A Forgotten Liberal–Conservative Alliance The Constitutionalists and the 1924 General Election – a new Party or a worthless Coupon?

Collaboration between Liberals and Conservatives in British politics is not new. Some past arrangements, such as the Lloyd George Coalition, or the National Government of 1931, have been well researched, while others, including the Constitutionalists, have barely received any attention. Whilst it is fairly well- known that Churchill labelled himself as a Constitutionalist at the 1924 general election, in an attempt to straddle the Liberal– Conservative divide, he was not the only candidate bearing the label. Alun Wyburn- Powell identifies the other candidates who also styled themselves Constitutionalists, and investigates their electoral records, their views and their objectives.

6 Journal of Liberal History 79 Summer 2013 A Forgotten Liberal–Conservative Alliance The Constitutionalists and the 1924 General Election – a new Party or a worthless Coupon?

n analysing their perfor- 162 candidates faced a Conserva- to those of the Fusionists, and some mance at the 1924 election, it tive contender.1 of the groups’ membership over- Iis possible to draw conclusions By the following election, in lapped. Whilst the Fusionists had about the success of the Constitu- 1923, the political landscape was been more strategic in their long- tionalist experiment and its impact very different. Lloyd George and term ambition permanently to on the Liberal Party, placing it in Asquith were reconciled and the merge their branch of Liberalism the wider context of the Liberals’ Liberal Party was more or less reu- with the Conservatives, the Con- decline and, in doing so, to answer nited, in opposition to the Con- stitutionalists were more short- the question as to whether the Con- servatives’ plans for protection. The term and their focus was primarily stitutionalists were a putative new Liberals gained seats, winning 159, concerned with maximising their party, or simply a loose grouping against 191 for Labour and 258 for chances of victory at the 1924 elec- using a coupon for short-term elec- the Conservatives. The inconclu- tion, by avoiding a local Liberal– toral advantage. sive outcome of the election placed Conservative contest. the Liberals in the invidious posi- The first publicity for a putative tion of having to permit or deny Constitutionalist group appeared The Lloyd George Coalition Labour their first opportunity to in The Times in September 1920, and the 1920 attempt at fusion form a government. They allowed as a display advertisement invit- The closeness of the political rela- Labour a milestone nine-month ing readers to attend a confer- tionship between some Liberals term in office, much to the annoy- ence in London to ‘help to carry and Conservatives was such that ance of most Conservatives and out the preliminary organisation during the Lloyd George Coa- many right-leaning Liberals. For of the Constitutional Party’.2 It lition Government of 1916–22, many voters, and even some Liberal was placed in the name of Charles there were moves towards ‘fusion’ MPs, this suggested that the Lib- Higham, an export merchant, of the Coalition Liberals and the eral Party had become superfluous, who sat as the Coalition Conserva- Conservatives. However, these with the essential battle of ideas tive MP for Islington South from manoeuvres were not seen favour- raging between the Labour Party 1918 to 1922. No further public- ably throughout the parties and and the Conservatives. ity appeared and no new party the moves were blocked, even Between the ending of the emerged. The Constitutionalist within the Lloyd George Liberal fusion plans in 1920 and the 1924 label was used occasionally in the side of the alliance, in 1920. At the election, three former Liberal MPs early 1920s in local politics, notably following election in 1922, Lloyd – Hilton Philipson, Arthur Evans by the ruling Liberal–Conserva- George led a depleted band which and Walter Waring – defected to tive alliance in Bootle in 1920–21 stood for that election under the the Conservatives. Other Liber- and then by the local Conservatives name ‘National Liberal’, exposed als, in particular Winston Church- alone in 1922–23.3 to competition from Labour and, ill, continued to harbour hopes The term reappeared in national in some cases, also from Asquith- Winston for some form of alliance with the politics when George Jarrett, the ian Liberals. Hastily-made Churchill in Conservatives. It was against this one-armed former chief organiser arrangements for the National 1924, after his background that the Constitution- of the Lloyd George Coalition- Liberals to be spared Conservative election as alists emerged as an attempt at an supporting National Democratic opposition were only partly imple- Constitutionalist anti-socialist alliance. The aims of and Labour Party (NDP), described mented and 43 of Lloyd George’s MP for Epping the Constitutionalists were similar himself as a ‘constitutionalist’ in

Journal of Liberal History 79 Summer 2013 7 a forgotten liberal-conservative alliance a letter to The Times. He stood in 1922 defeat at Dundee. In May 1923, in a more Conservative direction’.16 the 1922 election as the nominee he described himself in private The result turned Lloyd George’s of both the National Liberal and as ‘a Tory Democrat’.9 However, thinking away from his plans for an Conservative associations in Dart- the arrival of the general election alliance with the Labour govern- ford, winning the seat against both in December 1923 forced him to ment and towards a revival of a Lib- Labour and Asquithian Liberal abandon his oscillation over party eral–Conservative arrangement. opposition. At the following con- labels. He settled for the Liberal To Lloyd George, and many other test, in 1923, Jarrett wrote in his candidacy at West Leicester, where Liberals, the Abbey by-election election address: ‘A year ago you he hoped that he might be spared a result demonstrated the strength of honoured me by returning me … Conservative opponent, although Anti-Socialist Liberalism and, at without respect to party … Again I it was, as Roy Jenkins observed, the same time, the weakness of the stand as the Constitutional Candi- impossible to see why he should Liberal Party. This was a widely- date.’4 His name appeared on both have thought this ‘remotely likely.’10 drawn conclusion at the time but, the Liberal and Conservative Party His wife, Clementine, so often as pointed out by Chris Cook, official lists of candidates in 1923. more objective than her husband an erroneous one. Churchill had However, in a straight fight with When the about his career, advised Churchill: mainly attracted former Conserva- Labour, he was defeated. Jarrett ‘I am sure the old real Liberals will tive voters and the Liberal Party thus served only one year in Parlia- Westminster want you back but … do not give had hardly campaigned.17 Church- ment, from 1922 to 1923, but was them cause … for thinking that ill’s eve-of-poll speech had advo- the first to do so as a Constitution- Abbey by- you would like a new Tory Liberal cated a united Conservative party alist.5 He formally joined the Con- Coalition … if you were to lose a ‘with a Liberal wing’.18 servative Party in January 1924. election was seat … it would be better for you to Jarrett was a close associate of be beaten by a Tory (which would Algernon Moreing, who was first called in Feb- arouse Liberal sympathy) than by The 1924 cast of Constitutional elected for the East Yorkshire con- a Socialist’.11 Churchill lost West characters stituency of Buckrose as a Coalition ruary 1924, Leicester to Labour and, like Jarrett After the Westminster near-miss, Liberal in 1918. He was a strong and Moreing, he was very unsym- Churchill decided to improve his advocate of fusion in 1920.6 In 1922 Churchill pathetic towards the Liberal Party negotiating position by gathering Moreing changed constituencies when it supported Labour after the around him a Liberal group ready and was successful as the National was caught 1923 election. When he was asked to co-operate with the Conserva- Liberal candidate for Camborne. in February 1924 to stand again as tives; he envisaged that his follow- However, the 1923 election in this between par- a Liberal, Churchill replied that he ers would occupy the same position constituency illustrated that Lib- would not be willing to fight the as the Liberal Unionists had in eral reunion was less than total; the ties. He was Conservatives.12 On 26 February 1886. On 10 May 1924 Church- only two candidates in Camborne convinced 1924 the Glasgow Herald declared ill informed Baldwin that he was were both Liberals, Moreing’s that Churchill was preparing the organising a group of Liberal only challenger being the Asquith- that Baldwin way for his return to the Conserva- MPs who would be willing to co- ian Liberal, Leif Jones. Moreing’s tive Party.13 operate with the Conservatives – name also appeared on the official wanted him When the Westminster Abbey Churchill provisionally called them list of Conservative candidates. by-election was called in Febru- ‘Liberal–Conservatives’.19 He told Unresolved differences between returned, ary 1924, Churchill was caught Baldwin that there were at least the followers of Lloyd George and between parties. He was convinced twenty Labour seats which could Asquith in Camborne led to the and won- that Baldwin wanted him returned, be won by Liberals, and only Liber- nomination of the two Liberal can- and wondered if the local Con- als, if they were given Conservative didates and the so-called United dered if the servative association might adopt support.20 This helped Churchill Liberal Committee in London him as their candidate, despite the persuade Baldwin to try and find declared its neutrality between the local Con- fact that he was not even a mem- him a safe Conservative seat in or candidates, rather than risk fuelling ber of their party.14 But when the near London and, if possible, a seat the local split. Jones was the win- servative Westminster Conservative Asso- for which there was no Liberal can- ner of the 1923 contest. In February ciation adopted Otho Nicholson as didate. They agreed that at this 1924, Moreing and Jarrett wrote to association their candidate instead, Churchill stage Churchill would not join the Churchill complaining about the decided that he would still contest Conservative Party, but that he difficult position in which they had might adopt the seat. Baldwin did not intervene. could stand under the label of ‘Con- been put by the Liberals’ support Churchill was variously described stitutionalist’. On 5 August 1924 for Labour and declaring that they him as their in the press as a ‘Constitutional- the Chairman of the Epping Con- looked to Churchill for leadership.7 candidate, ist’ or as an ‘Independent anti- servatives wrote to Churchill to ask By 1922 Winston Churchill Socialist’.15 Even though a Liberal if he would allow his name to go had already been a Conservative, despite the candidate was standing in the by- forward as a candidate for the seat.21 a Liberal, a Coalition Liberal and a election, the party was virtually He did; but a Liberal candidate was National Liberal. As an enthusias- fact that he inactive in the election; Asquith also in the field. As the October tic advocate of fusion, he had con- was ill and Lloyd George took no 1924 election approached Churchill sidered calling the proposed new was not even part in the campaign. Churchill lost was in negotiation with the Union- party ‘The Constitutional Reform to Nicholson by just forty-three ist Central Office to arrange for a Party’.8 He continued to speculate a member of votes, but performed the ‘paradoxi- raft of his ‘Constitutionalist’ can- about other possible labels, to aid cal feat of opposing an official Con- didates to be given a clear run by his return to Parliament after his their party. servative … while moving himself the Conservatives. He reported

8 Journal of Liberal History 79 Summer 2013 a forgotten liberal-conservative alliance hopefully that the deal would cover MP, Sturrock publicly questioned Hamar faced repeated Labour opposition. ‘25 or 27’ candidates.22 his party’s continued survival, In 1924, Ward stood as a Consti- Hamar Greenwood was writing to The Times a letter includ- Greenwood tutionalist, although the Liberal Churchill’s key ally in the Consti- ing the comment: ‘When the obitu- Party always claimed him as one tutionalist venture. Brought up in ary of the Liberal Party comes to was Church- of their members and supported Canada, Greenwood had strong be written, as come it may …’.29 his candidature. He was ill and Imperial leanings and was brother- In 1924, Sturrock moved south to ill’s key ally unable to take an active part in the in-law to the arch-Imperialist Con- contest North Tottenham as a Con- election campaign, but there was servative MP, Leo Amery.23 During stitutionalist with Liberal and Con- in the Consti- a joint campaign of Liberals, Con- his first spell in the House of Com- servative support. 30 servatives and trade unionists on his mons, from 1906 to January 1910, Henry Cairn Hogbin was first tutionalist behalf.35 The press commented that Greenwood had been Churchill’s elected to Parliament in 1923, for the local Conservatives, who had Parliamentary Private Secretary. Battersea North. Standing as a Lib- venture. been ‘lukewarm’ at the previous He was re-elected in December eral, he beat his only opponent, election, rallied enthusiastically to 1910 and rose to be Chief Secre- Shapurji Saklatvala, then standing his support in 1924 ‘in a joint Anti- tary for Ireland. He lost his seat in as a Labour–Socialist candidate.31 Socialist effort’.36 1922 and failed to be re-elected the In 1924 Hogbin again faced only In 1924, nine of the ten Staf- following year. By 1924, he was Saklatvala, but by this time the two fordshire seats saw straight fights exploring alternative avenues back men had both changed party labels; between Labour and one other chal- to the Commons, and was offered Hogbin stood as a Constitutional- lenger. In seven of these nine, the the Liberal candidature for Central ist, and Saklatvala as a Commu- Conservatives faced Labour, with- Cardiff, at the instigation of Lloyd nist, having been denied Labour out Liberal intervention. In the George.24 However, Greenwood support. Thus, the contest had the remaining two – Stoke and Burslem declined, saying that: ‘the best unusual feature of having no Lib- – Labour faced a challenger fight- way to defeat Socialism … is … eral, Labour or Conservative can- ing under the Constitutionalist ban- to unite in common action. These didate. If ever there was a contest ner. Ward contested the Stoke seat views must preclude acceptance where Constitutionalism had an and William Allen fought Burslem of your suggested nomination … unfettered opportunity to pit its as the Constitutional candidate.37 where there is already a Conserva- virtues against its antithesis, this Allen was a barrister and had been tive and a Socialist candidate in was it. Hogbin put the question of a Liberal MP from 1892 to 1900. In the field’.25 A more attractive offer the Constitution in the forefront 1924, no party label appeared on came when the Unionist MP for of his address and claimed that the the front of his election address.38 East Walthamstow announced his great issue was ‘whether you will The document had very little retirement in late September 1924 have Constitutional Government policy content, was moderately and an arrangement was reached for … or submit to the forces of revolu- anti-Labour in tone, and made no Greenwood to stand there as a Con- tion and disorder.’32 mention of the Conservatives, or stitutionalist, unopposed by the By background, John Ward of any party leader at all, but Allen Tories. 26 However, like Churchill, had little in common with most of did declare that he had ‘accepted the Greenwood was not given a clear the other Constitutionalists, who invitation of the Liberal Association run against Labour. He also faced were mainly wealthy and well- to become a Candidate.’39 a Liberal opponent, who argued educated. Ward had received little (John) Hugh Edwards was the that the withdrawal of his own can- formal education, working ini- author of three biographies of didature would make a present of tially as a navvy and only learn- Lloyd George. Before the First the seat to Labour; he claimed that ing to read as a teenager. In 1886 World War, Edwards had become Greenwood had tried to persuade he had joined the far-left Social notorious for his anti-socialist cam- Liberal headquarters to have him Democratic Federation and three paigning. He sat for Mid Glamor- ‘retired’.27 However, in the event years later he founded the Nav- gan from December 1910 until his only Greenwood, Moreing and vies’ Union. In 1914 Ward was defeat in 1922.40 He then stood in Churchill went into the 1924 elec- commissioned into the army as a Accrington in 1923, where he was tion facing a Liberal opponent; the Lieutenant-Colonel and, using his elected as a Liberal. In 1924 he again other Constitutionalists managed connections with organised labour, stood for Accrington, this time as to avoid this. recruited five battalions. His ser- a Constitutionalist with support Considerably less strident in his vice as a commissioned officer from the local Liberal and Con- anti-Socialist views than most of was, however, a distinction which servative associations. Edwards was the others who became Constitu- he shared with many of the other received with ‘great cordiality’ at tionalists, and not alienated by the Constitutionalists.33 The Consti- the Accrington Central Conserva- Liberals’ attitude to the first Labour tutionalists’ military training may tive Club, where his candidature government, was John Leng Stur- have contributed to their tendency was adopted unanimously. Edwards rock. Sturrock was first elected as to focus on results, irrespective pledged himself ‘that he would Coalition Liberal MP for Montrose of the means. Ward represented never lose an opportunity of voting in 1918, being re-elected in 1922 Stoke in Parliament from 1906, ini- against Socialists’. He claimed he and 1923. He wrote after the 1923 tially as a Lib-Lab member. He had had done so ‘even to the annoyance election that: ‘If … [Labour leader refused to sign the Labour Repre- of the heads of his own party’ and Ramsay] MacDonald desires to sentation Committee constitution that he had ‘stuck to the Conserva- form a Government he is entitled to in 1903, and was elected without tives on all occasions’ since the last do so’. 28 While serving as a Liberal their endorsement.’34 He therefore election.41

Journal of Liberal History 79 Summer 2013 9 a forgotten liberal-conservative alliance

Thomas Robinson used the label have never let Party influence any of Commons in 1922 and did not Constitutionalist for his campaign vote.’44 However, he was one of the contest another election. Jarrett in Stretford in 1924, where he was Liberal MPs who had defied the had joined the Conservative Party already the sitting MP. During the party whip on 21 January 1924 and before the 1924 election and unsuc- whole period from his first elec- voted against putting Labour into cessfully fought this and two later tion in 1918 to his retirement in office, along with Hogbin, Rob- elections as a Conservative candi- 1931, he was elected as the result of inson, Edwards and Sturrock. As a date, never being re-elected.47 a local Liberal–Conservative pact. result, local Conservatives strongly Constitutionalist candidates He stood under a variety of labels, supported England’s candidature in only stood in England and Wales, generally variations on ‘Independ- 1924, some signing his nomination nearly all in urban seats, mainly ent Free Trade and Anti-Socialist’, papers.45 north-east of London and in Lan- although he was always claimed The assembled group of Consti- cashire and Staffordshire. In most by the Liberal Party as one of their tutional candidates fell well short Scottish constituencies, an informal candidates.42 Robinson’s 1924 elec- of Churchill’s target. Ten Liberal or pact existed between the Conserva- tion address was strongly anti- former Liberal MPs stood as Con- tives and Liberals, but the label Labour in tone.43 stitutionalists, listed in Table 1. Constitutionalist was not used. Abraham England was another In addition to the former Lib- Only 15 Scottish seats of the total Lancashire MP who was elected as erals mentioned in Table 1, four of 71 had both a Conservative and a the result of a local pact between other candidates were listed in Liberal candidate in 1924.48 the Liberals and Conservatives, some newspapers as Constitu- The past electoral record of the and who stood as a Constitutional- tionalists. These were the former Constitutional candidates con- ist in 1924. Robinson and England, Coalition NDP MP, C. Loseby, vinced them that their chances of although adopting the Constitu- standing in Nottingham West, film victory would be much enhanced tionalist label in 1924, were there- producer, E. Doran, standing in if they faced only Labour opposi- fore effectively just continuing a Silvertown, the former Conserva- tion. Between them at the last two pre-existing local arrangement. tive candidate and heraldry expert, elections (1922 and 1923) they had England claimed he had ‘been no A. Fox-Davies, in Merthyr Tydfil prevailed in every straight fight Party hack … I am anti-nothing … and first-time candidate J. Davis, with Labour except one (ten of the If you examine my record for the contesting Consett.46 Higham, eleven such contests); whereas they last Parliament you will probably the promoter of the first attempt had failed in all but one of their be astonished to find the number of at a Constitutionalist organisa- other contests (five of the six), as votes I gave to the Labour Party. I tion, had retired from the House shown in Table 2. There are no records of meet- Table 1 Former-Liberal Constitutional Candidates in 1924 ings of the Constitutionalists to Candidate Constituency Incumbent MP thrash out party policy, and cer- tainly nothing to suggest that the W Allen Burslem W E Robinson, Lib, retiring group agonised over their politi- W L S Churchill Epping C Lyle, Con, retiring cal philosophy. Their election J H Edwards Accrington Edwards incumbent Lib addresses did not bear the hallmark A England Heywood & Radcliffe England incumbent Lib of any central co-ordination. The choice of the name Constitutional- H Greenwood Walthamstow East L S Johnson, Con, retiring ist loosely fitted their political posi- H C Hogbin Battersea North Hogbin incumbent Lib tions and highlighted their fears of A H Moreing Camborne L Jones, Lib, re-standing an unbridled socialist government. The origins of Constitutionalism T Robinson Stretford Robinson incumbent Lib can be traced back to the theories J L Sturrock Tottenham North Morrison, Lab re-standing of John Locke, that government J Ward Stoke-on-Trent Ward, incumbent Lib should be legally limited in its pow- ers and that its authority depended Table 2 Previous Results for Constitutionalist Candidates on its observing these limits. In Britain, with its uncodified consti- 1922 1923 tution, the potential for govern- Opponents Result Opponents Result ment excess was certainly present Churchill SPP, 49 Lab, Lib, Con lost Lab, Con lost in theory, but the record of the first, timid, respectable, safe and rather Greenwood Con, Lab, Lib lost Con, Lab lost rule-bound Labour government Hogbin Lab, Lib lost Lab won had already dispelled most fears on Edwards Lab lost Lab won this score. Moreing Lib, Lab won Lib lost The Constitutionalists did not co-ordinate their activities as a Ward Lab won Lab won group in the approach to the 1924 England Lab won Lab won election. They had no party mani- Robinson Lab won Lab won festo and organised no joint meet- ings. A common theme of their Sturrock Lab won Lab won election addresses was the absence Allen Did not stand – Did not stand – of any mention of political parties

10 Journal of Liberal History 79 Summer 2013 a forgotten liberal-conservative alliance or of the leaders whom they sup- Table 3 Constitutionalist Candidates’ Results in 1924 Election ported; only those leaders whom Candidate Opponents Result Majority51 Change from 1923 they opposed were mentioned. result52 Whilst the common enemy was Churchill Lib, Lab Won 9,763 different seat clearly Labour, the stridency of their criticism varied from mild Greenwood Lib, Lab Won 3,066 different seat in the case of Allen to rabid in the Moreing Lib, Lab Won 2,310 +6,008 case of Moreing. The Constitu- Robinson Lab Won 9,306 +4,786 tionalists did not behave as a party, and were not treated as such by Ward Lab Won 4,546 +3,929 the other parties. At the 1924 elec- England Lab Won 3,824 +1,934 tion, Ward, England, Edwards, Edwards Lab Won 2,243 –945 Allen, Sturrock and Robinson had Hogbin Comm Lost –542 –728 the backing of their local Liberal associations and faced only Labour Sturrock Lab Lost –557 different seat opponents. Moreing, Churchill and Allen Lab Lost –606 did not stand Greenwood, who did not have the backing of their local Liberal asso- been the case had the candidates potential members as a result of the ciations, were faced with Liberal stood as Liberals. widening of the franchise in 1884. opponents. The position of Churchill, The longer-established Conserva- Greenwood and Moreing was dif- tives’ Carlton Club and the Liber- ferent. They were seen to be closer als’ Reform Club were both, by The Constitutionalists’ to being Conservatives than Liber- that time, fully subscribed. Mem- election results als by this stage, and their results bers of the Constitutional Club had The Constitutionalists’ results in can more reasonably be compared to pledge support to the Conserva- the 1924 election were mixed. Seven to that which Conservative can- tive Party. of the ten former Liberal Con- didates would have achieved in The only Constitutional can- stitutionalists were elected. This the same constituencies. Church- didates to attend the dinner at the represented a net loss of one seat – ill’s seat at Epping was essentially a Constitutional Club were Church- Battersea North, contested by Hog- safe Conservative seat. Waltham- ill, Greenwood and Moreing.53 bin – when comparing seats where stow East, where Greenwood was Ward was invited but sent his apol- the same candidate contested the elected, had been a Conservative ogies. Almost all the other attend- 1923 and 1924 elections. However, seat at the last three elections, but ees at the dinner were figures from when comparing votes where the more marginal. Moreing’s constitu- the Conservative Party. Churchill candidates contested the same seats ency of Camborne was a knife- claimed at the dinner that although as in 1923, their aggregate majorities edge marginal, where left and he ‘and his Constitutionalist friends improved by 14,984, giving an aver- right had alternately won; how- represented a very small group of age improvement of just under 2,500 ever, the main contest recently had members in the House of Com- votes per seat.50 The 1924 election been between the two brands of mons … [t]hey also, to some extent, was a much more difficult election Liberalism – Moreing as a Lloyd represented a larger group of Lib- than 1923 had been for candidates George Liberal and Leif Jones as an eral members, who had stood with standing as Liberals and, had the Asquithian. In 1924, with a revival Conservative support and who Constitutionalists all stood under on the right and a Liberal decline, would certainly recognise that fact the Liberal banner, their aggregate the seat would probably have in the action which they would take vote would almost certainly have swung to the more rightward con- in the new Parliament’.54 fallen. Three of the Constitution- tender, whatever the party label. This was not to be so. The Con- alists failed to achieve a clear run So, overall, the Constitution- stitutionalists’ political paths were against Labour, but still won their alist experiment achieved modest already diverging. Table 4 illus- contests. Conversely, two who success as a defensive tactic, but it trates the political paths which the enjoyed a clear run against Labour did not herald an electoral break- Constitutionalists subsequently failed to be elected, as did Hogbin, through or the emergence of a new followed. standing against only a Communist party, or even a grouping, with a Ironically, it was in the challenger, as shown in Table 3: distinct identity. announcement of its demise that Ward, Edwards, England and the press finally accorded the Con- Robinson repeated their victories stitutionalists the status of a party. of 1923, in the same constituencies, The diverging paths of the ‘The Constitutional Party is no with straight wins against Labour. Constitutionalists after the more’, the Times reported only The Constitutionalist label helped 1924 election seven weeks after the 1924 election: to ensure that they did not face a After the election, the ‘Constitu- Conservative challenger, but the tional Group’ of MPs held a dinner It has always been difficult to cal- Conservatives had not contested at the Constitutional Club, which culate exactly how many mem- any of these seats in the last two was attended by over fifty guests. bers the party embraced, but the elections anyway. However, the The Constitutional Club had been general impression after the elec- label helped to galvanise a greater founded in 1883, one year after tion was that the correct total level of active support from local the National Liberal Club, both in was seven … then Mr. Church- Conservatives than would have anticipation of a large number of ill joined the Government and

Journal of Liberal History 79 Summer 2013 11 a forgotten liberal-conservative alliance

Table 4 Constitutionalist Candidates’ Allegiance after 1924 ‘followed the Chancellor in his 57 Candidate 1924 result Subsequent allegiance transfer of allegiance’. However, he retained a benevolent attitude Churchill Won took Conservative whip towards the Liberal Party, warn- Greenwood Won took Conservative whip ing that: ‘Liberals … represent an Moreing Won took Conservative whip element not inferior, at least intel- Sturrock Lost would have taken Conservative lectually or patriotically, to what whip one may find in Conservative or Socialist ranks … [T]elling Liber- Hogbin Lost defeated as a Conservative in als to put their shutters up imme- 1927 diately … is calculated to produce Robinson Won took Liberal whip, then anything but an exact antithesis Independent of what is desired … Government Edwards Won took Liberal whip supporters are unwise to indulge in 58 Ward Won took Liberal whip an anti-Liberal vendetta.’ Hogbin endured the distinction of being the England Won took Liberal whip, Liberal only Liberal MP ever to be defeated National in 1931 by a Communist. He was given one Allen Lost re-elected in 1931 as a Liberal more opportunity to avenge his 55 National defeat at the hands of the left, and it was potentially an easy path. He Table 5 Victors in seats with Constitutionalist Candidates was selected to stand as the Con- servative candidate at the Stour- 1923 1924 1929 bridge by-election in 1927, caused Camborne Lib Const Lib by the death of the sitting Con- Epping Con Const Con servative MP, who had enjoyed a Walthamstow East Con Const Lab majority of just under 2,000 votes. At a meeting the week before the Stoke-on-Trent, Stoke Lib Const Lab by-election Hogbin arrived saying Accrington Lib Const Lab that he was ‘all to pieces’ and had Heywood & Radcliffe Lib Const Lib come against the advice of his doc- 59 Stretford64 Lib Const Ind tor. His campaign suffered and he lost the election to Labour by Tottenham North Lab Lab Lab a margin of over 3,000 votes, thus Battersea North Lib Comm Lab ending his political career. Stoke-on-Trent, Burslem Lib Lab Lab Robinson continued his ambigu- ous relationship with the Liberal Party for the rest of his parliamen- was classified as a Conservative, serving as Prime Minister. Green- tary career, which lasted until he and the Liberals claimed Colo- wood served just a single further retired in 1931. In 1929, he again nel England, Colonel Ward, Mr. term in the House of Commons, had the support of both Conserva- Edwards and Sir Thomas Robin- but never returned to ministerial tives and Liberals, but said that he son, reducing the party to two, office. In 1929 he was elevated to ‘acknowledged no party Whip in Sir Hamar Greenwood and Cap- the peerage, after which he served the House of Commons. He went tain Moreing, who have both as honorary treasurer to the Con- there, not in the interests of any now agreed to accept the Con- servative Party, being advanced to party, but in the interests of the servative Whip.56 a viscountcy towards the end of his nation.’60 In a letter to the Daily term. Moreing beat his arch-rival, News in 1929, he claimed that he The varied career paths of the Con- Leif Jones, in 1924, but in 1929, had been ‘an Independent MP’ since stitutionalists after 1924 demon- in the last head-to-head contest the Coalition was dissolved in 1922. strated that they were never more between them, Jones overturned ‘Notwithstanding this’, he said, than a loose grouping, using the the result. Moreing was by then ‘my Liberal friends in the House of Constitutionalist label as a coupon labelled as a Conservative. This was Commons generously continued to avoid splitting the anti-Labour his last outing at the polls, having to send me their whip which I have vote. stood in five successive elections, regarded as an act of courtesy. To The three successful Consti- each time under a different party prevent however any possibility of tutional candidates who took the label: Coalition Liberal in 1918, misunderstanding in the future on Conservative whip after the 1924 National Liberal in 1922, Liberal in this point, I arranged that the send- election – Churchill, Greenwood 1923, Constitutionalist in 1924 and ing of the whip to me should be dis- and Moreing – enjoyed vary- Conservative in 1929. continued in this Parliament’.61 ing fortunes in their subsequent Two of the unsuccessful Consti- The remaining three success- careers. Churchill was appointed tutional candidates – Sturrock and ful Constitutional candidates Chancellor of the Exchequer in Hogbin – would also have taken the – Edwards, Ward and England the new Conservative govern- Conservative whip in the House of – all resumed their allegiance to ment and remained in Parliament Commons had they been elected. the Liberal Party in the House of as a Conservative until 1964, twice Sturrock announced that he had Commons after the 1924 election.

12 Journal of Liberal History 79 Summer 2013 a forgotten liberal-conservative alliance

Edwards re-took the Liberal whip Greenwood, Moreing, Sturrock of those joining Labour regretted once it was clear that there was and Hogbin to transfer their alle- their move.66 This strongly suggests no prospect of closer formal ties giance from the Liberal Party to the that, among other factors, there is a between the Liberals and Conserva- Conservatives, avoiding a public fundamental cultural compatibility tives. He sat until the 1929 election, rupture with the Liberals and the between Liberals and Conserva- when he was defeated as the official need for a personal explanation of tives which does not apply to the Liberal candidate by Labour. He defection. They were following a relationship between Labour and then retired from national politics. path which they would have fol- the Liberals or Liberal Democrats. Ward, like Edwards, served out lowed in any case. However, it was This compatibility was evident in the full 1924 Parliament as a Lib- a one-way street: no Conservative the relations which were established eral and stood as the party’s offi- came to the Liberal Party via the between the Constitutionalists and cial candidate at the 1929 election. Constitutionalist route. Although their local Conservative associa- He was beaten by Lady Cynthia the Liberal Party lost some of its tions in 1924. It reappeared with the Mosley, representing the Labour already erring personnel, it did not Liberal Nationals after 1931 and it Party, and retired from active poli- lose a single seat to the Conserva- was again borne out in the events tics. After the 1924 election, Eng- tives as the result of the Constitu- leading up to the formation of the land re-took the Liberal whip, but tionalists venture, when comparing 2010 coalition. ‘acknowledged the great help of the situation in 1923 (before the the Conservative Party, who had Constitutionalists) with that in Alun Wyburn-Powell is the author of given loyal support to a candidate 1929 (after the Constitutionalists). Clement Davies – Liberal Leader not quite their own colour’.62 In Of the seats involved in the Consti- (Politico’s, 2003) and Defectors and 1929 his election address said that he tutionalist venture, those lost went the Liberal Party 1910 to 2010: A again offered himself as the ‘Liberal to Labour, and this was in line with Study in Inter-party Relations Candidate’; however, he included prevailing national trends. Table (Manchester University Press, 2012). a separate message from the local 5 illustrates the changes in party He was awarded his PhD from the Uni- Unionists saying that they would incumbency in the seats where versity of Leicester on the day that the not nominate a candidate and would Constitutionalists stood in 1924. Liberal Democrat–Conservative coa- again urge support for him. He sup- lition was formed in 2010 for his thesis ported the Liberal Nationals in 1931, ‘Defectors and the Liberal Party since but retired at the election that year. Conclusions What is, per- December 1910’. Although Allen had sat as the The Constitutionalist episode Liberal MP for Newcastle-under- accounted for a very small propor- haps, surpris- 1 The figure excludes Independent Lyme from 1892 to 1900, he failed tion of the total exodus of MPs and Conservative challengers and two- to in his bid to return in 1924. How- former MPs from the Liberal Party. ing is that member seats where one Conserva- ever, he was re-elected as the Liberal The departure of Churchill was a Churchill, tive and one National Liberal stood. National MP for Burslem, for one serious loss to the Liberals, but it 2 Times, 17 September 1920, p. 7, col f. Parliament, in 1931. His return to the would have occurred in any event, with all his 3 Davies, S. and Morley, B., County House of Commons after an absence even without the Constitutional- Borough Elections in England and Wales, of thirty-one years was probably the ist venture. What is, perhaps, sur- leadership 1919–38. longest interval between periods of prising is that Churchill, with all 4 Gravesend and Dartford Reporter, 18 service of any MP. his leadership skills, actually took skills, actu- October 1924, p. 4, col e. Loseby, the former Coalition fewer defectors with him than did 5 W.D. Harbison was also designated NDP MP from 1918 to 1922, failed John Simon – generally regarded as ally took as a ‘Constitutional and Democratic’ to return to Parliament as a Con- a political loner – during the Lib- candidate for Saffron Walden at the stitutionalist in 1924. He again lost eral National split after 1931. fewer defec- 1922 election. He was included on the in 1929, standing as a Conservative In the longer term context, one- official list of National Liberal candi- in Nottingham West. Davis fought sixth of all the Liberal or Liberal tors with dates, but he was not elected. only the one, unsuccessful, elec- Democrat MPs elected from the 6 Moreing to Guest, 31 March 1920, tion campaign as a Constitutionalist December 1910 to the 2010 elections him than did Parliamentary Archives, Lloyd candidate, in Consett in 1924. Fox- – 116 of the 707 elected – defected George Papers, LG/F/22/25. Davies did not contest any further from the party at some stage John Simon 7 Moreing and Jarrett to Churchill, parliamentary elections, but he did after their first election.65 Within 5 February 1924, Churchill Papers, sit as a Conservative local councillor. this context, the Constitutional- – generally Churchill Archives Centre, CHAR Doran, who failed as a Constitution- ist departures were a small aug- 2/132/29–31. alist in 1924, was eventually elected mentation of an established trend. regarded as 8 Maclean MSS 467 fol 69, 17 January as a Conservative in 1931. However, Including the Constitutionalists a political 1924, quoted in Hart, M.W., ‘The his time in Parliament was contro- who went on to join the Conserva- decline of the Liberal Party in parlia- versial for his anti-Semitic views and tives, 34 Liberal MPs or former loner – dur- ment and in the constituencies, 1914– he was defeated in 1935.63 MPs defected to the Tories over 1931’, Oxford, D. Phil., (1982), 176. the course of the century from 1910 ing the Lib- 9 Riddell Diary, discussion Riddell to 2010; a slightly larger number and Horne, 30 May 1923, quoted in The Impact of the (47) defected to Labour. A striking eral National Gilbert, Churchill, Volume V, 7-8. Constitutionalists on the feature of this exodus was that all 10 Jenkins, Roy, Churchill, (Macmillan, Liberal Party those former Liberals who joined split after Basingstoke, 2001), 381-5. The Constitutionalist episode the Conservatives remained happy 11 Clementine Churchill to Church- provided a route for Churchill, in their new party, whilst over half 1931. ill, n.d. (November 1923?), quoted in

Journal of Liberal History 79 Summer 2013 13 a forgotten liberal-conservative alliance

Gilbert, Churchill, Volume V, 18. 30 Montrose Review, 17 October p. 4, col b. 54 Times, 4 November 1924, p. 16, 12 Gilbert, Churchill, Volume V, 1924, p7, col c. 46 Craig describes Loseby and col c. 25–26. 31 Battersea Borough News, 31 Octo- Davis as Constitutionalists, 55 Allen is described by Craig, p. 13 Glasgow Herald, 26 February, ber 1924, p. 3, col b. and Doran and Fox-Davies as 251, as Nat (NL) after the 1931 1924. 32 Times, 29 November 1923, p. 13, Conservatives. election. 14 Gilbert, Churchill, Volume V, 28. col g. 47 Freddie Guest, the former Coa- 56 Times, 17 December 1924, p. 14, 15 Times, 3 March 1924, p. 12, col d. 33 These included Moreing, Green- lition Liberal Chief Whip, did col c. 16 Jenkins, Churchill, p. 390. wood, Churchill, England and not use the label Constitution- 57 Letter by Sturrock, Times, 18 17 Cook, C. and Ramsden, J., By- Allen. alist at the 1924 election, but he February 1929, p. 8, col d. elections in British Politics (Mac- 34 Brodie, Marc, ‘Ward, John was closely associated with those 58 Ibid. millan, 1973), pp. 53–62. (1866–1934)’, Oxford Dictionary of who did. Guest’s 1924 election 59 County Express, 19 February 18 Jenkins, Churchilll, pp. 388–90. National Biography. address described him as the 1927, p3, col d. 19 Gilbert, Churchill, Volume V, 43. 35 Staffordshire Weekly Sentinel, 18 ‘Liberal Anti-Socialist Candi- 60 Stockport Advertiser, 10 May 1929, 20 Ibid, p. 39, quoting letter Birk- October 1924, p. 9, col a. date’ and he stated that he was p11, col c. enhead to Derby, 28 March 1924. 36 Staffordshire Weekly Sentinel, 1 prepared to support a Conserva- 61 Robinson to Daily News, 8 July 21 Gilbert, Churchill, Volume V, 43. November 1924, p. 6, col a. tive Government under Bald- 1929, quoted Craig, Parliamen- 22 Churchill to Balfour, 11 October 37 Craig, British Parliamentary Elec- win’s leadership. tary Election Results, 1918–49, p. 1924, quoted in Gilbert, Churchill, tion Results, 1918–1949, (Macmil- 48 Excludes Dundee, a two-mem- 406. Volume V Companion Part 1, p. 218. lan, 1977), p. 251. ber seat which had one Liberal 62 Radcliffe Times, 1 November 23 Notes on Greenwood, n.d. but 38 Ibid., 18 October 1924, p. 9, col and one Conservative candidate 1924, p. 6, col f. 1917 or later, Lloyd George a. in 1924. 63 The Constitutionalist label made Papers, LG/F/168/2/12. 39 Allen, Election Address, 1924, 49 Scottish Prohibition Party one, unrelated, reappearance, 24 Greenwood to Lloyd George, Bristol University Archives. 50 Calculated by aggregating the when used by Leslie Haden- 3 October 1924, Lloyd George 40 The constituency was renamed increases or decreases in margins Guest in 1927. Haden-Guest was Papers, LG/G/8/9/1. Neath in 1918. of victory or defeat from all the no relation to Freddie Guest and 25 Greenwood to Saunders, 4 Octo- 41 Accrington Gazette, 18 October seats where the same candidate was from a Labour background. ber 1924, Lloyd George Papers, 1924, p. 3, col a. contested the seat in 1923 and 1924. 64 Stretford was held by Robinson LG/G/8/9/1. 42 Craig, Parliamentary Election 51 Positive figures represent a in 1923, 1924 and 1929 under dif- 26 Walthamstow and Leyton Guardian, Results, 1918–1949, p. 406. majority, negative figures repre- ferent party labels. 26 September 1924, p. 4, col c. 43 Robinson, Election Address, sent a margin of defeat. 65 Wyburn-Powell, Alun, ‘Defec- 27 Ibid., 17 October 1924, p. 5, col b. 1924, Bristol University 52 Where the same constituency tors and the Liberal Party since 28 Letter by Sturrock, Times, 15 Archives. was fought by the same can- December 1910’, University of December 1923, p. 8, col b. 44 Radcliffe Times, 25 October 1924, didate at the 1923 and 1924 Leicester PhD., (2010), p. 27. 29 Letter by Sturrock, Times, 21 p. 6, col d. elections. 66 Wyburn-Powell, ‘Defectors and April 1924, p. 4, col a. 45 Radcliffe Times, 18 October 1924, 53 Freddie Guest also attended. the Liberal Party’, pp. 153–54.

Joseph Chamberlain: Imperial standard-bearer, national leader, local icon Conference: Newman University, Birmingham, 4 July 2014; The Library of Birmingham, 5 July 2014

Joseph Chamberlain, the most significant mayor of modern Birmingham, MP for Birmingham East for thirty-seven years, President of the Board of Trade from 1880 to 1885, Colonial Secretary from 1895 to 1903 and ‘the man who made the weather’ in British politics for twenty years, died on 2 July 1914. Although the event was overshadowed by the Bosnian crisis caused by the assassination of Franz Ferdinand four days earlier, The Times printed an obituary of Chamberlain that ran to three pages and public activity in Birmingham completely halted as a mark of respect during his funeral after the Chamberlain family rejected an internment at Westminster Abbey. Chamberlain’s complex and frequently misunderstood career is to be the subject of a major international conference to be organised jointly by the Journal of Liberal History and Newman University, Birmingham, in collaboration with Birmingham City Council and Severn Trent Water. The first day, at Newman University, will begin with a keynote address from Professor Peter Marsh, author of Joseph Chamberlain: Entrepreneur in Politics and The Chamberlain Litany and will focus on Chamberlain’s career beyond Birmingham. Panels of presentations will explore themes such as Chamberlain’s career as an educational reformer, his relations with other senior figures of the late Victorian establishment and his political, economic and social philosophy. That evening, a conference dinner with a speaker will be held at Joseph Chamberlain’s home, Highbury Hall. On 5 July. at the new Library of Birmingham in the city centre, the leader of Birmingham City Council will introduce a day debating Chamberlain’s contribution to the ‘Second City’. There will be a panel of MPs from each of the three major parties arguing that their party embodies Chamberlain’s inheritance, and posters, artefacts and documentary evidence from the city’s archives and museums for delegates to explore. It is hoped that the event will conclude with a walking tour of important sites in the City associated with the Chamberlain family. Proposals for papers may consist of individual papers or of papers grouped for a panel session. For session proposals, two, or preferably three papers should relate to a common theme, not necessarily bound by a chronological framework. For an informal discussion of ideas for papers or panels or other issues, please contact the conference organiser, Dr Ian Cawood, Head of History at Newman University and author of The Liberal Unionist Party 1886–1912: A History at [email protected].

14 Journal of Liberal History 79 Summer 2013