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19/Summer 98 The 8:30 Club A Liberal Debating Society of the 1930s What issues concerned Liberal activists in the 1930s? Dr Richard S. Grayson examines the records of one young Liberal group. Political history is not the most fashionable area of some sources which do reveal fascinating insights to the mind of the Liberal activist. One historical writing at present. Though it has illuminating source, recently discovered, is the undoubted interest for the general public, it is often Minute Book of the ‘: Club’. This club was dismissed as narrow and traditional within academe. a debating society of young Liberals (as op- posed to the formal Young Liberal organisa- This has been the case ever since Marxist historians tion), which met at : on the last Tuesday of put forward the view that economics and class six months of the year – usually January, Feb- struggle determine all historical events, rather than ruary, March, May, October, and November. The : Club was formed in , and by the activities of individual politicians, or even its membership was over ; by mid- political parties. In most cases, the Marxist challenge , it had held debates, regularly attended did not make political historians rethink their by over people. The minute book ends in May ; there is a membership list dated approach to history; but in more recent times, the January , but the Club never regained its challenges posed by the growth of cultural history, pre-war activism (some members died in the war, and others had moved on to other things), and the applicability of post-modernism to the and it soon ground to a halt. Prominent speak- practice of history, have led to important ers and members included the future Liberal developments within political history. It is now leader Jo Grimond, then in his mid-twenties, the future MP and Liberal leader in the Lords, common to find historians looking well beyond Frank Byers, persistent candidates such as Westminster for evidence of what ‘politics’ involved: Roger Fulford, well-known for his The Liberal for example, historians now regularly consider ‘low’ Case (), and a host of people who in post- war years kept the Liberal Party going, and held politics within political parties, and they may analyse office within the party, such as Nelia Muspratt the language or ‘discourses’ of politics as much as (later Penman), the President of the Women’s they think about political events. Liberal Federation in – . Although mem- bers were overwhelmingly Liberal, they repre- A major obstacle to the low political ap- sented a range of opinions within the party, proach, however, has been that we actually have and speakers did include people from other very little evidence of the life of the activist. parties. The Club met at Wilton Crescent, Low politics often involved much lower forms London SW, the home of the Borthwicks, a of record-keeping than high politics. If records well-known Liberal family, who had been cen- existed in the first place, they relied on the dili- tral to founding the Club. gence and efficiency of one or two individuals The Club held debates between Febru- in a constituency to maintain and preserve ary and March . Of these, eleven were them. It is thus very difficult to establish any on international politics, ranging from the comprehensive record of the activities of con- manufacture of armaments to the Munich cri- stituency Liberal parties, and other bodies of sis. Two further debates covered issues related Liberals. But, we need not despair, as there are to international policy (the idea of a Popular 12 journal of liberal democrat history 19: summer 1998 Front, and the suppression of com- in reaching a unified view of how Dr Richard S. Grayson is Director of the munist and fascist parties); two were to proceed in European policy. Most Centre for Reform, the Liberal Demo- on light-hearted topics; and six were accepted that Germany had justifi- crat think tank. He was previously a on domestic issues. able grievances, but many did not university lecturer, and is the author of Of these debates, those on inter- trust Hitler, and wanted the focus of Austen Chamberlain and the Com- national policy were particularly in- policy to be on preventing aggres- mitment to Europe: British Foreign teresting, not least because they show sive expansion through an Anglo- Policy, – (Frank Cass, ). that new ideas on foreign policy French collective security system. were being discussed at low levels Over the next two years, this would Notes: within the party, prior to their be- be a contentious issue within the For a recent contribution to this debate, ing raised on a wider national plat- Liberal Party. By the end of , the see, Richard J. Evans, In Defence of His- tory, (London: Granta, ). form. The first important interna- Liberal Council had taken a clearer The author was given access to the tional debate was on March , position in favour of collective se- minute book by Mrs Nelia Penman, when by a large (unspecified) ma- curity, while by the Liberal who responded to the author’s letter in jority, the Club voted for a motion Summer School, the revisionists had Liberal Democrat News (, February saying that the League should de- dwindled in numbers and the party , p. ), asking to be contacted by velop an International Police Force. was more settled on collective secu- people who were active in the Liberal Party in the s and s. Mrs Pen- This idea had already been discussed rity. man (as Nelia Muspratt) was active in at the Liberal Summer School, but Two opportunities that the : the : Club, and had recently obtained it does show how new ideas spread Club had for debating specific re- the minute book from the Club’s former through different parts of the Lib- sponses to aggression showed simi- Honorary Secretary, Mrs Valerie Fane eral political world. lar divisions. In October the (née Borthwick). The minute book has subsequently been deposited in the ar- A second debate on new ideas Club actually rejected a motion con- chives of the National Liberal Club at took place a year later, in March demning the government’s non-in- the University of Bristol Library. , when by votes to , the tervention policy in Spain, accept- Examples of diverse views amongst Club decided: ‘That the present dis- ing the view that the civil war was members were: A. J. Irvine, who joined tribution of colonies among World an internal matter, and that even the Labour Party in (having been a Liberal candidate in and ), powers is inequitable.’ In opposition though other countries had inter- and was a Labour MP –; and E. to this, a view put by (amongst oth- vened, British intervention would H. Garner Evans, who served as a Con- ers) Jo Grimond was that Britain only cause a wider war. servative and National Liberal MP managed its colonies better than In January the Club also –. other colonial powers, and that colo- decisively rejected conscription, as Two Conservative speakers achieved nies were strategically necessary for the party as a whole consistently did some prominence in later life: J. A. Boyd- Carpenter served in the Cabinet as Pay- Britain. However, the decisive point, until it became a fait accompli in . master-General, –, while Derek put by W. Fordham and Betty Arne, Perhaps the most important debate, Walker-Smith was a junior minister in was that colonies gave prestige to though, was that on the Munich the late s. their owners, and that unless pres- Crisis: on November , the The existing membership list begins on February , at the : Club’s in- tige was spread more equally, there Club condemned the government’s ception. By May , it recorded could never be peace – this meant policy by to . Though deci- people having joined, with a further six that all colonies should be placed sive, this vote represented a signifi- names deleted from the list. However, ei- under the mandate of the League. cant division, which shadowed that ther a page is missing, or it was never This proposal was soon to be dis- of the Parliamentary Liberal Party. made, as the accounts of debates include cussed in the Women’s Liberal Fed- There is much more to be found reference to people joining at debates later in and , so real figures eration, and during the Second in the Minute Book of the : were probably nearer . World War, it became Liberal Party Club – both for historians of the : Club Minute Book: ff. a&b, Ac- policy. s, and for those interested in the count of Debate, March (); ff. Aside from being a forum for dis- post-war Liberal Party, who would a&b, Account of Debate, March cussing new ideas, the : Club also like to see what people such as Jo (). See above, pp. ??-?? : Club: f. , Account of Debate, highlighted divisions within the Lib- Grimond got up to in their younger May . eral Party. One of these was the ten- years. The minute book is now held : Club: f. a-c, Account of Debate, sion between the need to revise Ver- in the archives of the National Lib- October . sailles, and the need to maintain col- eral Club at the University of Bris- : Club: ff. a&b, Account of Debate, lective security. This was seen in a tol Library, and it is well worth a January . May debate, on the motion: trip to Bristol to spend a few hours : Club: ff. a&b, Account of Debate, November . ‘That this House prefers to support or more reading this fascinating It was yet to be given a more detailed France rather than Germany.’ record of a neglected field of Lib- catalogue reference when this article was voted for France and for Ger- eral Party history.
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