Journal of Issue 23 / Summer 1999 / £3.50

Liberal DemocratHISTORY

? Leading the Liberals Jackie Ballard, Malcolm Bruce, Simon Hughes, Charles Kennedy, David Rendel Old Heroes for a New Leader Leadership candidates’ favourite historical figures Robert Ingham Leadership Contests of the Past Jim Thorne Lloyd George and the Conservative Party Roy Jenkins Gladstone and Books The 1998 Gladstone Lecture Liberal Democrat History Group Issue 23: Summer 1999 The Journal of 2 Liberal Leaderships Liberal Democrat Robert Ingham looks at Liberal contests of the past. History 5 Old Heroes for a New Leader The Journal of Liberal Democrat Lib Dem leadership candidates’ historical inspirations. History is published quarterly by the Liberal Democrat History Group. 9 Lloyd George and the Conservative Party Lessons of the past for the ‘Third Way’? By Jim Thorne. ISSN 1463-6557

13 Gladstone and Books Editorial/Correspondence Gladstone Lecture 1998: Lord Jenkins of Hillhead. Contributions to the Journal – letters, articles, and book reviews – are 16 Mill on Limited Liability Partnerships invited, preferably on disc or by email.

J. S. Mill on a topical issue: by Robert Ingham. The Journal is a refereed publication; 17 Report: Liberalism and Nationalism all articles submitted will be reviewed. Fringe meeting, 5 March, with Donald Gorrie MP and Contributions should be sent to: Duncan Brack (Editor) Gordon Lishman. Report by Duncan Brack. Flat 9, 6 Hopton Road, London SW16 2EQ. 18 Biography: William Lygon, 7th Earl Beauchamp email: [email protected].

David Dutton All articles copyright © their authors. 20 Archives: University of Hull Advertisements Brian Dyson Adverts from relevant organisations 22 Review: The Jeremy Thorpe Story and publications are welcome; please contact the Editor for rates. Thorpe: In My Own Time ; Freeman and Penrose: Rinkagate: the rise and fall of Jeremy Thorpe ; ‘Jeremy Thorpe’ in Parris, Subscriptions/Membership Great Parliamentary Scandals. Reviewed by Robert Ingham. An annual subscription to the Journal 24 Review: Landowner and Minister of Liberal Democrat History costs £10.00 (£5.00 unwaged rate; add Hawkins and Powell (eds): The Journal of John Wodehouse, £5.00 for overseas subscribers); this First Earl Kimberley,1862–1902. Reviewed by Tony Little includes membership of the History Group unless you inform us otherwise.

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The Liberal Democrat History Group promotes the discussion and Published by research of historical topics, particularly those relating to the histories of the Liberal Democrat History Group, Liberal Democrats, Liberal Party and the SDP. The Group organises c/o Flat 9, 6 Hopton Road, discussion meetings and publishes the quarterly Journal of Liberal London SW16 2EQ. Democrat History and other occasional publications.

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Hon President: Earl Russell. Chair: Graham Lippiatt. July 1999

2 journal of liberal democrat history 23: summer 1999 Liberal Leaderships As the Liberal Democrats enter their second leadership context, Robert Ingham looks at contests of the past.

As Liberal Democrats consider who will lead their draw in turn, while the others discussed his suit- ability. At least one of the MPs who was well party into the next century, it is worth looking back qualified for the office, Hopkin Morris, refused at the ways in which Liberal Party leaders were to allow his name to be considered in this man- ner. But at least the selection was made, and on selected and elected in the post-war period. The  August they were able to announce that Clem- Liberal Party had four post- leaders – Clement ent Davies had been chosen Chairman. Davies, Jo Grimond, Jeremy Thorpe and David Steel Davies’ position was thus reminiscent of Sir – and each emerged in a different way. Donald MacLean, who chaired the Liberal Par- liamentary Party during the  Parliament, while being overshadowed by Lloyd George, Clement Davies out of the party but Prime Minister, and H. H. Asquith, out of Parliament but still regarded as Sir Archibald Sinclair’s unexpected defeat in the leader of the Wee Frees. Unlike Asquith, how-  general election left the Liberal Party be- ever, Sinclair was not able to regain his place reft of leadership in the House of Commons. in the House of Commons. Davies was re- Sinclair’s rapid return to the House was widely elected as Chairman in  and then again in expected in Liberal circles, particularly because  and . Gandar Dower’s refusal to re- Gandar Dower, the Tory victor in Caithness & sign his seat in  seemed to establish Davies Sutherland, had promised to resign his seat on as the fully-fledged Liberal leader, and his po- the defeat of Japan. Consequently, a chairman sition was enhanced by the failure of an at- of the Liberal MPs for just one session of Par- tempt to replace him with Megan Lloyd liament was sought. George in . Davies’ own view was that his Roy Douglas describes the appointment of  later ‘re-elections’ were token confirmations of Clement Davies in the following way: the  decision. Sir Archibald Sinclair and some of his closest associates met to discuss the question. Sinclair and Sir Percy Harris [Liberal Chief Whip prior Jo Grimond to his defeat in ] first approached Gwilym Two interpretations of Jo Grimond’s ascension Lloyd George, but he refused, largely because to the Liberal leadership have been offered. he could not afford the incidental expenses Douglas contends that: which the office would entail. He was also offered – and also refused – the Chairman- The retirement of Winston Churchill from the ship of the Liberal National Party about the Conservative leadership, and of Clement Attlee same time. When the new House met, he was from the Labour leadership, led to a certain offered a place on the Opposition front bench movement for the replacement of Clement by Winston Churchill. Gwilym Lloyd George Davies by a younger Chairman of the Liberal replied that he would only sit as a Liberal. MPs. This movement was not perceptible to Churchill’s reply was characteristic: ‘And what the rank-and-file of the party, who were well the hell else should you sit as?’ But Liberals satisfied, but was noticeable among some of the soon came to the conclusion that he was ef- more senior members. At the  Assembly, fectively supporting the Conservatives. to the real sorrow of many delegates, Clement Thus the selection of the Chairman was left Davies resigned his office … The choice of a to the Liberal MPs, without the benefit of the successor was predetermined. One of the five advice of senior members of the party. The re- remaining Liberal MPs, Sir Rhys Hopkin Mor- maining MPs knew little of each other’s capa- ris, was Deputy Chairman of Ways and Means, bilities, and several of them had not even met which debarred him from active party work. before the election. They adopted the remark- Two others, Donald Wade and Arthur Holt, able expedient of asking each member to with- could not hope to hold their seats if the Con-

journal of liberal democrat history 23: summer 1999 3 servatives chose to oppose them, Davies’ and Grimond’s selections. all expressed their disquiet before the and dependence of this kind would On this occasion, the Liberal MPs Thorpe ballot. This led to pressure be highly embarrassing for the Lib- decided to hold a ballot amongst for a change to the system by which eral Party. A fourth MP, Roderic themselves. Controversially, the elec- Liberal leaders would be elected in Bowen, was too busy with his le- tion was scheduled for the day fol- future. The contest between David gal practice. This only left one man: lowing Grimond’s formal resigna- Steel and John Pardoe following Jo Grimond, the Chief Whip. On     November  he was there- tion, January , decided by a Thorpe’s resignation in was set- fore elected Chairman of the Lib- vote of eight to four. tled by a weighted one-member eral MPs. Thorpe won six votes, to three one-vote system, the most extensive for Hooson and three for Lubbock. ballot then held for the leadership Douglas is surely right in describing Wainwright had not allowed his of a national party. Some , Lib- Grimond as the only viable alterna- name to go forward for the election. eral members expressed their pref- tive leader to Davies, but understates Although the ballot was secret, the erences at constituency level, with the extent to which the party rank- details were leaked to the Guardian those votes being converted into ‘na- and-file were aware of, and supported, and published on  January . tional votes’ by a complicated moves to replace Davies. Grimond Thorpe was backed by his fellow weighting system. This generated a  had starred at the Assembly, West Country MPs, Peter Bessell and national result of , ‘votes’ for when Davies had been too ill to at- John Pardoe, as well as by David Steel and , ‘votes’ for Pardoe. tend. Speculation was rife in news- Steel, Jo Grimond and James The SDP went further in adopt- papers, including the Guardian and Davidson. Lubbock was backed by ing a straightforward one-member News Chronicle, in the run-up to the Michael Winstanley and Richard one-vote system. The same system  Assembly, that Davies would Wainwright; Hooson by Alistair was used in the Liberal Democrats soon resign. Grimond received a tu- Mackenzie and Russell Johnston. in  and again this year. multuous response by the Assembly, Beaumont recounts that this im- Robert Ingham is a historical writer. making a self-deprecating speech on passe was not resolved by a consid- a motion about automation that he eration of the second preferences Notes: stood ‘not as the Great White Hope expressed for Lubbock and Hooson,  R. Douglas, History of the Liberal Party of the Liberal Party, but as the Great as all transferred to each other. Fol- – (Sidgwick and Jackson, ),  White Hope of Kingston & Surbiton lowing a meeting of the three can- p. .  J. S. Rasmussen, The Liberal Party: a study Liberal Association’. The Guardian didates, Lubbock and Hooson with- reported after the Assembly that ‘del- of retrenchment and revival (Constable, drew their candidatures, and Thorpe ), pp. –. egates to the Liberal Assembly made was elected unanimously.  Douglas, p. . it unmistakably clear today that Mr.  Rasmussen, The Liberal Party, pp. –; Joseph Grimond was their candidate Jo Grimond largely backs the Rasmussen for the position of leader-elect of the David Steel account in his Memoirs (Heinneman,    Liberal Party … he left the Assembly ), pp. – . Many Liberals outside the House of  Liberal Democrat History Group Newsletter as crown prince’. Party leaders, in- Commons were annoyed that the  (June ). cluding Philip Fothergill, had indi-  leadership election had taken  The Journal would be grateful if any cated that Davies’ tenure as leadership place with such little time allowed reader could give a more detailed descrip- was drawing to a close. It was in this tion of the voting system employed in for consultation of the wider party.  atmosphere that Davies tendered his and the negotiations which pre- The Young Liberals, Liberal council- ceded its adoption – neither seems to have resignation, in the closing speech to lors, and some regional federations been the subject of academic study, as yet. the Assembly.

Jeremy Thorpe Read about Liberal leaders in: Following the  election, Jo The Dictionary of Liberal Biography Grimond indicated that he would £25.00 (plus £2.50 P & P for postal or telephone orders) from: resign as Liberal leader. There were eleven possible candidates to replace Monday – Friday 9.00am – 6.30pm him, of whom Jeremy Thorpe, Ri- Saturday 10.00am – 6.00pm chard Wainwright, Emlyn Hooson Sunday 11.00am – 5.00pm and Eric Lubbock were the main contenders. Tim Beaumont’s recol- 8 Artillery Row, Westminster, London SW1P 1RZ lections of the manoeuvrings within Tel: 0171 828 0010 Fax: 0171 828 8111 the party prior to Thorpe’s election email: politico’[email protected] web: http://www.politicos.co.uk are probably characteristic of the ne- gotiations which preceded both Britain’s Premier Political Bookstore

4 journal of liberal democrat history 23: summer 1999 Old Heroes for a New Leader Liberal Democrat leadership candidates describe their historical inspirations.

The Liberal Democrat History Group asked all the wherever he found it, his humanity and warmth enabled him to communicate with people who five candidates for the Liberal Democrat leadership claimed not to be interested in politics, and he to write a short article for the Journal on their never took his feet off the ground. As a young favourite historical figure or figures – the ones they man he joined the Young Liberals, he cam- paigned from the grassroots up, fighting a felt had influenced their own political beliefs most, no-hope Parliamentary seat himself and en- and why they proved important and relevant. Their couraging others to stand as Liberals in local replies are printed below. elections. He was committed to community politics and to the liberal approach to local govern- ment. Penhaligon wanted to shake the estab- Jackie Ballard MP lishment and he wanted a different type of I instinctively recoil from the idea of heroes, council – devoted to the underdog, not wed- because inevitably, being human, they all have ded to nineteenth-century ritual but open and their flaws. For this reason, and because they accessible to the public. No campaigning work- would be horribly embarrassed, I’m not going shop is complete without someone quoting to write about my two living political heroes Penhaligon’s maxim: ‘If you have something to – Conrad Russell and Shirley Williams. say, stick it on a piece of paper and stuff it The real heroes in life are the people who through the letterbox’. Perhaps one of his other survive on low incomes, who bring up three attractions for me is that, in his wife’s words, children single-handedly, who challenge au- ‘he gained the reputation of being distinctly thority when no-one else believes in their difficult over pacts and alliances with Labour’. cause, who juggle part-time jobs and childcare, Nancy Seear was an active campaigner for look after elderly relatives or battle with mul- Liberalism for over fifty years. She would not tiple disabilities. They are the unknown and have described herself as a feminist, but was unsung heroes – the sort of people I look at one of our most powerful, indomitable and with admiration as I chastise myself for ever best-known female representatives, a role model complaining about my life. for many women entering politics. In contrast David Penhaligon loved people and he loved to Penhaligon, Nancy was not a grassroots poli- challenges. He was the leader the Liberal Party tician, but she was a talented and energetic never had, and his speaker who used her ability to campaign for death in  robbed equal pay for women, for democracy in the us of one of our most workplace and many other causes dear to her. popular and effective In Why I Am a Liberal Democrat, published a year campaigners. I never before her death, Nancy said: ‘I was in Ger- met him, but like all many when the Nazis made their first big elec- great communicators toral advance,, and watched them centralise he had the knack of everything in sight, destroying pluralism. This making everyone feel left me with the unshakeable conviction that that they knew him. power must be spread as widely as possible.’ He fought injustice

journal of liberal democrat history 23: summer 1999 5 Roy Jenkins David Lloyd George Nelson Mandela

All heroes have their flaws, and by-election in Dundee as a student practical, clear and coherent. His pas- hero-worship is misplaced in a in the s and, in a poor tenement sion grew out of his commitment to Liberal. I didn’t agree with every- area of the town, came across house- his own background and his own thing David Penhaligon or Nancy hold after household in which the community. He was compromised Seear said or did – but that’s how breadwinner described himself as be- by a lack of personal wealth, which it should be. No-one, not even a ing on the ‘Lloyd George’. led him into dubious business ven- hero, is perfect. Unlike today’s Chancellors, Lloyd tures and accusations of selling titles. George steered his budget through His energies led him into many all stages in the House of Commons, compromising liaisons, which earned Malcolm Bruce MP moving clauses and amendments him the abusive nickname of the old The political inspiration for my Lib- long into the night. The Liberal goat. This doesn’t make him a more eralism has always been David Lloyd Government also fought a general attractive personality, but shows him George. He came from a fairly mod- election over the budget and pro- as very human. In today’s febrile era est background and started his ca- voked probably the most important of tabloid intrusion he would almost reer fighting to secure his home base confrontation that has ever taken certainly have been destroyed. Brit- in a tight situation, something with place between the Commons and ish society would have been the which I can closely identify. He was the Lords. He established unemploy- poorer and the torch of Liberalism not afraid to support unpopular ment and sickness benefit, and the would have been dimmed. causes, like opposition to the Boer old age pension, which still form a I regard myself as a practical radi- War, for which he required police key part of the social justice debate. cal, always striving for ideas which protection. Yet he went on from that to take are easily understood, will improve Above all, he was an energetic over leadership of the country in the people’s lives in measurable ways and campaigner for a radical agenda and, darkest hours of the First World War are credible and achievable. For this unlike Churchill, for example, com- and saw through the peace negotia- Lloyd George was and remains my bined the qualities of a great war tions. His inability to fulfil his pledge inspiration. leader with the inspiration that to build ‘homes fit for heroes’ led to founded the welfare state. his eclipse, but that was because of Simon Hughes MP His divisions within his own party that ‘People’s left him a prisoner of the Conserva- David Lloyd George Budget’ of tives. In spite of the  setback he Lloyd George really did know my  is a still managed to inspire the Liberal grandfather. I was first taken to Lloyd watershed Yellow Book for the  election, George’s childhood home (and his in British which reinvigorated the Liberal final resting place) by the banks of the social his- Party before its demise in the De- River Dwyfor by my grandfather be- tory. I re- pression and Second World War. fore I was three. I have visited regu- member Lloyd George, for all his faults, larly ever since. Lloyd George has campaign- was the epitome of a radical cam- been an inspiration partly because he ing in a paigning Liberal. His ideas were

6 journal of liberal democrat history 23: summer 1999 David Penhaligon Nancy Seear William Wilberforce had no privileged background and a Nelson Rolihlahla Mandela, President of forgiveness, generosity and states- difficult upbringing. In spite of the of South Africa –) manship. inevitable human weaknesses of all Mandela is the radical pluralist, an Just as Lloyd George was my hero politicians, he was the central figure enlightened, principled sort of leader from the first half of the century, so of one of the two greatest periods of who is an inspiration for millions. He Nelson Mandela is my hero from radical change this country has is an object lesson, not just for this the second. I am privileged to have known during the last hundred years. century but for the next. met him. Lloyd George’s determination to When I first started campaigning set in place the beginning of our against apartheid (with Peter Hain, pension and social security system, Charles Kennedy among others), Nelson Mandela was his willingness to remain a radical one of the leaders of the struggle It is sometimes difficult to pick one when in office as well as when in from behind bars. historical hero, when there are so opposition, his great ‘People’s When I first went to South Af- many on offer to Liberal Democrats. Budget’ of , his commitment to rica in , I stood amongst the I am sure we have all been influ- constitutional reform and burned-out homes of the Cross- enced by the thinking of people such disestablishment and his abiding in- roads squatter camp, encircled by as Mill and Keynes, and they cer- terest in international affairs are a South African Defence Force ar- tainly loom large in my own per- combination of priorities to which moured cars, and sneaked into sonal hall of fame. I have always aspired. townships at night to see families But for a more personal choice, In addition, the Welsh wizard whose members had been I am opting for someone who has had the ability to inspire ordinary necklaced. Mandela was the libera- had a deep impact on my involve- non-party tion leader waiting in the wings. ment in politics, and a profound ef- political When I spoke alongside Jesse fect on the shape of our party. I have people, to Jackson to tens of thousands in Tra- also had the privilege to know and engage falgar Square at an anti-apartheid work with him for nearly twenty them in rally, Mandela was the inspiration for years: Roy Jenkins. the politi- the international solidarity and There is much that I could say cal process, struggle. When Mandela walked free about Roy, to support from his prison cell, he was the sym- as a minis- radical bol of the triumph of good over evil, ter, an im- politics and of perseverance over adversity. portant fig- and to get When the first South African ure in Eu- them to democratic elections took place, r opean respond to the liberal message. Mandela was the leader who rose politics, a Making liberal democracy popular above party politics. When he was gifted au- – even populist – is a cause we President of South Africa he was the thor, and should champion again. living embodiment of the qualities latterly, an

journal of liberal democrat history 23: summer 1999 7 elder statesman. But here, I would like of a radical, decentralist, and inter- cratic. Like most politicians, though, to focus on his importance to me as nationalist party, combining the best it is wise to be aware of the faults. I a political mentor and personal in- of the progressive Liberal and social do not subscribe to all of Wilber- spiration. democratic traditions. It was a vision force’s views. He backed legislation The late s were difficult of the party that we have become. after the Peterloo massacre which times for anyone with an instinc- From the first, I was clear that I would make Jack Straw feel uneasy; tively progressive outlook and a wanted to be part of this new force and his support for the Corn Laws strong belief in social justice. I was in British politics. undoubtedly kept many people in hostile to the Conservative Party of poverty. But Wilberforce’s battle the time, which was steadily losing against slavery is a model for us all: its ‘one nation’ credentials, and drift- David Rendel MP the persistent pursuit of an unques- ing further to the right, guided by There are two historical figures who tionable cause against fiercely vested Thatcher and Joseph. Yet at the same stand out in my own political devel- interests to eventual success. time, the Labour Party was becom- opment. Both were notable for their Nancy Seear’s influence on my ing more and more narrow-minded, dogged pursuit of liberal values. politics is rather more direct. I inward-looking and extreme. One, William Wilberforce, turned a looked up to her for many years. I Out of this unhappy state of af- cause into a campaign and the cam- campaigned with her. Like many fairs came Roy Jenkins’ famous  paign into a historic victory, the abo- Liberal Democrats, I still feel her loss. Dimbleby Lecture, ‘Home Thoughts lition of the slave trade. Nancy was, above all, a great lib- from Abroad’. Every so often in life, The other, Nancy Seear, stands out eral. Someone who regarded the state you hear someone articulate your precisely because she persisted de- with the suspicion it deserves. Some- own thoughts – and they do so with spite much less obvious success. Per- one whose an elegance and eloquence which sistence in a just cause in the face of prime fo- make you wish you had been able likely defeat can be even more im- cus was to say it yourself. As an open- pressive than persistence when in helping minded, pro-European, moderate- view of probable victory. people to thinking Scot, Roy Jenkins’ Today, there are many people liv- achieve Dimbleby Lecture had that effect on ing in poverty and many more with their full me. He brought sharply into focus few choices in life, but slavery as it potential, the unease I felt about the choices existed less than two centuries ago to lead that Labour and the Conservatives has been wiped from the planet. their own were offering the British people. Much of the credit for this belongs path in life Roy offered a vision of the type to the Yorkshire MP William as they of political party I wanted to join. He Wilberforce, who led the abolition w ould spoke of the need for a party of the campaign. wish to. But Nancy coupled her in- radical centre to bring about consti- The campaign spanned five dec- tellect with an undying self-belief and tutional and electoral reform at the ades and there were many setbacks, a practical determination to see lib- heart of our political life, to end the not least because of the powerful eralism in action. She worked tire- failures of the two-party system. The vested interests defending slavery. lessly in election campaigns and in the new political system that resulted However, in  Parliament agreed House of Lords. Long after she had would allow parties to cooperate to enforce fines on anyone found first become a hero of mine I had the where they shared ideas. The new engaging in the trade. But ending pleasure of working alongside her. party that Jenkins saw leading these the trade in Britain was only ever She was and is an inspiration changes would also devolve power, Wilberforce’s initial objective. Once There are frequent dark mo- while advancing new policy agendas that was achieved, he turned to the ments in politics, especially for the for women, the third world, and the international trade and to the prin- third party. It is at these times that environment. He spoke too of the ciple that one person could legiti- we need people like Nancy Seear need to combine ‘the innovating mately own another. Despite failing and William Wilberforce. People stimulus of the free market economy’ health, he lived to see slavery finally whose belief in their cause is such that without the ‘brutality of its untram- abolished in , two days before they are undaunted by the scale of melled distribution of rewards or its his death. their task. People who see a set-back indifference to unemployment’. Wilberforce was not, however, a as just another hurdle to overcome. For me, the Dimbleby Lecture one-issue politician. His major con- There is no doubt that we will have was a rallying cry for those who cern was to inject the process of gov- many hurdles on our path to govern- wished politics to move beyond the ernment with ethics. For Wilberforce ment. But we must go on walking class war that it had become, and it the code was Christian. Today I am that path. We owe it to those who struck many chords. It was a vision sure it would be liberal and demo- have given so much to get us this far.

8 journal of liberal democrat history 23: summer 1999 Lloyd George and the Conservative Party As politicians today grapple with the so-called ‘Third Way,’ perhaps they should consider the lessons of the past. By Jim Thorne.

A prime minister accused of governing in a evitable result of the extension of the franchise in , and not the result of the political ex- presidential manner; ambitions to reach beyond party perience of war. Implicit in this argument is boundaries in an effort to build consensus at the the notion that the Liberal Party was unable centre ground of British politics; a disunited and to compete successfully on the political bat- tlefield of the left. directionless Conservative Party. Sounds familiar? Without stepping too heavily into this par- Each of these statements reflects upon the ticular arena of debate, this essay focuses in- premiership of David Lloyd George. stead upon the political battlefield of the right in an effort to show that there was no inevita- It is common to associate Lloyd George bility about the decline of the Liberal Party. with Welsh radicalism, or to regard him as the Although the Liberals did lose some ground New Liberal (and yes, the emphasis at the time to the Labour Party before the Great War, it was on ‘New’) whose social reform was repre- was the Conservatives who had most to fear sentative of the political sea change that finally from the rise of the labour movement. The brought the Labour Party to power. In fact, as To r ies had no chance of competing in the historians of the Liberal Party of course know struggle to win the progressive left-wing vote, only too well, Lloyd George was Prime Min- and an extension of the electoral franchise ister of a Conservative-dominated government loomed ominously on the horizon for them. for nearly six years between  and . By , therefore, the real political battle This remarkable marriage, consummated by from the Conservative perspective was the one the formation of a coalition government in the for the domination of the moderate right-wing name of national unity, was a crucial factor in vote, and this was a prize the Liberal Party the decline of the Liberal Party and the rise of seemed well disposed to win. As late as Octo- Labour. The historiography of this transforma- ber  the Conservative leader Andrew tion in party politics tends to concentrate upon Bonar Law confided to his colleague Arthur the contrasting fortunes of these two parties. James Balfour, ‘I am perfectly certain, indeed, I This essay tries to convey the suggestion that do not think anyone can doubt this, that our by his actions Lloyd George unwittingly saved party on the old lines will never have any fu- the Tories from the fate that actually befell the ture again in this country.’ And by the time Liberals. this statement was made, the Conservatives There can be no doubt that the parameters were the dominant party of government, and of British politics in the Edwardian period were the Liberals were hopelessly divided. As Mar- changing rapidly and that the existing politi- tin Pugh has written, the wartime coalition of cal parties needed to adapt to them. The for-  created a vacuum on the left that ena- mation of the Labour Representation Com- bled the Labour Party to ‘occupy the role played mittee (later to become the Labour Party) in by the Edwardian Liberals in social reform, , aiming to represent in parliament its af- while the Liberal Party itself moved to the filiated trade unions and socialist societies, was right.’ The Conservative Party’s association an obvious indication of the social changes with Lloyd George was a dangerous gamble, which had been gradually altering politics at because while it exacerbated Liberal divisions grassroots level. Historians of the Labour Party it also watered down the traditional distinc- have argued that Liberal decline was the in- tions between Liberalism and Toryism. journal of liberal democrat history 23: summer 1999 9 The collapse of the last Liberal servatives who had most cause for power was in fact the result of a government on  May  was complaint in . Although, in Conservative-inspired conspiracy. the first of three critical wartime agreeing to a coalition Bonar Law Martin Gilbert has expressed the blows to the Liberal Party. The sec- had averted a likely election, which view that the Tories were in too ond blow came in December , many Conservatives agreed would volatile a state under Bonar Law to when Lloyd George replaced be disastrous for the nation and the have made the removal of Asquith Asquith at the head of the coalition party, he also stifled opposition to the anything more than an accident. Ye t government, and the third in  still predominantly Liberal govern- a reference in the diary of when it was decided that this alli- ment. Furthermore, the few conces- Christopher Addison, dated  April ance would fight the election un- sions won by Bonar Law in terms of , commenting on a letter Lloyd der the ‘coupon’ arrangement. Each To ry cabinet positions in  ‘un- George had apparently received from of these blows, which helped to derlined for the Conservatives that it the Conservative Arthur Lee, sug- consign the Liberal Party to third- was not a genuine coalition but a tri- gests that the Tories were capable of party status after the war, resulted umph for Asquith.’ It did not be- more sinister undertakings than Gil- from decisions taken and circum- come apparent that the Conserva- bert gives them credit for: stances at the highest levels of poli- tives had made any political head- It was a long typewritten docu- tics. The Liberal Party was critically way during the war until the ‘palace   ment in the form of a draft, full of split in December , but its con- revolution’ of December . verbiage, innuendoes and sugges- stituents at that time were not. Ul- There still remains much confu- tions and practically inviting L.G. timately this was a division caused sion as to the intentions and roles to ally himself with one or two by a clash of personalities, not prin- played by the protagonists who To ry leaders and ‘go for’ the P.M ciples or objectives. ousted Asquith from office on  De- … This document made me more The political crisis of May , cember . Opinions differ as to suspicious of the pressure that is like the crisis of December of the whether Lloyd George conspired to being brought to bear upon L.G. following year, was driven primarily replace Asquith himself. Robert than anything he has hitherto told by a desire to improve the way in Blake claimed that ‘Lloyd George me. One hardly likes to write these which the war was being run. There had nothing to do with the article’ things, but I could not avoid the suspicion that it was part of a game is little evidence to suggest that the leading in The Times on  Decem- by a feeble section of the Con- Asquith coalition itself caused any ber which apparently encouraged servatives to get him out of office  lasting damage to the Liberal Party. Asquith to resign, while Viscount and force an election on a Tory is- On the contrary, it was the Con- Samuel recalled in : ‘Confident sue, which would result in bring- that his own ing them in with the Liberal Party qualities would hopelessly divided. make him a bet- Addison’s evidence suggests that at ter war premier least some Conservatives saw Lloyd than Asquith, George as their possible redeemer [Lloyd George] months before Asquith was finally no doubt felt removed. This questions Bonar Law’s that he was not motives for refusing to form a gov- merely justified ernment on  December when but under a duty asked to do so by the King. But there to overthrow his is little reason to doubt Bonar Law’s chief and replace  own explanation that he only saw him.’ possible benefit in forming an ad- In his biog- ministration if both Asquith and raphy of Bonar Lloyd George agreed to serve in it. Law, Blake ab- By  many Tories perhaps felt solves the Tory that the decision to join forces with leader from hav- their arch-enemy of old was justi- ing had any in- fied. There were calls for the arrange- tention of re- ment of a negotiated peace from moving Asquith men as eminent as Lord Lansdowne; from the pre-  Tsarist Russia had collapsed; and in- miership. Nev- dustrial unrest in Britain, particularly ertheless, there severe in Clydeside, seemed to is the suggestion threaten the war effort itself. The that Lloyd Conservative Party was able to ride George’s rise to

10 journal of liberal democrat history 23: summer 1999 the problems it could have been left however, I am inclined to think, growth of Labour’s constituency or- to face alone during the war on the be not a bad thing for our party, ganisation and its determination to  crest of Lloyd George’s unassailable and a good thing for the nation. contest every seat made this threat popularity. Clearly, it was accepted that the Lib- real and all-encompassing. Before the The Liberal Party, although criti- eral Party would be decisively split war, the Liberal Party had been cally split, was not permanently dam- as a consequence of an electoral al- largely concerned with consuming  aged by the coalition until the gen- liance between the Conservatives Labour votes, but by most Lib-  eral election of . It was decided and Lloyd George. erals and Tories alike were conspicu-  in the summer of , before the The ‘coupon’ arrangement ous in their anti-socialism. This cer- end of the war, that the Conserva- agreed by Freddie Guest and Sir tainly encouraged the continuation  tives would fight the next election George Younger is itself worthy of of the post-war coalition after . in collaboration with Lloyd George. some attention here. In terms of The anti-strike measures against rail-  The Asquithian Liberals were not their share of parliamentary seats, the waymen (in ) and miners (in  prepared to join a Lloyd George-led Liberals (ignoring their divisions) did ), the disavowal of Sankey’s coal coalition, and Lloyd George was not badly out of the deal. It provided nationalisation proposals and the about to renounce his premiership them with only  ‘coupons’ against military intervention in Russia were and return to subordination under the  given to the Tories, despite all instances which seemed to jus- Asquith. For Lloyd George the al- the fact that each party had won  tify the feeling that, ‘for the left, the ternatives were to fight the election coalition had been a time of class war seats at the previous election. The  independently, or remain with the Liberals were very under-repre- [and] of anti-Bolshevism run mad.’  Conservatives. Since , when sented in the coalition that cam- Yet the prolongation of the coalition  Lloyd George had first floated the paigned in December  as the in created a moderate niche idea of coalition government to group that had steered the nation to into which Labour could expand, overcome party differences during victory. While these figures highlight because of the electoral weakness of the constitutional crisis, he had had nothing more than how disadvan- a divided Liberal Party. ‘an abiding passion for a kind of su- taged the Liberals were by their split, The part played by Lloyd George preme national synthesis that would they also show that the Conserva- in the Conservative survival was sig- soar above petty political partisan- nificant, if for no other reason than  tives were able to rise to a dominant ship.’ This style of government had electoral position on the basis of the it meant he kept the Liberals divided.  proved to be successful during the distribution of ‘coupons’. Even in , however, the role that war, and there was every reason to In fact, because Lloyd George the Conservatives were going to play suppose it could be work in peace- had no real party apparatus to work in the future was by no means clear. time too. with, the Tories in effect sacrificed It is only possible to speak in terms Lloyd George commanded such many constituency organisations of the party (in its traditional form)  political influence in that the under the ‘coupon’ arrangement by being ‘saved’ because the relationship benefits of continuing their relation- handing them over to the Liberals. with Lloyd George was ended. This ship with him were obvious to all In this way they were arguably mak- was certainly how Stanley Baldwin  Conservatives. Had the Tories sepa- ing concessions that their Coalition saw the situation in October rated from Lloyd George after the Liberal partners were in no position when he famously warned a meet- war, the Conservative Party could to make in return. This was certainly ing of Tories at the Carlton Club that  well have emerged from the how many Tories perceived the ar- Lloyd George was a ‘dynamic force’ election a far smaller and more re- rangement, perhaps unaware of the who was in danger of causing the actionary party than it did. Despite long-term benefit that sacrificing old Conservative Party to be having some reservations, Bonar Law some seats to keep the Liberal Party ‘smashed to atoms and lost in ruins.’ was keenly aware of the benefits his divided would bring to their party. Baldwin’s argument won the day, party could accrue from remaining As Viscount Samuel wrote at the of course, and the decision to end in coalition. As he explained to time, a divided party meant that: ‘At the coalition split the Conservatives, Balfour, this election, in the eyes of the masses with Austen Chamberlain (party leader at the time) remaining loyal [Lloyd George] would secure a of the people, official Liberalism  greater hold on the rank and file stood for nothing in particular.’ to Lloyd George. But by repudiat- of our party and he would also be A significant feature of the coa- ing Lloyd George the Conservative so dependent on that party after lition after  was its anti-Labour Party instantly discredited him, leav- an election that he would perma- stance. The Russian Revolution and ing those within the party who re- nently be driven into the same at- the new Labour Party constitution jected the Carlton Club decision — titude towards our party which [J.] of  had greatly altered the lib- such as Austen Chamberlain, Balfour Chamberlain was placed in before, eral-minded perception of the La- and Birkenhead — somewhat iso- with this difference — that he bour threat, which was now posi- lated figures. Thus Bonar Law’s ac- would be leader of it. That would, tively socialist. Furthermore, the cession to the premiership in Octo- journal of liberal democrat history 23: summer 1999 11 example, periment with centrist politics failed Bonar Law because he was unable to unite these had ex- progressive groups under the Liberal pressed a fear banner. Events clearly showed that that ‘[Lloyd without the support of liberal- George] minded Conservatives, the effort to would like build consensus at the centre ground personally of British politics could not last. nothing bet- ter than that Jim Thorne worked in the House of there should Commons for Mark Oaten MP, and is be a split in shortly to become a law student. our party as a result of Notes: which a ma-  See H.C.G. Matthew, R.I. McKibbin jority would and J.A. Kay, ‘The Franchise Factor in the Rise of the Labour Party’, English support   Historical Review xci ( ). him,’ yet he  Bonar Law to Balfour, //: Balfour proceeded to Papers pp. –, as cited in K.O. fight the Morgan, Consensus and Disunity: the Lloyd election in George Coalition Government, –   tandem with (Oxford, ), p. .  M. Pugh, The Making of Modern British Lloyd Politics – (nd edn., Oxford, George. It is ), p. . quite clear  Pugh, The Making of Modern British Poli- that Lloyd tics, p. .  George did R. Blake, The Unknown Prime Minister: The Life and Times of Andrew Bonar Law not intend (London, ), p. . his alliance  Viscount Samuel, Memoirs, (London, ber  was a unifying factor for with the Conservatives to facilitate ), p. . the Conservative Party, even if this their long-term survival at the ex-  Blake, The Unknown Prime Minister, p. . was not immediately obvious to all pense of the Liberal Party.  M. Gilbert, David Lloyd George: The Or- ganiser of Victory –, (London, those involved. The Carlton Club In Lloyd George’s eyes, a new ), p. . meeting was the defining moment consensus had been formed after the  C. Addison, Four and a Half Years: A Per- for the Conservative Party in its re- war, and the only anomaly was that sonal Diary from June  to January , lationship with Lloyd George. Al- Asquith refused to conform to it. Vol. I (London, ), p. . though Lloyd George seemed to Many notable Liberals were to drift  See Bonar Law Papers .A., as cited in Blake, The Unknown Prime Minister, p. have taken the Tories to the brink into the Conservative Party after    . of their own disaster by , the (several more joined the La-  K.O. Morgan, ‘–’, in D. Butler balance of power in the relationship bour ranks), including Greenwood, (ed.), Coalitions in British Politics, (Lon- between the two changed com- Guest, Hilton Young, Grigg, Mond, don, ), p. . pletely overnight. The Conservative and, of course, Churchill. This drift  Bonar Law to Balfour, //, Balfour Party had amassed as much benefit illustrated the extent to which the Papers; as cited in Blake, The Unknown Prime Minister, p. . as was possible from Lloyd George impact of the Great War had pulled  C. Ponting, Churchill (London, ), p. without causing its own meltdown, Labour and the Conservatives to- . and it emerged from the relationship wards the centre ground of British  i.e. Lord Salisbury; see Morgan, ‘– scathed, but far stronger than it had politics. As Lloyd George was well ’, p. . Also see Blake, The Unknown  been at its outset. aware, liberalism still survived within Prime Minister, p. , for Younger’s reac- tion. Lloyd George’s role in providing the ranks of the Conservative Party  H. Samuel to W. Runciman, //, as a mainstream constituency for the after . quoted in Samuel, Memoirs, p. . To r ies in what they had feared Within days of his resignation in  Morgan, ‘-’, p. . would be an alien political environ- , Lloyd George’s ‘presidential’  Bonar Law to Balfour, //, Balfour Papers; as quoted in Blake, The Unknown ment was inadvertently played. The leadership and his impact upon the  Conservative Party was a somewhat progressive forces at the political Prime Minister, p. . fortuitous beneficiary of political cir- centre were forgotten as all around cumstances that were largely beyond sought to distance themselves from its control. In October , for him. Ultimately, Lloyd George’s ex-

12 journal of liberal democrat history 23: summer 1999 Gladstone and Books Lord Jenkins of Hillhead gave the Gladstone Lecture at St Deiniol’s Library, Hawarden, on 8 July 1998, in the centenary year of Gladstone’s death.

As you may imagine, this is not the first time that I tion that a dedicated old-style grocer might have got from cutting and wrapping pounds have talked about Gladstone. It is, however, very of butter or cheese. He also believed that, in much the first time that I have ventured to do it so his unending battle against the efflux of time, very close to his home ground. I talked in both he might gain a few yards of territory by un- ½ relenting and sometimes indiscriminate read- Chester and Llandudno years ago, soon after the ing. Augustine Birrell, great wit but ineffective publication of my book on him, thereby establishing minister, said that: ‘Gladstone would rather read a sort of bracket on Hawarden. But Hawarden itself, a second-rate book than think a first-rate thought’, which was an odd statement for it and St Deiniol’s Library in particular, offers a new assumes that a first-rate thought can be done order of presumptuousness. to order. This wild and almost pointless eclec- ticism was splendidly illustrated by his  There is a further aspect of challenge about reading of, as he put it ‘Colt and his revolvers’. today. Sir William Gladstone has heard me on This meant a recently published work by the his distinguished ancestor on three previous American inventor of a type of pistol which occasions this summer. On this fourth occa- bore the unpromising title of: On the Applica- sion, if I were to cover the same topics, when I tion of Machining to the Manufacture of Rotating catch his eye I must expect either a drooping Chamber-Barrel Fire Arms and their Peculiarities. eyelid, or, if he is too polite to let that happen, We have already heard this morning about at least a silently critical comparative appraisal the , books which he consumed during of my performances, rather as though I were his active adult reading life, say the seventy or an actor subject to off days. And I must also seventy-one years from , when he was six- spare a thought for my wife, who is also rather teen, to  or , when he was eighty-six used to me on Gladstone. or eighty-seven. Thereafter his eyesight was too So I thought I would chose a somewhat bad for reading. , is an extraordinary, an different approach and talk not about Gladstone almost unbelievable quantity of books to have in general, but about Gladstone and Books, his got through. It means an average of  a year. reading habits and a comparison between them Perhaps inspired by Gladstone, I have taken to and those of other Prime Ministers – which I keeping a list of what I read, and it comes out hope is an appropriate subject for a library. remarkably steadily at between seventy-five and Throughout his life he had both a physical eighty-five a year. and an intellectual obsession with books. In Was Gladstone’s claim therefore just an idle , during his first Chancellorship on his first boast? Politicians are well-known boasters. day back in London after an absence of eight , is a good round number to think of, weeks he wrote ‘worked ½ hours on my , not good enough, , too far over books’ – this meant unpacking and arranging, the top. But no, they are all listed, mostly an- and was a fairly typical diary entry both in Lon- notated, and many of them to be seen here at don and at Hawarden. One of the most vivid St Deiniol’s. and symbolic pictures from his extreme old age What did he read? , leaves room for was ‘the wheeling of the books’. When he had a great deal of eclecticism, and this he certainly built and endowed this library with £, practised. He read a great deal of theology and of s money, he himself spend several days of church history, for as well as his politics he at the age of eighty-six pushing barrows full was deeply involved in almost every liturgical of the contents of his own library along the and eschatological dispute – of which there connecting route. were a great number – of the middle years of It was not just that the handling of books the nineteenth century. He also wrote theol- appeared to give him the same sort of satisfac- ogy. Indeed when after his first (–) pre- journal of liberal democrat history 23: summer 1999 13 miership he withdrew from the lead- of great stars of the nineteenth cen- by an awareness of his own histori- ership of the Liberal Party it was in tury and, as such, needing their own cal destiny. order to devote himself for his de- unimpeded orbits. They were also Clement Attlee saw himself and clining years to producing theologi- said still to be jealous, fifty years later, events less grandiloquently. He had no cal works. The trouble was that he Prime Minister and Poet Laureate, gift of narrative prose. But his train- was by no means a first-class theo- about which had stood higher in the ing was historical, as were his con- logian, whereas he undoubtedly was affection of Arthur Hallam. tinuing intellectual interests. He had a first-class politician and, indeed, Gladstone also undoubtedly read an acute instinct for balance between statesman. As a result, almost like the more fiction when he was in office continuity and change, and his laconic operation of a physical law, he was than any subsequent British Prime sense of proportion, which cut men after eighteen months drawn back Minister until Macmillan, although and events down to size, owed much into what he was best at, and filled Macmillan read fiction which was to his knowledge of the past. his declining years, which lasted a contemporary to Gladstone rather Anthony Eden knew a lot about quarter of a century, with, amongst than to himself nearly a century later, Persian and Arab history and came other things, being Prime Minister and Asquith would have run them to acquire an encyclopaedic knowl- another three times. both fairly close as a third contender. edge of the minutiae of diplomatic He was a better classical scholar No other Prime Minister would exchanges of the first half of this cen- than he was a theologian, although have been near. But Gladstone read tury. But his interests were more aes- even here, while he had sound all the main Victorian novels as they thetic than intellectual, and of this knowledge and muscular intelli- came out – Trollope and George quartet his mind was probably the gence, he lacked the intuitive verbal Eliot certainly, Dickens a little less least conditioned by history, just as sensitivity which marked out the strongly, and many lesser ones as well. his term of office and Prime Minis- greatest classicists. (Nevertheless he And he also found time to go back tership was much the shortest and got a wonderful rhythm into the quite frequently to Fanny Burney, least successful. Latin translation of the hymn which Jane Austen and the Brontës. The fourth member was Harold we sang this morning.) He devoted This, then, was the broad pattern Macmillan. He, like Attlee, had little a lot of time to classical texts. He read of Gladstone’s reading. What about of Churchill’s command over writ- the Bible in Greek every day. He was the reading habits of other British ten English, and he could not there- devoted to Homer, and published politicians and particularly Prime fore compete as a chronicler. But his several commentaries upon him, in- Ministers? The pattern varies a lot. knowledge was at least as great as cluding some fairly fantastical theo- There were undoubtedly some very Churchill’s, and, indeed, covered a ries which tried to see him as part classically and more generally histori- wider span. He knew Greek and of the headwaters of Christianity. To- cally educated figures in the middle Roman history in a way that Church- wards the end of his life work on of the nineteenth century – Peel and ill, whose interests were always con- his new translation of the odes of Derby most notably. And Disraeli was centrated on the past  years, never Horace became a ruling passion with highly literate both in input and out- did. Macmillan was not a great writer Gladstone. When he got back from put. Balfour and Asquith were sophis- of history. His six volumes of mem- Windsor following an ungracious ticated intellectuals. oirs, unlike his much more interest- audience with the Queen (on her Then there was a sag until the ing wartime Mediterranean Diary, are side more than his) after his last res- near quarter century starting in pretty dull stuff. But his most char- ignation as Prime Minister, he im-  when British governments acteristic speeches moved easily from mediately got down to a Horace were led by a series of men whose the Peloponnesian War to the Battle translation. minds were to an exceptional ex- of the Somme. As a literary critic of works in tent moulded, refreshed and stimu- Since Macmillan’s resignation in English his performance was some- lated by their historical knowledge.  it has been mostly downhill where between his theology and his Churchill was, of course, the out- all the way so far as historical classicism. He wrote one very good standing example. Although he had knowledge and interest – and prob- long essay on Tennyson, whom he no formal training, he wrote history ably general knowledge and inter- also created the first and almost the with a verve unequalled by any est too – are concerned. Harold only poet-peer – Byron inherited his other British statesman, and with a Wilson knew a great deal of detail title and was not created – although professionalism which could be ri- about the American Civil War, but they, Gladstone and Tennyson mostly valled in this category only by John not much other history. Margaret circled around each other like two Morley or James Bryce. Beyond Thatcher liked arguing by histori- cats with arched backs, perhaps that, his imagination was constantly cal comparison, but the compari- sub-consciously aware that they, to- seized by the tides of historical son was almost always only with the gether with a handful of others – events and an epic view of how government which immediately Newman, Dickens, Darwin, perhaps great men could direct them. He preceded hers. She almost invariably Carlyle, were amongst the handful was undoubtedly much motivated argued in a scale of two. Her his-

14 journal of liberal democrat history 23: summer 1999 tory showed few signs of going back pièce justificative, but not an autobiog- tle more aware of how their actions beyond . raphy. Of the ten who have com- may look in longer perspective and What of the new regime? Mr pleted their term of office since , of their performance vis-a-vis others Blair has expressed to me his regret only Edward Heath and John Major, who will be working at the memoir that he read law and not history at both said to be busy writing, have not face alongside them. And the effects Oxford and has become a consider- published. of this and of general historical in- able addict of political biography. But In the United States there were terest are more likely to be good the fact remains that it was law that twelve Presidents between  and than bad. he read. . Three of them (Theodore Gladstone stands unique on ei- What about American Presidents? Roosevelt, Coolidge and Hoover) ther side of the Atlantic in the range What is true, however, on both sides did write memoirs. But since , and quantity of his reading, and ri- of the Atlantic is that whether or not of the ten who have gone from the valled only by Churchill in his writ- politicians read history they now try highest office only two (Franklin ten output. to write it to an extent which was Roosevelt and Kennedy) have, for previously almost unknown. Of the different but compelling reasons, re- Lord Jenkins of Hillhead was Leader of eleven British Prime Ministers be- mained silent. Whether this spate on the Liberal Democrats in the House of tween  and  not one wrote both sides of the Atlantic produces Lords –, and is the author of sev- full-scale autobiography. Gladstone much good literature may be open eral books, including Gladstone left a fragment only, as did Balfour, to question, but I believe that it at (Macmillan, ) and The Chancel- and Lloyd George wrote a large-scale least makes prospective authors a lit- lors (Macmillan, ).

Research in Progress This column aims to assist research projects in progress. If you can help any of the individuals listed below with sources, contacts, or any other helpful information – or if you know anyone who can – please pass on details to them. If you know of any other research project in progress for inclusion in this column, please send details to the Editor at the address on page 2.

The party agent and English electoral culture, The Liberal Party and foreign and defence c.1880 – c.1906. The development of political agency policy, 1922–88. Book and articles; of particular as a profession, the role of the election agent in managing interest is the 1920s and ’30s, and also the possibility of election campaigns during this period, and the changing interviewing anyone involved in formulating the foreign nature of elections, as increased use was made of the and defence policies of the party. Dr R. S. Grayson, 8 press and the platform. Kathryn Rix, Christ's College, Cheltenham Avenue, Twickenham TW1 3HD. Cambridge, CB2 2BU; [email protected]. Archibald Sinclair and the Liberal Party 1935–45. Liberal policy towards Austria-Hungary, 1905– Sources, particularly for Sinclair’s Air Ministry period 16. Andrew Gardner, 22 Birdbrook House, Popham (1940–45), the reorganisation of the party in 1936 and Road, Islington, London N1 8TA; [email protected]. the 1945 election, needed. Ian Hunter, 9 Defoe Avenue, Kew, London TW9 4DL; [email protected]. The Hon H. G. Beaumont (MP for Eastbourne 1906–10). Any information welcome, particularly on his The Liberal Party 1945–56. Contact with members political views (he stood as a Radical). Tim Beaumont, 40 (or opponents) of the Radical Reform Group during the Elms Road, London SW4 9EX. 1950s, and anyone with recollections of the leadership of Clement Davies, sought. Graham Lippiatt, 24 Balmoral Defections of north-east Liberals to the Road, South Harrow, HA2 8TD. Conservatives, c.1906–1935. Aims to suggest reasons for defections of individuals and develop an The grassroots organisation of the Liberal Party understanding of changes in electoral alignment. Sources 1945–64; the role of local activists in the late 1950s include personal papers and newspapers; suggestions revival of the Liberal Party. Mark Egan, 42 Richmond about how to get hold of the papers of more obscure Road, Gillingham, Kent ME7 1LN. Liberal defectors welcome. Nick Cott, 1a Henry Street, The Unservile State Group, 1953–1970s. Dr Peter Gosforth, Newcastle-upon-Tyne, NE3 1DQ; Barberis, 24 Lime Avenue, Flixton, Manchester M41 5DE. [email protected]. The political and electoral strategy of the Liberal Liberals and the local government of London Party 1970–79. Individual constituency papers from this 1919–39. Chris Fox, 173 Worplesdon Road, Guidlford period, and contact with individuals who were members of GU2 6XD; [email protected]. the Party’s policy committees and/or the Party Council, particularly welcome. Ruth Fox, 7 Mulberry Court, Bishop’s Stortford, Herts CM23 3JW.

journal of liberal democrat history 23: summer 1999 15 Mill on Limited Liability Partnerships Not only a notable philosopher, John Stuart Mill was also active on many political issues of the day. Robert Ingham looks at one, topical once again.

The House of Commons Trade & Industry Select garding the registration of partners’ details; and  arrangements necessary for the protection of Committee published a report in February clients. scrutinising the draft Limited Liability Partnership Bill In his last paragraph, Mill applies his Lib- published by the government (HC, –). The eral tenets to come down in favour of limited liability partnerships. To those familiar only draft Bill, if enacted, would introduce to the UK a with On Liberty, and his other scholarly works, new means of carrying on a business, combining the this piece illustrates the extent to which Mill internal arrangements of a partnership with the was engaged with day-to-day issues of practi- cal politics, even before he became a MP him- external obligations of a company. The measure might self, in . prove popular with some accountancy firms and other professional concerns and the government hope to Appendix to Report: Reply to bring forward a Bill soon. queries by J. Stuart Mill, Esq.

During the course of their inquiry, the MPs The liberty of entering into partnerships of discovered that the concept of a limited liabil- limited liability, similar to the commandite part- ity partnership had been investigated in the nerships of France and other countries, appears nineteenth century. They reported that: to me an important element in the general free- dom of commercial transactions, and in many In  a Select Committee was established cases a valuable aid to undertakings of general to consider the expediency of facilitating the usefulness. limitation of liability in relation to the law of I do not see any weight in the reasons which partnership, at a time when incorporation of have been give for confining the principle to companies with limited liability was a labo- certain kinds of business, or for making certain rious and expensive process. After hearing evi- dence from more than a dozen expert wit- employments an exception from it. The prohi- nesses, including the secretary of legation at bition of commandite is, I conceive, only tenable the American Embassy, on experience in the on the principles of the usury laws, and may United States, and written submissions from, reasonably be abandoned since those principles among others, John Stuart Mill and Charles have been given up. Commandite partnership is Babbage, this Committee concluded that: ‘the merely one of the modes of lending money, viz., best authorities are divided on the subject, and at an interest dependent on, and varying with, that it would require great care to devise the the profits of the concern; and subject to the checks and safeguards against fraud, necessary condition, in case of failure, of receiving noth- to accompany such a general relaxation or ing until other creditors have been paid in full. change in the law’. This mode of lending capital is evidently more Mill’s evidence to the  Committee is advantageous than any other mode to all per- reprinted below. In it, he discusses many of sons with whom the concern may have deal- the same points raised by the Trade & Indus- ings; and to retain restrictions on this mode af- try Committee this year, including whether ter having abandoned them on all others, ap- or not limited liability partnerships should be pears to me inconsistent and inexpedient. available only to certain professions; rules re- concluded on page 

16 journal of liberal democrat history 23: summer 1999 viewed the ‘good side’ of national- ism, including the examples cited by Donald Gorrie, as essentially being Reports arguments about the abuse of power. Gladstone campaigned for Bulgarian independence, for instance, because Liberalism and Nationalism: he saw it as the best way to end Turk- ish atrocities, not because he sup- ported Bulgarian nationhood per se. Allies or Enemies? All political philosophies rest on a conception of human nature: on Fringe meeting, 5 March, views of generosity of spirit versus selfishness, of rationality versus a be- with Donald Gorrie MP and Gordon Lishman lief in myths (of race, or blood, or Report by Duncan Brack nation), of inclusiveness versus exclu- sivity. In Britain, Liberalism is clearly associated with the first terms in each of these three pairs, whereas Con- Speaking in Edinburgh two months before elections to the servatism is equally clearly associated Scottish Parliament and Welsh Assembly saw nationalist with the second (and New Labour is parties take leading opposition roles, our two speakers tried all over the place). Nationalists can fall within either, or between them. It is to identify the compatibilities, and the conflicts, between important to know what their views liberalism and nationalism. Each saw very different aspects. are on other issues – for a Liberal, the structure of government is not the Donald Gorrie, MP and now tween Liberals and Scottish nation- only matter of concern. MSP, differentiated between the na- alism. Nineteenth-century Scottish Mr Lishman did not disagree with tionalism that sprang from love of Liberals often supported the idea of Mr Gorrie over the possibility of nation and support for its self-deter- Scottish nationhood, and many saw working together with Nationalists, mination, and the imperialism of a Scottish Parliament as an inevita- where the conditions were right – a large countries aiming to conquer ble successor to Irish home rule. Jo common agenda which could be de- their neighbours. ‘On the whole’, he Grimond in particular put home livered, clear political advantages, and stated, ‘the nationalism of small and rule at the forefront of the Liberal the right personal chemistry. And his- self-contained nations has not been platform, and favoured cooperation torically, Liberals and nationalists had harmful and, at its best, has been one with the SNP. Many Scottish Lib- often cooperated advantageously. But of the most creative forces in history’. eral Democrats were disappointed a core part of Liberalism is about the Our heroes out of history are nation- that the SNP withdrew from the creation of institutions, and govern- alists fighting imperialists – Wallace, Scottish Constitutional Convention mental structures, to which people Bruce, William Tell, national resistance – but despite the clear policy differ- can best relate. There is no reason why movements, and so on. ence between the parties over inde- these should be nations (which them- Liberals have frequently found pendence versus federalism, Mr selves are relatively recent develop- themselves expressing support for Gorrie argued for accepting the Na- ments in many parts of the world). nationalist movements, from Fox and tionalists as potential allies in the new In his own case, his home county of his advocacy of the American revo- Scottish Parliament. ‘Responsible na- Lancashire had a clear cultural iden- lutionaries, through the enthusiasm tionalism is a legitimate political phi- tity with which he identified, and he for Italian nationhood which brought losophy, and responsible nationalists also saw himself as a citizen of Eu- the Liberal Party, in its modern form, are normal flawed human beings rope, and of the world. But there was together, to Gladstone’s championing who can be respectable allies with no logical reason why any of these of ‘the sanctity of life in the hill vil- whom Liberal Democrats can coop- units should be the same as those over lages of Afghanistan’, the rights of the erate on the right terms in promot- which governments should be organ- Bulgarians against the Turks, and of ing our agenda for Scotland, just as ised. That should derive instead from the Irish against the British. Asquith’s we could cooperate with Labour or structures which best enabled deci- aims in  included war ‘until the with both or neither.’ sions to be made which advanced rights of the small nationalities of Gordon Lishman took a very dif- more important goals, such as partici- Europe are placed upon an unassail- ferent view. He saw Liberalism and pation, or human rights, or rational able foundation’. Nationalism as two wholly antitheti- decision-making. Tur ning to more local history, Mr cal traditions, in the final analysis John Stuart Mill advanced a simi- Gorrie looked at the relationship be- fundamentally incompatible. He lar argument in Representative Gov- journal of liberal democrat history 23: summer 1999 17 ernment. ‘Nobody can suppose’, put in the same terms today, but it early days in Australia were marred wrote Mill, ‘that it is not more ben- illustrates the general point – and in by a series of gaffes and misunder- eficial to a Breton, or a Basque of this context it is interesting to note standings, but his patronage of local French Navarre, to be brought into how the Spanish regions have come writers and artists and his readiness, the current of the ideas and feelings to terms with their current status, on occasion, to defy protocol won of a highly civilised and cultivated how they are building relationships the admiration of some. As gover- people – to be a member of the with EU structures, how regional nor and commander-in-chief his real French nationality, admitted on equal government has diminished, not in- power was limited, though the po- terms to all the privileges of French creased, the pressures for independ- sition was not entirely ceremonial. citizenship, sharing the advantages of ence – and how some regionalist par- He helped arrange for the partici- French protection, and the dignity ties (e.g. Convergencia i Unia in Cata- pation of New South Wales contin- and prestige of French power – than lonia) are becoming more liberal. But gents in the Boer War and calmly to sulk on his own rocks, the half- more nationalists tended to lean in the dealt with an outbreak of bubonic savage relic of past times, revolving direction of rhetoric over blood and plague in the colony in . His in his own little mental orbit, with- race – a simplistic and illiberal answer most significant political act was to out participation or interest in the to the problems of a complex world. refuse, with Chamberlain’s backing, general movement of the world. The a dissolution of the state parliament Notes: same remark applies to the Welsh- in  in the knowledge that  See Graham Watson, ‘Scottish Liberals, man or the Scottish Highlander, as Scottish Nationalists and Dreams of a William Lyne was in a position to members of the British nation.’ Common Front’, Journal of Liberal Demo- form a government. The creation of The argument would hardly be crat History  (Spring ). the Commonwealth of Australia in  left Beauchamp in a difficult position. He went on leave in Oc- tober on half-pay and did not return. In  Beauchamp married Lady Lettice Grosvenor, sister of the Biographies Duke Westminster, and prepared to throw himself into British politics. But the Unionists’ move after  towards the policy of tariff reform William Lygon, 7th Earl alienated a life-long free trader. Not surprisingly, he was received with Beauchamp (1872–1938) enthusiasm into the Liberal ranks. He was known to be wealthy and David Dutton influential and had the reputation of being a model landlord. Beauchamp soon became renowned for his hos- Though he has not left an enormous mark upon the pitality. His receptions at Halkyn House in Belgrave Square became a historical record, William Lygon, Earl Beauchamp, occupied highlight of the social season for Ed- an important position in Liberal politics for more than two wardian Liberals. Beauchamp was Captain of the decades. For much of his career he was obliged to grapple Honourable Corps of Gentlemen- with the intractable problems of Liberal decline. at-Arms in – and His Majes- ty’s Steward, –. But his pro- Lygon was born in London on  came Mayor of Worcester in , motion to Asquith’s cabinet in June February , the elder son of at the age of just twenty-three. With  as Lord President of the Coun- Frederick Lygon, sixth Earl Beau- his high Anglican background he cil came as a surprise. ‘Beauchamp a champ, and his first wife, Mary, daugh- was a natural adherent of the Un- cabinet minister!’ proclaimed a Tory ter of the fifth Earl Stanhope. Educated ionist party. Even so, most observers who had known him well at Ox- at Eton, he succeeded his father as Earl – and Beauchamp himself – were ford. ‘I don’t know why, but this Beauchamp on the day before his surprised when the Unionist Colo- strikes me as inexpressibly funny.’I nineteenth birthday in , and nial Secretary Joseph Chamberlain, In the absence, before December shortly after going up to Christ offered him the governorship of , of cabinet minutes, it is not Church, Oxford. He thereby inherited New South Wales in . He was easy to determine the nature of , acres in Worcestershire. still only twenty-seven years of age. Beauchamp’s contribution to the His interest in public affairs This rather imaginative appointment turbulent political years before the quickly became apparent and he be- proved only partially successful. His outbreak of the First World War.

18 journal of liberal democrat history 23: summer 1999 Such evidence as there is suggests nounced that, with regret, he had and Asquith in  – he sought the that he was rather overshadowed in- received the resignations of John role of conciliator, though with only side a cabinet of political heavy- Morley, John Burns and John Simon. limited success. While Beauchamp weights such as Lloyd George, Beauchamp ‘leant forward and asked reconciled himself to Lloyd George’s Winston Churchill, Edward Grey to be included’. In the event he, effective takeover of the party after and R.B. Haldane, as well as Asquith along with Simon, withdrew their Asquith’s retirement, many other himself. He was, judged one col- resignations when Asquith pointed Liberals did not. An attempt to patch league, except on ‘office questions’ a out that, should the cabinet break up, up differences with Walter Runciman ‘silent member of the Cabinet’. the only result would be to allow the led to a particularly blunt rebuff from That observer’s judgment had Unionists to enter the government. the latter’s wife. Beauchamp recorded only marginally changed by March Beauchamp now returned to the his exasperation: , as Beauchamp neared the end post of Lord President to fill the va- I came to see you at your request. of his ministerial career: ‘Beauchamp cancy created by Morley’s resigna- I was advised not to come by those is a nonentity of pleasant manners, a tion. In the early months of the war who know you. In your home to good deal of courage, and a man of Asquith gave serious consideration which you had invited me, you principle, but with no power of ex- to his appointment to the forthcom- entertained me to an hour and a pression.’ Asquith himself placed him ing vacancy for the Viceroyalty of half of studied insolence such as I in the lowest category in the ranking India, knowing that he would relish have never experienced in a var- list of his ministers which he drew the ceremonial side of that position. ied life. You took advantage of the up for the amusement of his youth- When, however, a coalition was fact that you were a lady to whom ful confidante, Venetia Stanley. formed in May , the necessity I must speak with respect in her With some show of reluctance to make room for Unionist minis- own house. I hope I may never on his part, Beauchamp was moved ters made him an inevitable casu- have such an experience again. I am afraid we must disagree as to the post of First Commissioner alty. He himself regarded Churchill   much on the principles of hospi- of Works in November . In this as the ‘primary cause of trouble’, be- tality as we do on our ideas of position he proved to be a useful lieving that the First Lord should what Liberalism means. committee man while more colour- be the first victim of the govern- ful figures occupied the political mental reconstruction. Like many other Liberals he faced  limelight. In April  he sat on a As the demands of war threat- the general election with some cabinet committee to deal with the ened to encroach ever further upon optimism. But the result, in which   wave of strikes in the transport sys- traditional Liberal principles, Beau- the party secured . % of the popu- tem and in December  he champ became President of the lar vote but only fifty-nine seats in chaired the Central Land and Hous- Free Trade Union in  in suc- the House of Commons, came as a ing Council, designed to advance cession to Arnold Morley. Once bitter disappointment. He sought Lloyd George’s Land Campaign. Lloyd George became Prime Min- consolation in taking the Chancel- By this stage he was regarded as ister, he moved increasingly into a lorship of the University of London being on the radical wing of the party position of opposition to the gov- in succession to Lord Rosebery.  and in January  presented Asquith ernment and he was sympathetic to In , however, Beauchamp’s with a letter signed by Hobhouse, Lord Lansdowne’s call for a compro- political career came to an abrupt McKenna, Runciman, McKinnon mise peace. This strand of Liberal- end. He resigned all his appoint- Wood, Simon and himself opposing ism suffered grievously in the gen- ments and public offices, except for Churchill’s extravagant estimates at eral election of December , but the Lord Wardenship of the Cinque   the Admiralty. With the approach of Beauchamp, with his seat in the up- Ports which he had assumed in , European war he was among the per chamber, provided a source of and went to live abroad. But for a group of about seven ministers who stability and continuity in the par- crisis in his private life, he might well hesitated over the declaration of hos- ty’s fortunes during the difficult dec- have received high office in the Na- tilities. ‘All agreed we were not pre- ade of the s, becoming the par- tional Government formed a few pared to go into war now, but that ty’s leader in the Lords in  in months later. (His successor as leader in certain events we might recon- succession to Viscount Grey. In this of the Liberal peers, the Marquess of sider our position, such as the inva- post he campaigned tirelessly. In the Reading, emerged as Foreign Sec- sion wholesale of Belgium.’ This  election campaign he was the retary.) Though the matter was not group lunched at Beauchamp’s party’s most travelled speaker. He was widely publicised at the time, it is house, which was conveniently close particularly active at the party’s an- clear that Beauchamp was threatened to Westminster, on  August to dis- nual conferences in the second half with divorce and criminal proceed- cuss their position. The following day, of the decade. ings which would reveal his homo- after the cabinet had discussed the With the Liberal Party still deeply sexuality. His accuser was his own formal statement to be made by the divided – notwithstanding the appar- brother-in-law, ‘Bend’or’, the eccen-  Foreign Secretary, Asquith an- ent reconciliation of Lloyd George tric second Duke of Westminster. journal of liberal democrat history 23: summer 1999 19 The Labour MP Hugh Dalton con- trayal of his family tragedy in Evelyn The numerous collections now fided the truth of the matter to the Waugh’s novel Brideshead Revisited. held include several of potential in- privacy of his diary: terest to Liberal Democrat party Notes: historians. Indeed, the first collec- On Thursday night I dined with .J. Vincent (ed.), The Crawford Papers Ponsonby at the House, and he tion of any size to be received, in (Manchester, ), p. . , was the archive of the nine- told me all about the sad case of  .E. David (ed.), Inside Asquith’s Cabinet teenth-century polymath and Radi- Lord Beauchamp, who has had a (London, ), p. . persistent weakness for footmen, .David, Inside Asquith’s Cabinet, p. . cal MP, Thomas Perronet Thompson and has been finally persuaded by .M. and E. Brock (eds), H.H. Asquith: Let- (–). Simon and Buckmaster to sign an ters to Venetia Stanley (Oxford, ), p. Born in Hull, the son of a undertaking not to return to Eng- . In Asquith’s private code Beau- wealthy local merchant and banker, land. The King didn’t want a scan- champ was, rather dismissively, styled as this extraordinary man enjoyed sev- dal because he was a Knight of the ‘Sweetheart’.  eral different careers. He graduated Garter! .To make way for Lord Morley who was anxious to leave the India Office. in mathematics at Queen’s College Thereafter Beauchamp lived a . Beauchamp and others to Asquith,  Cambridge in , and then had  somewhat pathetic peripatetic ex- January , cited in R.S. Churchill, periods in the navy and the army. Winston S. Churchill: Young Statesman Close family connections with istence. According to one account – (London, ), pp. –. he told his children that suicide was .J.A. Pease, diary  August . William Wilberforce led to his ap-  the only way out. He hoped that .David, Inside Asquith’s Cabinet, p. . pointment in  as governor of the arrival in  of a new king, .M. Gilbert, Winston S. Churchill – Sierra Leone, from where he was Edward VIII, with supposedly en- (London, ), p. . recalled in apparent disgrace within . D. Dutton (ed.), Odyssey of an Edwardian lightened views, might enable him   two years, having tried to change too  Liberal (Gloucester, ), p. . to end his exile. . Beauchamp to H. Samuel,  Decem- much too fast. He rejoined the army, It was not to be. He died of can- ber , enclosing letter to Mrs and was involved in disastrous cam- cer in New York on  November Runciman, Samuel MSS A//vii/. paigns in the Gulf (including the . His wife had died in , but .G. Ridley, Bend’Or, Duke of Westminster: evacuation of Ras-al-Khyma in July a Personal Memoir (London, ), p. . ), leading to his court martial. he was survived by two of his three  .B. Pimlott (ed.), The Political Diary of Returning home, he threw him- sons and by four daughters. His title Hugh Dalton –, – (Lon- passed to his eldest son, who had don, ), pp. –. self into Radical politics, met Jeremy been elected as Liberal MP for Nor- .K. Young (ed.), The Diaries of Sir Robert Bentham, and made the first of many folk East in  and who held jun- Bruce Lockhart – (London, ), contributions to The Westminster Re- p.. view. Inheriting his father’s fortune ior office in the National Govern-  .N. Smart (ed.), The Diaries and Letters of in , he spent most of it on his ment. Perhaps Beauchamp’s most Robert Bernays, – (Lampeter, lasting legacy was the assumed por- ), p. . life as a political journalist (he im- mediately bought The Westminster Re- view) and Radical politician. His two most significant publications, pam- phlets on The True Theory of Rent and Catechism on the Corn Laws, appeared Archives in  and . In the s he took up the cause of Catholic emancipation, and his pamphlet on the subject quickly sold Liberal and Related Archives , copies. He was a strong sup- porter of the Reform Act of , and soon sought a more active po- at the University of Hull litical role by standing for parliament Brian Dyson, Hull University Archivist himself, winning a by-election for Hull in  as a Radical, in which capacity he was one of only six MPs to sign the original People’s Char- The University of Hull’s Brynmor Jones Library (BJL) has ter in , calling for a wider fran- been collecting political archives and manuscripts ever since chise and parliamentary reform. He the foundation of the university, initially a college of London also became active in the Anti-Corn  Law League, and following victory University, in . It literally started with one item, a John in  was publicly praised by Ri- Stuart Mill document donated by Professor Harold Laski of chard Cobden for his support. In  the London School of Economics. he won Bradford for the Radi-

20 journal of liberal democrat history 23: summer 1999 cals, holding it until , regaining Arthur Ponsonby and Winston tary of the Beverley & Haltemprice it in  and holding it until his Churchill), speeches, press cuttings, branch of the Social Democratic Party in retirement in . The surviving articles and other papers. East Yorkshire between  and papers of this life-long supporter of Another leading figure to make . There are some  items in free trade and social justice are quite the switch from Liberal to Labour the collection, and they reflect the extensive, and a valuable source for was William Allen Jowitt (First Earl sometimes frenetic activities of the Radical/Liberal politics during the Jowitt of Stevenage, –). Af- group during that period, particu- early to mid-nineteenth century. ter graduating from New College larly in relation to fund-raising, re- The BJL also holds the surviv- Oxford, he enjoyed a brilliant legal cruitment, policy matters (at local, ing papers of H.B. Lees-Smith. Lees- career, taking silk in . He was a regional and national level), and re- Smith (–) was born in In- Liberal from an early age, winning lations with other parties, notably the dia but brought up in London and the Hartlepools seat in  as an Liberals. The collection sheds as graduated from Queen’s College independent Liberal. In  he was much light on regional and national Oxford in . He joined the Fa- returned for Preston and immedi- matters as it does on local issues, with bian Society, and his first employ- ately offered the position of Attor- many papers of the SDP’s various ment was at Ruskin Hall. He was ney-General in the Labour Govern- councils and conferences, plus nu- appointed a lecturer at the LSE in ment. Having accepted, he resigned merous policy pamphlets and leaf- , and to a chair of public ad- and sought re-election as a Labour lets produced under the auspices of ministration at Bristol in . In candidate, increasing his vote. After the Council for Social Democracy. January  he was elected as one the  election he was made Lord of two Liberal MPs for Northamp- Chancellor. He was knighted in ton. Like many other Liberals of the , ennobled in  and created Availability time, his eventual switch to the La- an earl in . The BJL holds a small All the above collections are fully bour Party came via his opposition collection of papers collected by J. catalogued and available to research- to secret diplomacy and membership Peart-Binns whilst producing a bi- ers, whether or not they are mem- of the Union of Democratic Control, the ography of Jowitt, including photo- bers of the University of Hull. The general council of which he later copied correspondence (–), HUMAD computer system allows joined (and the archives of which are and speeches (s). direct access to catalogues or lists of also held in the BJL). Moving closer to the present, Eric most of the collections, and is avail- He served as a private soldier in Lubbock (b. ) was a successful able via the World-Wide Web (ad- the army during the First World War, businessman prior to his stunning dress below). Original documents being invalided out in . He con- by-election victory for the Liberals may be consulted in the BJL. Writ- tinued to support a negotiated over the government candidate at ten application is required before a peace, and in December  was Orpington in March , a seat first visit, but thereafter appointments the first to mention the idea of a which he held until his defeat in the can be made by telephone or email. League of Nations in the House of  general election. He was the The opening hours for archives Commons. At the general election Liberal Whip in the House of Com- are basically  a.m. –  p.m. and  – of  he stood as an Independ- mons between –, before suc-  p.m., Monday – Friday, with oc- ent Radical and lost. He then joined ceeding to the peerage as fourth casional Monday evening and Sat- the Independent Labour Party, and Baron Avebury in . His politi- urday openings. For further details was returned as Labour MP for cal papers in the BJL include over contact: The University Archivist, Keighley in , losing to a Lib- , case files for the – pe- The University of Hull, Brynmor eral in December . He regained riod, plus subject files on topics such Jones Library, Hull, HU RX; tel- the seat in October , and in as metrication and fluoridation. ephone: () ; email: June  was made Postmaster- Finally, the BJL holds papers as- [email protected]; web address: General in the second Labour gov- sembled and donated by the secre- http://www.hull.ac.uk/lib/archives. ernment, moving to become Min- ister of Education in February .When Labour joined Churchill’s coalition in  he re- Help Needed! mained outside the government, The Liberal Democrat History Group will be having an exhibition stand at becoming Chairman of the Labour the Liberal Democrat conference in Harrogate (19–23 September), in order Party and, effectively, leader of the to increase membership, sell copies of the Journal, the Dictionary of Liberal opposition. He died in December  Biography and the new Dictionary of Liberal Quotations, raise our profile . and make new contacts. We would like to hear from any member who The small collection of his pa- would be able to spare an hour or two helping to look after the stand; if you pers in the BJL includes correspond- can help, please contact the Editor (see page 2 for contact details). ence, – (including letters from journal of liberal democrat history 23: summer 1999 21 Treasurer of the Liberal Party, in , and the success he had in rais- ing money to clear the party’s over- Reviews draft, as well as the Special Aid scheme he established to channel funds towards winnable seats, with- The Jeremy Thorpe Story out letting us into the secret of how his fund-raising was so successful and Jeremy Thorpe: In My Own Time (Politico’s where the money came from. This may seem a trivial issue, but Publishing, 1999) it is central to the relationship be- tween Thorpe and his senior col- S. Freeman and B. Penrose: Rinkagate: the rise leagues. Thorpe was able to keep and fall of Jeremy Thorpe (Bloomsbury, 1996) some of the money he raised away from the party hierarchy, giving him ‘Jeremy Thorpe’ in M. Parris, Great a degree of political independence from the Liberal Party Organisation. Parliamentary Scandals (Robson Books, 1995) This was controversial to many, and Reviewed by Robert Ingham offensive to some. The Special Aid Scheme was the genesis of the tar- geting policy now pursued by the Liberal Democrats. Thorpe operated ‘This is not an autobiography’ writes Jeremy Thorpe in the the Scheme without accounting for introduction to his recent volume of memoirs and, perhaps its activities or funds to the party at for once, he does not exaggerate. In My Own Time is a large, using its resources to remove Liberal officers and candidates from collection of anecdotes and episodes, often entertaining in some constituencies and replace themselves, but offering few insights into Thorpe’s own them with his preferred choices. A character and motivation or into some of the more detailed study of why Thorpe was abandoned by his colleagues when controversial aspects of his life. the Scott affair blew up must take One key question for any student Uganda, Rhodesia – and whatever account of the mysterious nature of of Thorpe is how someone of his issue was at stake – coal, Europe, Thorpe’s financial affairs. staunch Tory background – both his arms to South Africa – Thorpe was The Scott affair is dealt with by father and grandfather sat as Con- involved, sometimes at the head of Thorpe in just nine pages, with servative Members of Parliament – a committee of Liberals, sometimes nothing new added to his standard came to be drawn into membership alone, offering his assistance to the denials. Some commentators, for in- of the Liberal Party. Thorpe offers government of the day, attempting stance John Campbell (Independent, scant explanation of his decisions not to broker a solution. A government  May ), have regretted that only to join the Liberal Party, but to back-bencher, or opposition front- Thorpe did not use this opportunity devote his considerable talents to bench spokesman, would not have to open up. In fact, In My Own Time fighting and winning a Parliamen- been allowed such opportunities. is Thorpe’s attempt to provide some tary seat. If motivated by the desire This is not to decry Thorpe’s role balance to his life story. to enter the House of Commons and during, for instance, the passage of Almost everything written stay there, Thorpe would surely have the European Communities Bill about Thorpe concentrates on the taken the easier course of joining the through the House of Commons, end of his career. Little serious Conservative Party, as a result of or his genuine internationalism. The analysis of his years as Liberal leader which he might well have become impression is given, however, that has yet been attempted; that which a minister. Ideological factors surely Thorpe preferred to be at the cen- has been produced is written in the played some part, but one explana- tre of events rather than to be con- light of the Scott allegations. tion might be that, by becoming a cerned with the daily grind of Thorpe seeks to redress the balance, Liberal, he automatically became a third-party politics – the policy pa- highlighting his account of the  gigantic fish in a tiny pool. pers, local election contests and fed- coalition talks as the centrepiece of This approach is given credence eration dinners. the book. It is an understandable, by some of the stories Thorpe tells. This impression is reinforced by and brave, effort on Thorpe’s part, Thorpe puts himself across as the the limited attention paid by Thorpe but the Thorpe story cannot be great fixer in British politics. Wher- to matters internal to the Liberal placed in context until the bizarre ever a crisis threatened – Ghana, Party. He mentions his election as end to his career is explained. It

22 journal of liberal democrat history 23: summer 1999 seems we must wait for Michael Parris comes close to answering touch with the Young Liberals of that Bloch’s biography to provide some this latter question, in his largely era. Regardless of the veracity of long-awaited answers. sympathetic account of the affair. Scott’s allegations, they focused fur- Thorpe’s political career was fin- ther unwelcome press attention on ished even before he lost his par- Thorpe’s private life and personal- Plot upon plot liamentary seat and appeared at the ity and away from Liberal policy and The Scott affair consisted of a series Old Bailey in May  because the shed bright lights on some of the of inter-locking sub-plots, each confidence senior Liberal colleagues dubious company Thorpe kept. comprising a mass of often contested placed in him had long since evapo- When the Scott story broke, Thorpe detail which, taken together, can be rated. had to go. regarded as either something ex- Scott’s allegations had been tremely important, or something brought to the attention of Liberal Scandal tragically trivial. Parris, in Great Par- parliamentarians in , when Scott liamentary Scandals, describes the told his story, fictional or otherwise, While Parris’ account of the Thorpe Thorpe imbroglio as the most sen- to a constituent of Emlyn Hooson, scandal is low-key, Freeman and sational of the century, bar the who then informed her MP. Some Penrose take  pages to tell the Profumo scandal. Thorpe admitted, Liberals, not least Bessell, were al- tale. They attempt to merge two in modern parlance, to an inappro- ready aware of Thorpe’s problems older books – The Pencourt File, by priate relationship with Norman with Scott; others suspected Thorpe B. Penrose and R. Courtiour (Secker Scott, an aimless drifter, but denied of homosexuality. The Byers inquiry & Warburg, ) and Jeremy Thorpe: a homosexual one. Around the pair into Scott’s story, hardly exhaustive, A Secret Life, by L. Chester, M. swirled a collection of increasingly exonerated Thorpe; Parris notes that: Linklater and D. May (André unlikely characters, from Peter ‘Thorpe emerged as the victim of a Deutsch, ). The latter was writ- Bessell to MI, the South African spiteful and unbalanced blackmailer’. ten in expectation of a guilty ver- security organisation BOSS and Scott continued to publicise his story, dict being served on Thorpe, and Harold Wilson. Looking back, what however, and when it reached the suffers accordingly. The former is can we make of it now? newspapers, in , Cyr il Smith written in a truly awful third-per- Thorpe was tried in May  resigned as Chief Whip, claiming ig- son style and is clearly inspired by a for conspiracy to murder Norman norance of the allegations, and other desire to prove a conspiracy theory Scott and for inciting David Holmes MPs failed to back their leader. encompassing Thorpe’s downfall, the to commit the act. He was acquit- When Thorpe finally resigned as resignation of Harold Wilson, the ted on both counts, although one Liberal leader, in May , Rich- post-war decline of the UK and any juror later wrote that a conviction ard Wainwright was singled out for other political mystery of the era. could have been secured on differ- particular criticism, after the Colne Freeman and Penrose do not at- ent charges. Valley MP had questioned on radio tempt to repeat that mistake, but the Scott, victim of a feeble, if terri- why Thorpe had not sued the news- odd episode involving Wilson de- fying, attempt on his life, cut a pa- papers concerned. Parris reminds his scribing himself as ‘the big fat spi- thetic figure throughout the trial, readers that only one Liberal MP, der in the corner of the room’ who being described by Mr. Justice John Pardoe, assisted Thorpe’s elec- ‘might tell you to go to the Charing Cantley as ‘a crook, an accomplished tion campaign in . Cross Road and kick a blind man liar … a fraud’ as well as a ‘whiner’, Did senior Liberals stab Thorpe standing on the corner’ is retained. ‘parasite’ and, for good measure, ‘a in the back, as Parris implies, by be- Freeman’s introduction talks uncon- spineless neurotic character’. The lieving rumours and falsehoods vincingly of ‘important issues … chief prosecution witness, former rather than the word of an honour- such as the amorality of politics, of- Liberal MP and close friend of able man? Steel, Smith, Wainwright ficial secrecy and cynicism and ide- Thorpe, Peter Bessell, was a serial and others have written little or alism in journalism’, but they do not confidence trickster who admitted nothing on the affair and are unlikely come across in his book. The only in court to a ‘credibility problem’, to do so while Thorpe is alive. If they compelling passage is the cruel de- one which was exacerbated by the did, however, they might reveal that scription of Thorpe’s current con- revelation that he had signed an the reasons for Thorpe’s downfall dition; Parris provides a kinder but agreement with the Daily Telegraph were connected more to internal more genuine portrayal. Thorpe also to write his account of the Thorpe party events than to the Scott case, describes his illness and the fright- affair, the fee for which depended as noted above. There were also ening means by which it is currently upon a successful prosecution. How many Liberals who considered treated. However you review the did these two sorry individuals bring Thorpe to have subjugated Liberal facts and fiction of the Thorpe case, a Privy Councillor, despite his ac- policy to showmanship and strategy; the tragic result of it is incontestable. quittal, to his knees? he could seem particularly out of

journal of liberal democrat history 23: summer 1999 23 the Journal). Consequently, the Jour- nal is not completely unblemished. At Landowner and Minister the start of his cabinet career, he tried to be careful not to record the details Angus Hawkins and John Powell (eds): of secret cabinet discussions, and as The Journal of John Wodehouse, First Earl the Journal of Events and the memoir were prepared he went back over the Kimberley, for 1862–1902 diaries, amending and, more unfor- tunately, excising, comments. Despite (Camden Fifth Series, Press Syndicate of the this activity, what is left is worthwhile University of Cambridge, 1997) and for the period of the second Gladstone ministry onwards, Kimber- Reviewed by Tony Little ley was more relaxed about the ma- terial he included and more forth- right in the judgements he passed. John Wodehouse was born in  and died in . He As a Liberal rather than a Whig,  it is clear that he was not a part of kept a journal from onwards, but in the first few pages that close-knit circle of the gave a summary of his life to date and his service in the Cousinhood, and despite his loyalty diplomatic corps in Russia. He was a member of each of to the Gladstonian wing of the party he did not follow his leader Gladstone’s cabinets and served Rosebery. He died, effectively uncritically. Kimberley is generally still in service under Campbell-Bannerman, as leader of the viewed as a kindly but talkative old much-diminished opposition group of Liberal peers. buffer, but the Journal gives a some- what tougher view of his judge- Kimberley was an ambitious As a family man he was evidently ments. He was particularly harsh politician who in the early part of closely attached to his wife and chil- about Harcourt – ‘utterly without the Journal spends much time fret- dren, but had concerns about a son principle, an arrant coward and a ting that his talents have not been whose gambling proved expensive. blustering bully’ (p. ) – empha- noticed by the Palmerstonian lead- A householder’s worries do not stop sising the degree of difficulty faced ership. Yet he went on to hold office with the harvest, and in the course by Rosebery in trying to run his ill- as Lord Lieutenant of Ireland – a of the book Kimberley suffered both fated regime. Even Lady Waldegrave, success in a post in which few won fires and a burglary to his homes. A the great Whig hostess, fell heavily laurels – during the outbreak of the firm Protestant, he harboured a foul of his pen: ‘She was once rather Fenian revolt. He was Lord Privy strong prejudice against Catholicism good-looking, but always coarse and Seal and Colonial Secretary in the but could not prevent it reaching had a fat ill-shaped figure … She first Gladstone Government. He was into the family as well as the politi- fancied she understood politics and again Colonial Secretary for part of cal circle. Towards the end of his life that she exercised a great influence the second Gladstone administration, he was even to try a ‘motor car’, de- on statesmen, who behind her back and went on to the India Office. In scribed in  as ‘that horrible ve- only laughed at her … As to her en- , he became Lord President of hicle’ (p. ) – perhaps Kimberley tertainments the food and wine were the Council (responsible for educa- was an early environmentalist. always bad …’ (pp. –) tion) and when Rosebery became Nevertheless, it is the general poli- In fact, Kimberley rarely found the premier Kimberley took his place as tics which make the Journal worth- food at public banquets or great Foreign Secretary. while. Kimberley refers to items of events to his liking, though he did This is a general journal, useful departmental concern but did not use consider the wine at Buckingham not only for the detail it brings out the Journal as a daily record of his ac- Palace up to scratch. Not all his ver- on the various controversies of the tions as a minister. Rather it is the dicts are so harsh; he was generally period, but for reminding us that overall political stage and the actors kind to Granville and, among the even the most dedicated politicians upon it that most attract his pen. opposition, to Salisbury, though never led other lives. As a landowner, Kim- Kimberley had prepared a Journal of to Derby (the Prime Minister). Off- berley regularly noted the state of the Events in the s, based on the first setting these judgements, he was usu- harvest and the weather and enjoyed Gladstone ministry, which has subse- ally tough on himself, rarely saying his fishing and shooting. He took an quently been published. He also pre- anything complimentary about his interest in local affairs, whether as a pared a memoir which has not sur- own speeches and recognising that his magistrate looking at penal policy or vived but is known through notes public following was limited. as paternalist concerned with the taken by Rosebery and held in his The Journal reinforces current practical arrangements for the poor. archives (and reprinted at the end of positive views on the effectiveness of

24 journal of liberal democrat history 23: summer 1999 the Hartington/Granville leadership This is a well-produced work with recognition from his participation in the period – and of the dif- a substantial array of  footnotes in the then popular radio show, The ficulties Gladstone found in leading to assist in explanation or further de- Brains’ Trust. The broadcast was not the party after , particularly in tail (plus a further forty-five for the a great success; Samuel not only the realm of foreign affairs. Kimber- memoir), including cross-referencing overran his allotted fifteen minutes ley is especially interesting on the re- to the Gladstone Diaries where rel- but was cut off before he reached the sponse of Britain to the rise of Ger- evant. Some further help could have end of his talk, due to a misunder- many, where he was inclined to take been given on foreign affairs in the standing with the producer over the a much more vigorous line than the early part of the book but, as the edi- pre-arranged signal for ending the rest of the government in confront- tors get into the rhythm of the work, broadcast. Given this, it is perhaps a ing the Germans over their colonial they become sure-footed guides in matter of some relief that the broad- ambitions. the main period of domestic inter- cast does not feature on the tape! The House of Lords was where est. Kimberley has not had a full bi- However, the omission of Lord Kimberley operated – a topic which, ography but, taken together with the Samuel does highlight the major I believe, is a much-neglected part of extracts from his correspondence, weakness of this otherwise enjoyable Victorian studies. The Journal throws also edited by John Powell, we are and useful collection. Although ex- several interesting sidelights on the beginning to see a fuller picture of tracts from forty-two broadcasts are Lords. In , there were probably the contribution he made to the included, and the tape runs to almost over  Liberal peers (p. ) but af- Liberal front bench. The Journal is three hours, many of the most fa- ter the gradual loss of support among well worth the study but does re- mous or significant broadcasts are the aristocracy over Irish land reform quire some prior knowledge of the missing. The collection is also heav- and the split over Home Rule, the main events of the period. ily weighted towards the s, with Liberal strength in the Lords dwin- twenty-three of the forty-two Notes: dled to around forty, only half of broadcasts included dating from   She may have been less happy – see John whom were present at the meeting Powell (ed): Liberal by Principle (The His- or later. at Spencer House in  to elect torians Press, ). Nonetheless, there are enough Kimberley as their leader (p. ). No  Ethel Drus (ed): A Journal of Events dur- for the interested viewers to see for wonder Lord Rosebery felt he lacked ing the Gladstone Ministry – (). themselves some of the changes in  support as prime minister. Powell, Liberal by Principle. the construction and use of broad- casts since . Many of the early ones – including the first on the tape from Labour in  – show a rela- tively naïve approach to the TV me- Politics on TV dium, with interviews where the in- terviewee, rather than looking at the Party Political Broadcasts: The Greatest Hits interviewer, immediately turns to the (Politico’s Publishing; VHS, 169 minutes) camera on speaking. Nonetheless, from very early on many of the Reviewed by Mark Pack broadcasts were slickly – for their day – packaged. One of the four political broad- The eagle-eyed pedant may be a little confused by the start casts from the s included on  the tape is Labour’s from Septem- of this videotape. It announces that in Harold Macmillan ber , which was a very polished starred in the first official party political broadcast, and then piece masterminded by Anthony goes straight into a Labour broadcast from . In fact, I Wedgwood Benn (as he then called himself). As he himself later said, ‘I saw the first political broadcasts during a general election was the Peter Mandelson – Bryan (often called party election broadcasts, or PEBs) whilst  Gould of the  election. I fought saw the first broadcasts outside election time (often called a brilliant campaign and lost.’ Based  on the format of the then popular party political broadcasts, or PPBs). BBC programme Tonight the broad- The BBC had been pressing for  October , and featured the cast had the appearance of a cur- political broadcasts to be used dur- former Liberal Home Secretary rent affairs programme. It provoked ing the  election, but initially Lord Samuel. An eighty-one year the Conservatives to broadcast a re- met hostility from politicians. The old peer, he made a rather odd ply, filmed in the same studio and very first political broadcast, either choice for this leading role, al- revealing some of the tricks used by PEB or PPB, was eventually seen on though he had a certain degree of Labour. This was the first election journal of liberal democrat history 23: summer 1999 25 in which the audience for TV PEBs also their first public advertising for including one from the SNP, and the was larger than that for PEBs on ra- the party – that showed Britain ‘go- Natural Law Party’s broadcast for the dio. ing backwards’ under Labour and European elections of June . The other s broadcasts in- had been preceded by a taster news- The  election is generously cov- cluded are Labour’s first from Oc- paper advertising campaign. ered with eleven broadcasts, includ- tober , Hugh Gaitskell’s call for Only one broadcast from the first ing SNP, Liberal and UK Independ- the Prime Minister to resign over half of the s is included, the Al- ence Party, though not even for  Suez (November ) and the first liance’s of May ; however, the is any broadcast from Plaid Cymru broadcast outside election time, by broadcasts of the time showed little included. Most striking about these the Conservatives in May . This innovation or creative spark. Of the broadcasts is that up to and includ- had an opening line unlikely to be late s we have both a humor- ing , Labour’s broadcasts regu- considered an audience-grabber ous Tory broadcast of April , larly feature the problems of poverty nowadays: ‘Good evening. I’m Bill along with one of the famous John amongst pensioners, but those on the Deedes, the Conservative Member Cleese PPBs. Rather than his broad- tape since then are notable for their of Parliament for Ashford.’ cast explaining PR, the tape includes relative neglect of this issue. The fi- The s are not represented on his April  effort, which was a nal broadcast is William Hague’s the tape, which means that, inter alia, highly articulate plea for moderation apology for the Conservatives from viewers are deprived of Harold Wil- in politics. Although it had plenty of October . son’s debut with the autocue in , jokes and smart visual gimmicks, at The tape is rather a lucky-dip which soon became standard equip- heart it is a carefully argued piece of collection of political broadcasts, ment. Also missing is the dramatic political philosophy, and serves as a with many of the most famous, im- opening to the  Liberal broad- reminder that complicated argu- portant or interesting ones missing. cast, which featured silhouettes of ments can still be put over, even in However, credit should be given for Ludovic Kennedy and Harold modem politics. the effort of putting together such a Wilson. The  election saw ma- The  election is represented tape – and one which, moreover, jor innovations in the format of by one broadcast from each of the both provides good value for money broadcasts by the Conservatives, as main parties, including Rosie and has plenty to please both the they started using carefully shot and Barnes and rabbit from the Alliance, casual viewer and the interested edited footage to produce lively, and Labour’s ‘Kinnock – the amateur or professional student of ‘newsreel’ style films. movie.’ The Conservative broadcast politics. These innovative broadcasts are contains an extended sequence – not featured on the tape, although it over two and a half minutes – of Notes: does include the rather bizarre Uni- pictures and backing music, with no  Political broadcasts on radio predated versity Challenge-style Labour talking or voice-over. At the time, those on TV by several decades, having  broadcast from March . This had this was the longest such sequence, started in the s.  Although this broadcast still exists, at least teams answering questions on top- with music provided by Andrew in parts, this early example of TV rebut- ics such as whether or not pension- Lloyd-Webber, and pictures of Mrs tal is regrettably not included on the ers were better off after six years of Thatcher as international political tape. Labour. Also present is the Jimmy leader. Two of the shots stand out  Curiously, the version included is not the Saville – Jeremy Thorpe double act particularly Thatcher and Helmut more famous one, which in place of the  nearly-obligatory screen saying ‘Vote from April . Apart from its un- Kohl getting into ‘his and hers’ Labour’ ended with a plea to vote for fortunate reminder of s clothes tanks, and another of Mrs Thatcher Kinnock. This is probably the only party styles, it also illustrates how hostile standing rather meekly by as Rich- political to have so ended with a plea to questioning used to be welcomed, ard Branson waves enthusiastically vote for a leader rather than their party. rather than viewed as something to to the crowds. The other two s be carefully spun out of existence. broadcasts included are Glenda Included amongst those allowed to Jackson in the conservatory with PPBs: The question Thorpe was a member of her plants (August ) and the the Monday Club’s Executive, who Green Party’s broadcast for the Eu- Greatest Hits attacked the Young Liberals for their ropean elections (June ). is available from Politico’s (8 support of direct action. From the s, there is John  Artillery Row, London SW1P 1RZ) The rest of the s is well rep- Major’s broadcast on the Gulf War for the special discounted price of resented, with Conservative, Labour (January ), along with four from  £15.99 (normal price £19.99) for and Liberal broadcasts from Febru- the general election of , includ- subscribers to the Journal of  ary and two Conservative ing the famous ‘Jennifer’s ear’ broad- Liberal Democrat History. broadcasts from April . Sadly cast on the health service. Six broad- missing, though, is the famous May casts are included for the period be- To order, use the leaflet included  Saatchi’s broadcast – which was tween the  and  elections, with this issue.

26 journal of liberal democrat history 23: summer 1999 liberal issues such as land, education and temperance continued to pre- The ‘New Liberalism’ dominate. Nevertheless, Bernstein implicitly accepts that a ‘new liberal- George L. Bernstein: Liberalism and Liberal ism’ existed. For him, it was simply Politics in Edwardian England (Allen & Unwin, the case that the majority of the rank and file were tepid towards it. Argu- 1986) ably, it would be more appropriate to say that for many Liberals, this was Reviewed by Matthew Roberts the reality of the new liberalism, i.e. an underlying commitment to tradi- tional liberal issues and remedies, The Edwardian Liberal Party, troubled throughout its entire masked by progressive overtones. existence, seems to have found even less peace in death. For Similarly with the progressive al- liance: with what Bernstein tells the the Edwardian Liberal Party can be likened to a corpse that reader, one feels that he is on the has been subjected to an eternal autopsy with a seemingly right lines but does not go far infinite number of historians gathered around it, prodding enough. He is quick to tells us that the Liberals could never form a suc- and poking it in different places whilst failing to agree on cessful alliance with Labour since the cause and time of death. they differed on fundamental issues. The Liberals saw Labour as challeng- At the same time, some histori- liberalism and the progressive alli- ing their most sacred principles – a ans have argued that the Liberal ance, arguing that neither offered an free market, private property and Party was showing no sign of decay effective solution to the party’s prob- even individual liberty itself. At the before the First World War. This is lem of attracting working-class votes. same time, many in the Labour camp the thesis advanced by Dr Clarke in In contradistinction to Clarke, were increasingly hostile to the his book Lancashire and the New Lib- Bernstein rejects the notion that class- seeming indifference of many Lib- eralism. He has argued that class- based politics had arrived. Indeed, for erals to the plight of the workers. The based politics had arrived by  him, the Liberal Party could not cul- Liberals could never accept the level and that Liberalism had adapted to tivate support on class lines. Since the of interference in the economy that this trend in the form of a ‘new lib- backbone of its support came from Labour advocated. What Bernstein eralism’, an. ideology based on radi- the middle classes, any appeal to the misses is that there had never been a cal and collectivist social reform. working classes would be tantamount progressive alliance. What had existed More importantly, he maintains that to admitting that they had a distinct in some constituencies was a this successfully bolstered working- interest which needed to be pro- short-term expedient arrangement class support for the Liberals, and it moted in opposition to the middle that benefited the two parties, keep- was this that was responsible for their classes. Furthermore, this was anath- ing the Conservatives out – a fre- success, rather than a temporary re- ema to the ideology of Liberalism, quent issue when there was a split vival of nonconformity and free based as it was on appealing to both on the left. Or as Martin Pugh per- trade. Furthermore, Clarke tells us the middle and working classes by tinently states, many of the Liberal that most Liberals accepted this uniting them against the landed rank and file: ‘perceived that Labour reorientation. Above all, this new lib- classes. More importantly, he main- stood for the same policies as the eralism provided the basis for a pro- tains that the Liberals’ success before Liberal government, which is a more gressive alliance with the newly es- the war was precisely because class- realistic and a more modest claim tablished Labour Party. This alliance, based politics had not fully arrived, than the view that they subscribed so the argument went, successfully and it was the attack on privilege and to a common progressive ideology.’ contained the Labour Party and wealth that attracted the working Perhaps the most rewarding part maintained the Liberals as the domi- classes. If the point came where la- of Liberalism and Liberal Politics is the nant party of the left. bour began to see capitalism as the final chapter on ‘Liberalism and Ex- With the exception of a few ar- enemy, liberalism would have little ternal Affairs’. This is not a subject ticles, it would be fifteen years be- appeal to the workers. that usually finds it way into a book fore a comprehensive response to One of the most interesting ten- concerned with the decline of the Clarke’s work appeared. George ets of Bernstein’s thesis is the argu- Liberal Party. What Bernstein has to Bernstein’s Liberalism and Liberal Poli- ment that the new liberalism did not say abundantly demonstrates that tics in Edwardian England proved to become a priority for the rank and any account of Liberal eclipse be that very response. He takes a file. Throughout the book the reader should take note of the party’s ap- much more cynical view of the new is constantly reminded that traditional proach to foreign and imperial af- journal of liberal democrat history 23: summer 1999 27 fairs. The chapter is littered with ex- amples of occasions where high- A Liberal Democrat History Group Fringe Meeting minded Liberal principles con- flicted with the everyday reality of 1974 Remembered world affairs. In many ways, Grey was the epitome of this contradic- The two elections of 1974 formed the peak of the tion. The fundamental objective of second post-war Liberal revival, giving the party six mil- liberalism in foreign affairs was the lion votes but no more than fourteen MPs. A wide range negation of a balance of power, for of participants in the campaigns – including Tim this implied that nations were in- herently hostile to one another and Beaumont, Viv Bingham, Adrian Slade, Sir Cyril Smith, it limited freedom of manoeuvra- Paul Tyler MP and Richard Wainwright – share their bility. Yet the threat of Germany recollections of the elections of twenty-five years ago. forced Grey to make overtures to France and Russia, thereby accept- 8.00pm, Sunday 19 September ing the notion of a balance of power. The outbreak of war in  Committee Room, Majestic Hotel, Harrogate seemed to be yet another nail in the coffin for liberalism. There is little ambiguity in the Notes: seem to me desirable, are such as may impression that Bernstein wants his  P. F. Clarke, Lancashire and the New Liber- secure the public from falling into readers to go away with. The final alism (Cambridge: Cambridge Univer- error, by being led to believe that  sentence could not be clearer: ‘If sity Press, ). partners who have only a limited re- class-based politics were coming, so  M. Pugh, ‘Yorkshire and the New Lib- eralism’, Journal of Modern History , sponsibility, are liable to the whole was the decline of the Liberal Party D. extent of their property. For this pur- – not imminently, perhaps, but even- poses, it would probably be expedi- tually and inevitably.’ The question ent, that, the names of the limited was, how much longer would tradi- Mill on Limited Liability partners, with the amount for which tional liberal issues continue to ap- each was responsible, should be re- peal to the electorate? There were Partnerships corded in a register, accessible to all  already signs by that the work- persons; and it might also be re- continued from page  ing classes no longer placed their corded, whether the whole, or if not, faith in that Gladstonian relic known The only regulations on the sub- what portion of the amount, had as the Liberal Party. ject of limited partnerships which been paid up. If these particulars were made generally accessible, concerns in which there were limited partners History Group Publications would present in some respects a Following the success of the Dictionary of Liberal Biography, the History greater security to the public than Group will be publishing more books in association with Politico’s – and private firms now afford; since there readers of the Journal of Liberal Democrat History are invited to help. are at present no means of ascertain- ing what portion of the funds with The Dictionary of Liberal Quotations is scheduled for September 1999, part which a firm carries on business may of a set of three political quotations books. consist of borrowed capital. Great Liberal Speeches, intended for publication during 2000. This book will No one, I think, can consistently include the full texts of around thirty famous speeches by Liberal politicians, condemn these partnerships without with commentaries. being prepared to maintain that it is desirable that no one should carry An Oral History of Twentieth-Century Liberalism. A thematic study of the on business with borrowed capital; Liberal Party and liberalism, drawing upon interviews with Liberal activists in other words, that the profit of and politicians, as well as autobiographical sources. business should be wholly monopo- Dictionary of Liberal Biography, 2nd edition, provisionally scheduled for lised by those who had had time to 2002 or 2003 – but we would like to hear ideas now for the inclusion of accumulate, or the good fortune to major figures omitted from the first edition. inherit capital; a proposition, in the Please write with ideas, on these and on any other potential books, to present state of commerce and in- Duncan Brack, Flat 9, 6 Hopton Road, London SW16 2EQ; dustry, evidently absurd. [email protected]. (signed) J. S. Mill

28 journal of liberal democrat history 23: summer 1999