28 Reynolds Liberal Class Warrior

Biography Jaime Reynolds and Ian Hunter examine the maverick career of the radical Liberal MP, Tom Horabin LiberalLiberal ClassClass WarriorWarrior homas Lewis Horabin, –, was party and had no local links with the constituency. Tprominent in the Liberal Party in the s, a The crucial factor in his selection seems to have dismal and neglected period of its history. As the been his appeal to non-Liberal voters. Horabin ‘Radical-Liberal’ Member of Parliament for North stood as a candidate for the Popular Front and his Cornwall, elected at a bitterly contested by-elec- nomination papers were signed by both Labour tion in July , he was the last parliamentary sur- members and dissident Conservatives. vivor of West Country Liberalism in the s. He Horabin focused his successful by-election cam- held his seat in the disastrous general election paign mainly on the failure of the appeasement policy and served briefly as Chief Whip before defecting of Chamberlain’s government. During the by-elec- to the Labour Party in . Very little trace of his tion he backed Churchill as ‘the only possible man for career survives apart from a slim Penguin Special Prime Minister in this hour of danger’. Writing to published in which set out his distinctive and Churchill he stated that when he made these sugges- radical political ideas. tions to his audiences the suggestion had come as a Horabin was born in in Merthyr Tydfil and shock at first, and ‘yet it took only about two minutes was educated at Cardiff High School. Traces of his for the idea to sink in, and then there was an outburst early years in the mining valleys of South Wales can of applause’. Churchill wrote back to thank him ‘for be detected in his left-wing views, his sympathy the favourable view you take of my usefulness. I with the miners, and perhaps in his later ambiva- greatly appreciate your goodwill and confidence’. lence towards Churchill, who was unpopular in During the campaign the North Cornwall Liberal South Wales on account of the Tonypandy incident Association circulated throughout the constituency a in . In he married the daughter of a Dr petition requesting Chamberlain to resign and asking Cargill Martin. They had a daughter and two sons. the King to entrust to Churchill the formation of a During the – War Horabin served in the Government of National Defence, comprising all Cameron Highlanders. After demobilisation he parties. Churchill alone, the petition declared, had the worked first as a civil servant and later joined ‘moral purpose, courage, experience and capacity to Lacrinoid Ltd, manufacturers of buttons and small save us from these dangers in this hour of peril’. This artefacts from synthetic materials, rising eventually mutual appreciation was not to last, however. to become Chairman. He broadened his activity The other main campaigning theme was the old during the s, becoming one of the first people age pension which was considered ‘practically the to describe himself as a ‘business consultant’. only domestic question that aroused any interest’ in His political activity in the s and s, if any, . The Liberals linked the North Cornwall cam- must have been out of public sight. He did not paign with their national petition on the need to raise stand for Parliament and played no significant role pensions. Horabin’s election agent told Sinclair that in the Liberal Party at national level. In fact the au- the Liberal stand for larger pensions had been critical thors have been able to find no evidence of politi- to winning the by-election. The Liberal victory sub- cal activity on Horabin’s part before , when he sequently forced the government to hold an inquiry suddenly emerged as Liberal candidate for the into the subject. North Cornwall by-election. The by-election held Horabin benefited from the support of many on July was caused by the death of Sir Francis prominent Liberals such as Sinclair, Viscount Samuel Acland who had held the seat for the Liberals in and Lloyd George, who came and spoke throughout with a majority of (.%) in a straight his campaign, attracting large and often enthusiastic fight with a Conservative. Horabin was a surprising crowds. He secured , votes to , for his choice to defend one of the Liberals’ very few re- Conservative opponent, E. R. Whitehouse – an in- maining winnable seats. He was little known in the creased majority of , (.%). It was the first Journal of Liberal Democrat History 28 Autumn 2000 17 than Hitler, on the grounds that the man who lets the mad bull out of the field to run amok is more responsible than the bull for the damage done. After war was declared in September Horabin continued his criticism of Chamberlain’s conduct of the war. Despite his admiration for Churchill’s qualities as a national leader, especially during the darkest days of the war during –, he was also sharply critical of Churchill’s general political outlook, and from he became an outspo- ken member of the small band of dissident MPs who formed an unofficial op- position to the Churchill coalition. In January he caused a stir by claiming that ‘Churchill might go down in history as the man who destroyed the Brit- ish Empire’. Shortly before that, he had joined Clement Davies and forty Labour members in voting for an amendment to the Manpower Bill demanding the na- tionalisation of vital industries in return for conscription’. Horabin became alienated from the Liberal leadership which was supporting and participating in the Churchill coalition. Several senior Liberals, including Sinclair, Harcourt Johnstone and Lady Violet Bonham Carter, were personal friends of Churchill. They did not hold Horabin in high regard. Violet Bonham Carter wrote in her diary in February that she did not feel exhilarated by the prospect of accepting the role of party President as ‘there are too many lu- natics and pathological cases in the party – Clem Davies & Horabin – also rather Liberal by-election win since . Horabin himself did not believe that it small people bulking larger than they However, to at least one senior Liberal, did. In correspondence during June deserve because of the size of the party. the campaign was not a benchmark for he made it clear that he did not We badly need an infusion of new campaigning efficiency. Harcourt John- see a possibility for any substantial in- blood’. With Clement Davies and Sir stone, Chairman of the Liberal Central crease in the number of Liberal MPs at Richard Acland, the semi-detached Lib- Association and close friend and adviser that election, and the perception at eral MP for Barnstaple who shortly af- to Sinclair, viewed the campaign as Liberal Central (the national head- terwards departed to form the Common having been weak and apathetic, com- quarters) was that the constituency or- Wealth Party, Horabin was one of the menting after a visit to the one of the ganisations were in a very weak state leading Liberals associated with the gin- campaign committee rooms that ‘I con- with little or no preparation apparent ger group Radical Action (formed as fess I don’t think games of pool with in the vast majority of seats. Liberal Action Group in ) which the office messenger an adequate sub- In his maiden speech Horabin spoke campaigned for profound reorganisation stitute for canvassing’. of the ‘infirmity of purpose that many of the structure and decision-making Whether the successful defence of people in this country and many peo- bodies of the party as an essential pre- the North Cornwall constituency by ple in neutral and allied countries, and condition for any electoral revival. Radi- the Liberal Party in heralded an certainly, I believe, the leaders of the cal Action was also very critical of the upturn in party fortunes in the run-up Axis powers, saw in the British Gov- electoral truce which existed between to the general election due in ernment’. He argued that Chamber- the three main parties during the coali- will remain a moot point. Significantly, lain had done more harm to the world tion government. 18 Journal of Liberal Democrat History 28 Autumn 2000 Horabin admired Lloyd George very the rights of the individual’. He argued courageous front against Chamberlain’s much and approached his private secre- that the Tories had been able to estab- disastrous foreign policy, but it has, be- tary, A. J. Sylvester, in July to gain lish a dictatorship between and cause of the fundamental divergence be- funding for Radical Action. Horabin by ruthlessly exploiting the divi- tween the Whigs and the Radicals, failed claimed that Radical Action intended sion of the progressive forces between to establish itself’. He identified within to run a hundred candidates and had the Labour and Liberal Parties. The ur- the party ‘a strong element which com- successfully collected £, from the gent task was to form an electoral ar- bines with traditional free trade ideas a City. He feared that lack of money rangement of the progressive parties vested interest in unrestricted capitalism, would force a reunion with the Liberal (Labour, Liberal, Common Wealth) in as well as those radical elements that are Nationals and that without a radical order to capitalise on the radical mood prepared to accept a large measure of centre the Liberal Party would die. He of the electorate and finally destroy the collectivisation’. He warned that local urged Sylvester to tell Lloyd George To ry Party and all that it stood for. This constituency arrangements would be that Radical Action would deliver local would then open the way for the peo- necessary between radicals in the Labour deals with Labour (based on the model ple to ‘seize the real power and property and Liberal parties if their leaderships in the North Cornwall constituency) of the State from the vested interests’.

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