘are basically and deeply opposed of the largely under his direct control. into a succession of crises and and when there is no Liberal can- unright- A simmering dispute between with the Liberals’ post-Orping- didate, as in Huyton, it is to me leader and treasurer continued ton revival at its height, Medlicott overwhelmingly clear that every eous. once the election was over, with

16 Journal of Liberal History 51 Summer 2006 sir frank medlicott Medlicott now asking Thorpe On two Party whip. His career straddled David Dutton is Professor of Modern what he intended to do to rectify the period in which a declining History at The University of Liver- the financial mess which the party crucial Liberal Party drew increasingly pool. He is currently working on a was in, exacerbated by the lead- close to an apparently liberalised history of the National Liberal Party er’s extravagant spending during occasions Conservatism. But his underly- – Liberals in Schism – to be pub- the campaign itself. The death of ing liberalism was never entirely lished by I.B. Tauris. Thorpe’s wife Caroline in a car in May extinguished and, in the circum- crash at the end of June inevita- 1940 and stances, his eventual return to 1 House of Commons Debates, 5th bly brought a temporary truce the Liberal fold seemed entirely Series, vol. 355, col. 14. 2 The Times, 8 March 1957. to their feud. When, however, Novem- appropriate. 3 Ibid., 10 November 1955. Medlicott confirmed Hayward’s Medlicott’s religious com- 4. Liberal Democrat History Group News- identity as the party’s anonymous ber 1956 mitment was at the root of his letter, 8 (September 1995), p. 3. donor, matters entered the public political beliefs. He served on 5 K. O. Morgan, The People’s Peace: Brit- domain. Thorpe publicly rebuked Medlicott the Conference Committee for ish History 1945–1990 (pb. edn, Oxford, 1992), p. 155. his treasurer at an evening recep- Wesley’s Chapel, London and, as had had 6 The Times, 9 November 1956. tion for Liberal delegates at the a committed temperance cam- 7 Ibid., 2 May 1957. See also L. D. party’s annual assembly in East- the cour- paigner, was a director of the Epstein, British Politics in the Suez Cri- bourne. But, convinced that Temperance Permanent Build- sis (Urbana, 1964), pp. l02–4. Thorpe was abusing his position age of his ing Society and Treasurer of the 8 Norfolk News, 3 May 1957, cited by R. Jackson, Rebels and Whips: Dissen- as party leader, Medlicott was United Kingdom Band of Hope. convictions sion, Discipline and Cohesion in British not prepared to give way and the To the end of his life he remained Political Parties since 1945 (London, uneasy stand-off between the two to defy the a man of principle. ‘Some peo- 1968), pp. 282–3. men persisted into 1971. ‘I sim- ple’, he noted in 1958, ‘mistake 9 The Times, 23 May 1958. ply will not accept a situation in weakness for tact. If they are 10 Ibid., 14 February 1964. Conserva- 11 Ibid., 13 and 14 October1964. which the party leader subjects silent when they ought to speak 12 L. Chester, M. Linklater and D. May, the party treasurer to lecturing tive Party and so feign an agreement they Jeremy Thorpe: A Secret Life (pb. edn, and hectoring as though I were a do not feel, they ca1l it being London, 1979), p. 108. defaulting bookkeeper.’13 whip. tactful. Cowardice would be a 13 Ibid., p. 114. In December 1971 Medlicott much better name.’14 14 Reader’s Digest, July 1958. suddenly resigned on grounds of ill-health. He was in fact suf- fering from an inoperable brain tumour and he died less than a month later. Rumours, however, Journal subs increase abounded that illness was not the For the first time in three years, we are increasing the subscription rate for the only explanation for his departure. Journal of Liberal History. The main reason is the increase in the volume of The Young Liberal newspaper, material submitted to the Journal; currently we are unable to print everything Liberator, suggested that Medlicott we receive because the current sub will not cover the cost of printing it! So had sent in a letter of resignation prices will go up from the 2006–07 membership year, and the average length of Journals will similarly increase. The new rates are as follows: a month earlier, before his ill- ness had been diagnosed. It had Individual subscriptions: £20.00 a year for UK addresses, (£12.50 unwaged); then been agreed that no public £25.00 a year for addresses outside the UK (£17.50 unwaged). For access online to pdf versions of all current and past issues, add £20.00. statement would be made until a successor had been appointed. The subscription year for individual subscriptions starts on 1 October, but Liberator described the treas- subscriptions commencing after 30 June continue until 30 September in the urer’s clashes with Thorpe and following year without further payment. Subscribers receive all issues of the Journal published during the subscription year; those joining before 1 July his resentment at being refused are sent any issued since the previous 1 October. The subscription includes access to the accounts of the Lib- membership of the History Group unless we are informed otherwise. eral Central Association, a version Special rates for overseas subscribers: Instead of subscribing annually, of events subsequently confirmed individuals with addresses outside the UK may subscribe for a period of three by Medlicott’s son, Paul. years at the rate of £70.00, or with online access included at the rate of It was a sad end to a distin- £115.00. guished career. In an era of dis- Institutional (corporate) subscriptions: £30.00 a year for UK addresses; ciplined party management, votes £35.00 a year for addresses outside the UK. For access online to pdf versions in the House of Commons are of all current and past issues, add £20.00. Institutional subscribers are only rarely of more than passing invoiced at the start of the calendar year for the period until the following 31 importance. But on two cru- December. cial occasions in May 1940 and Standing order mandate forms are available on request from the Membership November 1956 Medlicott had Secretary. Subscribers with existing standing orders will be sent an had the courage of his convic- amendment form with the next issue of the Journal. tions to defy the Conservative

Journal of Liberal History 51 Summer 2006 17 a meeting place for LIBERALs

The National Liberal Club was founded in 1883. In November the following year Mr Gladstone laid the foundation stone of the new and permanent Club House, at 1 Whitehall Place, London SW1, and the building was opened in 1887. With aims including the provision of an inexpensive meeting place for Liberals and their friends, the furtherance of the Liberal cause, and the foundation of a political and historical library, the Club has witnessed many scenes of Liberal triumph – and less happy events – over the past century and a quarter. Peter Harris recounts the story of the National Liberal Club and gives a brief guide to its building.

18 Journal of Liberal History 51 Summer 2006 a meeting place for LIBERALs

n 4 November ­various features which were novel of being the focus and centre of 1884, Mr Gladstone or uncommon, among them reform in the United Kingdom. laid the foundation being the electrical passenger lift, The first half of the twentieth stone of the new which was one of the earliest, if century alone renders the follow- and per manent not the first, to be installed in a ing list of more notable political OClub House of the National London building. issues: the Home Rule contro- Liberal Club. The Club itself had The avowed objects of the versy and the split in the party been launched the previous year Club were: which it caused; the ‘flowing tide’ and only six weeks after being 1. The provision of an inexpen- of success during the early 1890s, announced had a list of nearly sive meeting place for Liber- and the temporary eclipse at the 2,500 intending members. By the als and their friends from all time of the South African War; date of the laying of the founda- over the country. the tremendous uprising of Radi- tion stone the Club was already 2. The furtherance of the Lib- cal enthusiasm from 1903 to 1905, active with 4,480 members. At eral cause. with its triumphant culmina- that time, and until the open- 3. The foundation of a politi- tion in the 1906 election, and its ing of the new Club House in cal and historical library as a renewal in 1910; the epic struggle 1887, the Club met in premises memorial to Gladstone and over the Parliament Bill, under leased on the corner of North- his work. the leadership of Mr Asquith; umberland Avenue, overlooking With the opening of this per- the long series of measures creat- Trafalgar Square. To celebrate manent home, the first of the ing, improving, or extending the the opening of the Club a great objects of the Club was seen to social services; the acrid course of inaugural banquet was held at be achieved, whilst the third was agitation about women’s suffrage the Royal Aquarium, Westmin- attained by the opening of the – all these have had their intimate ster. This was a brilliant affair, at Gladstone Library on 2 May 1888 connection with the Club, for which the Earl Granville was the by Gladstone himself. The Library, it was the mainspring of Liberal Chairman, and Mr Gladstone the ranking as the most extensive activity. principal speaker. The magazine of the Club libraries of London, In personnel also, the Club had Punch reported that 200 dozen provided a valuable aid to Liber- a dazzling record as the following bottles of Pommery champagne als on the intellectual side, whilst list of names shows: Harcourt, were ordered for the occasion. also serving as a most pleasant Joseph Chamberlain, Lincoln- The permanent housing of the place for study for those members shire, Morley, Grey, Birrell, John Club was achieved with funds whose tastes were more literary Burns, Carson, Haldane, Samuel subscribed to a joint stock com- than political. and Simon. One special group pany bearing the name of ‘The The second object of the deserves to be mentioned – seven National Liberal Club Buildings Club, by its very nature, contin- Prime Minsters: Mr Gladstone, Company’. Although incomplete, ues as long as any force remains of course, Lord Rosebery, Sir the building was opened for the in Liberalism, and the record of Henry Campbell-Bannerman, H use of members in time for the the Club shows how much the H Asquith, David Lloyd George, Jubilee of 1887, so that on 20 Liberal cause, not only at home Ramsay McDonald (briefly a June of that year they were able but in the world at large, owes to member at the time of the First to watch the procession from its the existence of this place and the World War), and last – so far – Sir windows and terrace. Two days maintenance of its tradition. Winston Churchill. They were a later the membership reached a (Left) The National From 1887 onwards, event mixed bag in their political affili- total of 6,000, two-thirds being Liberal Club at followed event in a stirring ations when they took office but country members. its opening. (All sequence, and in victory and were all at some time at home in photos supplied The building, designed by by the National defeat, in expansion or decline, the Club. Alfred Waterhouse, contained Liberal Club.) the Club performed the function

Journal of Liberal History 51 Summer 2006 19 a meeting place for liberals

Left: the original Gradually, from about 1922 staircase; the onwards it became evident that Lady Violet Room. the high tide of political success was receding. In general mem- bership, however, more could be found who had joined a club rather than a hive of politi- cians. Civil servants, journalists – these, no doubt, finding the premises a convenient half-way house between Westminster and Fleet Street – literary and pro- fessional people had always been represented in the membership and were now becoming a more notable part of it. A few high spots stick in the memory of the post-war years. Outstanding among them were the Coronation, with the Club full of members and their guests, to watch the procession along the Embankment as they had also in 1937, and election nights, when the Smoking Room was crowded, the results announced as they came in. There was also the dinner to celebrate the cente- nary of Gladstone’s first adminis- tration, which received its seals of office on9 December 1868. In the packed Dining Room there were speeches from Lady Asquith (her- self a Prime Minister’s daughter) and the Archbishop of Canter- bury. In 1984 there was another centenary to celebrate – the lay- ing of the foundation stone – and members gathered in the vast wine cellar of the Club to toast Mr Gladstone in front of the very stone that he had laid. By 1976, the Club began to realise that the pattern of life had changed. Shorter working hours and the five-day week had taken their toll; weekend use of the Club had diminished dras- tically. Inflation, recession, the various attempts of successive governments to deal with them, all affected the running of the Club. Frankly, the building was too large for its post-war mem- bership and maintenance was becoming an impossible burden. Closure seemed the only pos- sible course but at the last pos- sible minute hope was revived Right: the dining room; the and with the generous help and smoking room. energetic leadership of one of the

20 Journal of Liberal History 51 Summer 2006 a meeting place for liberals

Journal of Liberal History 51 Summer 2006 21 a meeting place for liberals members, Sir Lawrence Rob- The record down to even the Dining Room their original tilework, rising the son, a company was formed to chairs. The structure was carefully full height. ­manage and finance the Club and of the Club composed of load-bearing steel- The Lloyd George Room its building. The accommodation work, the exterior being faced in was originally the Grill Room used by the Club is now some- shows how Portland stone. The design was and the original grill and oven what smaller but the Club rooms to be of fireproof construction remain. Once again there is much have been restored to their former much the throughout. The latest systems tilework in different shades of splendour and the Club looks to Liberal of heating and ventilation were beige, green and, uniquely in the the future with confidence. used. The electric lighting was building, blue. Early photographs cause, by the pioneering firm of Edi- show the room set up with indi- son & Swan. There was also to be vidual tables, each on their own The building not only a unique lift/railway designed to Persian style carpet, with din- Alfred Waterhouse, the architect bring the wine bottles up from ing chairs specially designed by finally employed by the Trustees at home the vast cellars. The final cost of Waterhouse. of the Club, was born in Liver- but in the the building itself was £165,950. The Lady Violet Room was pool in 1830. His first commis- The Entrance Hall sets the originally dedicated to be a small sion was for the Grosvenor Hotel world at tone for the whole of the build- drawing room / reading room. at Chester. His winning the ing. The walls are panelled with On the plans it had been des- competition for the Manchester large, owes different shades of tilework and ignated as an anteroom to the Assize Courts, followed by other the woodwork is executed in ‘grand room’ next door which municipal buildings in that area, to the mahogany. The reception coun- was to be used for lectures, etc., started his long career of impor- existence ter on the left fills what was once and there are designs for a plat- tant works. the waiting room for members’ form at the end of that room Waterhouse had not been of this guests. The large blocked up arch- reached by a doorway from this originally intended as the archi- way on the right once led through room. Early photographs show a tect. The Club had been anxious place and to the main reception area. The handsome overmantel above the to obtain some of the Crown land Entrance Hall was designed as a fireplace and a set of large, square, on the Embankment which was the main- preparation for the Grand Stair- mahogany-framed mirrors, simi- being developed by John Carr, tenance of case which was designed as one of lar to those still existing in the an early member of the Club. the main glories of the building. Lincolnshire Room above. Later However, Carr’s plans were not to its tradi- The original staircase was based in the Club’s history this room the Club’s liking and eventually on that in the Barbarini Palace in was used as the Ladies’ Drawing Waterhouse was commissioned. tion. Rome and was executed in mar- Room. He was already well known ble and alabaster. Waterhouse was The Smoking Room is one among leading Liberals. encouraged to design something of the chief glories of the Club. The limited company formed that would simply be the best in Along with the Dining Room it is to build the Club House had a London and certainly to outdo lined with great tiled Corinthian share capital of £200,000, and Barry’s work at the Reform Club, columns which are remarkable in Waterhouse was commissioned a club from which many of the their own right. The triangular within a fortnight of the compa- original members of the NLC shaped tiles will only fit at their ny’s launch. Determined to be a came. The original staircase was particular level since each row leader in style, the Club was to be destroyed by enemy action and is smaller as they ascend and are designed in Italian style rather than is the greatest loss that the build- curved specifically to match that solid gothic. Waterhouse’s designs ing has ever suffered. The flights point on the column. The tiles allowed for splendid club rooms of the staircase were joined by sheathe steel columns within. The and also the largest number of pairs of marble columns and in Smoking Room was originally bedrooms of any club in London. parts, the staircase quite literally placed in the room below but at It was designed for a membership ‘floated’ on bridges over voids a very early stage in the history who were accustomed to being at created in the design. The walls of the Club was moved to the least weekly ‘boarders’ in town. of the staircase were tiled and in present room. As such it has wit- Waterhouse’s designs offered parts pierced by arched openings nessed many of the great events ingenious solutions to a very through to the corridors leading of Liberal history. awkwardly shaped triangular site. off the landings. The Dining Room with its bar The building is centred around its The staircase was rebuilt in leads out of the Smoking Room grand staircase of white Sicilian the 1950s to a much simpler and, by way of an anteroom leading to marble. Not only did Waterhouse at that time, more fashionable the Embankment Terrace. Some design the glittering rooms, dis- design. The present steps and bal- of the tilework here is different playing wonderful faience tile- ustrade are remnants of the origi- from that in the rest of the build- work manufactured by Wilcock nal. The corridors on each floor ing, having a somewhat Chinese & Co, but also the furnishings, of the Club building retain all theme.

22 Journal of Liberal History 51 Summer 2006 a meeting place for liberals

Mindful of this splendid and enjoy the very best club we are reminded by Glad- qualified by fear; the prin- Club House and great history, services and a wide variety of stone’s bust which guards the ciple of Liberalism is trust the National Liberal Club is as cultural, political and social front entrance, of the famous in the people, qualified by alive today as it ever was and events. As such a place with quote from his speech in prudence. remains a meeting place for so great a tradition, it has a Chester: Liberals to further the Liberal supreme appeal to those who cause. Members continue to love Liberal ideas, and value The principle of Toryism be drawn from all walks of life the corporate life. Each day is mistrust of the people,

RESEARCH IN PROGRESS If you can help any of the individuals listed below with sources, contacts, or any other information — or if you know anyone who can — please pass on details to them. Details of other research projects in progress should be sent to the Editor (see page 3) for inclusion here.

Hubert Beaumont MP. After pursuing candidatures in his native The Liberal Party in the West Midlands from December 1916 to Northumberland southward, Beaumont finally fought and won Eastbourne the 1923 general election. Focusing on the fortunes of the party in in 1906 as a ‘Radical’ (not a Liberal). How many Liberals in the election Birmingham, Coventry, Walsall and Wolverhampton. Looking to explore fought under this label and did they work as a group afterwards? Lord the effects of the party split at local level. Also looking to uncover the Beaumont of Whitley, House of Lords, London SW1A 0PW; beaumontt@ steps towards temporary reunification for the 1923 general election. parliament.uk. Neil Fisher, 42 Bowden Way, Binley, Coventry CV3 2HU ; neil.fisher81@ ntlworld.com. Letters of Richard Cobden (1804–65). Knowledge of the whereabouts of any letters written by Cobden in private hands, Recruitment of Liberals into the Conservative Party, 1906–1935. autograph collections, and obscure locations in the UK and abroad for a Aims to suggest reasons for defections of individuals and develop an complete edition of his letters. (For further details of the Cobden Letters understanding of changes in electoral alignment. Sources include Project, please see www.uea.ac.uk/his/research/projects/cobden). Dr personal papers and newspapers; suggestions about how to get hold of Anthony Howe, School of History, University of East Anglia, Norwich NR4 the papers of more obscure Liberal defectors welcome. Cllr Nick Cott, 1a 7TJ; [email protected]. Henry Street, Gosforth, Newcastle-upon-Tyne, NE3 1DQ; N.M.Cott@ncl. ac.uk. Cornish Methodism and Cornish political identity, 1918–1960s. Researching the relationship through oral history. Kayleigh Milden, Life of Wilfrid Roberts (1900–91). Roberts was Liberal MP for Institute of Cornish Studies, Hayne Corfe Centre, Sunningdale, Truro TR1 Cumberland North (now Penrith and the Border) from 1935 until 1950 3ND; [email protected]. and came from a wealthy and prominent local Liberal family; his father had been an MP. Roberts was a passionate internationalist, and was Liberal foreign policy in the 1930s. Focusing particularly on Liberal a powerful advocate for refugee children in the Spanish civil war. His anti-appeasers. Michael Kelly, 12 Collinbridge Road, Whitewell, parliamentary career is coterminous with the nadir of the Liberal Party. Newtownabbey, Co. Antrim BT36 7SN; [email protected]. Roberts joined the Labour Party in 1956, becoming a local councillor Liberal policy towards Austria-Hungary, 1905–16. Andrew Gardner, in Carlisle and the party’s candidate for the Hexham constituency in 17 Upper Ramsey Walk, Canonbury, London N1 2RP; agardner@ssees. the 1959 general election. I am currently in the process of collating ac.uk. information on the different strands of Roberts’ life and political career. Any assistance at all would be much appreciated. John Reardon; The Liberal revival 1959–64. Focusing on both political and social [email protected]. factors. Any personal views, relevant information or original material from Liberal voters, councillors or activists of the time would be very Student radicalism at Warwick University. Particulary the files affair gratefully received. Holly Towell, 52a Cardigan Road, Headingley, Leeds in 1970. Interested in talking to anybody who has information about LS6 3BJ; [email protected]. Liberal Students at Warwick in the period 1965-70 and their role in campus politics. Ian Bradshaw, History Department, University of The rise of the Liberals in Richmond (Surrey) 1964–2002. Interested Warwick, CV4 7AL; [email protected] in hearing from former councillors, activists, supporters, opponents, with memories and insights concerning one of the most successful local Welsh Liberal Tradition – A History of the Liberal Party in Wales organisations. What factors helped the Liberal Party rise from having no 1868–2003. Research spans thirteen decades of Liberal history in councillors in 1964 to 49 out of 52 seats in 1986? Any literature or news Wales but concentrates on the post-1966 formation of the Welsh cuttings from the period welcome. Ian Hunter, 9 Defoe Avenue, Kew, Federal Party. Any memories and information concerning the post- Richmond TW9 4DL; 07771 785 795; [email protected]. 1966 era or even before welcomed. The research is to be published in book form by Welsh Academic Press. Dr Russell Deacon, Centre for Liberal politics in Sussex, Portsmouth and the Isle of Wight 1900– Humanities, University of Wales Institute Cardiff, Cyncoed Campus, 14. The study of electoral progress and subsequent disappointment. Cardiff CF23 6XD; [email protected]. Research includes comparisons of localised political trends, issues and preferred interests as aganst national trends. Any information, Aneurin Williams and Liberal internationalism and pacificism, specifically on Liberal candidates in the area in the two general elections 1900–22. A study of this radical and pacificist MP (Plymouth 1910; of 1910, would be most welcome. Family papers especially appreciated. North West Durham/Consett 1914–22) who was actively involved in Ian Ivatt, 84 High Street, Steyning, West Sussex BN44 3JT; ianjivatt@ League of Nations Movement, Armenian nationalism, international tinyonline.co.uk. co-operation, pro-Boer etc. Any information relating to him and location of any papers/correspondence welcome. Barry Dackombe. 32 Liberals and the local government of London 1919–39. Chris Ashburnham Road, Ampthill, Beds, MK45 2RH; [email protected]. Fox, 173 Worplesdon Road, Guildford GU2 6XD; christopher.fox7@ virgin.net.

Journal of Liberal History 51 Summer 2006 23 organiser par excellence By Lawrence Iles Reading Cooper’s wearisomely dull entry in the old Dictionary herbert gladstone (1854 – 1930) of National Biography on the youngest son of Victorian Prime Minister William Gladstone, one could be forgiven for thinking that Herbert Gladstone’s career was one of effortless progression: from Modern History Lecturer at an Oxford college, to Liberal Chief Whip, Home Secretary and first UK Governor- General of the new South African Union, with a fine end as an active Liberal Viscount, staunchly protective of his father’s good name. Indeed, the Whig politician Robert Lowe, who supported both of Herbert Gladstone’s first two parliamentary candidacies, even thought him future prime ministerial material.1

24 Journal of Liberal History 51 Summer 2006 organiser par excellence herbert gladstone (1854 – 1930)

ut with this flattering neither Herbert Gladstone’s auto- on ‘condition’ that he obtained impression, much biography, After 30 Years (1928), for the town the ‘eminence’ of contemporary and nor his official biography, Herbert national office. Yet in reality his subsequent opinion Gladstone: A Memoir (1932), by the role as Chief Whip nearly twenty begs to differ. Pio- former Liberal MP, Sir Charles years later was his first major post, Bneering Liberal Party historian Mallet, do justice to the subject’s and his local organiser, Alder- Roy Douglas, in an acerbic series controversial side.4 man Joseph Henry, had to be of observations, accused Glad- If we go beyond these books persuaded that this office was of stone of being both too ‘high- and consider his public utter- any real importance. Fortunately, principled’ and too secretively ances, faithfully recorded by the as Neville Masterman, the biog- and cunningly base as regards his newspapers of the day, and the rapher of Gladstone’s ill-fated 1903 Liberal–Labour pact, which papers of the Leeds Liberal Party predecessor Tom Ellis, has shown, gave Labour its first opportunity for the period 1880–1910 when the office had recently become to grow.2 For his part, the Tory he sat in the Commons, new light more important as a result of Ellis’ politician Henry Chaplin casti- can be shed on the career of this insistence on both financing it gated Gladstone for being a ‘chip often unfairly maligned figure. more effectively and extending off the old block’ in his ability What emerges from using its consultative role to encompass to be ‘casuistical’ in appearing to such sources for the first time is a all kinds of radicals beyond West- agree with both sides of an argu- very different politician from his minster’s cliquish clubbery. What ment simultaneously. Chaplin illustrious father. Herbert Glad- was lacking, however, was flair was not the only contemporary stone was very much a twentieth- and drive and, in terms of repair- to compare Gladstone unfavour- century politician, particularly ing this deficiency, Gladstone’s ably with his father. Joe Biggar, a in terms of his organisational flamboyant determination was to leading Irish Nationalist MP, told abilities, which helped the Liberal prove ideal.5 the Leeds branch of the United Party achieve its landslide victory Out of office, Gladstone had Irish League that their local MP in 1906 and a significant, if short- been increasingly frustrated at would be ‘nothing’ without his lived, measure of revival in 1923. the very deliberate minimisa- father’s name; and Lloyd George Before surveying how Glad- tion of his talents for innovatory once described Gladstone as liv- stone contributed to these leadership. He had contemplated ing proof of the ‘Liberal doctrine achievements, it is worth con- leaving Liberal politics altogether, that quality and intellect were not sidering the impression left by especially after he survived the hereditary’.3 Cooper that, as a result of his 1895 general election with a If nothing else, all these ver- name, Gladstone was a shoo-in majority of only ninety-seven dicts show that, in Cooper’s own (Left) Herbert for all the high offices of state he votes, amid allegations of treat- inadequate assessment, Gladstone Gladstone in held. The Leeds Mercury in 1880 ing aimed at his wealthy Tory was a ‘hearty controversialist’. Yet 1906. had welcomed him as their MP opponent. Before he became

Journal of Liberal History 51 Summer 2006 25 organiser par excellence Chief Whip in 1899, senior Lib- Senior and pro-Boer stance in the past. the same direction. Indeed, con- erals had deliberately overlooked The New Statesman, in 1914, criti- trary to Cooper, it should now Gladstone for fear of courting Liberals cally reviewed all his published be irrefutably stated that the the accusation of nepotism.6 official correspondence as Gov- so-called Hawarden Kite inci- Gladstone had been an unpaid had delib- ernor-General, which showed dent (Hawarden Castle being Junior Lord of the Treasury dur- that he had vigorously restricted the Gladstones’ home), in which ing his father’s second term of erately workers’ right to strike and other the Liberal former premier was office from 1880 to 1885, and in overlooked civil liberties. Charles Masterman, ‘flown’ publicly for the first time the short-lived 1886 administra- initially a protégé of Gladstone’s, as a home ruler, instead of being tion he was made Financial Sec- Gladstone was attacked from both the left a supposedly accidental conver- retary to the War Office, serving and right in by-elections at the sation between his youngest son as deputy to Campbell-Banner- for fear of time because of the way in which and reporters, was a deliberate man as Secretary of State for War. workers, often immigrants from act, at least by Herbert Gladstone, He did slightly better in the 1892 courting the UK, were being treated.8 if not necessarily his father. As Liberal government, serving as the accu- Despite the later disappoint- contemporaries realised, ranging Asquith’s Under-Secretary at the ment of Gladstone’s career, in the from reluctant home rule Whig Home Office. Nonetheless, sheer sation of period when he served as Chief Lord Granville, with his fulmina- administrative hard work was all Whip he exerted a good, mod- tions against ‘the Leeds plotters’, that was expected here too. To his nepotism. ernising effect on his father’s fac- to anti-home rule Joseph Cham- anger, when he tried to use his tion-ridden, old-fashioned party. berlain, this briefing was not in own initiative, in favour of the Trevor Lloyd, in a 1974 survey the least bit accidental.11 new spirit of social, intervention- of Gladstone’s fundraising and The Leeds Liberals had long ist Liberalism, his reputation as a candidate support activities, has been planning a pre-emptive hard worker who toed the party shown that working with very strike against the domination of line did not help him. The party’s little money (he often had to the National Liberal Federation Publications Department, under borrow from, or plead with, his by the Chamberlainite Birming- James Bryce, declined to print an elder brother Henry and the ham radicals. The trouble was that, article of Gladstone’s criticising right-wing northern Liberal until Irish home rule was thrust opposition by the National Lib- Barran family) Gladstone kept into prominence by the new eral Federation to the payment the party in good shape during Parnellite Home Rule League, of salaries to MPs. The article was a period of considerable political both Leeds radicals like Glad- instead published in the far more difficulties.9 stone and moderates like Leeds elite Albemarle magazine.7 The main controversy affect- Mercury editor T. Wemyss-Reid, Politically frustrated, and mar- ing the party at that time was lacked a credible radical issue ried, in 1902, to a socially con- Ireland. Indeed, in a 1927 article with which to discredit Cham- servative, rich, southern English on the Whips’ Office, penned berlain and the new municipal property heiress, it was hardly for the American Political Science socialist radicals, or to gain the surprising that, in his later career Review, Gladstone claimed that allegiance of older laissez-faire in the Home Office and as Gov- this island’s future status was the radicals like Henry Labouchère ernor-General of South Africa, primary political issue of his life- and Charles Bradlaugh. This was Gladstone’s progressive outlook time. He blamed Lord Richard because Gladstone found much was mellowed by the conserva- Grosvenor, the anti-home rule of Chamberlain’s NLF pro- tive outlook of the British politi- Liberal Chief Whip of the 1885– gramme ‘inspiring’.12 He agreed cal establishment. He had been 86 period for sowing the seeds of with its redistributionist focus on taught to obey unimaginatively, partition. While this is more than aristocratic and capitalist wealth. even if this was contrary to his a little unfair to Grosvenor, the As late as 1885 Chamberlain him- progressive principles. Asquith, 1927 article sheds some light on self expressed the view that, were who privately considered him Gladstone’s attitude towards the it not for William Gladstone, he lazy, wanted Gladstone out of the issue with which he is now most would consider Herbert a good Home Office when he replaced closely identified.10 radical influence upon the party. Campbell-Bannerman as Prime When he first stood, unsuc- In old age, Herbert Gladstone Minister in 1908, and was glad to cessfully, for the Commons in sought to play down some of install Churchill in his place. Tory Middlesex in 1880, Glad- the more collectivist and eco- In South Africa his rule was stone had indicated that, ‘while nomically left-wing implications regarded by right-wingers as fair no home ruler’, dealing with of his support for home rule. In and resolute in his manner of deal- injustice in Ireland was his pas- his memoirs he implies that he ing with recalcitrant, anti-British, sion. By the summer of 1885 shared his father’s private hope Dutch residents, and with strikers (August, if his memoirs are to that the Tories, under the future on the railways. This view was not be believed) he was a convinced Liberal defector Lord Carnarvon, shared by those on the left, who home ruler and was categorical might have offered home rule recalled Gladstone’s pro-labour that he was pushing his father in themselves.

26 Journal of Liberal History 51 Summer 2006 organiser par excellence

This was not what Glad- ­personally raised £1,000 to ena- Gladstone went against the stone or his Leeds Liberal allies ble Henry Labouchère to hold a grain of Yorkshire Liberals at this intended to achieve at the time. similar such rally in 1886, when time. As early as the 1890s he was For one thing, Joe Biggar and the national party refused to fund asking his agent, John Mathers, other Parnellites had done their it. Gladstone also promised that, to put aside his aversion to inter- work so well in swinging the if Ireland’s woes could be fixed, ventionist legislation and survey votes of what E. D. Steele has justly, then the Liberals would be whether his constituents favoured shown to be a huge Irish elector- the providers of economic justice new shop legislation to enforce a ate in Leeds over to Carnarvon- for all British working people. work relief half-day, as the Leeds type imagined Tory allies that Later, in 1900 and 1906, Glad- Co-op stores already did on three out of five Leeds seats went stone was to agree with the Lib- Wednesdays.17 Legislation to this Tory in 1885. Indeed, only with eral right that home rule was effect was placed on the statute great difficulty did the wealthy not necessarily a Liberal priority book in 1912. As Home Secretary, West Leeds iron and steel mag- compared with the preservation Gladstone was responsible for nate, James Kitson, the future of free trade. But he always made the legislation that introduced an first Lord Airedale, manage to clear, as a stalwart for home rule, eight-hour day for miners, which dissuade the pro-Irish Gladstone that some day he expected its was unpopular with coal-own- from opting to fight East Leeds, delivery as, without it, a great deal ers such as the Pease family in then, as now, the poorest of the of Liberal social reform would Yorkshire. And, earlier, as Under- workers’ constituencies. A good never be secure. Indeed, for all of Secretary at the Home Office thing too, as that constituency the scoffing from The Times that he presided over the first major did indeed temporarily go Tory there was no link between Ireland increase in the safety inspectorate in 1886, only later to be rescued and economic issues in the rest of for small workshops. when Gladstone helped a long the country, the right were well All of this interventionist Lib- time home-ruler, L. Gane, win aware of the linkage between the eralism was intentional on Glad- the seat back.13 two issues.14 stone’s part, and long preceded Ideologically, Gladstone The second big controversy of New Liberal theoretical mani- revealed his intentions in a Gladstone’s political career con- festos such as those from Rich- remarkable series of nationwide cerned the extent to which the ard Haldane, Ernest Jones or the speeches in 1886, which The 1906 government was to pursue writings in journals such as the Times found socially threatening, the social reforms advocated by Contemporary Review and Nine- but which were to become staples the New Liberals even though, teenth Century. In one of his very of his arguments as Chief Whip, as Masterman was to admit, first speeches as Liberal candidate and show his modernising intent Campbell-Bannerman was not for Middlesex, Gladstone had for Lib-Labbery. In a speech to much of a social reformer him- He argued criticised Disraeli’s social legisla- 3,000 Liberals in Leeds, he gave self. Cooper, in his DNB sketch, tion as being merely ‘permissive’ two principal reasons why British dismissed many of Gladstone’s that Ire- and a pale reflection of municipal Liberalism had to support Irish social reforms as Home Secretary, land’s liberalism. Later, in his sustained home rule. Firstly, he said that all such as children’s courts, as being efforts to support a specific Lib- human history had largely shown tinged by too much bureau- grievances eral-Labour class group of MPs that ‘wealth, intelligence and edu- cratic collectivism. Yet features of within the Liberals’ orbit, Glad- cation’, let alone ‘property’ in today’s legal system, from the pro- were of stone strongly defended the man- its own right, had been against bation service to effective work- ner in which many in that group most political and social reforms ers’ compensation rights, began an ‘anti- had supported the Salisbury gov- for the relief of ordinary people, with Gladstone. Indeed, while landlord’ ernment’s social legislation.18 who were expected, instead, just no socialist, Gladstone simply Gladstone’s views on, and con- to know their place. Secondly, he disagreed with his father’s Peelite nature, and duct of, broader Liberal–Labour argued that Ireland’s grievances aversion to positive government relations can now be put in their were of an ‘anti-landlord’ nature, action.15 accordingly proper context. As with his semi- and accordingly home rule was Remarkably, too, he disagreed collectivist approach to economic in the tradition of the struggle for with many of his wealthy Liberal home rule questions, Gladstone’s Lib-Lab the Magna Carta. In essence, as backers, both at local and national was in the pact of 1903, the secretive nature his fellow Leeds Liberal MP, the level, even though, as Dr Russell of which has long been over- distinguished academic chemist has shown, just twenty of them tradition of stated, was publicly presaged in Sir Lyon Playfair, was to put it, provided two-thirds of the Leeds earlier speeches. In a long speech the cause of British social Lib- Liberals’ revenue in the crucial the strug- to Liberal constituency agents eralism and Irish nationalism 1906 contest. At local govern- at a turn-of-the-century Not- were one. And, sure enough, not ment level, Leeds Liberals were gle for the tingham National Liberal Fed- only did Gladstone campaign on already engaged in pacts against Magna eration AGM, Gladstone berated such lines all over the country in socialists with the local Tories, to the failure of local upper-mid- every election from 1886, but he Gladstone’s annoyance.16 Carta. dle-class Liberal Associations to

Journal of Liberal History 51 Summer 2006 27 organiser par excellence

In Yorkshire, however, Glad- semi-Tory humour and ridicule stone was faced with the fact of working-class people.22 that in Leeds’s neighbouring city, In a similar vein, Gladstone Bradford, the ‘Alfred Illingworth’ also sought nationally to control dynasty was firmly in charge. and moderate separatist socialism, These Liberals, all employers, not ‘snuff it out’. The supposedly were opposed to any Labour rep- secret 1903 pact had been explic- resentation altogether. Gladstone itly argued for on these grounds told Campbell-Bannerman, on by Gladstone in more than one seeing the 1906 Yorkshire returns, speech years before. The pact itself that he was not surprised when was largely negotiated between ‘Alfred Illingworth Liberalism’ Gladstone’s secretary, Jesse Her- was dealt a formidable blow, by bert, and Ramsay Macdonald, the election in the city of the ILP’s who had family links with Glad- Fred Jowett, whom Gladstone stone and had once served as pri- considered to be a ‘really good vate secretary to former Liberal man’. Jowett had campaigned on front-bencher Thomas Lough. a municipal programme of free Not only was the pact over- school meals and medical inspec- whelmingly in the Liberals’ favour, tion that the local Illingworth as it tapped into nearly £1,000 Liberals fought against tooth and already given to the Labour Rep- nail.21 resentation Committee (LRC) by None of this should sug- the trade union movement, but it gest that Gladstone was totally concentrated the thirty Labour unconcerned about the growth ‘straight fights’ against the Tories on his own Leeds patch of sepa- heavily in Roman Catholic and ratist socialism, but he took a Anglican working-class Lanca- realistic, even empathetic, view shire. In this area, Liberal Asso- of Labour’s development outside ciations had, too often, become the Liberal Party. His West Leeds ineffectual adjuncts of cotton- constituency president, Alder- mill and laissez-faire elites, and adopt working-class candidates. Herbert Gladstone man Joseph Henry, called by Labour candidates could, more More privately he bemoaned in 1882. Campbell-Bannerman, admir- credibly than nonconformist Lib- their equal failure to fund more ingly, the ‘Duke of Wellington’ erals, straddle the divisions over ‘university men ... intellectuals’ of for his command of the city’s education. poor finances as ‘progressive’ can- Liberalism, did at this time think Gladstone was insistent that didates. He was no doubt thinking in terms of a three-party struggle the LRC do its utmost to curtail of the report from Home Coun- in the city. He kept the crucial rogue, independent socialist can- ties Liberal Federation organiser Holbeck ward entirely Liberal didates from undertaking sense- Will Crooks that, in places like until as late as 1908; regularly less three-party fights that would Kent, too many middle-class Lib- berated Gladstone for neglecting only benefit the Tories. Yet, it erals were just ambitious ‘crooks’, the poorest West Leeds wards like took all Ramsay Macdonald’s merely interested in candidacies Wortley where, indeed, Labour personal skills, publicly and pri- and party status to further their did grow; and secured an intel- vately, to stop Labour left-wing- local professional careers.19 lectual, Quaker, left-wing activ- ers in Leeds from promoting a But how far did Gladstone ist Liberal, T. Edmund Harvey, as candidacy of their own against actually want to go in promot- Gladstone’s successor as MP in the Liberal Chief Whip. They ing an independent Labour Party 1910. were inspired by the knowledge and the emergence of social- Henry counselled that the that Gladstone had been work- ism separate from the Liberal Liberals should take the fight to ing to mount a Liberal challenge Party? In reality, his attitude was Labour, using real constituency against Labour in East Leeds, not mistakenly over-generous, as surgery work and evidence of the their best prospect. They prob- Dr Douglas and Jeremy Thorpe progressive policies implemented ably would have been more allege in Douglas’s 1971 book. In by the government. Gladstone was intransigent if they had known 1892, during a by-election cam- persuaded to part with a £1,000 that Gladstone’s two closest paign in the Barkston Ash con- debenture to establish a popular, advisers, Henry and Kitson, had stituency, Gladstone made it clear radical Liberal newspaper, the both been pressing him to push that, in his view, the Liberals, for Leeds Daily News, to counteract the East Leeds Liberals into the foreseeable future, remained the Harmsworth-owned Mercury, fighting both the other parties. the primary legitimate vehicle for which had drifted to the Liberal Despite the inevitable oppo- working-class progress.20 imperialist right and, later, to sition of many local Labour and

28 Journal of Liberal History 51 Summer 2006 organiser par excellence

Liberal Associations, Gladstone annexation of the Transvaal. This ­presented their ultimatum. Skil- pushed through his strategy: and elicited fierce, but unavailing, fully, he detached Asquith from it worked, far better than histori- protest to Campbell-Bannerman, the others. It was Gladstone’s ans have acknowledged, especially against this very un-Gladstonian sheer strength of character which considering that it helped the approach, by the ageing ex-Peel- gave the Liberals national coher- Liberals bounce back from the ite Lord Ripon, who professed ence by 1906, although some of general election defeats of 1895 himself to be horrified.23 his own radical ideals were sacri- and 1900. Of course, the Liber- But while this was indeed ficed as a result.24 als were also helped by Joseph contrary to his own radical con- But Gladstone’s ideas could Chamberlain’s protectionist cru- science – he had told Camp- be fostered in other ways, and sade, which not only alienated bell-Bannerman privately that the second prong of his strategy free-trade Unionists like Church- the Tories’ excuse for the war, was to promote young graduates, ill, but destroyed the unity of the that they were protecting British often the new semi-collectivist Tory and Liberal Unionist par- subjects in the two invaded Boer Liberals, into candidacies, so as to ties, except in the West Midlands, republics, was completely bogus develop in the party his own ide- where the Chamberlain family – he refused to allow the party to als. Even after the First World War, continued to keep a tight rein on debate the Boer War, just cause or when his views had mellowed, their otherwise declining party. not. Instead, he occupied himself it was the loss of many of these Gladstone’s approach to party with trying to restrain the separa- men to Labour that most pained management was more cautious tist activities of Liberals associated him. A by-no-means untypical and tactful than that of Cham- with the former Prime Minister case of Gladstone’s sponsorship berlain, and he sought out the Lord Rosebery, such as Asquith, is that of Charles Masterman. fulcrum on which the various Haldane and Grey. He did this in a A former Cambridge don with elements of the Lib-Lab elector- way which seemed, to Campbell- limited means from journalism ate was balanced. On Irish home Bannerman, to endorse the trio’s and a sometimes intellectually rule and anti-socialist Liberal- extreme imperialism. His attend- over-acerbic temperament, Mas- ism he veered, as we have seen, ance at a dinner for Rosebery in terman was backed by Gladstone to the expedient left. But with Leeds in 1902 brought howls of at crucial times of his sometimes the Boer War, he had a more dif- wrath from Campbell-Banner- hazardous New Liberal career, in ficult problem, and once again man, to which Gladstone replied particular with financial support his DNB biography is simplistic that he had thereby kept an eye on The second when he stood for Dulwich in in the extreme in arguing that Rosebery’s wilder impulses. If he 1904 and when he faced a chal- Gladstone preserved the party had not gone, Rosebery and the prong of lenge from anti-socialist Liberal balance by supreme tact, and that, Liberal imperialists, rather than shopkeepers before being elected although his sympathies were the Leeds Liberals, would have his strat- for West Ham North in 1906.25 with Campbell-Bannerman, taken over the event; and anyway, Lamentably, though, for the Gladstone ‘preserved a complete the Boer War was far too popular egy was to long-term legacy of the Liberal neutrality within the party’. In with the workers, let alone north promote Party, Gladstone can, and must, fact, he avoided dispute by steer- Leeds middle-class imperialist be held culpable for not deal- ing the party more towards its MPs like Barran, for such events young ing effectively with the women’s jingoistic elite right than towards to be ignored. enfranchisement question. Glad- the left. Although he joined the But while Campbell-Banner- graduates, stone, like the twice-married anti-war Liberal League Against man’s latest biographer argues that Asquith, did not take women’s Aggression, this body was never all this proves disloyal weakness often the politics seriously. His wife, and as opposed to all forms of Brit- on Gladstone’s part, in fact it was new semi- other Gladstone women, pre- ish dominion in South Africa as, to save Campbell-Bannerman’s ferred to be politically active in say, either the ILP or the Liberal bacon when he later became collectivist the socially elitist, fund-raising Forwards group. He made two Prime Minister. Not only did Women’s National Liberal Asso- particularly controversial state- Gladstone’s give-and-take tactic Liberals, ciation rather than the more radi- ments during the 1900 general help Campbell-Bannerman retain cal, pro-suffrage Women’s Liberal election campaign. Firstly, dur- control of the Liberal machine in into can- Federation. The correspondence ing the course of the election, he the country, he was also able to didacies, between Joseph Henry and Glad- admitted that his party could not foil the Relugas plot, in which stone shows the fear strong politi- satisfactorily offer, in the national Asquith, Grey and Haldane tried so as to cal women induced in both men, interest, an alternative govern- to push Campbell-Bannerman when the suffragettes started sys- ment. He appealed to the elec- into the Lords on the eve of his develop in tematically to disrupt Gladstone’s torate to vote on domestic issues entering 10 Downing Street. public meetings. that were not, he claimed, ones Through his long friendship with the party As Home Secretary, Gladstone fevered with war emotion. Sec- Asquith, Gladstone was able to his own was responsible for the policy of ondly, Gladstone proclaimed that act as the negotiating interme- force-feeding gaoled women suf- the party would accept temporary diary when the right-wingers ideals. fragettes and publicly defended

Journal of Liberal History 51 Summer 2006 29 organiser par excellence it as humane and harmless. To but decisively defeated their rival His most are due to Dr E. D. Steele of Leeds protests from many Labour and Lloyd Georgeite National Lib- University, Neville Masterman of Liberal MPs, Gladstone repeat- erals in terms of the numbers of major con- Swansea University College, Brenda edly denied any ill-treatment of MPs returned. In the 1923 elec- Masterman, Lord Healey and Robert these brave women. By 1909 only tion, the precariously reunited tribution Ingham. local Women’s Liberal Association Liberals secured over 100 MPs, a members were being admitted feat never to be repeated by any was encap- 1 Leeds Mercury, 8 April 1880. into his supposedly open constit- third party during the rest of the 2 Douglas, R., History of the Liberal sulated in Party (London, 1971) especially the uency meetings. century. But Gladstone’s inten- introduction. Gladstone’s skills as a It seems Gladstone did begin tion of fielding a full slate of can- a remark propagandist are, later, justly praised, to realise the damage this issue didates in most constituencies in p. 15. was causing to his party, which the subsequently disastrous 1924 … that 3 The Times, 22 September 1900 led him publicly to suggest to contest was wretchedly, in his (Chaplin); Leeds Mercury, 11 April for the 1882 (Biggar); and Rowland, P., Lloyd his own senior government col- embittered view, frustrated by George (London, 1975), p. 581. leagues that commitment should Lloyd George’s refusal to fund the Liberals 4 Cooper, W., ‘Gladstone, Herbert be offered in support of women’s idea. Since Gladstone had persist- John’, in Weaver, J. (ed.), Dictionary of suffrage. In the face of opposition ently criticised the Lloyd George to remain National Biography 1922–30 (Oxford, from Lewis Harcourt and others, Fund as immoral it is perhaps 1953 – originally 1935) (hereafter DNB), p. 338; the Gladstone and 26 a major however, he meekly retreated. not surprising that Lloyd George Mallet books were both published in It is surely no exaggeration to declined to hand it over to Glad- party, their London; for the Gladstone quote, see say that the treatment meted to stone to spend on a swathe of British Library, H. Gladstone MSS women by Gladstone and many hopeless candidates.27 leaders (hereafter HG MSS), 41,216, letter to of his colleagues played into the With the well now dry for Sir Henry Campbell-Bannerman, 20 January 1900. hands of the Labour Party once Liberalism, Gladstone returned needed 5 Leeds Mercury, editorial, 7 April 1880; women were given the vote after to his favourite hobby, gardening, HG MSS 46, 036, letter from J. Henry 1918. in his wife’s properties in south- to keep in to H. Gladstone, 14 April 1899; Mas- On returning from the gover- ern England and at Hawarden. terman, N., The Forerunner: Tom Ellis nor-generalship of South Africa, His few remaining political touch with (London, 1976 – originally published 1972), p. 238. Gladstone was persuaded out of interventions concerned the ordinary 6 Ratcliffe, G., Sixty Years of It: Being retirement to help organise and support he and his wife gave to the Story of My Life and Public Career raise funds for the Asquithian the League of Nations. He died people (London, 1935, privately printed), p. Liberal Party. He became their on 6 March 1930 at home in 94 on the 1895 election; Ramm, A. chief national organiser, mak- Hertfordshire. beyond the (ed.), The Political Correspondence of Mr Gladstone and Lord Granville 1876–86, ing public speeches and writ- Herbert Gladstone’s place Westmin- Vol. 1 (London, 1962), p. 368, letter ing ‘first principles’ statements in Liberal politics deserves to from Granville to W. Gladstone, 9 of policy for regional papers be more thoroughly examined, ster hot- May 1882, on nepotism. and the Liberal Magazine, against especially given that his papers 7 Gladstone, H., ‘The Liberal Party Lloyd George perfidy in Ireland, are all to be found, catalogued, and Labour Questions’, The Albe- house. marle Magazine, February 1892; later against pacts with the Tories, and, in the British Library. His most that year he gave an interview to the of course, against any violation major contribution was encapsu- Paris newspaper Le Gaulois on his of free trade. lated in a remark in the American ideal Liberal programme in which He helped more lively spirits Political Science Review in 1927, both the payment of MPs and the like Masterman write on a twice- that for the Liberals to remain a limitation of workers’ hours were the main questions to be addressed, weekly basis for the Cadbury and major party, their leaders needed after Ireland. Starmer press against the Lloyd to keep in touch with ordinary 8 Anon, ‘The South African Strike’, George coalition; and he helped people beyond the Westminster New Statesman, 13 June 1914, p. 11. recapture all but the Welsh party hothouse. His modern detrac- The election addresses and speeches machine from the Lloyd Geor- tors should perhaps be asking of Masterman’s opponents at by-elec- tions in 1911 and 1914 include refer- geites, thus encouraging Lloyd themselves whether the Liberals ences to how the Liberal government George and Churchill to consider would have been able to imple- had allowed Gladstone to mistreat the forming their own ‘National Lib- ment a progressive agenda from rights of emigrant white subjects of eral’ organisation. Gladstone, in 1906 if he had never been Chief the Empire in labour disputes. return, was attacked by them for Whip. 9 Lloyd, T., ‘The Whip as Paymaster: Herbert Gladstone and Party Organ- being like an ‘extinct volcano’ in isation’, English Historical Review, Vol. not having any new policy ideas. Lawrence Iles is the Labour Party 89, No. 253, October 1974, pp. 785– However, his last political role Heritage Group’s representative for 811. For further information on Lib- was as the Asquithians’ conscience, US and Canada, and senior per- eral finances at this time see Searle, for which he has not, hitherto, manent staff writer for The Moni- G., ‘The Edwardian Liberal Party and Business’, English Historical Review, been awarded proper credit. In tor, the bi-weekly newspaper of the January 1983. the 1922 general election, the Truman State University, Kirksville, 10 Gladstone, H., ‘The Chief Whip in Asquithian Liberals narrowly Missouri, USA. Acknowledgements the British Parliament’, American

30 Journal of Liberal History 51 Summer 2006 organiser par excellence

Political Science Review, August 1927, ­Memoirs (London, 1945), p. 195; Ful- 27 Much of this section is drawn from pp. 519–28. ford, R., Votes for Women (London, the Liberal Magazine and Lloyd George 11 Fitzmaurice, Lord, The Life of George 1958); Wingfield-Stratford, E., The Liberal Magazine for the era; also Leveson Gower, Second Earl Granville Victorian Aftermath 1901–14 (London, useful is Cowling, M., The Impact of (1815–91), Vol. 2 (London, 1905) for 1933), p. 323; Raeburn, A., The Mili- Labour 1920–24 (Cambridge, 1971), Granville to Lord Derby, 27 Decem- tant Suffragettes (London, 1973); and, which is predictably sympathetic to ber 1885; and HG MSS, 46,041, T. for Harcourt’s attitude, see The Times, the more right-wing post-World War Wemyss Reid to H. Gladstone, 9 15 February 1909. One Gladstone. December 1885. 12 The Times, 11 October 1900. 13 Steele, E. D., ‘The Irish presence in the north of England 1850–1914’, Northern History (1976), pp. 229–32; HG MSS, 46, 041, J. Kitson to H. Gladstone, 21 February 1885. 14 The Times, 4 May 1886; Wemyss-Reid, T., Memoirs and Correspondence of Lyon letters Playfair (London, 1899) p. 342; Hind, R., Henry Labouchere and the Empire Election 2005 (Incidentally, in historical terms, 1880–1905 (London, 1972), p. 127. I would like to follow-up Neil have the Liberals ever been a 15 DNB, p. 337. Stockley’s thoughtful report high tax party?) These people 16 Russell, A., Liberal Landslide: The gen- of the History Group meeting hated our higher earners’ tax eral election of 1906 (London, 1973), p. ,‘Election 2005 in historical per- proposal not because they were 39. 17 HG MSS, 46,039, J. Mathers to H. spective’ (Journal of Liberal History currently earning £100,000 Gladstone, 26 September 1889 and 13 50). themselves, but because they September 1891. First, I should make my own intended one day that they 18 The Times 20 March 1880 and 11 stance, as the 2005 candidate would, i.e. they felt we were October 1900. for the Windsor constituency, challenging their aspiration to do 19 Bealey, F., ‘A Note: Negotiations between the Liberal Party and the clear. I believe the last general better in life. Labour Representation Committee election was a missed opportu- The second reason we fared before the General Election of 1906’, nity for our party. We had two badly against the Tories was very University of London Institute of Histori- unpopular main parties and this clear on the doorsteps. When cal Research Bulletin (1958); The Times, was a situation where we, as asked, ‘Who will you be voting 30 March 1900 (Nottingham NLF); Poirier, P., The Advent of the British the third political force, should for?’ the answer, invariably, was, Labour Party (New York, 1958), p .260, have come strongly through the ‘Not Tony Blair.’ These voters letter from Gladstone to Crooks, 21 middle. Neil’s summary of the then implemented their strong March 1905. Blackpool fringe meeting gives dislike of the Prime Minister on 20 The Times, 11 July 1892. the game away when he reports the day by following the precept 21 HG MSS, 41,215, H. Gladstone to H. Campbell-Bannerman, 16 January all the speakers as saying, ‘we had of the old Arab proverb – ‘My 1906. made more than steady progress.’ enemy’s enemy is my friend’. 22 Ibid., 46, 036, J. Henry to H. Glad- ‘Steady progress’ in the context By this light they wanted above stone 25 May 1905, 9 April 1907, and of this election, and for a party all to vote for the party that 13 October 1908. purportedly on the up, is not was most opposed to the leader 23 DNB, p. 337; nearly all Gladstone’s speeches and published statements good enough. of New Labour. Since the Lib during the 1900 election moved the As he analyses what happened, Dems were seen as ‘neither left Liberals’ position on the war closer to Neil muses on the intractable nor right’ (or as Neil says, equally that of the government – e.g. see The problem of why the Liberal damningly, ‘either left or right’) Times, 13 October 1900; HG MSS, 43, Democrats made serious inroads many reluctantly felt they had 543, Ripon to Campbell-Bannerman, 16 September 1900 and Wolf, L., The in Labour-held constituencies to vote Tory. However, and this Life of the First Marquis of Ripon, Vol. 2 (up 7.7%) but hardly any impact, is the point, they weren’t really (London, 1921), p. 28. in general, in areas which had Tory – and probably still aren’t! 24 For more on the Relugas plot see a sitting Tory MP (up a mere So the message about 2005 McCready, H., ‘Home Rule and the 0.6%). He seeks answers to an from Tory constituencies in Liberal Party 1899–1906’, Irish His- torical Studies, XIII, September 1963, electoral conundrum and this the South-East (like Windsor, pp. 316–48. letter attempts to help that search which has never had anything 25 See Iles, L., ‘Victories for the Left: The by proposing two possible rea- other than a Conservative MP) British General Election Debates of sons for the disparity. is simple. Our tax policies were 1906 and 1945’, University of Illinois As we went into the general wrong and we were perceived Urbana Microfilms Series, MA History dissertation, August 1982, from p. 100 election many middle-class vot- as too bland in terms of oppos- and Iles, L., A Handlist of the Papers of ers in the ‘blue’ parts of England ing the Prime Minister. By such the Rt Hon. Charles and Lucy Master- (such as Windsor) seemed suspi- mischance are great opportuni- man 1873–1977 (Edgbaston, 1987). cious of our Council Tax policy, ties lost. 26 See Pearson, H., Labby: the Life and whilst others absolutely hated Antony Wood Character of Henry Labouchere (Lon- don, 1945), p. 225; Samuel, H., our approach on income tax.

Journal of Liberal History 51 Summer 2006 31 1906: ‘BLISSFUL DAWN’?

Lecture on the 1906 election and the government that followed; by Kenneth O. Morgan.

A hundred years ago to the very day, the crofters and fishermen of Orkney and Shetland made their way through the darkness to cast their votes in the general election. The Kenneth O. pread out over four Unionist Cabinet survived constituency had not Morgan, who weeks, the excite- – Akers-Douglas, Arnold-For- delivered the ment began on 11 ster and Austen Chamberlain. elected a Conservative lecture reprinted here, hosted by January with two To the Liberals’ 401 should be since the general the Corporation of Liberals elected for added the 29 members of the the City of London SIpswich (‘Ipswich leads the way’ newly-formed Labour Party and election of 1835 so (together with the read the placards). A sequence of 83 Irish Nationalists, so the effec- Liberal Democrat Unionist (i.e. Conservative) dis- tive normal government major- it was no surprise and Labour History Groups), asters followed thereafter. The ity was over 350. The Tories lost when 79 per cent of Guildhall, 7 ‘Portillo moment’, the South- 245 seats and ended up with only the voters cast their February 2006. gate of 1906, came very early 157. It is impossible to assess the with the defeat on 13 January swing with any precision – there vote for the Liberal, in North Manchester of Arthur were 114 uncontested seats, and Balfour, only five weeks previ- there had been 245 in the previ- J. C. Wason. What was ously the Prime Minister; he had ous election, the ‘khaki’ election totally astonishing was to find sanctuary in that citadel held during the South African of unregenerate Conservatism, War in October 1900. Where that he was (according the City of London. In fact, the there is a comparable result, the to my calculations!) Liberals captured all eight seats swing seems to have been around in Manchester, including Win- 12 per cent, greater than those of the 401st Liberal MP ston Churchill, a recent convert, 1945 or 1997. Peter Snow, thou returned. in North West Manchester. Only shouldst have been living at that three members of the former hour!

32 Journal of Liberal History 51 Summer 2006 1906: ‘BLISSFUL DAWN’?

Contemporaries noted that cork dancing on a torrent which but to do a deal. The outcome something really dramatic was he cannot control … It is an echo benefited both sides, financially happening. Many of them of the same movement which has and politically, and created the focused, as would have been natu- produced massacres in St. Peters- pre-war Progressive Alliance. ral in 1906, on religion. The 1906 burg and riots in Vienna … .’ A The background to the elec- election, with over 200 noncon- few days later, on 12 February tion was one of deep national formists returned to parliament, 1906, there followed what was anxiety. The dismal war in South was the greatest triumph of the clearly the most important out- Africa in 1899–1902 proved to chapels over the Church of Eng- come of the general election. The be, as Kipling famously wrote, land since the time of Cromwell. Parliamentary Labour Party was ‘no end of a lesson’. It dem- Great chapels like Whitefield’s formed. Its twenty-nine MPs con- onstrated diplomatic isolation Tabernacle on the Tottenham sisted very largely of trade union- overseas, growing poverty, class Court Road became in effect ists, many of Lib-Lab views, but division and inequality in the cit- Liberal committee rooms, with also included important socialists ies at home. The gospel of Empire charismatic organisers like like Ramsay MacDonald, Philip was irretrievably tarnished by Whitefield’s Congregationalist Snowden, Fred Jowett and Keir the deaths of at least 28,000 Boer minister, Silvester Horne (father Hardie, the member for Merthyr women and children in Brit- of a famous radio comedian). For Boroughs who had brought the ish concentration camps on the the chapels, it was not so much an Labour alliance into being six In the Rand. The memorial plaques of election as an epiphany. There was years earlier. Hardie was elected hundreds of tiny children, perish- much talk of Children of Israel chairman by fifteen votes to four- longer ing under the age of five, on the and the Promised Land, with teen. In January 1909, after a vote walls of a former concentration particular reference to church amongst the Miners’ Federation, term, much camp near Pretoria, which I saw schools and ‘Rome on the rates’. the twenty-nine were joined by the more in 2000, are a permanent stain Religion had a particular impact a further fourteen miners’ MPs, on the name of Britain. Henry in nonconformist Wales, where elected in 1906 as ‘Lib-Labs’. significant Campbell-Bannerman described the much publicised ‘revolt’ of It has been rightly pointed these camps as ‘methods of barba- the county councils, led by Lloyd out that the advent of Labour aspect was rism’ – three words that changed George, against the 1902 Educa- was hugely assisted by the secret the politics of a generation. There tion Act, was reinforced by the election pact or ‘entente’ with that the is an interesting parallel with the huge religious revival of 1904–5, the Liberals in 1903 under which general Progressive reform movement ‘y diwygiad mawr’ in Welsh, a Labour had a free run against in the United States at this time. media-conscious event of mes- the Unionists in around thirty election There, too, after an imperialist sianic intensity. In Wales, the seats. It was a pact much helped war with Spain in Cuba in 1898 Unionists, like a famous Brit- by the existence of two-member marked and the cruel suppression of ish entry in the Eurovision song seats where Labour could run in ‘insurgency’ in the revolt in the contest, scored nul points. double harness with a Liberal, the first Philippines, Americans turned But the nonconformists were as MacDonald did in Leices- great direct inwards from the vainglorious to be disappointed clients of the ter, Snowden in Blackburn and imperialism of a ‘splendid little Liberal victory. In the longer Hardie in Merthyr Tydfil. But impact of war’ to political corruption and term, much the more significant too much has been made, in my social injustice at home. The great aspect was that the general elec- view, of excessive Liberal gener- the work- American ‘muckraking’ journal- tion marked the first great direct osity. With the growing strength ists and writers, like Lincoln Stef- impact of the working class in of Labour in 1903, with Arthur ing class fens, Ida Tarbell, Ray Stannard British politics. Balfour saw the Henderson winning Barnard in British Baker or Upton Sinclair, paral- Liberal Prime Minister, Sir Henry Castle against a Liberal, the Lib- leled the British journalism of Campbell-Bannerman, as ‘a mere eral whips had not much choice politics. exposure at the same period.

Journal of Liberal History 51 Summer 2006 33 1906: ‘blissful dawn’?

The brash façade of Edward- The victors of House of Lords as ‘five hundred it was conducted in the special ian baroque barely concealed this 1906: Campbell- ordinary men chosen at random circumstances of wartime.) Of anxiety. It was a time of explosive Bannerman, from amongst the unemployed’. course, there are clear differences. Asquith, Lloyd cultural and intellectual energy George, Hardie. There were highly personalised In 1997 Tony Blair emphasised that went far beyond the nation- attacks on Joseph Chamberlain personal leadership and the cult of alist confines of Elgar’s pomp and and ‘sleaze’ linked to the arms the ‘new’. His first major speech circumstance. Edwardian litera- deals of the South African War as party leader in 1994 used the ture was galvanised by social pro- – ‘While the Empire expands, the word ‘new’ thirty-seven times. test – especially with problems of Chamberlains contract’. There In 1906, by contrast, the Liberals the city and the status of women. were rhetorical attacks on ‘Rand- campaigned as a team, and took H. G. Wells is an outstanding lords’ and ‘Landlords’, and on the up distinctly Old Liberal themes example here in novels such as ‘small loaf’ that would result from – free trade, Little-Englandism, Tono Bungay, The New Machiavelli Tariff Reform. It was claimed the rights of nonconformity, the and Ann Veronica. Shaw, Galswor- that the Tories would drive us ‘“unholy trinity” of the bishop, thy and many others also illus- back to the Hungry Forties. the brewer and the squire’. trate the social concerns of the Most discreditable of all was the Again in 1997 the forty-four- Edwardians. It was also a heyday racism – the Liberals’ campaign year-old Tony Blair emphasised of the ‘higher journalism’ in the against ‘Chinese Slavery’ (inden- that he and his country were great weekly and fortnightly tured non-union Chinese work- ‘young’ (a theme now picked reviews and the national press. ers on the Rand) made much up by the forty-year-old David The ‘two Hobs’, Hobson and use of Oriental stereotypes. It Cameron). In 1906 the Prime Hobhouse, are the great exhibit chimed with trade-union fears of Minister, Campbell-Bannerman, here. J. A, Hobson, later to join capitalist bosses bringing in non- was sixty-nine and spent several the Labour Party but at the time unionised ‘free’ blackleg labour at weeks, if not months, of the year a leading New Liberal ideologue home and the role of freebooting taking the waters in the agree- much admired by Lenin, helped employers like the appalling Lord able German spa of Marienbad. to detach the idea of collectivism Penrhyn in his slate quarries in In fact, ‘C.B.’ was at first a force- and an empowering state from Caernarfonshire. ful and decisive leader. He led the tarnished creed of empire. So the election campaign his cabinet from the left of cen- L. T. Hobhouse, for many years a was not a model of moral recti- tre and with much confidence leader writer on C. P. Scott’s Man- tude. But it was also a great and – ‘if the tail is wagging the dog, chester Guardian, was a pioneer momentous event to which the party is the dog and I am the of modern sociology. It was the the historian should respond. It tail’. He crushed Balfour at the high noon for the political pub- embodied what Karl Marx called outset in debate in 1906 with his lic intellectual and man of letters. the sense of historic necessity. It is memorable rebuke, ‘Enough of Literary giants like John Morley, right that we should celebrate it this foolery’. He pushed for early James Bryce and Augustine Bir- tonight. Perhaps we shall celebrate self-government in South Africa rell were actually in the Liberal it again shortly when the statue of (in fact, a highly disadvantageous cabinet. The 401 Liberals MPs Lloyd George is placed next to move as far as the blacks of Cape included eminent authors like that of Winston Churchill in Par- Colony and Natal were con- Hilaire Belloc and A. E. W. Mason liament Square. Just as Churchill’s cerned, as Hardie and the Labour of Four Feathers fame, and the dis- statue was once targeted by anti- Party pointed out). He endorsed tinguished historian, G. P. Gooch, capitalist demonstrators, it is nice the Labour Party’s view on trade member for Bath. to think that Lloyd George’s may union reform, rather than the At the same time, we should be at some time by the pheasant- opinion of his own Attorney- not overdo the high-minded elit- shooting branches of the Coun- General. The result was the 1906 iism of the Liberal victory. There tryside Alliance. Trade Disputes Act, the so-called was also much low-level populism Are there similarities between Magna Carta of labour, guaran- in the Liberal campaign, long the election victories of 1906 and teeing them financial immunity before Lloyd George laid into the of 1997? (I set 1945 aside since from damages in industrial action

34 Journal of Liberal History 51 Summer 2006 1906: ‘blissful dawn’? and which, after being reinforced the great religious revival and also a convert to Anglicanism, Lloyd by Michael Foot at the employ- perhaps by the ever famous rugby George was a Campbellite Bap- ment department in 1974–5, victory over the New Zealand tist, an outsider in religion as in survived largely intact until the All Blacks at the Arms Park on 16 politics. There was also a much regime of Mrs Thatcher. December 1905, which evoked greater political gulf between But there were also clear simi- fanciful comparison with the them than between Blair and larities between 1906 and 1997. Welsh bowmen at Agincourt. Brown today, with Asquith the First, in each election there was Thirdly, both the Liberals and Liberal Imperialist in 1900 and a background of Conservative New Labour won three elec- Lloyd George the ‘pro-Boer’. division and decline. In the 1990s tions, the Liberals also winning But what a tremendous part- it was all about Europe. In 1906 both elections in 1910, though nership they were, and over so it was about Empire. The moral far more narrowly. They stayed in long a period! It is a great error to impetus of Empire was severely office as a single-party govern- read back the split between them diminished, as Kipling himself ment for nearly ten years, until the in 1916–18 to the pre-war years. pointed out. ‘Methods of bar- first wartime coalition emerged Lloyd George and Asquith were barism’, a phrase suggested to in May 1915. Both the Liberals in not Bevan and Gaitskell, still less Campbell-Bannerman by that 1906 and Labour in 1997 estab- Cain and Abel. Their great qualities wonderful woman, Emily Hob- lished not just a government but were complementary – Asquith house, who documented the a hegemony. judicious and clear-headed, Lloyd evils of the concentration camps And finally, both governments George charismatic and vision- in South Africa, created a new were dominated by two men. ary. Asquith foreshadowed his mood of revulsion, though it was Today it is Tony Blair and Gor- government’s reform programme the methods of the war rather don Brown. Then it was Her- while Chancellor with his budget than its ostensible purposes that bert Asquith and David Lloyd of 1907 and its new taxation of generated most criticism, unlike George. There were other big unearned incomes, and he also Iraq in 2003. In addition, Joseph figures in the 1906 government, introduced old age pensions, Chamberlain in 1903 destabi- of course: Sir Edward Grey, the which Lloyd George carried on lised his party with his crusade Foreign Secretary, R. B. Haldane, to the statute book. His famous for protective tariffs and impe- Secretary for War, John Morley, words, ‘wait and see’, implied a rial preference. In response, free Secretary for India. There were threat to his opponents, not a sym- trade, the gospel of Cobden and also one or two makeweights bol of indolence. In April 1908, Bright and Gladstone, embraced like ‘Lulu’ Harcourt and John when Campbell-Bannerman left the whole range of Liberal (and Burns. But Asquith and Lloyd office to die, and Asquith became Labour) values – cheap food and George were the giants. They Prime Minister and Lloyd George raw materials for consumers, full were certainly not socially or his Chancellor, the pace and tone employment for workers, a vision educationally on the same wave- of public life changed dramati- of world prosperity and peace. length. It was a contrast between cally. Asquith went along with all Secondly, in both 1906 and a wealthy product of City of Lloyd George’s radical reforms. 1997 there was a uniform swing London School and Balliol Col- They worked together in bril- all over the country. There was a lege, Oxford, and a relatively liant combination over the 1909 big swing to the Liberals in Lan- poor product of the shoemaker’s People’s Budget and the 1911 Par- cashire, which had been since the home in Llanystdumwy who liament Act which permanently 1870s a stronghold of Protestant never went to university and left clipped the powers of the Lords. Toryism. Even in Chamber- school at fourteen. This contrast is There was no serious political gulf lainite Birmingham, where all reflected in Roy Jenkins’s suitably Both the between them until the coming of the seats were just about held by patrician biography of Asquith, military conscription in the win- the Unionists, there was a 12 per the work of another Balliol man, Liberals in ter of 1915–16. The key moment cent swing. Fifteen of the twenty- of course. Asquith did not greatly came with the Marconi scan- two Unionist-held seats in Lon- like either Lloyd George himself 1906 and dal in 1912, when Lloyd George don were captured. Rural seats or the Welsh in general – ‘I would (along with Rufus Isaacs, shortly in England, hardly ever, or never, sooner go to hell than to Wales’ Labour to become Lord Chief Justice) Liberal before, were won. Celtic he once observed. L.G. would in 1997 was seen to have bought shares pluralism was much exploited. sometimes make derisive com- from a wireless telegraphy com- There were big Unionist losses in ment on Asquith’s addiction to established pany in contract with the Brit- Scotland, the one area to swing to brandy and women, though he ish government. Lloyd George, the government in the khaki elec- also spoke often with affection of not just who actually lost money on the tion of 1900. In Wales, there was a his old leader. As someone once Marconi shares transaction, could clean sweep, with the Conserva- said to me about another power- a govern- well have gone with ignominy. tives losing every seat, as in 1997 ful partnership, Jim Callaghan and ment but a But Asquith backed him up to and 2001. The Liberal cause here, Michael Foot, ‘they were not best the hilt. He fought Marconi hard as we have noted, was boosted by buddies’ personally. Asquith was hegemony. on totally partisan lines. Asquith

Journal of Liberal History 51 Summer 2006 35 1906: ‘blissful dawn’? wanted to remain Prime Minister, But in all other domestic areas, ­government finance, funding old he despised the Tories, he recog- the 1906 Liberals pressed on age pensions and the expensive nised Lloyd George as his greatest with the greater radicalism. They construction of Dreadnought asset, and he played to win. The had said very little about social battleships. But he also sought a Liberals, with their Labour and reform in the general election. new platform for social welfare in Irish allies, took a tough partisan But under Asquith’s regime from the long term. approach throughout (none more 1908 there was far more momen- He aimed boldly to seize the so than Lloyd George’s close ally, tum. Indeed, Asquith’s third term, initiative from the tariff reform- Winston Churchill) and Lloyd from December 1910, was actu- ers. On welfare, the Tories said that George survived, eventually to ally the most radical and effective ‘the foreigner will pay’ through supplant Asquith himself. Nor since it saw, among other things, tariffs being levied, an idea which were Lloyd George’s sexual pec- the passage of both the Parliament Churchill effectively ridiculed. cadillos a political problem; in any Act and the National Insurance Lloyd George, and his radical case, Asquith, with his remarkably Act in 1911. This radical impetus journalist friends, replied that ‘the frank disclosures to Lady Venetia was almost wholly due to David rich will pay’, echoing the egali- Stanley, was hardly less vulnerable Lloyd George. He had little to say tarian argument of Leo Chiozza on that ground himself. Tabloid on social matters in 1906 and the Money’s Riches and Poverty (1905). revelations belonged to a later age. Labour leader reasonably observed There was, therefore, a commit- There was one great difference that he had ‘no settled opinions’ ment to redistribution through the between the two governments of on them at the time. He told the taxation system, unusual, almost 1906 and 1997. Gordon Brown Welsh National Liberal Federation unique, in our history. Its new has said: ‘We are at our best when then that the workers were quite direct taxes, not the land taxes, we are boldest’. In fact, on most as much interested in church dis- were the most important feature of issues, the government of 1906 establishment and temperance and his 1909 People’s Budget. He and was much the bolder, almost reck- land reform as they were in social Churchill, with other colleagues, lessly so. Setting Iraq on one side, reform. But by the summer of pressed on with labour exchanges the Blair government has clearly 1908 there was a mighty change, for the labour market, trade boards been the bolder on overall consti- and he transformed the public for ‘sweated’ trades, a minimum tutional policy, with Lord Irvine’s agenda. He had until the end of wage for miners and others, and influence of central importance. There was 1910 a tremendous ally in Winston policies for children in relation to Both governments had to grapple one great Churchill, almost his disciple and health and nutrition. with the problem of the House a humane and reforming Home Above all there was his epoch- of Lords. Asquith in 1911 lim- difference Secretary with a keen interest in making National Insurance Act ited the powers of the Lords over such unfashionable topics as prison of 1911, a comprehensive system delaying or blocking government between reform and the treatment of juve- of health insurance and a prepara- measures, but ignored its com- niles. But most of Asquith’s gov- tory system of unemployment position. (Lloyd George actually the two ernment – McKenna, Runciman, insurance. It aroused controversy feared a remodelled House of govern- Simon, Harcourt, various peers – – Labour members like Hardie Lords dominated by the reaction- were pretty much of a dead loss on and Lansbury did not endorse its ary ‘glorified grocers’ of Liberal- ments of social welfare. Lloyd George stood contributory method and called ism.) Tony Blair’s government alone as a unique link between the it a poll tax. But it offered a new has done the reverse. Overall, 1906 and Old Liberalism of civic equality vision of social policy, indeed of Labour since 1997 has had a far and the New Liberalism of social social citizenship, and it was the more sweeping programme of 1997 … reform. He alone recognised the launch pad of Attlee’s welfare reform, especially over Scottish on most need for more radical momentum state forty years later. and Welsh devolution. In 1906 and the ways in which this might This was a distinguished, if devolution was not significantly issues, the be achieved. angry and often confused, phase on the agenda: though a Scottish The turning point was his visit of policy-making. Of course, spin- home rule bill did make sluggish govern- to Germany in August 1908 to doctors and media figures were in progress, the main emphasis was look at Bismarckian welfare pro- Downing Street in 1911 as they on working through an expanded ment of grammes (a great episode, to be were in 1997 – Lloyd George, Scottish Office. In Wales, the 1906 was contrasted with his catastrophic with his close links with editors main theme was disestablishment later visit to Germany in 1936 to and journalists in Fleet Street, of the Church of England, but much the see Hitler at Berchtesgaden). In was the most media-conscious (unlike Ireland in 1869) disestab- the autumn and winter of 1908– figure of his time. But there were lishment was an alternative to bolder, 09 he discussed a planned strategy also great intellectuals and plan- home rule, not a precursor to it. with Churchill and C. F. G. Mas- ners like Seebohm Rowntree, the Welsh and Scottish national senti- almost terman, author of The Condition Webbs and William Beveridge, a ment focused on greater equality recklessly of England. There was an imme- key man in the agenda for social within the Empire, not exclusion diate need to deal with a finan- policy in 1908 as he was to be so from it, as was the case in Ireland. so. cial shortfall – a crisis in local memorably in 1945.

36 Journal of Liberal History 51 Summer 2006 1906: ‘blissful dawn’? There was something else ally the child of Edwardian pro- There was were serious losses to the Con- underlying Edwardian progres- gressivism. With Addison, Lloyd servatives, or Ratepayers, in local sivism and Lloyd George’s poli- George worked on areas left out plenty of government such as the seri- cies – fear of Labour. After all, the in earlier social reform measures ous loss of the London County Liberals were capitalists, for all – education, including technical energy Council by the Progressives in their humanity. They were backed education, housing reform, the 1907. Arguments for traditional by coal-owners and ship-own- rural poor, and extending health within the free trade would be harder to ers and textile magnates. They centres in a way that might have government sustain as the economy changed feared the long violent strikes of anticipated Nye Bevan’s National and relied less on exporting sta- 1910–12 with the use of military Health Service. He told Addison down to the ple industries like coal, textiles and the loss of life in places like they should dream dreams, though and shipbuilding. Nonconform- Tonypandy and Llanelli. There base them on existing realities. The late spring ity, even to a degree in Wales, was was an underlying fear of the government’s ninth year in power now something of a fading force. growth of trade union power was one of its most creative. of 1914. More generally, Liberals, cham- anyway, violent or not. This was George Dangerfield’s famous Lloyd pions of the free market, could a great worry for the Labour book, The Strange Death of Liberal not ultimately accommodate the Party too. Keir Hardie himself, England, has seen this government George’s politics of class. always on the left, urged that they as fundamentally doomed. Cer- But these things hadn’t hap- should use the state, not destroy it. tainly it was brought to a shud- 1914 pened yet. The Tories under Even so, accommodating Labour, dering halt by the advent of war. Bonar Law might have been through protecting the unions’ Dangerfield, however, highlights budget, favourites to win a 1915 general political levy, the payment of domestic issues – the campaign with its election, but they still had their MPs, a miners’ minimum wage of the suffragettes for votes for troubles over food taxes and Irish and other measures, was a contin- women, the great labour ‘unrest’, rating of home rule. The Liberals’ elec- uing priority for the Liberal gov- the crisis over Ireland. His book toral pact with Labour was still in ernment. Lloyd George declared is brilliantly written and highly site values being and there were even sug- that if they did not continue to entertaining. But very few his- gestions that Ramsay MacDonald promote an advanced social pro- torians pay much heed to its and higher might enter a Liberal govern- gramme, they would play into the argument now. The suffragettes direct ment. There was still a mood of hands of the socialists of the ILP. were surely declining in political prosperity and peace. The econ- At any rate, there was plenty impact in 1914 through their own taxes, was omy looked robust with 1913 a of energy within the government divisions, even if things would particularly strong year for coal down to the late spring of 1914. change fundamentally later on. the most and record exports from Cardiff Lloyd George’s 1914 budget, with The industrial relations troubles and Newcastle. There had been its rating of site values and higher seemed even more a problem radical and no war. The 1906 Liberal gov- direct taxes, was the most radical for the Labour Party, commit- redistribu- ernment had not invaded other and redistributive of the lot. It ran ted as it was to constitutional- countries. Lloyd George was still into severe procedural difficulties ism, and were anyhow petering tive of the their greatest asset, still dominat- in the Commons which dented out in 1914. Irish home rule was ing political life. his reputation as a minister, but undoubtedly intractable, perhaps lot. At the Mansion House on 17 it still emerged as a bold, redis- insoluble, an abiding commit- July 1914, two and a half weeks tributive measure which focused ment for Lloyd George thereafter, after the assassination at Sara- on the unearned income and the until he achieved the longest-last- jevo, he spoke of the world scene residual estates of the rich, idle ing settlement there in the Irish with guarded optimism: ‘the sky and otherwise. He continued to Free State treaty worked out with has never seemed more relatively work with radicals like Master- Sinn Fein in December 1921. blue’. Eighteen days later, Britain man, C. R. Buxton and C. P. Scott, In the long term, in my view, engaged in a world war, following editor of the Manchester Guard- Edwardian Liberalism was likely the invasion of Belgium. Progres- ian. Seebohm Rowntree was his to decline. The electorate was sive Liberal England suddenly col- great intellectual policy adviser. going to expand, bringing many lapsed for ever. The Liberals were An important political ally was Dr more poorer voters on to the to be a supreme casualty of total Christopher Addison, a famous register along with all women, war. No longer would they be a university medical professor in and this might well have disad- party of power. It would never be earlier life, along with Addison’s vantaged the Liberals fatally. They glad, confident morning again. fellow East End MP, William were already struggling politically. Wedgwood Benn, father of Tony Their tally of seats had fallen from Lord Kenneth Morgan has been one of Benn, of course. Both later joined 401 to 272 by the end of 1910 and Britain’s leading modern historians for the Labour Party. If one considers by-elections had reduced it fur- over thirty years, and is known espe- Isaac Foot alongside Wedgwood ther since then. No one much cially for his writing on Welsh history, Benn, it may indeed be seen how suggested PR then – usually the Lloyd Geroge and the Labour Party; the modern Labour left was liter- demand of losing parties. There he was made a life peer in 2000.

Journal of Liberal History 51 Summer 2006 37 with the immediate post-war period). Churchill was Chan- reviews cellor of the Exchequer at the time, and a general election was in the offing. Sinclair, who as a Friends and allies Liberal was of course a politi- cal opponent, urged him not Ian Hunter (ed.): Winston and Archie: The Letters of Sir to give hostages to fortune. In particular, he warned him not to Archibald Sinclair and Winston S. Churchill (Politico’s, print an exchange of telegrams 2005) dating from 1919 in which Lloyd George (now the leader Reviewed by Richard Toye of Sinclair’s own party) had urged restraint upon his errant he publication of the met prior to the war): ‘I do not War Secretary. Sinclair wrote: private and official cor- want office, but only war direc- ‘I cannot help thinking that it Trespondence of Winston tion: that perhaps never again. must have been the need … of Churchill and Archibald Sinclair Everything else – not that. Eve- justifying your apparent opposi- is greatly to be welcomed. Dur- rything else – not that. At least so tion to Lloyd George’s copy- ing the First World War, Sinclair I feel in my evil moments. Those book maxims which has led you was Churchill’s aide-de-camp who live by the sword – ... I am to denounce with a strength of when the latter served for a few profoundly unsettled: and cannot language which strikes me as months in the trenches after the use my gift.’ This level of candour perhaps a little excessive the pol- apparent collapse of his political suggests that Churchill at this time icy which the Allies finally did career. From 1919–22, Sinclair placed almost unlimited trust in adopt.’ Interestingly, in Sinclair’s again assisted Churchill, first Sinclair. private papers there is a draft of at the War Office and then at The letters for the immediate this letter containing a passage the Colonial Office. After the post-war period are, in emotional not quoted in this edition. In it, collapse of the Lloyd George terms, considerably less revealing. Sinclair observed that Church- coalition, he remained loyal to This is a natural consequence ill’s pursuit of his controversy the Liberal Party, becoming its of the change in their relation- with Lloyd George ‘has led you leader in 1935, whereas Churchill ship, from comrades-in-arms to into a greater condemnation of reverted to the Tories. However, minister and private secretary. the policy which was pursued in 1940 Churchill appointed Sin- The correspondence takes on an clair as Secretary of State for Air. official character, with Sinclair Sinclair left the coalition govern- doing the bulk of the writing. ment at the end of the European The material is nonetheless war, narrowly lost his seat in the important, especially in relation ensuing general election, and to British intervention in the took little part in politics there- Russian Civil War. Sinclair was as after. The letters cast light on an enthusiast for the ‘Whites’, as what was for both men a signifi- Churchill was. There was a hint cant relationship and, to a lesser of anti-Semitism in the men’s extent, also provide evidence attitude towards the Bolsheviks. about the fate of Liberalism. It must be said in their defence, It should be noted that a though, that they repeatedly number of the most interesting urged restraint on the leaders of letters have been published before, the Whites, in (often unsuccess- in the companion volumes to the ful) attempts to prevent pogroms. official biography of Churchill. The letters for the 1923–39 However, this does not dimin- period are amongst the most ish the value of the book under valuable in the book, although review. Some of the First World they are by no means volumi- War letters are extraordinarily nous. A couple in particular raw and unguarded, and are well stand out. The first of these is worth re-reading. In June 1915, Sinclair’s of 16 January 1929. having been moved from the This was an extended com- Admiralty to a sinecure position, mentary on Churchill’s draft of Churchill poured out his heart to The Aftermath (the volume of his the younger man (they had first book The World Crisis dealing

38 Journal of Liberal History 51 Summer 2006 reviews than you would at the time have This vol- Sinclair and Churchill at times was no longer in his innermost thought justified or than you felt frustrated with one another, circle. The slim post-war cor- could now easily reconcile with ume … although, perhaps inevitably respondence is full of expres- your responsibilities for it as a given his superior literary skill, sions of affection but there is Cabinet Minister and Secretary forms an it was the latter with whom this not much of substance. Sinclair of State for War’ (Thurso Papers reviewer ended up sympathising was ennobled by Churchill as II 85/3, Churchill College, at times most. ‘I am very glad to find that Viscount Thurso in 1952, but Cambridge). Clearly, as regards touching you are as usual completely satis- almost immediately suffered a self-censorship, Sinclair practiced fied’, Churchill wrote sardoni- major stroke. Although he out- what he preached. record of cally on 29 September 1940, in lived Churchill by five years, he Some letters from Churchill relation to a point he had raised was not able to take an active in 1931 cast important new light a political earlier about bombing targets. role in the House of Lords. This on his thinking about the Liberal ‘I merely referred the Foreign volume – on which the editor, Party as it entered its all-but- friendship. Office telegram to you in order Ian Hunter is to be congratu- terminal phase. In the autumn to test once more that impen- lated – is a worthy testament to of that year the party divided in etrable armour of departmental Sinclair’s earlier importance to three. Lloyd George and a tiny confidence which you have British politics. It also forms an at group of followers remained donned since you ceased to lead times touching record of a politi- outside Ramsay MacDonald’s an Opposition to the Govern- cal friendship. newly formed National Govern- ment and became one of its pil- ment. Within the government lars. Either you must have been Richard Toye has published widely there were two Liberal factions, very wrong in the old days, or on many aspects of modern politi- one led by Herbert Samuel and we must all have improved enor- cal history. His next book, Lloyd the other (the Liberal Nationals) mously since the change.’ George and Churchill, will be by John Simon. Churchill, in an Sinclair did not forfeit published by Macmillan in 2007. undated letter, urged Sinclair to Churchill’s confidence but he ‘ruthlessly detach’ himself from the Samuelites ‘and establish solid Tory or Simonite connections’. Sinclair ignored this advice, and in September 1932 resigned from The strategy of the centre the government, along with the other Samuelite ministers, Stephen Barber: Political Strategy: Modern Politics in against Churchill’s advice. The Contemporary Britain (Liverpool Academic Press, 2005) resignations were in protest at the government’s confirmation Reviewed by Richard Holme of its abandonment of free trade. This issue seems to have been the his is an ambitious and In the decades after the Sec- crucial factor in Sinclair’s attach- unusual book, which ven- ond World War, this battlefield ment to Liberalism. It is difficult Ttures well outside the usual jargon, translated back from the to see what, apart from this ques- terrain of political publishing front into civilian life, increas- tion, divided him from moderate – memoirs and biographies, elec- ingly infused every competitive Conservatives. toral studies and analyses of issues marketplace, no doubt giving a The Second World War corre- and identities. macho thrill to the men in grey spondence is again of the largely Stephen Barber’s chosen turf flannel suits, dreaming Walter official variety, but is no less is strategy, the planned shaping Mitty-style that their ‘counter- fascinating for that. Churchill’s of the political battle to achieve attacks’ with ‘targeted saturation style as Prime Minister was to long-term goals and eventual advertising campaigns’ on the prod away at his subordinates in victory. The military vocabulary toothpaste or toilet tissue markets an attempt to expose organisa- is appropriate. Although there is put them in the swashbuckling tional weaknesses and stimulate scarcely a corporation or NGO, tradition of General Patton. action. This approach had defects or indeed any other institu- And the master plan, the big as well as virtues. If he fell on a tion worth its salt nowadays, picture, which would ensure that snippet of information without which does not boast a strategy, effort would not be wasted nor understanding its full context, the inspiration and terminol- valuable resources dissipated, was, he could fire off memoranda ogy – complete with ‘missions’, of course, the strategy. demanding explanations from ‘objectives’ and ‘battle plans’ For some time, politics his subordinates, which would – comes from war. Indeed, Mr seemed relatively immune to force them to waste valuable Barber quotes the fourth-cen- the strategic approach, content time justifying themselves. It is tury Art of War by Sun-Tzu in his to bumble along from crisis not hard to understand why both first chapter. to crisis, election to election,

Journal of Liberal History 51 Summer 2006 39 reviews

­British politics, with a dwindling way, at a seemly interval after the ‘donkey’ vote and a growing election, towards conjugal bliss ‘consumer choice’ vote, has in a permanent union, it would changed that to a marked degree. have made the crucial differ- The Thatcher years – with the ence. If we had performed a few dilemmas she posed for her suc- percentage points better and got cessors – and the construction of ahead of Labour, not only would the New Labour ‘project’ have the subsequent debacle of the both been outstanding exam- collapse of the Alliance have been ples of party strategy, involving avoided but momentum would repositioning, rebranding and have been restored to a flagging redeployment. Barber deals with proposition. Barber records that both, with extensive interviews the main Labour aim at this elec- with some of the key actors. tion was ‘not coming third’ and Liberal Democrat readers, the fissiparous Alliance gave them however, may find the later part material help to achieve this aim. of the book particularly inter- Playing those ‘what if’ games esting. Barber has a very long makes me wonder if the price chapter, ‘The Strategy of the might have been offering David Centre’, which is what he calls Owen the crown. On second his case study. In this he deals thoughts … ! with the formation of the SDP More generally, Barber is and its breakaway from Labour, interesting on the Downsian the building of the Alliance, the model of rational choice by vot- trauma of merger, Paddy Ash- ers and of parties which compete down’s ‘equidistance’ in time for via opinion polling and match the 1997 election, the coalition their policies to its results. It is ­swinging between the twin poles manoeuvrings with Tony Blair clearly a model which has its of personality and policy with, and New Labour and Charles limits, since parties are not new in recent years, an increasing Kennedy’s reversion to construc- brands. Each has its own history emphasis on presentation. tive opposition. and values, even if ideology is In the US, however, from Recent history is notoriously nowadays more plastic – I recall the Kennedy campaign in 1960, difficult to get into perspec- one of our best-read columnists right through to the current ‘bat- tive but Barber marshals his inviting me to breakfast at the tlefield’ of ‘red’ and ‘blue’ states, case study well. At times I felt Ritz in 1995 to tell me that if there has, of course, been an like a drowning man with my only the Lib Dems would come increasing use of military analo- life floating before my eyes. His out as anti-Europe we could gies in elections – and the same sources include Shirley Wil- sweep the country. drum-beat has been heard here. liams, Charles Kennedy, and I Yet whatever the limits of There may also be a case to argue have to confess, myself. Shirley Downsian theory, it is patently that what could otherwise be and I were frank, Charles more obvious from the last two elec- classified as electoral tactics has guarded. Whether I should tions that all three parties are developed into longer-term stra- have been quite so outspoken, conducting the same attitude tegic approaches. What else is the about David Owen for instance, research among the same voters twenty-year re-positioning of the if I had realised that the mild- in something like one hundred Republican Party, and with it the mannered author intended to target constituencies. The views whole US political scene, to the turn what had sounded like an of several hundred thousand evangelical right, but a compre- interesting but very academic potential swing voters are played hensive strategy? thesis into a mainstream political back to the campaign manag- In contrast, political par- book I am not sure but, in the ers who amplify them through ties in the UK, particularly the great tradition of Edith Piaf and the megaphone of the election. Conservative and Labour Par- Norman Lamont, ‘Je ne regrette The resulting concentration on a ties, fortified by class, tradition rien’. handful of issues is an impover- and ideology, have been in the In particular I stand by my ishment of the electoral process business of ‘being’ rather than judgement that if, at the 1987 in what after all is a diverse elec- ‘becoming’. They have been election when we fielded the torate of millions with a multi- simply ‘there’ rather than in any notoriously tense ‘nightmare tude of other preoccupations and way having to define a project. ticket’ of the two Davids, the interests. However, in recent years, the SDP and Liberals had instead The author devotes a chap- progressive dealignment of fought in matrimonial terms as a ter to focus groups. It contains happily engaged couple on their immortal words from Philip

40 Journal of Liberal History 51 Summer 2006 reviews

Gould, the Pharaoh of focus and a distant whiff of footnotes are of course in public reposi- groups: ‘The mystique surround- are more than compensated for tories, but it also includes entries ing them is ridiculous: they are by some interesting new source for some important archive simply eight people in a room material and an unusual and groups which remain in private talking.’ It sounds so cosy; but worthwhile perspective. hands such as those of Winnie of course they are talking to Ewing and Baroness Falkender. Tony Blair, via Philip Gould. The Lord Holme of Cheltenham is a There is sometimes a some- ultimate manifestation of what former President of the Liberal Party, what strange imbalance in the Lord Butler called ‘sofa govern- advisor to David Steel and Paddy nature of the entries. Important ment’ perhaps. I am sure there are Ashdown, manifesto coordinator of political figures like Geoffrey cabinet ministers who wish they the 1992 Liberal Democrat election Howe, William Whitelaw and were listened to so attentively. campaign and chairman of the 1997 Harold Wilson receive very This is a book which I can campaign. brief entries, while little-known recommend. A slight unevenness politicians and activists are given fairly extended accounts. The entries on the national archives of the major political parties and organisations like the TUC, the New guide to political archives NUM and CND are especially full and helpful. Chris Cook: The Routledge Guide to British Political Generally, the guide is very Archives: Sources since 1945 (Routledge, 2006) comprehensive. Welsh archives are certainly very well repre- Reviewed by Dr J. Graham Jones sented. The only really impor- tant omission from the holdings tudents of twentieth- more than a thousand entries of the Welsh Political Archive at century British political – gives brief career details, a the National Library of Wales Shistory have long been concise summary of the scope is the extensive papers of Lord accustomed to turn to the now and contents of their surviving Goronwy-Roberts. Other sig- well-worn series of five volumes papers, details of restrictions nificant archives not included of Sources in British Political His- on access (although these have from among the holdings of the tory, edited by Dr Chris Cook now sometimes been super- NLW include the records of (formerly Head of the Modern seded by the application of the the Association of Welsh Local Archives Unit at the London Freedom of Information Act, Authorities and the papers of School of Economics), published 2003, which came into effect The volume Cynog Dafis MP, Ron Evans between 1975 and 1985. Those in January 2005), the National (the local constituency agent volumes have proved extremely Register of Archives reference is notably to Aneurin Bevan and Michael useful guides over the years, but number of the catalogues, and easy to Foot) and Robin Reeves. they did contain a number of references to other and fuller Among more recent accessions inaccuracies and inconsistencies. published accounts of the papers use and which do not feature in the This new volume, covering the like Hazlehurst and Woodland’s book are the papers of Roderic period from the end of World invaluable Guide to the Papers impres- Bowen MP and those of Lord War Two almost to the present, of British Cabinet Ministers. The Crickhowell. It is, of course, is to be warmly welcomed and section on organisations and sively com- inevitable that any reference fills a distinct gap, as new archives societies gives helpful potted prehensive volume of this kind begins to are becoming available to the histories of the bodies in ques- date as soon as it is published. researcher almost daily. The vol- tion and some account of their in scope. There are a few strange ume is notably easy to use and internal structure. These include observations too. The archive impressively comprehensive in a large number of political par- It covers of Lord Edmund-Davies is scope. It covers a total of more ties, trades unions and pressure described as ‘a large collection than two thousand non-govern- groups. Very valuable, too, are a total of papers’ (p. 66) and that of mental archives. the numerous cross-references of more Sir Rhys Hopkin Morris as ‘a The text is conveniently and additional snippets of help- substantial collection of cor- divided into two sections: indi- ful information. The standard than two respondence and other papers’ vidual politicians and politi- of accuracy in the individual (p. 142). Both of these archive cal activists; and organisations, entries is extremely high and thousand groups are, in fact, very small institutions and societies that reflects meticulous preparation and relatively disappointing. The have exercised a bearing on on the part of the compiler and non-gov- much more extensive archive British political and public his assistants. ernmental of the papers of Lord Elwyn- life since 1945. The section The vast majority of the Jones is described as ‘reportedly on individuals – running to archives covered in this volume archives. closed’ (p. 68) which is not the

Journal of Liberal History 51 Summer 2006 41 reviews case. These, however, are very It will undoubtedly prove an Liberal Party I joined’ (p. 74)), minor quibbles, and the general invaluable research tool to all and the divergence between standard of accuracy (and indeed those working in the field of local and central views, par- recency) of the entries through- post-1945 British political his- ticularly over Europe. They are out the volume is very high. tory. Once again the prolific Dr also clear, however, about the One final grouse – the Chris Cook has placed us all growing professionalism of the price of the volume (although in his debt. One looks forward central organisation, and the key a handsome tome) at £125 is eagerly to the promised major role played by Paddy Ashdown’s extremely high. Few individu- companion volume on Euro- hyperactive leadership in recon- als are likely to fork out for this pean archives during the same structing the party after merger. volume, and even libraries, ever- period which is already in active The bulk of the book, how- conscious of making the best preparation. ever, is given over to a detailed use of their precious book funds, analysis of the profile of Lib are likely to think twice. Dr J. Graham Jones is Senior Archi- Dem support in the elector- In conclusion, however, it is vist and Head of the Welsh Political ate, from socioeconomic, geo- an obligation to welcome this Archive at the National Library of graphical and issue-based points invaluable guide most warmly. Wales, Aberystwyth. of view, and party strategy in seeking to maximise its support in the 1997–2001 period. This includes a series of case studies of individual constituency cam- Who votes for the Liberal Democrats? paigns in areas chosen to reflect And why? different levels and histories of Liberal support: Devon North, Andrew Russell and Edward Fieldhouse: Neither Left Montgomeryshire (‘heartland’); Colchester, Sheffield Hallam nor Right? The Liberal Democrats and the Electorate (‘expanding heartland’); Bridg- (Manchester University Press, 2005) water, Cheadle (Conserva- tive–Lib Dem marginals); and Reviewed by Duncan Brack Aberdeen South and Oldham East & Saddleworth (Labour– ne of the more notable occupational hazard of political Lib Dem marginals). On the developments in political scientists, as opposed to histori- basis of all this, the authors Ostudies in recent years has ans), a very uneven treatment of examine a number of hypoth- been a revival of interest in the topics like community politics, eses which can help to explain Liberal Democrats. Whereas ten and a number of rather obvious the basis and growth of Liberal years ago there was still only one errors, including claiming the Democrat electoral support. short history of the party avail- merged party came into exist- Russell The ‘alternative opposition’ able, now there are three, with ence in 1989 (rather than the hypothesis rests on the party’s one more to come soon. Simi- actual date of 1988) and stating and Field- historical record as an anti-Con- larly, whereas papers on Liberal that Lib Dems no longer control house servative party, best placed to do politics at academic conferences Liverpool (while they have done well where Labour are weakest were a rarity in the early 1990s, continuously since 1998). bring out (‘Conservatives are the opposi- nowadays there are often several. The other two introduc- tion, Labour the competition’). Neither Left not Right is another tory chapters, on the structure well the This is borne out in some of component in this revival of of the party and on the ten- the case studies, and supported studies of political Liberalism: sion between grassroots and strength of by the fact that Lib Dem voters a heavyweight analysis of the leadership, based partly on an the party tend to resemble Labour sup- electoral support of the Liberal extensive series of interviews, porters much more than they Democrats in the 1997 and 2001 are rather better. Russell and in its local do Conservatives in their social elections. Fieldhouse bring out well the and geographic backgrounds. The book starts with a basic strength of the party in its local activist Pursuing this line of reasoning history of the party from its activist base, and the attitudes leads the authors to highlight origins in the nineteenth cen- that tend to follow (I particu- base, and the difficulty of trying to win tury. Unfortunately these first larly liked the quote from the the atti- Conservative seats while oppos- two chapters are not up to the election agent who claimed ing Conservative views, and standards of the rest of the book, that ‘If ever we lose our ability tudes that they conclude that ‘clashes with including very little about what to embarrass the leadership as a the Conservatives remain the the party actually did when it party, even when we are in gov- tend to fol- vital electoral battleground for was in power (something of an ernment, then we won’t be the low. the Liberal Democrats in the

42 Journal of Liberal History 51 Summer 2006 reviews

especially, of concentrated local an increasingly vulnerable and campaigning. increasingly right-wing Labour The ‘creeping Liberalism’ government, and a Conserva- hypothesis looks at how ‘the tive Party whose support appears success of the Liberal Democrats now to have bottomed out and can spread like a virus through- be rising. On the other hand, the out regions’, with success in one 2005 result strongly supported seat having a knock-on effect the ‘issue-based mobilisation’ in adjacent seats. This is partly hypothesis, with Lib Dem sup- a variant of the ‘credibility gap’ port rising particularly strongly argument, but the authors also amongst Muslim voters and stress how campaigning tech- amongst students and those niques can be taught and trans- working in higher education (the ferred between activists from latter trend is already identified adjacent local parties. in the book), on the back of Lib The ‘dual identities’ hypoth- Dem opposition to the war in esis rests on the argument that Iraq and to tuition fees. although in most cases the party The ‘dual identities’ hypoth- is organisationally quite decen- esis could also usefully be revis- tralised, in fact it is possible for ited, partly in the context of the leadership to exercise a quite the weaker Kennedy leadership considerable degree of power; (much of the book’s stress on as the authors comment, ‘it is strong central leadership relates genuinely difficult to charac- to the Ashdown era) but also in terise the Liberal Democrats relation to the feeling, shared as either a top-down or ‘bot- by political commentators and tom-up organisation’ (p. 257). many Lib Dems alike, that the From an electoral point of view, party’s lack of a strong central run-up to the next election [i.e. this suggests that local parties message to tie together some 2005]’ – which that election in have a good deal of freedom to individually popular policies the end disproved. The authors emphasise – and possibly change actually held it back; perhaps the suggest that the party should – policy to fit the local context. dual identity is now as much a ‘move outside the constraints Finally, the ‘issue-based hindrance as a help? of the left–right spectrum … mobilisation’ hypothesis high- All of which is an argument promoting a set of distinctive lights how, much more than the for a second, updated, edition, policies that can be seen as both other parties with their residual which could perhaps expand centrist and radical’ (p. 254). basis of class support, Lib Dems the case studies to include Easier said than done. have to struggle to convince some of the seats newly won The ‘credibility gap’ hypoth- voters on the basis of individual from Labour in 2005 – but in esis suggests that the party policy positions; a penny on the mean time this book is a always struggles to overcome income tax for education is fascinating read. That’s not to the problem of not being seen given as the prime example, but say it’s an easy read – for those as a likely victor of election local instances are also drawn unfamiliar with statistical analy- campaigns; the book reprints the from the case studies. sis techniques, parts of it can 2001 poster which highlighted Clearly there is something in be heavy-going, and it’s shame how people said they would all of these hypotheses, but it’s a the publishers seem to have vote if they actually thought the shame that the book came out in saved on costs by not bother- Lib Dems could win in their early 2005, just before last year’s ing to employ an editor or a area (the result being a landslide election instantly disproved some proof-reader. For those seeking Lib Dem victory). The case of its arguments – notably the to understand the development studies highlight how local cam- statement that ‘analysis of con- of the electoral basis of Liberal paigns can steadily build cred- stituency marginality after the Democrat support over the last ibility, winning local council 2001 general election showed decade, however, and to gather seats, achieving second place in that the party was again not in much information about how general elections, squeezing the a good position to make seri- the party organises itself and third party … and so on. The ous gains from Labour at the fights its campaigns,Neither Left book highlights in this respect next general election’ (p. 196). Nor Right is invaluable. the value of gaining local coun- The entire ‘alternative opposi- cils (though sometimes this can tion’ argument really needs to Duncan Brack is Editor of the be a double-edged sword) and, be revisited in the context of ­Journal of Liberal History.

Journal of Liberal History 51 Summer 2006 43 context for the Scottish Lib- eral papers, and, moreover, the archives National Library of Scotland already had extensive holdings of the personal papers of many Lib- ‘The radicals and thinkers of British eral politicians (of which more below). Therefore, the entire col- politics?’1 lection, comprising the material Sources in the Manuscripts Division of the previously at Edinburgh Univer- sity Library and further material National Library of Scotland for the study from the headquarters of the * Scottish Liberal Democrats at of the Liberals and Liberal Democrats Clifton Terrace in Edinburgh, by Alan R Bell was brought to the National Library and a potential split in hen Paddy Ashdown purchase was augmented the the archive was avoided. suggested that Jo Gri- following month by the formal The collection of Scottish Wmond had been able deposit of the papers of the Scot- Liberal Party papers is a par- to establish the Liberal Party tish Liberal Club (1879–1953), ticularly fine one, covering the as the party of the ‘radicals and helping to establish a very good whole range of party organisa- thinkers of British politics’ he run of records for that body in tion and administration for the was praising the man who had one institution. period of the manuscripts (1877– begun to turn the fortunes of an The accession of the records 1959). The main run of minutes ailing party around. Grimond of the Scottish Liberal Party is included in the collection, as himself had asserted that the proper took place in 1999. is further material on the Scot- Liberals had to be more than ‘a Through the good offices of the tish Liberal Club, but, interest- brains trust standing on the side- Secretary of the Scottish Working ingly, papers of sub-groups of the lines of politics shouting advice People’s History Trust, the Scot- party are also present. Therefore to the Tories and Socialists alike’, tish Liberal Democrats took the researchers can access informa- and had worked extensively to decision to deposit their archive tion on the Scottish Women’s make the party modernise; in his with the Manuscripts Division Liberal Federation, the Scottish mind it was ‘a question of get on of the National Library of Scot- The Manu- Liberal Free Trade Committee or get out’.2 land. This decision meant that and the Scottish Reform Club, To the readers of this journal the records of the Liberal Party scripts to give three examples. A further this may seem like old informa- would be properly represented in large collection of Scottish Lib- tion. However, it is impossible the collection of Modern Politi- Division eral Party and Scottish Liberal to test the assertions of Ash- cal Manuscripts in the Library, Democrat material was deposited down and Grimond without allowing researchers to access of the with the Manuscripts Division the manuscript sources that are the archives of the Scottish Con- National of the library in 2002. Although held in repositories around the servative and Unionist Associa- these papers are, as yet, unlisted, country. How does the scholar tion, the Scottish National Party, Library of they represent a continuation decide whether Liberal policies the Scottish Liberal Party, and the from the previous accession and are either radical or thoughtful finest collection of labour and Scotland contain papers from the party’s without testing their evolution trade union records in Scotland, Scottish Executive, the Scottish by returning to the documents in the same place.3 The decision has a par- Young Liberals, a large amount that the party, its branches, and its to deposit the party archive in ticularly of photographs of the party’s members have left behind? the National Library of Scotland candidates for various elections, The Manuscripts Division of was taken in conjunction with rich group and further papers of the Scottish the National Library of Scotland the Sub-Librarian (Special Col- Liberal Club. has a particularly rich group of lections) at Edinburgh Univer- of col- The principal accession of collections relating to the Liberal sity Library. Although an earlier Scottish Liberal Party papers Party and its politicians, and the deposit of Scottish Liberal Party lections also has some material on local holdings here represent the best papers had been made to that relating to branches of the party. This had starting point for the scholar institution, it was felt that that presumably been sent to the of Scottish Liberal history. The the party archive would be more the Liberal headquarters of the Scottish earliest accession of party mate- appropriately housed as part of Party at some point and, there- rial was in 1978 when the library the Modern Political Manu- Party and fore, became part of the main purchased an agenda book and script collection at the National party archive. Iain Hutchison has some minute books of the Scot- Library of Scotland. The papers its politi- suggested that local party papers tish Liberal Club (1936–53). This of the other parties provided a cians. can ‘give an unrivalled glimpse

44 Journal of Liberal History 51 Summer 2006 archives into regular party work, and If research- held by the Manuscripts Divi- (1877–84) concern the affairs of reveal aspects otherwise unde- sion. Hutchinson has argued that the Association from its forma- tectable [from wider national ers are ‘it is curious that the party which tion until Reid’s resignation in material]’.4 The East of Scotland almost sank into extinction [in 1880, with particular emphasis Liberal Federation, the Dumbar- inclined to the twentieth century] has the on the famous Midlothian elec- tonshire Liberal Associations, the best sample of backbenchers’ tion campaign of 1879–80, when Midlothian Liberal Association, test Paddy records [available to research- W. E. Gladstone was the success- and the Haymarket Ward Liberal Ashdown’s ers]’.5 Arguably, the collections in ful candidate.6 Association are all represented the National Library of Scotland The Manuscripts Division of within the main collection and assertion surpass this statement. At all lev- the National Library of Scotland may offer the researcher an els of politics represented in the has been able to ensure excellent alternative perspective on issues in the title papers held by the Library, from coverage of the written record discussed at a national level. cabinet ministers to party activist, of Liberal politics in Scotland. Moreover, these are not the only … the Liberals feature. Furthermore, through the good local Liberal Party papers held by papers Perhaps the most high-profile offices of various individuals the National Library of Scotland. collection is that of Archibald and the party itself, this cover- In 1985 the papers of the South held in the Philip Primrose, the 5th Earl of age has been achieved without Edinburgh Liberal Association Rosebery, whose papers were major difficulties. If research- (1885–1922) were placed with National presented to the National Library ers are inclined to test Paddy the Manuscripts Division by of Scotland in 1966 by Lord Ashdown’s assertion in the title, that body, with a further deposit Library of Primrose (later 7th Earl of Rose- or wish to analyse the role of (1924–73) taking place in 2001. Scotland bery). The collection primarily women in Scottish Liberal poli- In the same way as the papers concerns Rosebery’s political tics, or how the Scottish Liberal of the Scottish Women’s Lib- represent correspondence (1869–1927) and Party has evolved and organised eral Federation are held as part was used extensively by the Mar- itself, or wish to return to Glad- of the accession of the Scot- the best quess of Crewe in his biography stone’s Midlothian campaign, or tish Liberal Party’s papers, the Lord Rosebery, (London, 1931). indeed wish to study a multitude papers of the South Edinburgh place to However, to mention Rosebery of other subjects regarding the Women’s Liberal Association are start. should not be to underplay the Liberals in Scotland, the papers within the accession of the South quality of the other papers of held in the National Library of Edinburgh Liberal Association’s Liberal politicians in the collec- Scotland represent the best place papers. There could be consid- tion. To return to the subject of to start. erable scope for research that the quote which provides the The following list includes all compares the relationships, poli- title for this index, the collec- the major accessions regarding cies and actions of these women’s tion of diaries, speeches, articles the Liberal Party in the Manu- groups at local and national level, and other papers (1950–83) of scripts Division of the National and between different areas of Jo Grimond, deposited in 1983, Library of Scotland divided into the country. represent an interesting way to four categories: national party The National Library of Scot- analyse the work of the man who papers; local party papers; per- land was also able to purchase is credited with the resurrection sonal papers; and other papers a small collection comprising a of the Liberal Party. The large relating to the Liberal Party. Each minute book, a cash book, and amount of personal and family entry has a short note about a small number of letters of the correspondence in the papers of the collection and its reference Kinross-shire Liberal Association Viscount Haldane could provide number which is prefixed by (1889–1931) in 1987. Further- interesting perspectives on this one of the following: MS; Acc; or more, the Manuscripts Division Liberal statesman. Lord Russell- Dep. Should you require any fur- was presented with the minute Johnston’s papers could provide ther information on the collec- books and other papers of the a way for historians not only to tions, some of our inventories are Buteshire (1892–1918), Kilmar- analyse the Liberal influence now available online. The easiest nock (1901–23), and Ardrossan on British politics, but also at way to access these is through (1908–29) Liberal Associations a European level. Moreover, to our ‘index to Modern Politi- in 2002. These records from concentrate purely on the Liberal cal Manuscripts in the National the local Associations help to politicians could be said to some- Library of Scotland’, which can improve the geographic spread what miss the point. Perhaps the be found at http://www.nls. of the finest collection of Liberal influence of Liberal politics at a uk/catalogues/online/political- Party material in Scotland. local level could be considered mss/index.html. Please do not No discussion of sources such through the papers of people like hesitate to contact the staff of the as this would be complete with- John J. Reid, who was the Sec- Manuscripts Division directly out mention of the papers of the retary of the Midlothian Liberal should you have any questions.7 Liberal politicians which are also Association and whose letters

Journal of Liberal History 51 Summer 2006 45 archives

1. National party papers 3. Personal papers Scotland 1881, Lord of Justiciary 1885: MS.24785, • SCOTTISH LIBERAL • GRIMOND (Joseph (Jo)), MSS.24789–24803. corre- CLUB: Dep.275 and later Baron Grimond, spondence including some Acc.7107. minute books and Liberal MP for Orkney letters of Duncan McLaren, house committee minutes and Shetland 1950–1983: 1841–1909. books, 1879–1953. Dep.363. diaries, articles and reviews, speeches and cor- • MURRAY (Alexander W. C. • SCOTTISH LIBERAL respondence, 1952–1983. O.), later Viscount Elibank, PARTY and SCOTTISH Liberal MP for Midlothian LIBERAL DEMOCRATS: • GULLAND (John W.), 1900–1905 and 1910–1912, Acc.11765 and TD.3023 Liberal MP for Dumfries Peebles and Selkirk 1906– [this second reference is a Burghs 1906–1918, Hon. 1910, Chief Liberal Whip temporary number until Treasurer of Scottish Liberal 1909–1912: MSS.8801–8804. collection is listed and will Association, Hon. President correspondence 1895–1920. change]. minutes and other Young Scots Society, Sec- papers regarding the East of retary to Scottish Liberal • MURRAY (Arthur C.), Scotland Liberal Association, Committee in House of later Viscount Elibank, Lib- the Scottish Liberal Asso- Commons 1906–1909, Jun- eral MP for Kincardineshire ciation/Federation, Scottish ior Lord of the Treasury and 1908–1918, Kincardineshire Women’s Liberal Federa- Scottish Whip 1909–1915, and West Aberdeenshire tion, Scottish Reform Club, Joint Parliamentary Sec- 1918–1923: MSS.8805–8824. General Election Addresses, retary to the Treasury correspondence, photo- Dumbartonshire Liberal 1915–1917: Acc.6868. cor- graphs, diaries, notes and Associations, Scottish Liberal respondence, 1894–1927. other papers, 1909–1962. Party Council and Execu- • HALDANE (Richard B.), • PRIMROSE (Archibald tive, Midlothian Liberal later Viscount Haldane of P.), later Earl Rosebery, Sec- Association, Scottish Liberal Cloan, Liberal MP for Had- retary of State for Foreign Free Trade Committee, J. M. dingtonshire 1885–1911, Affairs 1886 and 1892–1894, Hogge Collection, Scottish Secretary of State for War Prime Minister and First Liberal Club, Geoffrey Taylor 1905–1912, Lord High Lord of the Treasury 1894– Collection, Haymarket Ward Chancellor of Great Brit- 1895: MSS.10001–10216 and Liberal Association, Scottish ain 1912–1915 and 1924 MSS.10250–10253. political Young Liberals, 1874–c.1987. (Labour): MSS.5901–6019, correspondence and papers MSS.20001–20260. a including papers regarding large collection of letters the Liberal League, 1860– 2. Local party papers and other papers includ- 1927. • BUTESHIRE, ing papers of other family • REID (John J.), advocate, KILMARNOCK AND members. the Secretary of the Mid- ARDROSSAN • JOHNSTON (D. Russell), lothian Liberal Association: LIBERAL later Lord Russell-Johnston, MS.19623. collection of let- ASSOCIATIONS: Liberal MP for Inverness ters concerning the Associa- Acc.12089. minutes and 1964–1983, Inverness, Nairn tion, 1877–1884. other papers 1892–1929. and Lochaber 1983–1997 • KINROSS-SHIRE (Liberal Democrat after LIBERAL 1988): Acc.11682. papers in 4. Other papers relating to ASSOCIATION: Acc.9491. process of listing, not nor- the Liberal Party minute book, cash-book and mally available – please con- • GRIMOND (Joseph (Jo)): some assorted letters and tact Manuscripts Division. Acc.12123. research papers papers, 1889–1931. • McLAREN (Duncan), of Michael McManus used • SOUTH EDINBURGH Liberal MP for Edinburgh in production of biography LIBERAL ASSOCIATION: 1865–1881: MSS.24781– McManus M, Jo Grimond: Acc.9080 and Acc.12038. 24784. correspondence, Towards the Sound of Gun- minutes and papers includ- 1827–1880. fire, (Birlinn, Edinburgh, ing minutes of the St Cuth- 2001). • McLAREN (John), later berts Ward Committee and Lord McLaren, Liberal MP • YOUNG SCOTS the South Edinburgh Wom- for Wigtown District 1880, SOCIETY: Acc.12097. type- en’s Liberal Association, Edinburgh 1881, Lord Advo- script copy of article Elder 1885–1973. cate 1880, Lord of Session R I, ‘The Young Scots Soci-

46 Journal of Liberal History 51 Summer 2006 archives

ety: a Lost Liberal Legion’, ­published in EDIT: Edin- Liberal Democrat History Group burgh University Graduates’ Newsletter, (Spring 2002), meetings programme 2006–07 and the Journal of Liberal See back page for next two meetings. Democrat History (Liberal Democrat History Group, Issue 36, Autumn 2002). Yellow Book versus Orange Book – Is it time for a New Liberalism? Alan R Bell MA hons, is a Manu- scripts Curator at the National A hundred years ago, the Liberal landslide victory in the 1906 election opened the way for a period of radical social reform based on the social-liberal Library of Scotland with particular ideology of the New Liberalism. responsibility for the Modern Politi- cal Collections. British Liberalism changed decisively from its nineteenth-century Gladstonian inheritance of non-interventionism in economic and social issues to accepting a much more activist role for the state, exemplified by the introduction of * This list deals solely with the modern graduated income tax, old-age pensions and national insurance. With a Liberal period and omits Whig politi- cians. The National Library of Scot- few exceptions, the party adhered to this social liberalism throughout the land does have extensive holdings on remainder of the century. Whig politicians (for example in the In 2004, the authors of the Orange Book: Reclaiming Liberalism challenged Minto collection) and researchers this ‘nanny-state liberalism’ and argued that the Liberal Democrats needed to should contact staff for advice. return to their nineteenth-century heritage and ‘reclaim economic liberalism’ .

1 Paddy Ashdown cited in P. Joyce and Which way now for the Liberal Democrats? What can we draw from the G. Sell, ‘Jo Grimond’, in D. Brack lessons of history? Debate the question with Paul Marshall, co-editor of the (ed.), Dictionary of Liberal Biography Orange Book and its successor, and Ed Randall, co-editor of the Dictionary of (Politico’s, London, 1998), p. 153. Liberal Thought. 2 Jo Grimond cited in Joyce and Sell, ‘Jo Grimond’, p. 153. 12.45, Wednesday 20 September 2006 3 Since the deposit by the Scottish Library, Hilton Metropole Hotel, Brighton Liberal Democrats took place, the Manuscripts Division of the National Library of Scotland has accepted the deposit of the papers of the Scottish A Hundred Years On: The 1906 Landside in Perspective Green Party, further enhancing the This one-day conference seeks to re-evaluate the impact of the 1906 coverage of the Modern Political col- landslide victory. It will focus on the key electoral issues, from human rights to lections. economics, and assess why it all went wrong thereafter. 4 I. G. C. Hutchison, ‘Archival Sources for the Study of Scottish Political Speakers include: Vernon Bogdanor, Ewen Cameron, David Dutton and History in the nineteenth and twen- Ian Packer. tieth Centuries: a survey’, in Scottish Archives: The Journal of the Scottish 10.00 – 4.30, Saturday 21 October Records Association (Scottish Records Robinson College, Cambridge Association, Vol. 4, 1998), p. 38. Cost: £25 (£15 for students and over-60s) 5 Hutchison, ‘Archival Sources’, p. 36. 6 Gladstone’s Midlothian campaign of For further information, including up-to-date information on speakers, 1879 was described by the Check- please contact Dr Eugenio Biagini ([email protected]; Robinson College, lands as ‘the first “whistle-stop” elec- Cambridge, CB3 9AN). tion campaign: Mr Gladstone took politics to the people in a new way, haranguing local Scottish crowds from train windows and vast civic The Dictionary of Liberal Thought gatherings in public halls’, O. Check- land and S. Checkland, Industry and Postponed from September, this meeting will see the launch of the History Ethos: Scotland 1832–1914 (Edinburgh Group’s latest publication. University Press: Edinburgh, 2nd edn The aim of the Dictionary of Liberal Thought is to provide an accessible guide 1989), p. 77. As well as the papers of to the key figures, concepts, movements, factions and pressure groups John Reid, researchers should also associated with the ideas of the British Liberal Party (and SDP and Liberal note that John McLaren played a role in the Midlothian campaign. Democrats) from the seventeenth to the twenty-first centuries. 7 Manuscripts Division, National The Dictionary will also cover representative major thinkers from the wider Library of Scotland, George IV international tradition of liberal thought. Bridge, Edinburgh, EH1 1EW, Tel: 0131 226 4531, Fax: 0131 466 2811, 8.00pm, Friday 2 March 2007 (date and time provisional) Email: [email protected], Web Site: Harrogate (fringe meeting at Liberal Democrat spring conference) http://www.nls.uk

Journal of Liberal History 51 Summer 2006 47 A Liberal Democrat History Group fringe meeting the suez crisis Fifty years ago, in July 1956, the Egyptian president, Colonel Nasser, nationalised the Suez Canal to the anger and frustration of the British and French governments, who were the majority shareholders.

Prime Minister Eden reached a secret agreement with France and Israel to provoke hostilities through an invasion of Sinai by Israeli forces, using this as a pretext for Anglo-French military intervention in Egypt. The decision to send British troops to occupy the canal zone led to the downfall of Eden and represented what one historian of the Liberal Party has called a watershed for Jo Grimond and his party. Fifty years on, two leading contemporary historians re-examine the impact of Suez for the opposition parties.

Speakers: Peter Barberis, Professsor of Politics at Manchester Metropolitan University and author of Liberal Lion, a biography of Jo Grimond, and Brian Brivati, Professor of Contemporary History at Kingston University, author of a biography of Labour leader Hugh Gaitskell. Chair: Richard Grayson.

7.00pm, Monday 3 July 2006 Lady Violet Room, National Liberal Club, 1 Whitehall Place, London SW1

An Institute of Historical Research / Liberal Democrat History Group informal colloquium Landslide! The 1906 election and the legacy of the last Liberal governments

The general election of 1906 has often been seen as a watershed in the history of British politics. It marked the beginning of the radical Liberal governments of 1906–14 and the breakthrough of the Labour Party into mainstream politics.

The centenary of the 1906 election marks an important opportunity to re-evaluate both the period and its long-term political legacy. Sessions will cover: • The New Liberalism • The nature of Liberal government • Elections and political management • Policy formation and development • The Land question • Liberals and Labour • The social conscience and Liberal individualism • Where did the New Liberals go? The modern legacy • The 1906 centenary: revival or requiem?

All welcome. Contact: Dr James Moore, Centre for Metropolitan History, Institute of Historical Research, Senate House, Malet Street, London WC1E 7HU; [email protected].

Saturday 1 July 2006 Institute of Historical Research, Malet Street, London