Dr J. Graham Jones Examines The

THE ‘LAND AND thE NAtiON’ Dr J. Graham Jones examines the formulation of the highly contentious Liberal policy document which became known as ‘the Green Book’, and its impact upon Liberal- held constituencies in rural Wales. Unlike the better-known and politically more attractive proposals of the ‘Yellow Book’, it appears as though Liberal candidates in Welsh constituencies in 1929 found their campaign hampered by the stigma of ‘the Green Book’ proposals from which the party leadership was by then most anxious to extricate itself. 26 Journal of Liberal History 81 Winter 2013–14 THE ‘LAND AND thE NAtiON’ And WALES istorians have always which was then widely anticipated humdrum select committee) to devoted much more in 1915, while the Liberal policy of examine the manifold complexi- Hattention to the land cam- Land Value Taxation (LVT) had ties of the land question in Wales. paign inaugurated by the Liberal proved highly popular and alluring By the time it had reported in 1896, Party in the Edwardian period in both urban and rural constituen- however, a Tory government was rather than to their land campaign cies in a succession of by-elections in office, and the return of a relative of the mid-1920s.1 In the context held during 1912 and 1913; and the opulence to the Welsh countryside of the 1920s, far more historical land campaign of 1925–29 intended meant that the far-reaching recom- attention has been lavished on the by Lloyd George to revitalise his mendations of the commissioners Liberal Party’s feud-wracked lead- party’s dwindling fortunes follow- were destined to remain largely ership, especially the clash between ing its nationwide electoral debacle unenforced. Fully three decades Asquith and Lloyd George, the in October 1924. In a Welsh con- later, in the mid-1920s, there pre- high-profile split over the general text the new land campaign of the vailed enduring resentment in rural strike of May 1926, and the ambi- mid-1920s appeared especially per- Wales at the conspicuous lack of tious programme focused on ‘We tinent. Lloyd George had after all governmental legislation relating Can Conquer Unemployment’ on spent the whole of his youth and to land issues.2 It was widely felt which the party fought the general early manhood at rural Llanys- that the relatively small size of most election of 30 May 1929. But the tumdwy and neighbouring Cric- Welsh holdings, often less than fifty deep-rooted dissension over the cieth in Caernarfonshire with their acres apiece, gave its own dimen- party’s land policy, above all the distinctive, highly individualistic sion to the land question in Wales. furore evoked by the publication in political culture focused on the Another factor by the mid-1920s October 1925 of the highly conten- campaigns against brewer, landed was the recent dramatic upsurge in tious policy document The Land and squire and parson, and nourished the proportion of Welsh agricul- the Nation, soon to be dubbed ‘the by vivid folk memories of the gen- tural land which was farmed by its Green Book’, are certainly worthy eral election campaigns of 1859 owners, a rather higher proportion of closer examination. and 1868. Following these elec- than in contemporary England. Throughout the lengthy, quite tions significant numbers of tenant But Lloyd George’s personal unique political career of David farmers had been ruthlessly evicted position had changed markedly Lloyd George, the land question from their holdings for voting for by this period. In 1909 and again was a predominant theme which the Liberal candidate contrary to in 1912–14, as the Chancellor of came to the foreground of political the expressed wishes of their Con- the Exchequer in a strong Liberal life at three crucial periods: in the servative landlords. Two years after administration, he was at the heart celebrated land taxes inaugurated in Lloyd George had first entered par- of government, largely direct- the famous 1909 ‘People’s Budget’; liament following a fiercely con- ing governmental policy under in the land enquiry and subsequent tested by-election campaign in the Asquith. By 1925, however, the land campaign of 1912–14 initiated Carnarvon Boroughs constituency Liberals had been reduced to the with great gusto by Lloyd George in April 1890, pressure from Welsh status of very much a third party as the long-serving Chancellor of Liberal MPs had coerced the age- in the state with just forty MPs in the Exchequer under Asquith, and Lloyd George ing W. E. Gladstone at the outset of the House of Commons, the party’s intended by him to constitute an at Bron-y-De, his fourth and last administration standing and status blighted beyond especial strand in the Liberal cam- Churt, in the to yield a prestigious royal com- measure by the Asquith–Lloyd paign for the next general election 1930s mission (rather than a much more George fissure in December 1916, Journal of Liberal History 81 Winter 2013–14 27 THE ‘LAnd And THE NATION’ And WALES the genesis of a more deep-rooted Thus it was the final policy document should a niggardly, finicky, petty policy; split later on, and the dramatic out- be published under the auspices of but a bold and drastic change’.5 By come of the ‘coupon’ general elec- that Lloyd the Liberal Party. For the Liberal this time, as the eagerly anticipated tion two years later. Lloyd George Party nationally, this was a period land report approached comple- was not even the official Liberal George, of reform and reinvigoration. tion, Lloyd George’s excitement Party leader at this point. But, as An overambitious Liberal Mil- grew. He ‘could talk of nothing on previous occasions, he turned largely on lion Fighting Fund had been set but this Land scheme’.6 But the once more to the land question in a up to raise funds and embark on a ominous inevitable backlash at the rather desperate attempt to revive his own ini- programme of Liberal education. nature and extent of the antici- the fortunes of his ailing party. As There was a general feeling that pated proposals was also gather- a result the primary emphasis on tiative, and people in the 1920s had no appre- ing momentum. Loud warnings rural land reform was the outcome originally on ciation of traditional Liberal prin- were already reaching Asquith’s of a growing conviction that Lib- ciples like free trade, local option, ears.7 In his committees of enquiry, eral Party electoral fortunes could a non-party land reform and the position of the lavishly funded by the replete cof- best be revived in the agricultural House of Lords. At Liberal Party fers of the Lloyd George Politi- divisions, where the Labour Party platform, set headquarters at Parliament Street, cal Fund, Lloyd George, always a remained relatively weak (includ- London, a ‘Roll of Honour’ was respecter of expert opinion, had ing in most of mid and north up independ- established to record the names of made the fullest use of the services Wales), rather than in the towns and all donors to party funds as such of the leading economists of the cities where the Labour Party had ent rural and a move was considered a psycho- 1920s, men like J. M. Keynes, Sir already made substantial inroads, logical boost to the membership. William Beveridge, Walter Layton now most difficult to reverse. As urban land The setting up of numerous com- and H. D. Henderson, all of whom Lloyd George was to tell his secre- mittees of enquiry was an essen- had responded with enthusiasm. It tary and mistress Frances Stevenson committees tial element in the process of party was a dead cert that the published in August 1925, shortly before the rehabilitation. March 1924 had seen reports would at once become the publication in the autumn of the in 1923. the appointment of an autonomous focus of considerable public atten- twin reports The Land and the Nation policy committee to inquire into tion and debate.8 and Towns and the Land, his real pur- the long-term crisis in the British Party leader Asquith, whose pose in establishing the commit- coal industry. Within four short earldom had already been gazetted tees was ‘to strengthen our grasp months it had published its report in the previous February, had com- on the rural districts and the cap- under the title Coal and Power, sig- mented in some detail in July on a ture of a few towns where Liberal- nificantly under the name of Lloyd draft of the final report, and in early ism is still a force’.3 Although there George alone. But its contents were August it was discussed at length had been some drop in the num- not really contentious and its publi- by the Liberal Shadow Cabinet (as ber of agricultural constituencies cation caused but little stir. this body still rather pretentiously in Britain, they still amounted to But inevitably there was much called itself). With publication in some 141 electoral divisions, rep- greater interest in the proceedings imminent prospect, Lloyd George resenting one-quarter of the total and eventual report of the com- delivered a long, impressive perora- seats in parliament, many of which mittees of enquiry into the use and tion at Killerton Park, Devon – as a were especially electorally volatile. ownership of land. When the Welsh kind of policy launch. It is of some Another factor of importance was National Liberal Federation met at significance that this high-profile the increase in the proportion of Shrewsbury at the end of July, with meeting was convened on the estate agricultural labourers (and indeed Carmarthen Liberal John Hinds in of F.

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