Journal of Issue 24 / Autumn 1999 / £4.00
Liberal DemocratHISTORY
Clement Davies as Leader Emlyn Hooson Clement Davies An Underestimated Welshman and Politician Geoffrey Sell ‘A Sad Business’ — The Resignation of Clement Davies Harriet Smith The 1988 Leadership Campaign Duncan Brack and Robert Ingham The Dictionary of Liberal Quotations New History Group publication Liberal Democrat History Group Issue 24: Autumn1999 The Journal of 3 Clement Davies Liberal Democrat An Underestimated Welshman and Politician History Emlyn Hooson reviews his life and career. The Journal of Liberal Democrat 14 ‘A Sad Business’ History is published quarterly by the The Resignation of Clement Davies Liberal Democrat History Group. Geoffrey Sell examines the end of Clement Davies’ leadership in 1956. ISSN 1463-6557 18 The 1988 Leadership Campaign Editorial/Correspondence Harriet Smith looks back to the party’s first election. Contributions to the Journal – letters, articles, and book reviews – are 23 Lessons for Leaders invited, preferably on disc or by email. Robert Ingham draws lessons for Charles Kennedy from The Journal is a refereed publication; the historical record. all articles submitted will be reviewed. Contributions should be sent to: 26 The Dictionary of Liberal Quotations Duncan Brack (Editor) Duncan Brack and Robert Ingham introduce the Liberal Flat 9, 6 Hopton Road, Democrat History Group’s latest publication. London SW16 2EQ. email: [email protected].
28 Collecting Political Cigarette Cards All articles copyright © their authors. Graem Peters describes an unusual form of political activism. Advertisements 30 Biography: Thomas Edward Ellis Adverts from relevant organisations J. Graham Jones and publications are welcome; please contact the Editor for rates. 31 Report: Did the Yellow Book spell the end of Asquithian Liberalism? Subscriptions/Membership with John Grigg and Richard Grayson. Report by Neil An annual subscription to the Journal Stockley. of Liberal Democrat History costs £10.00 (£5.00 unwaged rate; add 33 Review: Virtues and Flaws £5.00 for overseas subscribers); this includes membership of the History Shannon, Gladstone: Heroic Minister 1865–1898. Group unless you inform us otherwise. Reviewed by Tony Little. Send a cheque (payable to ‘Liberal 35 Review: Cricket, Albania and Liberals Democrat History Group’) to: Patrick Mitchell, 6 Palfrey Place, Wilton, C. B. Fry: An English Hero. Reviewed by Jonathan London SW8 1PA; Calder. email: [email protected]
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Hon President: Earl Russell. Chair: Graham Lippiatt. September 1999
2 journal of liberal democrat history 24: autumn 1999 Clement Davies An Underestimated Welshman and Politician Clement Davies led the Liberal Party from 1945 to 1956. Emlyn Hooson reviews his life and career.
As I am not an historian, I cannot claim to have view certainly needs modification. In my view, he had always been powerfully identified with investigated the life of the subject-matter of my talk those ‘harmonies and historic continuities’. Also, this evening with that thoroughness which is the whilst it is hard to think of any worthwhile hallmark of the true historian’s skill. However, MP who has not, occasionally, appeared to be erratic, I hope to be able to provide some in- speaking as a politician, lawyer and businessman from sight into why Clement Davies appeared to be a rural Welsh background who was to follow so at times. Clement Davies as the Member of Parliament for The second catalyst came from Lady Byers, the widow of the late Lord Byers, who as Frank Montgomeryshire, and, as someone who happened Byers had been the Liberal Chief Whip from to know him reasonably well from my early twenties to . She wrote to me to say that she until the time of his death in , I feel able to was totally incensed by a sentence in the Daily Telegraph obituary to the late Lord Bonham contribute to the process of reassessing the life and Carter (Mark Bonham Carter). It read: career of this underestimated Welshman. I have also ‘Grimond took over the leadership from the ineffectual Clement Davies’. She was rightly had the advantage of knowing many of his old incensed, for, without Clement Davies, I am friends, both supporters and critics. Indeed, he and convinced that the Liberal Party would not my late father-in-law, Sir George Hamer, despite have survived the latter part of this century. In the course of my lecture, I hope to show some disagreements, were close friends. I was also that Clement Davies was anything but inef- privy to some of the praises and criticisms of him fectual and to point to certain signposts, which by some of his contemporaries and some of his I believe will lead to his being seen in a differ- ent perspective as his life and work are further closest political associates. reviewed in the future. Much light has already been shed on his career by, in particular, the The need for a reappraisal research work of Mr J. Graham Jones of the National Library of Wales, Aberystwyth, where For me to embark upon a new venture of this the Clement Davies Papers are kept, and of kind required some provocation. The first oc- Mr D. M. Roberts of the University of Wales, curred in a lecture delivered to this very Soci- Bangor. However, a full and considered biog- ety by our distinguished member, Professor raphy of this very remarkable man is long over- Kenneth O. Morgan. During a lecture on a due. There is quite a story to tell. I am not the century of Montgomeryshire Liberalism, he de- man to tell it, but I hope to provide the apéritif. scribed Clement Davies as ‘an erratic Member of Parliament’. He added: ‘Yet, it is a paradox that someone who was for so long a political His career in outline maverick became so powerfully identified with Let me begin by briefly summarising his ca- the harmonies and historic continuities of reer, aspects of which I shall consider in greater Montgomeryshire Liberalism.’ I believed then, detail later. He was born on February and do so even more powerfully now, that this journal of liberal democrat history 24: autumn 1999 3 stant and constructive critic of the war effort. He is particularly famed for his part in the replacement as Prime Minister of Chamberlain by Winston Churchill. From on- wards, he was a Liberal without suf- fix or prefix after he officially re- joined the Liberal Party. I thought I would never quote with approval any saying of the late Sir Henry Morris-Jones, the Liberal National Conservative. However, when Clem had rejoined the Liberal Party, he said ‘Clem decided to rejoin his old love, which of course he had in principle never deserted.’ I believe that to be true and that during his so-called maverick period, he was much less of a political maverick in reality than at first appears. At heart, Clement Davies was always a radical Welsh Lib- eral and he admired Lloyd George enormously as the most effective of and died on March at the became Lord Justice Greer before radical politicians. In he was age of seventy-eight. He came from being elevated as Lord Fairfield, one elected leader of the Liberal Party and the Llanfyllin area of Montgomery- of the Law Lords. Clem, as we all remained so until , when Jo shire, where his father, Alderman knew him, briefly joined the North Grimond succeeded him. Moses Davies, was a small farmer, ag- Wales and Chester Circuit before On the Welsh front, he is particu- ricultural seedsman, valuer, and lo- transferring to the Northern Circuit. larly remembered for a devastating cal auctioneer. Clement was one of However, the area in which he en- report, which he produced just be- the first pupils at the then new local joyed a meteoric rise was in his com- fore the war, on the incidence of tu- County School. From there, he mercial law and admiralty law work berculosis in Wales and its causes. He won an open exhibition to Trinity in London. This was interrupted was also very active in the interna- Hall, Cambridge where he shone as only when he was drafted into the tional sphere — in particular, in the a law student, taking firsts in every- Civil Service for strategic work on movement for world government — thing and he became the top stu- shipping during the war. for which work he was nominated dent of his year. He was pressed to Clement Davies became a KC in and warmly recommended for the take a fellowship — an invitation he , but, in , he left the Bar and Nobel Peace Prize in . declined after he had definitely cho- joined the Board of Lever Brothers sen a practising career at the Bar, as an Executive Director. He re- rather than an academic one. Through mained in that capacity until his res- The Bar other scholarships and exhibitions he ignation in when he was ap- Historians should, I think, look more joined Lincoln’s Inn. In his Bar Fi- pointed as a legal advisor to Unilever closely at his work at the Bar. Its nals in , he took a first in every in a non-executive capacity. standard was such that he had the subject and was awarded the Certifi- In the meantime, in , he had reputation of having had the high- cate of Honour for being the high- been elected as the Liberal MP for est paid junior brief ever known for est achiever of his year. Montgomeryshire. During the his day. It came when, in the s, In the meantime, from – – period, he was a Lloyd without a leader, he was instructed he had been a lecturer in law at Ab- George supporter. But from to to appear for Lever Brothers for erystwyth. During this time, he , he was a National Liberal, sup- , guineas against Brunner/ wrote his first books. The main sub- porting the successive National Gov- Mond, now known as ICI. The case jects of his writing were the law re- ernments of Ramsay Macdonald, was eventually settled for lating to land and farm valuations Stanley Baldwin and Neville £,,. The scale of this settle- and land duties. These were subjects Chamberlain. In he changed ment in its day was so great that ICI on which his father had probably ad- his political course. From then until had to pay the damages over four vised him that there was a market! , he sat in the House of Com- years at the annual rate of £,! His pupil-master at the Bar was mons as an independent Liberal. Immediately after the First World a man called Greer, who afterwards During this period, he was a con- War, Clement Davies was succes-
4 journal of liberal democrat history 24: autumn 1999 sively appointed Secretary to the sorely tempted, but he saw that he mounting frustration at Lloyd President of the Probate, Divorce had a living to earn at the Bar and George’s leadership and the volte face and Admiralty Division of the High his father’s advice settled matters: ‘I over the Coal Mines Bill. Clement Court, Secretary to the Master of don’t know much about the Bar, but Davies had cancelled many very im- the Rolls and, in , as Junior I think if I were employing Coun- portant constituency engagements in Treasury Counsel. The two secre- sel, I should like him to give me all January and February to draft tarial jobs were sinecures. They pro- his attention and not part of his at- amendments to the Bill. The Liber- vided him with additional income tention.’ als could have brought down the and were clear pointers of the esti- By , he had agreed with the government. In the event, Lloyd mate of the legal establishment of Montgomeryshire Liberal Associa- George backed the government. It him. This was, to all appearances, a tion that, if they could not find an- is instructive to compare Clem’s per- man on the fast route to the Bench. other candidate, he would stand. formance and his activities in Par- He was not to pursue that course. Despite opposition from his pred- liament before the Coal Mines Bill In he was persuaded by the ecessor, David Davies, subsequently fiasco with the following ten years. Lord Chancellor to apply for Silk Lord Davies of Llandinam, he was From to , speeches from and became a King’s Counsel in that adopted as its candidate in . In Clement Davies were a rarity. Those year. His earlier acceptance of the the election of that year, he parried that he did make were almost en- post of Treasury Counsel, which he a very spirited attack from the Con- tirely devoted to the socioeconomic had resigned early in , indicated servative candidate, a Mr Naylor. Af- and administrative difficulties of ru- that the first option had been clearly ter that, he was never to face an op- ral Wales; the problems of his con- open to him. However, there may ponent for the seat until the stituents were often used as exam- have been an intervening cause, election, when Mr Philip Owen op- ples. I would go as far as to say that, which had blocked this path to the posed him for the Tories. in this period, he was almost the ar- Bench, to which I shall turn later. The election was fought chetypal semi-detached politician. Clement Davies had a substan- under the leadership of Lloyd He was not trying to further a po- tial amount of work as a Silk. In the George with, as far as the Liberals litical career in any way. My suspi- law reports of to , his name were concerned, the wholehearted cion is that he largely devoted his frequently appears in large commer- support of Clement Davies. The active mind to other matters, not cial and shipping cases. His decision campaign was founded on the fa- least his absorbing duties as an ex- in to accept a position on the mous Yellow Book, the Green ecutive director of Lever Brothers. board of Lever Brothers, rather than Book, and the Brown Book, which After the election, Lloyd continue at the Bar is, on the face rather upset his predecessor David George’s followers had virtually been of it, a mystery. His starting salary at Davies. These had largely been put reduced to a rump, largely compris- Lever Brothers was £, a year together by Lord Keynes with a ing members of his own family and — double the salary then of the wealth of other distinguished aca- one or two close friends. Clement Prime Minister, a High Court Judge demics and business people contrib- Davies espoused Simon’s National or the Lord Chancellor. But, the rea- uting. They formed a truly radical Liberals. His adherence to the soning and motivation behind the policy. Funded by his dubious elec- Simonites was due to his friendship move may be related to the cause of tion fund, Lloyd George mounted a with Sir John Simon. They both had a nervous breakdown he endured in vigorous campaign but achieved Welsh associations: Simon was the — a matter which does not only modest success. It is probably son of a nonconformist minister in seem to have been disclosed hith- one of the great tragedies of this Pembrokeshire. They had also been erto. country that Lloyd George’s ideas closely associated at the Bar; Simon were not effected here, but there is often led Clement Davies. At a time no doubt that Roosevelt’s ‘New of uncertainty in Clem’s mind, inci- Politics Deal’ in the USA in the thirties was sive advice from Simon coupled He had been involved in political largely founded on them. with, I suspect, his wife’s preference activity as a youngster in Mont- After a vigorous start to his Par- for that course were decisive. gomeryshire. In the – period liamentary career, by , Clement Simon was a very careful politi- he was certainly addressing meetings Davies was disillusioned with Par- cian, always interested in preserv- in Oswestry and in his home area in liament. He said to a reporter from ing opportunities for himself. Lloyd support of the Lloyd George the Montgomeryshire Express in au- George devastated him once by budget. In he rejected the tumn : ‘Losing my briefs, wast- stating in the House of Commons: blandishments of Lloyd George that ing my time [in the House of Com- ‘The Right Honourable Gentleman he should stand as a ‘true Liberal’ for mons], it really is appalling. Some- has sat on the fence for so long that Montgomery Boroughs after the in- times I wished I had stuck to my the iron has entered his soul’. Nev- cumbent, D. J. Rees, had quailed over proper job, but ambition is a terri- ertheless, I have no doubt that Si- the budget. Clement Davies was ble thing’. This comment reflected mon was to greatly influence Clem journal of liberal democrat history 24: autumn 1999 5 on Munich and the prosecution of service, and in his autobiography, tained these words: ‘You had other the war. Lord Boothby tells of Clem’s organi- honours offered you, as I well know. In there was a sudden and sation of the campaign to remove The Privy Councillor is the right dramatic change in the political ac- Chamberlain and replace him with honour for your work and high tivity and posture of Clement Churchill. Boothby wrote: ‘He was character.’ Davies. He returned to the United one of the architects, some may I can only speculate as to what Kingdom having conducted a four- judge the principal architect, of the other honours were offered. Given month inquiry, as Chairman of a government which first saved us his intimacy with Churchill, commission consisting of business- from destruction and then led us to Beaverbrook would certainly have men and a considerable number of victory’. It was a small group which known of the offer of the viscountcy; MPs, into the affairs of East Africa. orchestrated the anti-Chamberlain that must be one of the honours to Upon his return, there was a very vote in the no-confidence debate which he referred. However, it different political atmosphere in this and foiled subsequent Tory party should be noted that this was well country. There was widespread pes- lobbying for Chamberlain to be- before the offer of a place in simism about the intentions of Hit- come deputy prime minister. Clem- Churchill’s Cabinet, which was made ler and Mussolini. It was a chance ent Davies, Robert Boothby, Leo in . meeting, under the auspices of Le- Amery, Arthur Greenwood and oth- vers, that led to Clem meeting an ers were all determined that Attlee important member of the Nazi Party should be deputy prime minister to Family background masquerading as a trade official. This make it a truly national government. In assessing his career, it is very im- meeting caused him, virtually over- Boothby, Amery and other Con- portant to have regard to his family night, to change his view and to re- servatives in the group were invited background. His father’s family came gard war as inevitable. Herr Wohltat, to be ministers in Churchill’s new from the Llanfyllin area. They had one of Goering’s economic advisors, wartime coalition, as were promi- been great Whig supporters, cer- was later reputed to have occupied nent Labour members and the Lib- tainly from the time of the a very high position in the Nazi hi- eral leader, Archie Sinclair, and his Reform Act. Some of the family had erarchy. Evidently he had been sent chief whip. We know that Boothby lost the tenancy of their farms as a over to the United Kingdom to has underlined the importance of result of their Liberal votes and Clem probe businesspeople to see whether Clem’s friendships with Attlee, never forgot it. His mother’s family there was a possibility of avoiding Greenwood and Lloyd George in came from the Banw Valley and were war with Britain if Germany invaded particular. We also know that traditional Tories. His maternal the Soviet Union. Churchill himself had a soft spot for grandfather, a cattle dealer, appar- Wohltat met some very distin- Clem, yet, on the face of it, nothing ently had had a thriving cattle trade guished people over here. There is was offered to him. When I asked with Ireland. Clem’s father and no doubt that his visit effected a Stanley Clement-Davies about this, mother lived on a relatively small transfiguration in Clem’s apprecia- he said that Churchill had offered a farm where all the children helped tion of where the policy of the viscountcy to his father. It was ex- with the farm work. The father, as I Chamberlain government had led. plained to him, apparently, that have mentioned earlier also ran a He was galvanized into action and Churchill had to accommodate all successful small-town auctioneering politics became central, as opposed parties within the government and, and land valuation business. The to being marginal, in his life. Jano of course, Clement Davies was not, parents were, in divergent but com- (his wife) loyally supported him al- then, a member of any party. plementary ways, very considerable though, I believe, she later came to The family was consulted about personalities and the family was a regret it. Gone now was his rather this offer of a viscountcy. They de- close-knit unit. thoughtless support for the Munich cided to support Clem’s refusal, al- The whole family was academi- agreement. Soon afterwards, Clem- though, I suspect, his wife, Jano, had cally talented. Also, in the tradi- ent Davies was elected Chairman of been tempted. Stanley has also told tional Welsh way, they each helped an all-party group of MPs which me that in the diary of his late sister, each other financially with their re- was more concerned about the im- Mary, there is an entry of the date spective careers. In a letter he wrote minent threat of war. It began as a and of the fact of the offer. The of- to his parents, soon after he was small nucleus with Leo Amery as fer of a viscountcy explains, in part called to the Bar, Clem said that he Vice-Chairman and Robert at least, a reference in one of the let- would have to know all the solici- Boothby as its Secretary. The group ters stored in the National Library tors he can, given the ‘tremendous grew in size and was particularly dis- of Wales. In , when Clement amount of money I have cost you comforted by Neville Chamberlain’s Davies was made a Privy Council- all.’ He added: ‘Dear old Dav is one apparently ineffectual leadership in lor, Lord Beaverbrook, that great in ten million and is more of an an- the early days of the war. In his ad- confidant of Churchill’s, wrote to gel than an ordinary brother.’ Out dress at Clement Davies’s memorial him a letter dated January. It con- of his ‘small income he has paid
6 journal of liberal democrat history 24: autumn 1999 £ for me. In fact I have bled him she was the one leading the applause! from town to town, that he took no of all he has, and still he is as cheer- However, I gather from my conver- whitewash with him. He put blunt ful and pleasant over it as if it had sations with Stanley that Jano did not questions to all who came in front of been only two shillings.’ really enjoy politics or the company him.’ Upon publication, the report, In Clem married Jano of politicians. As a matter of taste, she with its condemnation of the dread- Elizabeth Davies, who had a distin- much preferred the legal fraternity. ful housing conditions in urban and guished teaching career before mar- Jano was an impressive person of rural areas and its biting criticism of riage. At the age of twenty-nine, she impeccable manners with a good private landlords and local authori- was one of the youngest headmis- deal of poise and style. Her instinct, ties, including some in his own con- tresses of Latymer School, a I suspect, had always been to per- stituency, had an immense and sen- well-known coeducational school in suade Clem to adhere to an entirely sational impact. Throughout his time London. She was the adopted legal career. These factors should all in Parliament, as the Rt Hon. James daughter of Mr Morgan Davies, a be remembered in seeking to deci- Griffiths pointed out, Clement Davies consultant surgeon who practised in pher the change of direction in had drawn attention to these matters. London, but originated from Clem’s career between and his He took full opportunity, when given Cardiganshire. She was also Welsh election to Parliament in . I will the chance to do so, to shake people speaking. Jano had graduated from come back to that and another im- out of their lethargy and acceptance University College of Wales, Aber- portant facet later. of such conditions as then existed in ystwyth, in classics and modern lan- parts of Wales. guages. I imagine that this is where Apparently, this report was the she met Clem during his period as Clement Davies as a best seller to emerge from the Pub- a lecturer from –. They had leader lic Print Office until the Beveridge four children, of whom the only sur- Report. This reflected not only its vivor is Mr Stanley Clement-Davies. Contrary to commonly expressed importance for Wales but also its sig- I am greatly indebted to him for in- belief, Clement Davies was not an nificance for the whole of the formation which he has given to me ineffectual leader. To regard him as United Kingdom. It undoubtedly and for his permission to disclose, ineffectual fails to take account of his influenced the whole thinking of into the public domain, some mat- undoubted leadership qualities as political parties on social, housing ters which may explain some of the evidenced by his work in three dif- and economic matters in the apparently strange decisions taken ferent capacities: first, in the tuber- pre-Beveridge years. Its effect was during Clem’s life. culosis inquiry; second, as chairman reflected in the post-war policies of Few families have suffered as of an all-party group of MPs which the Labour Government and indeed many tragic misfortunes as those that brought Churchill’s wartime coali- in Macmillan’s approach to these befell Clement Davies and his fam- tion into being; and third, as leader matters. ily. Two of the sons and the only of the Liberal Party. daughter died in tragic and unfore- The Tuberculosis Inquiry seen circumstances, each at the age During his Chairmanship of twenty-four. I remember Mr of the Government Com- Stanley Clement-Davies telling me, mission in – into many years ago, of the sigh of relief the incidence of tubercu- he breathed when he achieved the losis in Wales and its age of twenty-five. The family bore causes, Clement Davies these tragedies with great fortitude, showed considerable lead- as far as the outside world was con- ership qualities, both in his cerned, but the internal anguish must thorough gathering of evi- have been great. It will not surprise dence, and in the incisive- any of you I think, to learn that Jano ness of the report’s recom- herself had two serious nervous mendations. Support for breakdowns — one before she was this assertion can be married and another in . In all gleaned from, in particu- Clem’s political activities she was, to lar, the contribution of Mr all appearances, a fervent and indeed George Griffiths MP to adoring supporter of her husband. the debate on the report. On the very first occasion on which He thanked Clement I spoke publicly with Clem at a Davies for being ‘so defi- packed meeting in Llanidloes, I was nite’, and added: ‘I was very amazed to see that Jano was not only pleased to see, as he went beaming throughout, but also, that journal of liberal democrat history 24: autumn 1999 7 tional insurance reform, the party was united in support of much of what Labour was trying to achieve. But, over Labour’s nationalisation plans, there was deep dissension. It led to the Liberals in the Commons voting in different ways. In retro- spect, it does appear to me, although I was a considerable critic of Clem’s at the time, that his refusal to give blanket support was fully justified in the light of subsequent events. He was right in his appraisal that, on economic matters, Labour’s ideo- logically driven approach tended to lead towards disaster. Ironically, most of those who wanted greater sup- port for Labour were themselves defeated and replaced by Labour members. For instance, in Anglesey, Chairmanship of the All-Party Group the use of the architect for his own Megan Lloyd George was replaced The All-Party Group of which furtherance. by Cledwyn Hughes. Clement Davies was chairman mo- Lady Megan Lloyd George and Leadership of the Liberal Party bilised to achieve a much tougher Lady Violet Bonham Carter epito- When he became Liberal Leader in prosecution of the war effort than mised the polarisation in the party. , one can well understand the was apparent under Chamberlain. It In , a few months after I had ambivalent attitude of some of the is clear that Clement Davies showed been adopted as the prospective Lib- other Liberal MPs. After all, until the great leadership skills. He was wholly eral candidate for Caernarfon Bor- early s, Clem had not been a determined to get rid of Chamber- oughs, I came to London to read for member of the party since , al- lain and was indefatigable in organ- my Bar Finals. I recall that Clement though in Montgomeryshire he was ising the matter. In the course of Davies then invited me to be a always regarded as a proper radical doing so, Clem succeeded in per- member of a strange body called the Liberal. That he was first made suading Lloyd George, who had Liberal Party Committee — appar- Chairman of the Parliamentary Party, sulked over something, to return to ently, entirely nominated by the rather than its leader, illustrates the the Chamber to make what Sir leader. This body effectively decided suspicion of his colleagues, despite Winston Churchill subsequently de- and controlled the policy of the the high reputation he had obtained scribed as his last decisive interven- party. Some of the debates were, to during the war as a constructive tion in the House of Commons — put it mildly. vitriolic. In retrospect, critic of the National Government. a devastating attack on Chamberlain, as I look around that table in my In the press tended to dis- ending with a peroration to the ef- mind’s eye, I cannot think of any- miss the Liberals as having been rel- fect that all had to make sacrifices body else who could possibly have egated entirely to the Celtic fringe. in war but that the greatest sacrifice kept them together. I would nor- Indeed, of the twelve Liberals re- Chamberlain could make was to sur- mally sit between the two captivat- turned in , six were from Wales, render his seals of office. ing mistresses of the generally acer- two were from Scotland and one In the Clement Davies Papers, bic, but always charming comment, each from Cumberland, East Anglia, there are two handwritten letters to Lady Violet Bonham Carter and Dorset and Cornwall. There were Clem from that well-known Lady Megan Lloyd George. They al- also deep policy divisions. Megan self-seeker, Sir William Jowitt. At ways chose to sit at the end of the Lloyd George, Dingle Foot, Tom about this time, naturally seeking table directly facing Clem. Each of Horobin, Emrys Roberts and Edgar help and guidance on his own pos- them was very critical of him but Granville certainly wanted more sible preferment, it is interesting that from entirely different directions. blanket support for the Labour Gov- one letter begins ‘Dear Warwick There was a third chair between ernment than the other six were pre- the Kingmaker’ — eloquent testi- them at the table and there I would pared to give. Unquestionably, it mony from an outsider for the view sit. A particularly difficult session looked as though the Liberal Party that Clement Davies was regarded by ended one day with a very mundane might disintegrate. insiders as the principal architect of matter at the end of the agenda. On social policy, such as educa- the replacement of Chamberlain by Cornwall required a recommenda- tion, housing, the health service, na- Churchill. Here, Jowitt was seeking tion for the colour the party should
8 journal of liberal democrat history 24: autumn 1999 use in elections. Lady Violet wither- He appreciated that disaster for campaign. He was a tremendous ingly suggested it was obviously ‘a the party was but a hair’s-breadth mob-orator, but had none of the subject for you, Megan dear, to ad- away; any open split during the subtleties that I had heard, a couple vise upon’. Upon which Megan re- – period would have brought of years earlier, from Lloyd George. joined: ‘Oh well, dear, I don’t really about the end of the Liberal Party Nevertheless, he made a great im- mind what colour they have, pro- as such. Clem’s sustained wisdom, pression on me. Later, when I came vided, of course, it’s not violet’. To determination and sheer devotion to know him well, I always found give an idea of the problems the Lib- kept them together at that time, and him most friendly and amiable. He erals then faced, Churchill engi- this achievement has been grossly had an amazing rapport with his neered matters so that there was no underestimated. constituents who loved his partly Conservative opponent to Lady Vio- It is against this perilous back- declamatory and partly narrative let in the Colne Valley in the ground that one must understand style. To illustrate his individual style election. Nevertheless, she still lost. Clement Davies’ refusal of a place in he would frequently speak like this: Although the Liberals were re- Churchill’s cabinet following the ‘I said to Winston on this problem duced to only six by , it has to election. Churchill’s govern- … and Winston said such and such. be remembered that they were the ment was returned in October of However, when we got into the remnants of a party historically used that year with a small, but perfectly chamber, things were different.’ In an to being treated in the House of workable, overall majority. Church- age when there was no television Commons as a major party. It had ill immediately offered Clement and when reports on political mat- its own Whip’s room, a leader’s room Davies a place in his Cabinet as the ters were very matter-of-fact, it is no and its leader was invited to take part Secretary of State for Education. This wonder that his style went down in all state occasions. Clement Davies must have been an enormous per- well. It evoked a scene of an Old insisted that this continued. His close sonal temptation for Clem; he had Testament prophet addressing his personal ties with Labour and Con- been widely described as the ablest adoring followers. servative leaders enabled him to pre- MP who had never held ministerial I now turn to a personal matter serve all the essential framework for office and he must, by then, have ‘had which must be put on the scales, es- a national party. Any new centre or a bellyful’ of dissension within his pecially in assessing some of the os- centre-left party would have taken own party, in the words of a mod- tensibly strange twists and bumps an age to acquire such a framework ern prime minister. He was also that characterised parts of Clem’s on its own. deeply interested in education, as was career. In his article on Clement During this period he was greatly his wife. Churchill spent a long Davies in the Dictionary of National criticised both by the left wing and time trying to persuade him, at Biography, the late Francis Boyd, a the right wing within his party. When Downing Street and over lunch at famous and charming political cor- I was a Bar student, I would inter- Chartwell, to accept. After consult- respondent for The Guardian, who mittently do some research for a ing widely, Clem refused the post in was a considerable admirer of Clem, highly independent Liberal MP, of order to preserve the Liberal Party. mentioned publicly for the first time whom I was dearly fond, Rhys The News Chronicle of Octo- that Clem had lived with another Hopkin Morris, KC. I remember that ber refers to Clement Davies’ problem. Francis wrote in this way: he used to tell me that Clem was li- resignation from the leadership of ‘He had an appalling political task, able to put over a viewpoint at the the Liberal Party. It emphasises that and he was working under a severe Liberal committee which the last per- it was his refusal of the post in the personal strain of which the public son he had talked to in the lavatory Churchill’s Cabinet that was the knew nothing — the effects of ex- had put into his head! This was a gross foundation for the ability of the Lib- cessive indulgence in alcohol.’ I dis- simplification, because Clem was in- erals to reemerge as an independent cussed that statement and explored dulging in a very careful balancing act. fighting force, appealing particularly it further with Mr Stanley Given the difficulties, I think it as- to youth, under Grimond. Clement-Davies. What I say now is tonishing that any leader managed to said entirely with his agreement and keep the Liberal Party together, but approval. Clement Davies did so. A letter from Clement Davies the No-one that I had met in him to Professor Gilbert Murray man Montgomeryshire or elsewhere ever shows that he was acutely aware of remembers seeing Clement Davies the precariousness of the situation: Clement Davies was a tallish, under the influence of drink. He ‘My own position is one of almost distinguished-looking man of a re- certainly had a tremor in his hand supine weakness for if I give full ex- served, but very friendly disposition. and in my innocence as a young man pression to a definite course of ac- I first heard him when I was a I attached no importance to that, but tion, that at once leads to trouble and schoolboy on a market day in nobody else seemed to do so either. a definite split. It is that split that I Denbigh appealing for funds to buy He certainly did not appear to suf- am so anxious to avoid.’ aeroplanes in the ‘Wings for Victory’ fer from alcoholism as such. How- journal of liberal democrat history 24: autumn 1999 9 ever, he had a very severe drink quite insecure and lacking in confi- both of them. Another interesting problem, which may have manifested dence. Like Jano, he never gave me letter, which is among his papers, sets itself in sessions of private drinking. the impression of being able to re- out clearly his belief that in order to I know a distinguished Silk who, lax. What his leisure pursuits were, achieve a sensible and satisfactory these days, after the strain of a heavy if any, I do not know. It is very inter- answer to the socioeconomic and case, will go off on a great binge last- esting to discover among the Clem- administrative problems of Wales, it ing days at times. Whether it was that ent Davies papers in Aberystwyth, a was necessary for Wales to have its kind of manifestation with Clem, I very touching letter, dating from his own Parliament where the Welsh do not know, but the problem that student days, from a close friend, language would have the same stand- beset the family was a real one. From whose signature is indecipherable, ing as the English language. the early s, he definitely had this giving Clem some reassurance after serious problem. It was apparent an uncharacteristic failure to win a within the family by . The nerv- prize at University. It reads: ‘Of your Clement Davies as a ous breakdown which Clem sus- success in life there must not be the lawyer in politics tained in was related to drink. slightest misgivings, a man with your You will recall that he resigned as a incomparable energy and engaging Before I conclude, I wish to make Junior Treasury Counsel in , personality must, sooner or later, some observation on how I would which was an indication that the come to the fore at the Bar. I know class Clement Davies among other smooth path to the Bench, to which that you rather lack confidence in lawyers in politics. In my view, law- I referred earlier, which appears to yourself and are of a retiring disposi- yer/politicians fall into one of two have been his first, preference, was tion (a quality to be rather admired categories. In the first, I would put being abandoned. Intimates at the than otherwise) but [an indecipherable those whose first priorities are their Bar and on the Bench must have had name] tells me that father was the political beliefs and allegiances. The a severe jolt if they learnt of the fact same and even to this day is quite shy, law is a secondary matter. Lloyd of his drink problem in the early ’s. so let his career be an example to George and Asquith were two ob- Does it account for his change of you.’ Who was the author of that vious examples of such men. In his direction between and ? letter? It shows an insight into Clem’s biography of Benjamin Disraeli, Was the smooth path to the Bench personality and character, which, per- André Maurois says that the great removed from him? Was this back- haps, only a very close friend and prime minister was once asked: ‘Why, ground problem a major factor be- contemporary would have had. Was as you were called to the Bar, didn’t hind his decision to join the board this basic insecurity linked to his later you practice and become a great of Lever Brothers? Did that position drink problem? lawyer?’ Disraeli is said to have an- raise the possibility, not only of swered cryptically: ‘I gave up the greater security, but also of a more chance of being a great lawyer to structured and less stressful life than Wales preserve the chance of being a great that which exists at the Bar? I my- Clement Davies’ concern for Wales man’. There was speaking a man self have had at least four occupa- and its people runs like a golden who was truly of the first category. tions, some simultaneously, but the thread through his career. I have al- In the second category are those practising Bar is easily the most ready mentioned his report on tu- who are lawyers first and politicians stressful if you cannot relax. berculosis and that even in his second. Events may pull them into I find it astonishing that Clem ‘semi-detached’ period, the concerns politics and they often bring highly and his wife and family lived with of his constituents and the inter- focused minds to the pursuit of their this problem for forty years and that ests of Wales were never forgotten. responsibilities in political life with- it was known only to a few. It must This illustrates my belief that he was out being creative or innovative poli- have been an inhibiting, as well as a ticians. In such a category, I would throughout ‘powerfully identified deciding factor behind a number of put Lord Shawcross and Lord with the harmonies and historic decisions taken in their lives. Tre- continuities of Montgomeryshire Gardiner. mendous discipline must have been Liberalism’. He was also a consist- To reflect on the nature of legal necessary repeatedly to present a ent advocate of the appointment of training as a basis for political life, confident and reassuring public face. first, it is necessary to consider the a Secretary of State for Wales. It seems that his problem was dif- Among his papers are letters to nature of life at the Bar. A barris- ferent in kind and in degree from prime ministers Chamberlain, ter is trained to behave like a race- Churchill’s. Churchill and Attlee on the subject. horse. He is taught to be wholly ori- Perhaps you will now permit me It is interesting to note that the most ented on his objective, which is fixed to indulge in a few reflections on the promising replies came from for him at the outset of a case by, way I see Clement Davies in retro- Churchill and Attlee and it is prob- among other things, the side he is spect. I believe that, for all his ability, ably quite significant that he had a on and the rules of the profession. discipline and achievements, he was fairly close personal relationship with As for the racehorse, there are rails
10 journal of liberal democrat history 24: autumn 1999 on either side of the course and his ever come across.’ The words were On balance, I would place Clem- training will have taught him to ac- said to me by the late Mr Cyril ent Davies in the second category cept a blinkered approach. Whatever Jones of Wrexham, then the doyen of lawyer/politicians. He was at his his own private view of the merits of Labour solicitors in North Wales best when his objective was set for of the case, he must present his cli- and a very remarkable man. I was him rather than as a self-generating ent’s case in the best possible light driving him as my Instructing So- politician. The three examples I have to seek to achieve his objective. The licitor to a planning appeal for one given of effective leadership from aim may be an acquittal, a convic- of his clients at Montgomeryshire Clement Davies illustrate this. In his tion, or an award of damages. By Quarter Sessions, over which famous report on tuberculosis, his contrast, in politics, there are no rails Clement Davies presided. Legally, intention was set on shaking the at all. One can have a life in politics we had in our favour a difficult, but country out of its supine acceptance without any focus. Some accept the unanswerable point. Otherwise our of bad housing and drainage, and focus imposed upon them by party case had no planning merit! It re- poverty. He achieved it. When he discipline. But the lack of rails and lated to an enforcement notice in a organised Chamberlain’s downfall, blinkers offers much greater scope case concerning a car dump. Dur- he was ruthless and determined in for individual expression and even- ing the journey, I expressed the fear pursuing his objective. Again, he tually achievement. I think that this that Clem might take a sentimen- achieved it. He saw his leadership of is what Disraeli had in mind. I have tal view of the desecration of his the Liberal Party as an exercise to often said that I found the average beloved Montgomeryshire coun- preserve the independence of the standards of behaviour and of tryside by old car bodies and that party for a younger generation to achievement to be higher at the Bar he would lose sight of the legal take over with all the basic machin- than in Parliament. However there point as the magistrates, against ery for a national party maintained. were individuals from all parties in whom we were appealing, had Again, he achieved it. Parliament who had a bigger and done. Cyril dismissed my fear im- broader vision, and who, in some mediately: ‘Mr. Hooson,’ he said, cases, were capable of becoming ‘you will see a different Clem to- Conclusion great men. day. As you know, I don’t share his There is certainly a fascinating story I have reflected on this because political views, but there isn’t a bet- yet to be fully explored. Among the of a view of Clem expressed to me ter mind than his when it is focused, biographical notes made by one of by a man whose judgement I held and when at the Bar it is always fo- his sisters, Dr Laura Maule-Horne, in high regard: ‘when Clement cused.’ He was quite right. Clem who was a distinguished doctor, Davies is focused, he has, in my saw the force of our argument im- there is a quotation from the late opinion, about the best mind I have mediately. Lord Atkin of Aberdovey, probably the greatest judge of Clement Davies with Lord Samuel, Liberal leader 1931–35 the twentieth cen- tury. At a meeting in Montgomeryshire or to the London Welsh he said of Clement Davies: ‘There was no high office in the land which was not his for the acceptance, when he was kid- napped by com- merce and became one of the head di- rectors of Unilever, the biggest combine in the world.’ In the light of what I have said earlier, it may be that ‘kidnapped by commerce’ may prove not to be quite correct. I hope that future journal of liberal democrat history 24: autumn 1999 11 historians will be allowed to see pa- in existence today. Speaking at the Lib- May to May . pers from the Lord Chancellor’s De- eral Party Assembly in , David Steel CDP T//. partment and the archives of summed up why Davies’ leadership was Report of the Committee of Inquiry into the important. He said, ‘Had it not been for Anti-Tuberculosis Service in Wales and Unilever. The latter will show, I those who have more recently gone be- Monmouthshire, published March . believe, that he was a tremendously fore us to preserve and maintain the Lib- His visions for an united Europe, inter effective and incisive administrator eral Party when many doubted the need, alia, are summarised in his noteworthy who was much travelled. He must then the condition of the country would letter to Walden Moore, the Director of have made many more international demand that men and women come to- the Declaration for Atlantic Unity. In gether to conspire to invent it.’ particular, he is scathing about the missed contacts than were available to most See ‘The Reminiscences of Clement opportunity for Britain represented by MPs of his era. He was a man of Davies’, National Library of Wales Journal the failure to join the Common Mar- broad knowledge and deep insight, no , Winter , –; ket. He said that as France could not get but was not in my view a political ‘Montgomeryshire Politics: Clement a stable government, and as Germany philosopher, although he knew per- Davies and the National Government’, and Italy were ‘down and out’, all looked Montgomeryshire Collections (), – to the UK for leadership and ‘Britain fectly well what his core beliefs were. ; ‘The Clement Davies Papers: A threw the opportunity away and threw At heart, he was a traditional, radi- Review’, The National Library of Wales it away again in ’. CDP F/: dated cal Welsh Liberal who remains at the Journal (–), –. January . present time, for all the reasons I have Henceforth ‘CDP’. CDP B//–. B// is a letter from given, a very underestimated Welsh- See: ‘Clement Davies and the fall of Gilbert McAllister, Secretary General of Neville Chamberlain, –’, Welsh the World Association of Parliamentar- man and politician. History Review (–), –; ians, of which Clement Davies was presi- ‘Clement Davies: The Liberal Party dent, and contains a draft press notice This paper is based on a lecture given to –’ MA Thesis (unpublished). headed ‘Life Devoted to the Rule of the Honourable Society at the British His headmaster at Llanfyllin County Law’. It lists all the main nominees which Academy on June , with Lord School, Ifor H. Lewis, was never to for- included politicians from around the Cledwyn of Penrhos, CH, in the chair. I get Clement Davies brilliance. Upon world. The prize was, however, not Clement Davies becoming a Privy awarded that year; he was also nominated am grateful to my former researcher, Councillor, he wrote to him saying that for the ‘Légion d’Honneur’ for services William Williams, Esq., Barrister at he had won his way ‘to the highest peak to France, see letter from R. B. Vielleville, Law, for collating references to the sources at the Bar and Parliament by sheer bril- President of the Comité d’Etudes du as given in the footnotes, and to my sec- liance and scholarship’, CDP B/: let- Groupe Parlementaire Français pour un retary, Mrs Calan McGreevy, for typing ter dated January . Gouvernement Mondial, May , CDP : top of the Inter-Collegiate in Law; B/. the various drafts and the final version. Foundation Scholar (£); : first for Sir John Simon, KC, had rejected the Emlyn Hooson, QC, LLB, was MP for both parts of the Law Tripos; made sen- invitation of Lever Brothers to appear, ior scholar at Trinity Hall; Latham apparently for political reasons. Montgomeryshire from May (win- Prizeman; : awarded prize for first Later known as Unilever. ning the seat in the by-election caused class honours. Now known as the Family Division. by Clement Davies’ death) until . There are ten references to Clement £, in today’s money. Now, as Lord Hooson of Mongomery, he Davies’ works, be it as author, co-author, Among his papers are posters for meet- speaks for the Liberal Democrats in the or contributor, at the British Library: e.g. ings at which he spoke at this time: CDP, Land Valuation Under the Finance (– A/; A/. Lords on Welsh affairs, legal affairs, agri- ) Act , Reports of Land Valuation Ap- It must also be remembered that MPs culture and European affairs. He was peals in Referee’s Courts, HC, and Hl. Re- were unpaid until . President of the Welsh Liberal Party vised by Clement Edward Davies, vol. See interview with Clement Davies on –. Estates Gazette & Sweet & Maxwell, twenty-five years as an MP, Liberal News, London, (Cat No .c.); Clem- May , CDP B/. This article first appeared in the Trans- ent Davies and Ernest Evans, An Epitome For an insight into the relationship be- actions of the Honourable Society of Agricultural Law, pp xxii, . Estates tween the two men and into the dra- of Cymmrodorion (new series, Gazette, London, (Cat No matic nature of the change in Clem’s .aaal); Abridgment on Particular Sub- views in on how the war ought to Vol. , ), and is reprinted here by jects, Agriculture, Laws & Statutes, IV (Cat. be prosecuted, see CDP Class I: in par- kind permission of the author. No. .e.); The Agricultural Holdings ticular I/, letter from David Davies to Act , Laws & Statutes VIII Chrono- Clem and I/, letter from Clement Notes: logical Series Ed. VIII [ – ] (Cat. Davies to his wife, Jano. My emphasis. No .r.). We Can Conquer Unemployment, cam- Daily Telegraph, September . Now known as Unilever. paign based on the book, Britain’s Indus- See e.g. Geoffrey Sell, ‘Clement Davies Not as legal advisor as has elsewhere trial Future. — the Forgotten Leader’, Radical Quar- been suggested. According to some bio- Dealing with the national control of land terly, – , where Clement Davies’ role graphical notes written by R. J. and related issues. is described as one of considerable sig- Maule-Horne, Clement Davies’ sister, he John Maynard Keynes, the author of the nificance: ‘Had he accepted [Churchill’s was the Head of Transport, Chairman of most influential work on economics of offer of a post in Cabinet in , the the Internal Board of Commerce (CDP the twentieth century: The General Theory Liberal Party could have suffered the B//). of Employment, Interest and Money, pub- same fate of other coalition partners of August to June . lished in . the Conservatives — the Liberal Union- June to May . Baldwin Montgomeryshire Express September ists and the Liberal Nationals. Neither is was quite friendly with Clement Davies. . For an authoritative account of this
12 journal of liberal democrat history 24: autumn 1999 period, see J. Graham Jones, ‘Mont- for Production. Churchill refused, but, See also, Y Bywgraffiadur Cymreig – gomeryshire Politics: Clement Davies ‘twelve months later, we had one’. (London, ). and the National Government’, The Later Lord Jowitt, Labour’s Lord Chan- This appears to be the impression he Montgomeryshire Collections (), cellor from . gave to G. B. Shriver, his tutor at Trin- et seq. W. Jowitt to Clement Davies May ity Hall, as well as that of being a See J. Graham Jones, ‘The Reminiscences (CDP). workaholic. In a letter of December of Clement Davies MP’, National Library See Alan Watkins, The Liberal Dilemma , he implores Clem not to worry of Wales Journal XXVII no. , Winter – at –. After the election, about the ‘Whewell’ and to enjoy his , –, at in which Clement neither was an MP: ‘It is arguable, of vacation: ‘Vacations are not so frequent Davies’ record of what Herr Wohltat said course, that the Liberal Party in Parlia- as all that. Say you live sixty more years, to a meeting is: ‘Europe is in a chaotic ment was more harmonious for the ab- with three vacations per annum; the condition. Let us take control over Eu- sence of these two from its ranks; Lady ‘diminution’ total is only ’, CDP rope. You have the rest of the World.’ Megan was moving rapidly to the Left, A/ (i). Sometimes called the ‘Vigilantes Group’. Lady Violet just as rapidly to the Right. The ‘Whewell’. His son, Geraint, was seething when he But despite their predilection for quar- CDP A//. had heard that his father had been of- relling — partly, perhaps, because of it ‘James Griffiths, who entered parlia- fered a minor post in the Government: — they were undoubtedly the ment in as the Labour member ‘What does the PM think you are — an best-publicised members of the Liberal for Llanelli, was immediately impressed office boy to run and fetch for Arthur Party.’ by Davies’ pleas in the Commons on Greenwood?’, CDP R / letter from CDP, J/, letter from Clement Davies behalf of his constituents: “He always son to father, November , quoted to Gilbert Murray, May (copy); used to talk about “my people, my by J. Graham Jones, op. cit., at . he also said that ‘there is no party today, county”.’ David M. Roberts, ‘Clement CDP, B/. but a number of individuals whom be- Davies and the Fall of Neville Cham- For further details on his father’s life and cause of their adherence to the party berlain’, –, Welsh History Review Clement Davies’ family background, see come together to express completely di- , –, ; for corroboration of the obituary of Alderman Moses Davies, vergent views.’ For further insight into this view of Clement Davies as an ar- CDP A/. the difficulties Clem faced see Class J dent constituency MP, see Jo Grimond, E.g., his sister, Dr Laura Maule-Horne, generally. Memoirs (London ), . took medical degrees at London, Edin- See, e.g., The Times on Davies’ honour ‘Davies was closely involved in the for- burgh and Paris, CDP A, and she ap- on being made a Privy Councillor on mulation of this plank in the Liberal plat- pears to have been a highly regarded January : ‘The distinction justly form in , was associated with the member of her profession (see a refer- recognises the tactical ability with which approach to Chamberlain in , and ence written for her at A/); his brother, Mr Clement Davies has led the small, continued to fight for this appointment David Thomas Davies, qualified as a sur- but vigorous, Liberal section of the op- throughout his career’, J. Graham Jones, veyor and became the Superintending position.’ See also Lord Boothby, My Yes- ‘The Clement Davies Papers: A Review’, Valuer for Wales, CDP A. terdays, Your Tomorrow, , in which he The National Library of Wales Journal XIII, His brother, David Thomas Davies. says that few would deny ‘that he led [the –, . CDP A. Liberal Party] with dauntless courage, CDP, D. David Morgan Clement-Davies, then and no small measure of success.’ Churchill wrote to Arthur Evans on articled to a London solicitor, died of a i.e. John Major. October , saying that it was ‘no heart attack, Sep ; Mair Eluned died Latymer School. doubt a very fit and proper matter for whilst serving in the ATS, Nov. — See Alan Watkins, op. cit., at : ‘some discussion in a transition period or when a verdict of suicide was recorded; Geraint tribute should perhaps be paid to those peace is restored’, CDP D/. died in a road accident in Wiltshire whilst Liberals who, in the dark days of Something which, tragically, was on active service, Feb. . and , kept the faith: Philip Fothergill, achieved not long after his death in , Attributed to the pressure of her de- Clement Davies, Frank Byers and oth- when James Griffiths became the first manding job. ers. It would have been easy for any of Secretary of State for Wales. Jano was also a campaigner in her own these to find a satisfactory, perhaps a glo- Ibid., D/: letter from Clement Jones right, working for women’s rights, and rious, future with one of the other par- to W. J. Jones, July (copy). she was a powerful public speaker. See, ties. Davies, as we have seen, could have Hartley Shawcross, famed for his role in e.g. J. Graham Jones, op. cit. at – had a post in the Churchill Cabinet. Yet the Nuremberg trials. See, e.g., J. Graham Jones, op. cit., at : he stood firm … “We refuse to be Gerald Gardiner, who as Labour’s Lord ‘All too often, Davies is portrayed as stamped out” he said to the Liberal As- Chancellor, immortalised himself for stu- leader of the party at a time when its sembly. “In spite of all temptations we dents and practitioners of law for liber- electoral fortunes were at their nadir. But, still prefer our own doctrine and we are ating the House of Lords from its own as The Times commented when Davies determined to maintain our independ- precedents, Practice Statement () All resigned the leadership in October , ence”.’ ER . “No leader could have prevented [the] Announcing his resignation to the I confine myself to this branch of the numerical decline [of the Liberal MPs]; Folkestone Assembly, Clement Davies, profession as it is the one I know well. a less devoted leader than Mr Clement using a nautical metaphor, said: ‘It is time He had become its Chairman in Davies might have failed to prevent it that the tiller was placed in the hands of and remained in that position until his turning into a rout”.’ a younger man and that a new voice death. In in recognition of his work Clem was a workaholic and, it was said, should be calling on the ship’s company, on the Bench, he was awarded with a he had written the entire report himself rallying them to the great cause, which Gregynog Presentation Book, which re- save for the medical contribution. we all have so much at heart. Fortunately, mains in his collection, CDP, E/. See Hansard March col. – I can step down knowing that there is a Papers from the Unilever archives , . worthy successor waiting — one who were, I believe, offered to Clement According to his sister’s biographical note has fully earned his master’s certificate. ‘ Davies’ sister when she was making supra, they called, inter alia, for a Ministry Quoted by Alan Watkins, op. cit. biographical notes. journal of liberal democrat history 24: autumn 1999 13 ‘A Sad Business’ The Resignation of Clement Davies Geoffrey Sell examines the end of Clement Davies’ leadership in 1956.
For much of Clement Davies’ leadership the Liberal chose to follow the Simonites and join the Na- tional Liberals in . It was not until Party was battling for survival. It was his fate to be that he rejoined the Liberal Party. party leader at the lowest moment in its history. The Both Attlee and Churchill retired from the party that had once seemed a natural vehicle of leadership of their parties in . Would Davies, aged seventy-two and leader of the Lib- government was close to extinction, commanding eral Party since , follow suit? Certainly the support of little more than two per cent of the amongst many leading activists there was a electorate and securing the return of only three MPs strong belief that there was need for change. It ‘was plain that the Young Turks and their friends to Westminster without the benefit of local pacts. among the Old Guard had lost faith in Clem- ent Davies, whose oratory had become even Unlike or , the Liberal Party adopted more emotional and rambling. Grimond, be- a narrow-front strategy for the elections of came clearly the best chance of change.’ and . Just and candidates respec- tively were fielded, and this helps to account, in part, for the low Liberal poll. In only fifteen Grimond constituencies in Great Britain at the gen- eral election did Labour and Conservative can- Jo Grimond had been Chief Whip since , didates not occupy the first two positions in and had married into the Liberal establishment, the poll. The pattern of party competition was to Asquith’s granddaughter, giving him his pass- that of a stable and balanced duopoly. In local port into Liberal politics. His mother-in-law, Lady Violet Bonham Carter, was ‘the formida- government the party was equally weak. Only .% of councillors elected in were Lib- ble high priestess of Liberalism.’ She took a eral. Moreover, the party was adrift on policy. proprietorial interest in the Liberal Party and Its progressive clothes had been stolen by La- the political hopes that she had once enter- bour in the post-war years, and those who re- tained for herself were transferred to Grimond. jected socialism found an attractive option in He was assisted by the lack of a credible alter- a Tory party influenced by Liberal ideas and native candidate. Of the six-man parliamen- led by moderates like Eden and Macmillan. tary party, two — Arthur Holt and Donald Surrender, however, was not countenanced. Wade — were clearly in Parliament only as After his successful election victory in , result of tacit Liberal/Conservative pacts in Churchill offered Davies the Ministry of Edu- Bolton and Huddersfield respectively. Roderic cation. The offer was refused, but to many ob- Bowen of Cardigan was not particularly ener- servers it looked like a brave gesture from a getic, and Sir Rhys Hopkin Morris was the Deputy Speaker. politically dying man. Davies believed that however ‘small are our numbers we have a task The comments made at the January to perform, and that cannot be performed if meeting of the National Executive can be seen we sink our independence and see the party as a criticism of Davies’ leadership. Edwin gradually welded into the structure of another Malindine claimed that ‘in the space of the party.’ At the Assembly, the Party Presi- last twenty or thirty years, the Liberal Party dent described Davies ‘as the leader of a party, had had setback after setback. Despite this, which after fighting three political Dunkirks, bands of Liberals were still working hard in the face of all defeats … above all, Liberal refuses to lie down.’ Nevertheless, his leader- ship had been a controversial one. His political workers need inspiration.’ H. Graham White, career was chequered, for although elected as a former Liberal MP, felt that: ‘more leader- Liberal MP for Montgomeryshire in , he ship of almost a spiritual kind, with a new
14 journal of liberal democrat history 24: autumn 1999 and vigorous statement of policy, small number of rural and seaside .%. Six MPs were returned, al- was required.’ constituencies, the party was benefit- lowing a degree of credibility that Although his Welsh oratory in- ing from electoral disenchantment would have been impossible to re- spired the rank and file at rallies and with the Eden government. This tain had their numbers been reduced at the annual Liberal Assembly, found expression at the Torquay by- to only two or three. Above all, the Clement Davies relied on generali- election in December , when Liberal Party had survived. ties about Liberal philosophy, and the Liberal share of the vote in- The perception that Liberal for- could be rather woolly about cur- creased from % to %. North tunes were on the increase put heart rent issues. For some Liberals, how- West Liberals were told that this was into its officers. Geoffrey Acland ever, such as former Oxford Univer- ‘a clear indication of political upturn wrote to Sir Andrew McFadyean in sity student David Penwarden, … The Liberal Party is on the march March that: ‘the result of the Davies displayed considerable pas- again, the old crusading spirit is be- election had surprised him far sion. He was good on issues such as ing recaptured.’ At Hereford two more than even those of and Africa and Europe. Penwarden recalls months later, Labour was pushed . Everything indicated to me that Davies would: ‘cry and break into third place and the Liberal can- that we could do nothing more than into tears when delivering a speech. didate secured % of the vote. say we went down and deep down He had a great rapport with stu- There was also evidence from the fighting. Although the need had al- dents.’ Former Young Liberal Betty General Election that the Lib- ways been there, now he felt for the Corn was also an admirer. Davies’ erals were beginning to attract a first time for many years we may ‘integrity shone through, one felt ‘floating’ or protest vote, those wa- succeed.’ very loyal to him.’ During the lat- vering in support or those wishing In some constituencies there ter part of his leadership, there was a to protest against the existing gov- were distinct signs of improvement. resurgence of support for the Lib- ernment without switching their al- Blackpool Liberals were informed at eral Party at both Oxford and Cam- legiance to the other major party. their Annual General Meeting that: bridge universities, each of which Thus in Bristol North-East two- ‘Membership was on the upgrade had Liberal Clubs with memberships thirds of a sample of Liberal voters and the financial position healthier of over a thousand. at this election had not voted Lib- than for many years. Wards never Davies did not pretend to be a eral before. The election better organised. Nationally the party manager and was not very marked a turning point in the Lib- party is gaining ground especially good at devising a positive pro- eral Party’s history. It was the first among the younger folk.’ gramme for the party. He was election since in which the rightly described as ‘a radical evan- party improved on its previous per- gelist’ by temperament rather than formance. The tide had been Pressure for change a party boss, disliking rigid party or- stemmed. There were few real set- Nevertheless, despite these indica- ganisation and conventions. Davies backs and many minor successes. The tions that the party had began to was thought intellectually flabby by Liberal share of the vote per candi- emerge from the electoral abyss, it the party hierarchy, including Lady date rose slightly from .% to was clear that some prominent Lib- Violet Bonham Carter and Philip Fothergill; Lady Violet’s daughter, Laura Grimond, thought that Clement Davies with the President of the Liberal Party, Sir Arthur Comyns Carr, in 1959. Davies was faintly ridiculous. David Steel commented that dur- ing Davies’ leadership, ‘all the Lib- eral Party was was the left-over of a once great party. It didn’t seem to have any relevance to modern po- litical thought.
Revival Despite these criticisms, the final year of Davies’ leadership saw the begin- nings of a Liberal revival which was to blossom under his successor. This had little to do with Davies, who was suffering from ill health. He had been forced to miss the Assem- bly and convalesce in Majorca. In a journal of liberal democrat history 24: autumn 1999 15 erals wanted a leadership change. Grimond’s closest colleague, recalled declaring: ‘it’s getting too much for These included Major-General Grey, being rung up and written to dur- me.’ When she learned that he in- the Party Treasurer, and Philip ing the final months of Davies’s lead- tended to make an announcement Fothergill, Party Vice-President, who ership by party activists. Richard the next day, she rang Grimond to concluded that the election results Moore, than a leader writer on the tell him. He replied that: ‘Clem hasn’t of and had been more News Chronicle, told Holt that un- said a word to me.’ disastrous than those of and less Davies went there would be a In a moving speech, Davies took . This was because only a small demonstration at the Assembly by his leave and was warmly and number of constituencies, where the the Young Liberals. The parliamen- lengthily cheered. This may have Liberals appeared to have a reason- tary party were, however, reluctant been because ‘gratitude for past serv- able chance of victory, were con- to act, as they did not want to cre- ices and relief at his decision to step tested. A younger man could provide ate a bad atmosphere. Davies was re- down were mixed in about equal the drive necessary to improve the garded as a nice, warm-hearted, man proportions.’ However, Roy Doug- party organisation. who did not really have much idea las believes that Davies’ announce- It was Grey, a man known for his where the party should go. ment was met with real sorrow by bluntness and not giving a damn for many delegates. For some Liberals anyone, who finally approached there was a strong element of hy- Davies and urged him to relinquish The final stage pocrisy in the air. The platform party the position of leader. It ‘was time It seems unlikely that Grimond was were ‘weeping like taps when Davies to go … the party will accept Jo.’ unaware of what was going on. made his farewell address. Ugh. Dis- This action was taken around June Upon arriving at the Assembly he gusting, and they all really wanted or July in . Feelings of contri- ‘vaguely discovered that there was him gone.’ Other Liberals were also tion sent the General straight away a feeling that the existing leader, unhappy. Peter Billenness, a member to Lady Violet. She asked him on Clem Davies, should go.’ This was of the Party Council, felt that Davies whose authority he had told Davies somewhat of an understatement, for should have been allowed to go in to resign. He replied Fothergill. In the conference opened to newspa- his own time. times of crisis, Fothergill was the per headlines such as ‘Davies: the The Observer thought that several most respectable name one could big query’ and ‘new leader for the delegates, despite applauding Davies’ think of. After all, he was head of the Liberals.’ speech, were privately contrasting his Temperance Association and Bands Amid this intense leadership rather nebulous and sentimental re- of Hope. speculation, Grimond moved a reso- affirmation of basic Liberal princi- Grimond’s engagement diary lution on automation. After a glow- ples with the sharp, concrete and records that he met General Grey ing introduction by the Assembly practical view on industrial progress five times between the beginning of chair, he modestly stated that he ap- expressed by Grimond. the year and July . It also reveals peared ‘not as the white hope of the The Economist, in similar vein, that on July he had lunch with Liberal Party, but as the white hope commented that: ‘Pensioning off an Jeremy Thorpe, who, Dominic Le of Kingston, Malden and Coombe old servant is a sad business, but Foe, a publicity consultant to the Liberal Association’ (the constituency when the Liberals have paid their party, claimed, was the mouthpiece association on whose behalf he was tributes to Clement Davies, they are of the campaign for Davies to go. moving the resolution). His self-dep- bound to feel relieved that their lead- Thorpe was a member of the Party recatory, offhand, unforcedly humor- ership, like that of the two main par- Council and candidate for North ous manner endeared him to the ties, has now moved into the next Devon, where he had increased the delegates. They made it unmistakably generation.’ party’s share of the vote from % clear that he was their candidate for Most Liberals accepted that a to % in . Granville Slack, the position of leader-elect of the change of leadership was overdue, Chairman of the Executive, recalls Liberal Party. He ‘appeared before to someone who could provide en- meeting Thorpe shortly before the Assembly as a delegate … he left ergy and a clear vision of the way Davies resigned, when he was asked: it as Crown Prince. the Liberal Party should develop. ‘can’t we get rid of Clement Davies?’ Grimond was absent when The only man who could do this Slack replied to the effect that Davies announced his decision to was Grimond. Stephen Cawley, Thorpe should let things lie. He step down. This was not made until Chairman of the Steering Com- knew that Davies had not accepted he arrived at the Assembly, for he had mittee for the Assembly, re- any speaking engagements for the told his agent in Montgomeryshire called his emotions: ‘Of course, we autumn, so consequently he ex- that he had no intention of resign- rejoiced; a young man had taken pected him to resign. ing. Press Officer Phyllis Preston re- over from a tired, old one with a The parliamentary party was called that he was hoping that peo- rather chequered career of politi- aware of the pressure for a change ple would persuade him to carry on. cal allegiance.’ in the leadership. Arthur Holt, She found him in an emotional state,
16 journal of liberal democrat history 24: autumn 1999 For the victories of Was there an the future, we must alternative? thank the guardians of the past. However, like Although necessary, it was never- many other political theless a painful transition for leaders before and since, Davies. His friends stated that he his manner of departure was hurt by the manner of his go- was inglorious. He failed ing, for he had not gone of his own to realise that the curtain volition. Was there an alternative? had come down and it In a party where there was no for- was time to leave the mal mechanism for removing a stage and make way for leader, it was bound to be a prob- another. lem. Grimond recognised this: ‘As there is no statutory limit on the Geoffrey Sell is a college time anyone can lead a party, and lecturer and a member of the seldom any moment which all those Liberal Democrat History involved see as the right moment Grop executive. He com- to resign, a great deal depends on pleted a PhD thesis on the character, judgement and good- Liberal Revival: British will of the leader … It does him Liberalism and Jo [Davies] credit, however, that he Grimond – . accepted with such good grace the Notes: suggestion that it was time for a The Times November change. Grimond subsequently . wrote to Davies deploring the Liberal News May , p. . events (press articles, and so on) Letter from the late Dr. T. Joyce to au- Letter from the late Dr T. Joyce, a former thor, op.cit. which led up to his decision to re- member of the Party National Execu- Interview with D. le Foe, November sign. He stated that: ‘I do not be- tive, to author, July . . lieve it necessary for one moment A. Sampson, Anatomy of Britain Today Interview with G. Slack, April . (London: Hodder & Stoughton, ) that you should resign now.’ Interview with Richard Moore, July p. . Nevertheless, an increasingly in- . National Executive Committee Min- Interview with the late A. Holt, April effective elderly leader was removed utes, January ; Liberal Party Ar- . from office against his will. Yet the chives, British Library of Political and The Listener, September , p. . impression was that ‘Grimond would Economic Science. News Chronicle, September . Ibid. not play ball to push the old man Manchester Guardian, September Interview with David Penwarden, Au- out. Others had to wield the knife , p. . gust . on his behalf.’ Party Council mem- Ibid. Interview with Miss B. Corn, August Interview with the late Miss P. Preston, ber Manuela Sykes believed that . November . Grimond did not know the meth- Interview with late Lady Grimond, A. Watkins, The Liberal Dilemma (Ply- ods being used on his behalf. October . mouth: MacGibbon and Kee, ), p. . Marxism Today, October . Clement Davies had all the tears Letter from the late Dr. T. Joyce, op. cit. Newsletter of the Lancashire, Cheshire and few of the joys of leadership. He Interview with Peter Billenness, July and North West Liberal Federation, . held the pass during the most treach- February ; Federation Archives, The Observer, September , p. . erous years in the party’s history, and Manchester Central Library. The Economist, October . in doing so, helped to lay the foun- R. S. Milne and H. C. MacKenzie, Mar- Letter dated June from the Hon. ginal Seats, (London, ) pp – dations for the revival that took place S. Cawley to author. . under his successor. His legacy was M. Burton, The Making of Liberal Party Letter from Geoffrey Acland (Chairman Policy –, PhD thesis, University of that he passed on a separate inde- of the National Executive) dated Reading, , p. . pendent national party further from March to Sir A. McFadyean; Undated letter from Jo Grimond to extinction or engulfment by either McFadyean Papers, British Library of Clement Davies; Clement Davies papers, Political and Economic Science. of the major parties than when he National Library of Wales. Annual General Meeting of the Black- took up the task. As the News Chroni- Based on an unpublished paper dated pool Liberal Association March ; September by Douglas Brown, cle commented, ‘Liberals are indebted Federation Archives, Lancashire Record former News Chronicle journalist; inter- to this man who refused to bow the Office. view July . knee and who recognised that the D. M. Roberts, Clement Davies and the Interview with Manuela Sykes, Au- Liberal Party, MA Thesis, University of endless obituaries of the party were gust . Wales, . premature.’ News Chronicle, October . journal of liberal democrat history 24: autumn 1999 17 The 1988 Leadership Campaign Following this year’s leadership election for the Liberal Democrats, Harriet Smith looks back to the party’s first such election.
At .pm on Thursday July , Paddy scared to say what he thought, frequently got into trouble as a result of indiscreet conversa- Ashdown MP was declared as first leader of the tions with the press, and displayed boundless, newly-merged Social & Liberal Democrats. He won indefatigable energy. He was widely recognised .% of the votes cast in the ballot, while his only within and outwith the party as someone to keep a (wary) eye on. opponent, Alan Beith MP, polled . %. Turnout was Alan Beith was a complete contrast — a % of a total membership of ,. quiet Methodist lay-preacher, he embodied tra- ditional Liberal values and beliefs and was seen The results of the election for the first Presi- as someone who would guard the Liberals’ po- dent of the party were also announced on the litical integrity. He was also a very strong Par- same day. The winner was Ian Wrigglesworth, liamentary performer. Other potential candi- a senior figure in the former SDP, who beat dates talked about within the party and men- Des Wilson and Gwynoro Jones, both Liber- tioned by the press and media were Russell als. Although this result was closer than the Johnston, Malcolm Bruce and Robert leadership, there was an inevitability to it — Maclennan, briefly leader of the SDP at the eleven years ago, there was a strong feeling that time of merger. In the end, however, they all the two most senior figures in the party should decided not to stand and Bruce became Chair represent both old parties, although this feel- of Ashdown’s campaign. David Steel, as out- ing was not always shared, particularly among going Liberal leader, and Jim Wallace, as Chief some ex-Liberals. Whip, stayed strictly neutral throughout the campaign. Merger and after The election was an all-member ballot us- ing the alternative vote system. This was a The build-up to the leadership campaign be- unique method for electing a leader among gan as soon as the party was formally merged the major political parties in the UK. In both in March — David Steel had made it clear the Labour and Conservative parties, leaders that he did not want to continue as leader af- were (and still are) elected by MPs and other ter the struggles of the Alliance days, and David sections of the party using electoral colleges, Owen had gone off into his own wilderness. and in the case of the Conservatives, a com- At that stage in the party’s development, there plicated series of ballots. The one-member- were still serious divisions between former Lib- one-vote system of election used in the Lib- erals and former SDP members. eral Democrats’ leadership election at- Potential candidates for the leadership were tracted considerable attention from the press identified almost immediately. Paddy Ashdown because of this. was already well-known in the party before he As with the election, there was an ar- became an MP in , mainly as a result of tificial ‘cold war’ period before the serious elec- the Youth Charter he formulated as a result of tion period started, but as there was no mora- his experience of working with unemployed torium on campaigning before the official cam- youngsters. His unusual background (for a Lib- paign, the period was used for intensive be- eral) as a soldier and diplomat also attracted hind-the-scenes negotiations with potential attention. Once elected, he quickly made a supporters. Because of the recent merger, it was name for himself as someone who was not seen as essential for leadership candidates to
18 journal of liberal democrat history 24: autumn 1999 have support from ex-SDP members but with a few differences. In , This enabled Ashdown and Beith as well as ex-Liberals. Both teams hustings did not begin until after to articulate clearly their policies on also spent their time planning their nominations closed, and every mem- these areas, plan press releases and press and media strategies, the time- ber of the party received notification maximise publicity for their policy table for keynote speeches and hus- of the date of the hustings. Each hus- positions and their views of the par- tings, and general publicity. tings — there were seven — had a ty’s future. It was an effective way of Just before the real contest started, specific policy area as a theme to enabling the candidates to set out Alan Beith’s campaign got off to an which each candidate spoke, fol- their vision for policy development, unfortunate start when one of his lowed by general questions. The sub- then giving members a chance to ask supporters — reputedly Alex Carlile jects were: questions about their more general — released a list of fifteen reasons Local government/environment concerns. why Ashdown was not fit to be Constitutional reform In addition to the official hus- elected. Beith eventually condemned Health tings, other groups in the party held the letter after intervention from Economy and industry their own. There were Green and David Steel and other senior party Education Women’s hustings (on the same day), members, but the move had intro- Home Affairs and Association of Liberal Council- duced a sour note. Foreign Affairs and Defence lors’, Young Social & Liberal Demo- crats’ and Parliamentary Candidates’ The campaign begins conferences. Ashdown By the time nominations closed on June , both candidates had attracted a strong list of supporters. Ashdown’s key lieutenants were Malcolm Bruce MP, Archy Kirkwood MP, Tim Clement-Jones, Des Wilson (deus ex machina) and Alan Leaman. Other MPs who sup- ported Ashdown included Matthew Taylor, Richard Livsey, Ronnie Fearn and Menzies Campbell. Tom McNally, Lindsay Granshaw, Anne Sofer, Denis Sullivan and David Marquand were his high-profile SDP backers, later joined by Roy Jenkins and Shirley Williams. Beith’s team was chaired by Geraint Howells MP; supporters in- cluded Cyril Smith, Alex Carlile MP, David Alton MP, Lord (George) Mackie, Richard Wain- wright, Annette Penhaligon, Andrew Gifford and Rev. Roger Roberts. The contrast between a radical, cross-party approach to the development of the new So- cial & Liberal Democrats, and the more traditional approach to per- petuating old-style Liberalism in the new party could not have been more marked. Ashdown launched his cam- paign in his constituency, Yeovil, on June. Beith followed the next day, launching his effort from the cottage in Cheshire where he was born. The elec- tion process was similar to this year’s, journal of liberal democrat history 24: autumn 1999 19 and Beith used these opportunities ALDC tradition — leaflet distribu- ment of political forces. This is a pity, to make speeches on the future of tion, telephone canvassing and, for since what we need is a fresh assem- the party and on policies relevant to the first time in a leadership elec- bly of new ideas.’ the audience. A never-to-be-forgot- tion, extensive use of the press and He argued throughout the cam- ten hustings was the Liberal Move- media. paign that a united, democratic, new ment’s in Wolverhampton, where a party should not be afraid to re-think large number of radical Liberals (in- policies where necessary in order to cluding members of Ashdown’s Political differences ‘make the message forward looking’ team) got together to make very A year before the election, Ashdown (Ashdown’s phrase). His underlying clear their hostile views about the had already begun to articulate the theme throughout was that choice former SDP. Ashdown was given a political creed which he espoused and individual freedoms were the hard time whereas Beith was wel- throughout his leadership, and which entitlement of every citizen, but that comed openly. eventually led to the development of with that entitlement must come In addition to formal and infor- the Joint Cabinet Committee with rights and responsibilities. New mal hustings, both candidates used New Labour in . He began an thinking should include looking at invitations from local associations as article in with the words: ‘The the social security/benefits/welfare opportunities to put across their realignment of the Left in Britain has system, putting green politics at the views on various concerns. There always been seen in terms of realign- top of the agenda, and using the was also — as in , and in good market wherever possible to pro- mote prosperity. In , these were new, challenging ideas, and were a conscious effort to move forward from the ideas and policies of the Grimond era. This did not mean that the Grimond legacy was rejected; the opposite was true. Grimond’s clar- ity of thinking, new ways of look- ing at politics in his day, and his de- termination to succeed were crucial to the development of Ashdown’s political philosophy. He felt, however, that the new party was the ideal, and possibly only, opportunity to expand and redirect those ideas in keeping with a different political age. Eleven years ago, those ideas challenged conventional political wisdom; eleven years on, they have become common currency. Beith’s message was based on more traditional Liberal thinking. By nature a less radical figure than Ashdown, he appealed to members who felt threatened by the centrist, professional, non-inclusive approach of the former SDP. Although both candidates shared a fundamental be- lief in Liberal values, Beith harked back to the former Liberal Party as his vision for the future. Unlike Ashdown, he rejected the idea of overtaking Labour, saying, ‘The Leader should set the party the chal- lenge of developing policies for the next general election based on those values and on our traditional belief in achieving a free and fair society, creating a safer planet and sustain-
20 journal of liberal democrat history 24: autumn 1999 able future and decentralising and for the party’s short title symbolises devolving power.’ Differences in his attitude … Mr Ashdown, on the temperaments other hand, does not conceal his dis- like of harking back and is quite Relations with Labour This difference in approach and happy with “Democrats” … He is Ashdown wanted to lead a party that, character was picked up by the me- the risk-takers’ choice, and not much at that time, he genuinely believed dia. Ashdown was accused of run- is achieved in politics without risk.’ could become a natural alternative ning a slick American-style cam- A less contentious point of dif- government to a Labour Party then paign. One example of this was his ference between the candidates was in a state of chaos. Neil Kinnock was campaign Focus, which was distrib- their handwriting! In an effort to being battered on all sides by oppos- uted to all party members, and con- discredit Ashdown, Andrew Gifford ing forces within the Labour move- tained his formal manifesto. It was a (one of Beith’s lieutenants) had ex- ment, and their credibility had mixture of the traditional and the amples of their handwriting analysed reached an all-time low. In October new, using colour, clear pictures, a in the hope that the result would , Ashdown wrote: ‘… Labour specially designed letterhead and prove that Ashdown was completely was determined to conduct a major eye-catching graphics. Beith’s was a unsuited to be leader. Unfortunately rethink. It was also evident that they more traditional black-and-white for the Beith campaign, it backfired. intend to move back to the centre presentation that stressed his politi- The graphologist interpreted ground as fast as their little legs and cal experience and his long history Ashdown’s writing as being that of left-wing will allow. If they succeed, of commitment to the Liberal Party. a natural leader; Beith’s was that of a they will at last arrive at where we Ashdown was also accused of cautious, careful person who did not were twenty years ago. The Labour running ahead of the rest of his team, like taking risks and did not have Party is about to learn again, and taking decisions and then informing strong leadership potential. Some- painfully, that Thatcherism will not them of what he had decided, and how or other this information found be defeated by defending the past.’ of impromptu unscripted media its way into various broadsheet dia- He believed then that as long as briefings which left his supporters ries and tabloid gossip columns … Labour was vulnerable, there was a wondering what was coming next. It was ultimately Ashdown’s de- chance that a strong Liberal Demo- Beith ran a less flamboyant, more sire to take risks with the future that crat party could overtake them at the controlled campaign which took few ensured his success. His approach was polls. The key to achieving that was risks and emphasised continuity. more acceptable to the ex-SDP ele- to build what he described as an ef- The candidates’ widely differing ment (which at that time made up ficient, modern party of teamwork campaign styles and their basic points less than one-third of party mem- that could develop and promote of disagreement were epitomised by bers) and to those ex-Liberals who radical policies, and not be afraid to the debate over the party name. It feared that a traditional Liberal-style take on the new challenges posed by was an important and potentially di- leader would restrict the new par- new technology, globalisation and visive issue in the new party, unim- ty’s appeal to potential new mem- the communication revolution. He aginable though it is today. The long bers and voters. The press also played wanted to create an effective, coher- title was the cumbersome Social & a role in promoting the vision of a ent party which was capable of Liberal Democrats, which inevitably radical new party at a time when achieving real power. became ‘the Salads’. Ashdown was British politics was in a state of tur- Beith took a different view of happy to adopt the short title moil, with Thatcher increasingly be- how the party could achieve electoral ‘Democrats’, not a very popular view ing seen as a threat to the country’s success. At the launch of his campaign, among his campaign team, let alone future, the Labour Party at odds with he said: ‘I am not prepared to see the among the party as a whole. Beith itself, and the nationalists and Greens next general election handed on a — with foresight — preferred Lib- beginning to attract attention. plate to Mrs Thatcher or her succes- eral Democrats. This issue was to sor while we conduct a battle for sec- become one of Ashdown’s biggest 1988 and 1999 ond place with the Labour Party …’ problems at his first conference, and His style was to do things through continued to haunt him until the compared the party in the traditional Liberal party finally (in ) became the way; he contrasted his experience as Liberal Democrats. The campaign was very differ- Deputy Liberal Leader and former A Leader in the Times com- ent from the recent one. People then Chief Whip with Ashdown’s politi- mented: ‘Mr Beith stands very much were looking for something new and cal inexperience and impetuous ap- for the apostolic succession of the exciting, a leader who could drag the proach. The implication of this was old Liberal tradition. His expressed new party out of the doldrums cre- that Ashdown was the risky choice, regret at the adoption of the short ated by the Alliance. Ashdown came someone who was likely to take de- trade description “Democrats”, and along at exactly the right moment. cisions without consulting first. his wish to rescue the word Liberal In , after eleven years of his lead- journal of liberal democrat history 24: autumn 1999 21 ership, most members were at a loss community poli- to know what they wanted. He had tics. It was based succeeded in leading the party to on classic ALC greater heights than for nearly sev- techniques, with enty years, had embraced a new style the added ingre- of politics in his relationship with dient of using the Labour and was without doubt one media to reach of the most dynamic politicians in the members Britain. The new leader would be (and therefore someone very different to him, and the general pub- someone who had a very hard act lic), something to follow. that had not The electoral mechanism been seriously was less agile than in : the hus- tried in previ- tings process was more laborious and ous leadership began before nominations closed, elections. went on for much longer, and the Ashdown also way it was organised meant that can- used the con- didates had less opportunity to talk test as an op- in any detail about where they portunity to wanted to take the Lib Dems. This articulate his was compounded by having five political vi- candidates, only two of whom, sion on is- Kennedy and Hughes, were serious sues which contenders. Inevitably there was less politicians time for contenders to articulate were un- their visions, and the system whereby willing to each had to answer the same ques- tackle — tion in turn made it almost impos- for example sible for anyone to stand out, or to reform of express radically different views from the social security system. The cam- a year later feelings still ran the others. The debate about the par- paign was sometimes controversial, high. ty’s future and direction went round and frequently exhausting, but it was Tim Clement-Jones was past Chair of in circles, with all the candidates ba- an exciting time, as were the some- the Liberal Party; Des Wilson was an out- standing campaigner for social justice is- sically agreeing about general poli- times fraught but interesting and ul- sues; Alan Leaman was co-author of the cies with few specifics mentioned. timately successful years that fol- Youth Charter and an active Young Lib- It was also more difficult to en- lowed. Where next? eral. Tom McNally (formerly Jim gage the media, who assumed it Callaghan’s speechwriter), Lindsay Harriet Smith was Paddy Ashdown’s would be a Kennedy walk-over un- Granshaw, Anne Sofer, Denis Robertson Press Officer during and after the Sullivan and David Marquand were lead- til near the end when Hughes be- leadership election. ing lights in the SDP. gan to gain ground. The media’s Richard Wainwright was a former Lib- main concern, unlike in when Notes: eral MP, Annette Penhaligon was David they scented a genuine battle be- The turnout in the leadership elec- Penhaligon MP’s widow and an influ- tween differing philosophies, was on tion was .% of a membership of over ential figure in the Liberal Party in her the Liberal Democrat relationship , . There will be many explanations own right, Andrew Gifford was previ- for this, but the most likely one is that ously David Steel’s Head of Office, and with Labour. The only candidate in , members were voting for the Rev. Roger Roberts was an eloquent, who might have stimulated a real new leader of a new party, and the con- influential, Welsh Liberal. debate about ‘the project’(as the Joint test was based on principles, ideas and In the hustings, each candidate was Cabinet Committee became the future of a party that was still reel- given five minutes to explain in general known), was Don Foster who ing from the wreckage of the Alliance. terms why they would be the best leader, By , the party was established and and then another five minutes to answer openly espoused closer links with successful, and the leadership election questions. After a short break, three or Labour, but he withdrew his candi- more of a quasi-presidential contest than four pre-prepared questions were asked dacy before nominations closed. a battle about new ideas. of all the candidates in turn. In , Ashdown and his team At the general election the previous year, The Liberal Movement was established took the opportunity in his cam- the Alliance had polled .% of the after merger to campaign for Liberalism votes, and had MPs. The campaign within the SLD. It lasted for about four paign to exploit the Liberal ability had been characterised by difficult ex- years as an effective voice in the new to win hearts and minds through changes between Owen and Steel, and party.
22 journal of liberal democrat history 24: autumn 1999 Lessons for Leaders Robert Ingham considers the options open to Charles Kennedy and draws some lessons from the historical record.
Now that Charles Kennedy has eased his feet Parliament, hoping that Liberal teeth would again sink into the real meat of power. comfortably into Paddy Ashdown’s shoes, he has Grimond raised the prospect of a realignment time to reflect on how best to lead the Liberal of the left in British politics to form a non- Democrats into the next general election and socialist alternative to the Tories, built on the Liberal Party but incorporating the right wing beyond. The experiences of his predecessors may of the Labour Party and, for good measure, left- offer some guidance about the dos and don’ts of wing Tories. Grimond was perhaps the first Lib- the job, the route he should seek to take and the eral leader to acknowledge that the Liberal and Labour Parties had emerged from broadly simi- pitfalls he might encounter. lar stock and were on the same side, that of Firstly, Mr Kennedy will not need telling that, progress and reform, in opposition to the To- for the Liberal Democrats as much as for its ries. But realignment was a vision, not a prac- predecessor parties, relationships with other tical call to arms, and Labour’s hundred-seat parties matter more than almost anything else. majority in the election put paid to Relations with Labour have long been a thorny Grimond’s ambitions. subject. At first, Liberal leaders were able to del- In many ways, the realignment Grimond egate the task of dealing with the developing sought has come and gone. The SDP, from Labour movement. Before the key issue which Mr Kennedy has sprung, was the vehi- for Liberals was how to square collectivist ideas cle by which some members of the right wing with mid-Victorian laissez-faire Liberalism. of the Labour Party joined forces with the Lib- Joseph Chamberlain tackled this agenda head eral Party. Tony Blair’s Labour Party perhaps on and, after he left the Liberal Party over Irish resembles the non-socialist progressive party Home Rule, a number of young Liberal think- which Grimond called for, especially in Scot- ers and politicians — including Green, Ritchie, land where the Labour and Liberal Democrat Hobhouse and David Lloyd George — were parties govern in coalition together. Paddy able to devise and articulate a ‘New Liberal- Ashdown succeeded in ensuring that the rise ism’ of social reform and economic freedom. of Blair did not spell the end of the Liberal After , Herbert Gladstone, Liberal Chief Democrats without clearly defining how La- Whip, offered the new Labour Party the fa- bour and the Liberal Democrats should now mous pact which helped reduce Tory strength relate to each other. In considering the way in many areas previously impervious to Lib- ahead, Mr Kennedy must be mindful not only eral advances, and which allied a considerable section of the Parliamentary Labour Party to David Lloyd George the Liberal Government. Since the First World War, however, the re- lationship between the Labour and Liberal Par- ties has been of first importance to Liberal lead- ers. During the Parliament, Asquith gave the minority Labour Government unenthusi- astic support but in the election appeared to describe the Labour Party as the ‘common enemy’ of both the Liberal and Conservative Parties. Trapped between the two millstones of capital and labour, right and left, the Liberals were crushed in . Jo Grimond faced the prospect of offering Liberal support to a mi- nority Labour administration during the journal of liberal democrat history 24: autumn 1999 23 Conservative-Liberal constituency as- and, by extension, to Wales and Eng- sociations to counter the socialist land as well. menace and when pacts were offered It is perhaps the tragedy of Lib- and accepted in Bolton, Huddersfield, eral politics since that strategy Colne Valley and elsewhere. Clement has often seemed to matter more Davies’ greatest achievement as Lib- than policy. The most attractive Lib- eral leader was to refuse a cabinet post eral policies down the years have of- in Churchill’s government. Had ten been pinched by the two larger he accepted, it is difficult to see how parties, and commentators have con- the Liberal Party could have survived. centrated not on the arguments ad- This is a precedent Mr Kennedy will vanced by Liberal leaders, but on need to examine carefully. Other Lib- how the Liberals might react to a eral leaders have considered coalitions hung parliament. Mr Kennedy will with the Conservative Party at na- surely need no lessons about this, tional level, not least Jeremy Thorpe having contested the and in . The new Liberal Democrat elections when the hung parliament Jo Grimond leader might find it difficult to find question bedevilled the Alliance points of agreement with the present campaigns. of Asquith’s experience in –, Conservative leadership and periods Some Liberal leaders have tended but also of David Steel’s experiment of Liberal/Conservative government, to distance themselves from policy — the Lib-Lab Pact. Although suc- particularly under Lloyd George af- formation. The battles within the cessful in terms of stabilising the ter , are scarcely propitious. The Liberal Party about the implemen- political and economic situation in new leader will be mindful that, even tation of the policy of industrial co- –, too few specifically Liberal while pursuing an agenda of coop- ownership and the extent to which achievements arose from the Pact eration with the Labour Party, Lib- the state should support agricultural either to convince Liberal activists eral Democrat MPs and candidates markets went on during the s to continue with it or to persuade need the votes of Conservative sup- virtually unchecked by Clement the electorate to return more Lib- porters in many constituencies. Mr Davies, for instance. Jo Grimond, eral MPs to Parliament. Kennedy will soon realise, if he has however, recruited prominent aca- Although relations with the La- not done so already, that the Liberal demics and others to comprehen- bour Party are important, the Liberal Democrats continue to operate be- sively rewrite Liberal policy in the Party’s position with respect to other tween the Tory and Labour mill- early s and personally devised parties must not be overlooked. For stones. Liberal policy on the nuclear deter- thirty years from the mid s to the Now that devolution is a reality, rent. Paddy Ashdown stated at the mid s the Liberal Party seemed Mr Kennedy, and his Welsh and outset of his leadership that he closer in terms of its outlook, poli- Scottish counterparts, will need to wished to move on from the poli- cies and leadership to the Conserva- look carefully at the relationship be- cies of the Grimond era and suc- tive Party than to Labour. This was tween the Liberal Democrats and the ceeded, in particular, in making particularly true of the immediate nationalist parties. The rise of Welsh prominent the Liberal Democrats’ post-war period, when Lord Woolton nationalism has sapped Liberal pledge to increase income tax to encouraged the creation of joint strength in much of north and west improve the education system. Wales and now the nationalists are Jeremy Thorpe making inroads in the valleys of the David Steel south. Can the Liberal Democrats challenge the rise of the nationalists in Wales, or is the party doomed to sit on the margins of Welsh politics? And in Scotland, can the Liberal Democrats break out of their areas of traditional strength, including winning support from the SNP? The Liberal Party’s attitude to the SNP was for many years ambivalent ,with Jo Grimond in particular seeing op- portunities for Liberal/SNP collabo- ration. Mr Kennedy is well placed to define a Liberal Democrat ap- proach to nationalism in Scotland
24 journal of liberal democrat history 24: autumn 1999 his charisma, oratory and intellectual approach to politics but was criti- cised by some activists for being out of touch with the grassroots, particu- larly local councillors. Several Liberal leaders have been criticised for ap- pearing to jeopardise the independ- ence of the Party — Ashdown, Steel, Sinclair and Lloyd George in particu- lar. SDP leaders, mostly keen to work with the Liberal Party and suspicious of the power of activists in the La- bour Party, tended to emphasise their responsibilities to the party’s mem- bers, rather than to its activists. These influences from Mr Kennedy’s SDP Roy Jenkins background may be the source of conflict with some Liberal Demo- though Mr Kennedy will, in all like- William Ewart Gladstone crat activists in the years ahead. lihood, avoid damaging factional Every Liberal leader since fighting within his party, Liberal Electors do, sometimes, care has spent about a decade in the job. politicians are no more inclined to about policies, but activists care One — Archibald Sinclair — lost the tolerate failure or mismanagement more. Like David Steel before him, leadership as a result of losing his than their Conservative and Labour Mr Kennedy is the members’, not parliamentary seat, something Mr counterparts. the activists’, choice as leader and he Kennedy obviously needs to avoid Finally, Liberal leaders have long must appreciate the importance of doing. Most of the rest have retired championed unfashionable causes. keeping the party’s activists on his at times of their own choosing, al- Gladstone championed the Afghans, side. The reception given to Jo though Jeremy Thorpe was forced to Bulgarians and Armenians. Camp- Grimond at the Liberal Assembly in resign by revelations about his pri- bell-Bannerman stood up to the jin- helped persuade Clement vate life and resulting pressure from goists during the Boer War. Samuel Davies to retire in favour of his parliamentary colleagues. SDP lead- and Sinclair lent support to the younger colleague. Grimond was ers changed more quickly. Roy League of Nations and advocated re- popular with Liberal members for Jenkins’ resignation was assisted by armament rather than appeasement. the presence of a younger, more dy- Davies campaigned for Seretse Paddy Ashdown namic colleague with Cabinet ex- Khama, Thorpe fought (almost liter- perience on the SDP benches — ally at one stage) for minorities in David Owen. Mr Kennedy need not Africa and Ashdown backed giving fear that any of his fellow Liberal full British passports to the Hong Democrat parliamentarians will Kong Chinese. That is not to stay that challenge his position. He saw off Liberal leaders have ever shown much four in the recent leadership con- interest in the single-issue advocates test and some of his most able col- often attracted to the Liberal Party — leagues -–Ashdown, Beith, Campbell the land taxers, temperance reform- — are now approaching retirement. ers and Cornish nationalists. The main Indeed, one of Mr Kennedy’s great- task of Liberal leaders was often to est challenges will be to successfully persuade electors that the Liberal avoid the perception that the Lib- Party was a credible, national force, eral Democrats are a one-man band, with something relevant to say about something which his predecessors the most significant contemporary generally failed to achieve. The new problems facing the UK, rather than leader might benefit from studying a small party, invisible or insignificant the circumstances of Jeremy Thorpe’s in much of the country, and obsessed resignation closely, however. Criti- with issues of marginal importance. cisms about Thorpe’s management of This will remain a key task for Mr the party and strategic thinking in- Kennedy in the years ahead. fluenced those senior colleagues Robert Ingham is a historical writer and who chose not to stand by him a regular contributor to the Journal. when the Scott affair broke. Al- journal of liberal democrat history 24: autumn 1999 25 The Dictionary of Liberal Quotations Duncan Brack and Robert Ingham introduce the Liberal Democrat History Group’s latest publication.
Who said that ‘Liberals are to be the oxen to drag ment might choke. And surely Charles Kennedy will not echo the appeal for recruits the Labour wain over the rough roads of Parliament launched by a predecessor, Clement Davies: … and … when there is no further use for them, ‘I have nothing to offer materially, no posi- they are to be slaughtered. That is the Labour idea tion, no career, and certainly not safety. I can only offer faith, and with that faith I demand of cooperation’? Simon Hughes, campaigning to a sacrifice’. become leader of the Liberal Democrats? John As well as including the most memorable Prescott, welcoming Charles Kennedy’s election? quotes from Liberal Democrat, Liberal, So- cial Democrat and Whig politicians, from In fact, this was David Lloyd George’s description Charles Kennedy to Charles James Fox, of the role of the Liberal Party during the William Gladstone to Shirley Williams, the Parliament, when Asquith’s Liberals helped prop Dictionary of Liberal Quotations will be an im- portant source of reference on the develop- up the minority Labour administration. This is just ment of liberal and social democratic thought. one example of how the key themes of British Quotes from Paine, Jefferson, J. S. politics recur from one generation to the next, drawn from the pages of a new publication — the Dictionary of Liberal Quotations.
To give another example, when Gladstone wrote in 1887: ‘one prayer absorbs all oth- ers: Ireland, Ireland, Ireland,’ could he possi- bly have envisaged that the same prayer would be on the lips of politicians over a century later? How right he was, looking back, to declare when winding up the de- bate on the Home Rule Bill in June 1886 that this was ‘one of those golden moments in our history’ to resolve the Irish ques- tion, ‘one of those opportunities which may come and may go, but which rarely returns’. The Dictionary of Liberal Quotations also illustrates how political debate has changed over the years. William Harcourt, leader of the Liberal Party in the closing years of the last century, said in response to the increased emphasis being placed on social policy: ‘we are all socialists now’, words on which many members of the present govern-
26 journal of liberal democrat history 24: autumn 1999 Mill, Hobhouse, Keynes, Beveridge, Locke, Green, Tawney and I am for peace, Dahrendorf feature extensively. Go back to your retrenchment and Many quotations from opponents constituencies and of the Liberal Democrats and its reform, the watchword predecessor parties have been in- prepare for of the great Liberal cluded. While the writings of government! Lishman and Greaves and Hain ex- Party thirty years ago. plain the theoretical underpinnings David Steel John Bright of community politics, quotations from Peter Tatchell and Alan Clark show what opponents of the Lib- The only part of the You know what they eral Democrats think of the strat- conduct of anyone for egy in practice. Everyone knows say: if God had been that the SDP aimed to ‘break the which he is amenable a Liberal, we wouldn't mould’ of British politics: the Dic- to society is that which tionary of Liberal Quotations explains have had the ten the origin of the phrase, and in- concerns others. In the commandments. We'd cludes Margaret Thatcher’s unchar- part which merely acteristically witty response. have had the ten Over pages of quotations concerns himself, his suggestions. from over politicians, thinkers, independence is, of academics, writers and others are in- Christopher Bigsby cluded in the Dictionary of Liberal Quo- right, absolute. Over and Malcolm tations, which has been put together himself, over his own by members of the Liberal Demo- Bradbury crat History Group. Charles Kennedy body and mind, the and Robert Maclennan have written individual is sovereign. forewords and, like last year’s Diction- All the world over, I ary of Liberal Biography, the Dictionary John Stuart Mill will back the masses of Liberal Quotations is published in hardback by Politico’s Publications against the classes. and will be available from Septem- As usual the Liberals W. E. Gladstone ber, priced £ plus £. postage offer a mixture of and packing. Subscribers to the Jour- nal benefit from a special offer price sound and original of £.; an order form is enclosed Faith, hope and with this issue. ideas. Unfortunately canvassing — and The two companion volumes, none of the sound the Dictionary of Labour Quotations the greatest of these and the Dictionary of Conservative ideas is original and is canvassing. Quotations, will be published at the none of the original same time, and will also be available Frank Worman for £ each (£ for all three ideas is sound. bought together). Journal readers will Harold Macmillan of course be pleased to hear that the In 1929 the wise, far- Dictionary of Liberal Quotations con- seeing electors of my tains the largest number of quotes! Some men see things This important source of reference native Hereford sent is sure to be popular with Liberal as they are and ask me to Westminster Democrats, and also with those with themselves: ‘why?’ I a general interest in the history of and, two years later, the party, its predecessors and with dream of things that the lousy bastards liberal and social democrat thought, never have been and kicked me out. for many years to come. ask myself: ‘why not?’ Duncan Brack and Robert Ingham are Frank Owen the editors of the Dictionary of Liberal Aeschylus Quotations. journal of liberal democrat history 24: autumn 1999 27 Collecting Political Cigarette Cards Graem Peters describes an unusual form of political activism.
Almost all political cigarette cards were produced added to replace them. The second set is col- lectable, though harder to come across than the between and ; after , very little exists Ogden’s set and thus more expensive, at £ of any interest. Virtually every single cigarette card for the set, with individual cards available at printed is known and its existence recorded in around £.. Carreras issued an attractive set of fifty ‘No- catalogues. They usually formed part of a particular table MPs’ in . These were full-length col- named set; there are only a few sets of politicians, oured caricatures of leading politicians prior but the better known politicians frequently appeared to the general election. Lloyd George, Simon, Runciman, Beauchamp and in ‘general interest’ sets. Macpherson were included, together with sev- Of the political sets, the first and perhaps the eral prominent former Liberals such as Wedg- best to appear was issued by Ogden’s under wood Benn, Hilton Young, Wedgwood and their ‘Guinea Gold’ brand in . These are Churchill. The backs of the cards contain a pot- relatively small for cigarette cards. They have a ted biography. Two different sizes of card exist, standard and extra wide. Both sets are fairly black and white glossy photograph of the poli- tician on the front, with nothing on the back; common and reasonably priced, at about £ the name is typed at the foot of the photo, not- for the set and around £I for each card. R. & J. Hill produced a set of thirty cards ing his constituency, if an MP. There are sixty politicians in this set, known in the catalogue entitled ‘Our Empire’ in . This set featured as ‘Politicians Base D’. About twenty Liberals a handful of royals, members of the Labour feature, including Campbell-Bannerman, Cabinet, and the premiers from the leading Asquith, Rosebery, Herbert Gladstone, Burns, Empire countries. The backs of the cards con- Grey, Fowler, Broadhurst, Sir William Harcourt, tain a potted biography on each. As with the Tweedmouth, Kimberley and Labouchere. Carreras ‘Notable MPs’, the cards came in two Many of the cards are quite common, but a sizes. Pictorially, the set is not particularly at- number are hard to come across. At £, the tractive; the set is remarkably good value; individual cards sepia matt Lloyd George in 1906 may be picked up for around £. Ogden’s also photographs produced a number of similar cards as part of have been general interest sets. over-edited, Murray’s Cigarettes issued a set of fifty and do not ‘Prominent Politicians’ in . About half are look very natural. The Liberals, including Campbell-Bannerman, Lloyd George, Asquith, Herbert Gladstone, set, at £ , is Lewis Harcourt, Middlebrook, Macnamara, very cheap Birrell, Burns, Grey, Haldane, Churchill, Russell, and relatively Fowler and Buxton. These are black and white common. matt photographs of slightly larger than aver- A better age card size. It is virtually impossible to come set of Labour across a complete set nowadays, and each card politicians will probably cost about £. The set was re- was produced printed in with a slight amendment to by Godfrey the backs of the cards; since six of the original Phillips, enti- MPs had left the House, six new subjects were tled ‘The
28 journal of liberal democrat history 24: autumn 1999 Finally, Carreras produced a set eral Interest ’; and John Player, Cabi- of twenty-seven British Prime Min- ‘Straight Line Caricatures’. net’. isters in . This is a set of glossy Often antiques fairs will include This is a black and white portraits of the more a dealer in cigarette cards. Better still set of significant PMs since Walpole, up to are collectors’ fairs at which a twenty- Ramsay Macdonald. The backs of number of cigarette card dealers will five the cards contain a potted biogra- be present alongside dealers in b lack phy — a visually attractive set which stamps, postcards etc. Cigarette card and is reasonably priced at £, though collectors’ clubs will occasionally white hard to come across. organise cigarette card fairs. Collec- matt There are other sets which con- tions can be held in special loose- photo- tain politicians in reasonable num- leaf albums; some collectors will g raphs bers: Ardath, ‘Empire Personalities’; chose to have their sets specially Balfour in 1900 of the Ardath, ‘Famous Scots’; Adkin ‘No- framed, and hang them on the wall. members of the first Labour Govern- tabilities’; Hignett, ‘Modern States- Their value will increase over time. ment. The backs of the cards contain men’; Wills, ‘Vanity Fair Series’; Im- a potted biography. These are quite rare perial Tobacco Company of Canada, Graem Peters is a member of the Liberal and, at £ for the set, a bit pricey. ‘Notabilities ’; Ogden’s, ‘Gen- Democrat History Group.
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; of particular interest is the 1920s and as a profession, the role of the election agent in managing ’30s, and the possibility of interviewing anyone involved election campaigns during this period, and the changing in formulating party foreign and defence policies. Dr R. S. nature of elections, as increased use was made of the Grayson, 8 Cheltenham Avenue, Twickenham TW1 3HD. press and the platform. Kathryn Rix, Christ's College, Archibald Sinclair and the Liberal Party 1935–45. Cambridge, CB2 2BU; [email protected]. Sources, particularly for Sinclair’s Air Ministry period Liberal policy towards Austria-Hungary, 1905– (1940–45), the reorganisation of the party in 1936 and 16. Andrew Gardner, 22 Birdbrook House, Popham the 1945 election, needed. Ian Hunter, 9 Defoe Avenue, Road, Islington, London N1 8TA; [email protected]. Kew, London TW9 4DL; [email protected].
The Hon H. G. Beaumont (MP for Eastbourne The Liberal Party 1945–56. Contact with members 1906–10). Any information welcome, particularly on his (or opponents) of the Radical Reform Group during the political views (he stood as a Radical). Tim Beaumont, 40 1950s, and anyone with recollections of the leadership of Elms Road, London SW4 9EX. Clement Davies, sought. Graham Lippiatt, 24 Balmoral Road, South Harrow, HA2 8TD. Defections of north-east Liberals to the Conservatives, c.1906–1935. Aims to suggest The grassroots organisation of the Liberal Party reasons for defections of individuals and develop an 1945–64; the role of local activists in the late 1950s understanding of changes in electoral alignment. Sources revival of the Liberal Party. Mark Egan, 42 Richmond include personal papers and newspapers; suggestions Road, Gillingham, Kent ME7 1LN. about how to get hold of the papers of more obscure The Unservile State Group, 1953–1970s. Dr Peter Liberal defectors welcome. Nick Cott, 1a Henry Street, Barberis, 24 Lime Avenue, Flixton, Manchester M41 5DE. Gosforth, Newcastle-upon-Tyne, NE3 1DQ; [email protected]. The Young Liberal Movement 1959–1985; including in particular relations with the leadership, and Liberals and the local government of London between NLYL and ULS. Carrie Park, 89 Coombe Lane, 1919–39. Chris Fox, 173 Worplesdon Road, Guidlford Bristol BS9 2AR; [email protected]. GU2 6XD; [email protected]. The political and electoral strategy of the Liberal Crouch End or Hornsey Liberal Association or Party 1970–79. Individual constituency papers, and Young Liberals in the 1920s and 1930s; especially contact with members of the Party’s policy committees any details of James Gleeson or Patrick Moir, who are and/or the Party Council, particularly welcome. Ruth Fox, believed to be Chairman. Tony Marriott, Flat A, 13 7 Mulberry Court, Bishop’s Stortford, Herts CM23 3JW. Coleridge Road, Crouch End, London N8 8EH. journal of liberal democrat history 24: autumn 1999 29 tant role in helping to secure the ap- pointment of a Royal Commission (as opposed to a mere Select Com- Biographies mittee) on Welsh Land, and in pro- moting bills for the Disestablishment of the Church of England in Wales. Thomas Edward Ellis He himself proved to be one of the most effective witnesses before the Land Commission. (1859–1899) In a new Liberal Prime Minister, Lord Rosebery, against all J. Graham Jones expectations promoted Ellis to be the party’s Chief Whip. In his new Thomas Edward Ellis was born on February at position he faced the ‘Revolt of the Four’ Welsh MPs against the con- Cynlas, Cefnddwysarn, near Bala, Merionethshire. He was spicuous failure of the government educated at the Llandderfel British School and at the Bala to give priority to Disestablishment Grammar School where his contemporaries included D. R. in its legislative programme. He played a part in the framing and pas- Daniel (who became a lifelong friend), O. M. Edwards and sage of the Parish Councils Act. J. Puleston Jones. In the general election of the feuding Liberal Party was decimated He received a remarkable higher set of his political career he took an at the polls, and in the autumn of education for a Welsh nonconform- abiding interest in Welsh affairs, and Ellis’ confidant Lord Rosebery ist of the late nineteenth century. He was instrumental in securing the pas- resigned as the leader. spent the years – at the young sage of the Welsh Intermediate Edu- For the brief period of his life University College of Wales, Aber- cation Act of . The following which remained, T. E. Ellis was to be ystwyth, and matriculated at New winter, when visiting Egypt, he was free from the cares of office. His Welsh College, Oxford, in , where he stricken with typhoid fever, and was interests had increasingly recaptured was active in the Essay Society, and given a national testimonial by the his imagination during these years. was active in a wide range of social people of Wales on his return in He was especially interested in Welsh and political activities. He graduated . Thereafter Ellis never fully re- education, and was active in the af- in the Oxford honours school of gained his health, and his weakness fairs of the University of Wales, the modern history in . was aggravated by a tendency to ex- Central Welsh Board, the Old Stu- Ellis refused an academic post at ert himself overmuch. He played a dents’ Association of the UCW, Ab- the UCW, Aberystwyth, and became part in the activities of the Cymru erystwyth, and the Guild of Gradu- fully absorbed in his journalistic ac- Fydd movement, and was an admirer ates of the University. An erudite, cul- tivities, contributing regular columns of the continental nationalism of tured, attractive personality, Ellis ed- to the South Wales Daily News under Mazzini and Kossuth. His appeals for ited the first volume of Gweithiau the nom de plume ‘Cuneglas’. Articles a legislative assembly for Wales fell penned by him also appeared regu- largely on deaf ears, both at West- larly in a number of North Wales minster and within the Principality. newspapers. At the same time he When the Liberals under spent a year as a tutor to the family Gladstone returned to power in of John Cory of St Mellons before , the government’s majority was in securing appointment as only forty, thus rendering vital the personal secretary to Sir John loyalty of the thirty-one Liberal MPs Brunner, a Swiss and the founder of from Wales. The Prime Minister of- the chemical company Brunner- fered Ellis the position of Junior Mond in the north of England. In Whip. After a great deal of perplexed December of the same year Brunner heart searching, and in the face of was elected the Liberal MP for the intense opposition on the part of Northwich division of Cheshire. some of his Welsh colleagues, he re- In July Ellis was himself solved to accept the position. Al- elected the Liberal MP for his na- though he was thereafter to some tive Merionethshire. He soon be- extent hamstrung by his acceptance came an astute parliamentarian and of this official position within the a conscientious MP. From the out- Liberal Party, Ellis played an impor-
30 journal of liberal democrat history 24: autumn 1999 Morgan Llwyd o Wynedd (London, til . Ellis was buried at thinking for the post-Great War era. ), a task which was later furthered Cefnddwysarn, and a memorial col- The school’s leading figures included by his brother-in-law J. H. Davies, umn, the result of public subscription, the historian and passionate Liberal Cwrt-mawr. was unveiled by fellow Liberal poli- activist Ramsay Muir and the Man- On June Ellis married tician John Morley in the High Street chester businessman and city coun- Annie J. Davies, the daughter of R. at Bala in October . Another cillor Ernest Simon. J. Davies of Cwrt-mawr, Llangeitho. adorns the quadrangle of the Univer- The second stream was the The occasion was a major society sity College of Wales, Aberystwyth. A growing ascendancy within the event in Wales. volume of his Speeches and Addresses Liberal Party of David Lloyd After suffering years of intermit- saw the light of day in . George, who succeeded Asquith as tent severe ill-health, Ellis died at T. I. Ellis published a two-volume leader in October . He had al- Cannes on April , at the age of biography of his father in Welsh in ready organised some important forty. His son, Thomas Iorwerth Ellis and , while an English bi- policy studies, paid for by his infa- (–), was born eight months ography by Mr Neville Masterman, mous ‘funds’. These included Coal after his death. His widow, Mrs Annie The Forerunner: the Dilemmas of Tom and Power (), which promoted J. Hughes-Griffiths, survived him un- Ellis became available in . a ‘middle way’ between private ownership and nationalisation of the coal industry; The Land and the Nation (), on agriculture; and The Towns and the Land () on the better use of urban land. Inter- Reports estingly, Richard Grayson pointed out that this ascendancy happened largely by default. Asquith had lost his Paisley seat in November , Did the Yellow Book spell the suffered a stroke in and died in . There was an Asquithian end of Asquithian Liberalism? faction, the Liberal Council, but it was largely ineffective. Evening Meeting, 12 April, The Liberal Industrial Inquiry was established in July . Substan- with John Grigg and Richard Grayson tial contributors included the Lib- eral Summer School stalwarts Muir Report by Neil Stockley and Ernest Simon, the economist Hubert Henderson, Lloyd George’s In February , the Report of the Liberal Industrial former private secretary Philip Carr, Inquiry — Britain’s Industrial Future, generally known as the Charles Masterman and the Asquithians Herbert Samuel and ‘Yellow Book’ — was published. ‘By common consent,’ Roy John Simon. The editor of The Econo- Douglas has written, ‘it represented the most thoroughgoing mist, Walter Layton, chaired the In- set of proposals on the field of industry and employment quiry. But the two most influential authors were Lloyd George himself which was advanced by any organisation whatever in the and the former Treasury official, John post-war period.’ Robert Skidelsky has called it: ‘an Maynard Keynes. Keynes wanted to exhaustive and far-penetrating survey of the British post- develop ‘new wisdom for a new age’ and strongly believed that tackling war economy, with far-reaching proposals for government unemployment would require more planning, well in advance of anything in existence at the than reliance on market forces. He time.’ On April, Dr John Grigg, the biographer of Lloyd and Lloyd George were at one in opposing the Gold Standard and, George, and Dr Richard Grayson, Director of the Centre unlike the Asquithians, criticising the for Reform, led a stimulating discussion on the Yellow Book’s actions of the Baldwin government in the run-up to the General Strike. implications for Asquithian Liberalism. The product of their endeavours, more than pages in length, was John Grigg began by outlining the of s’ Liberal activity. The first was written in a dense style that makes genesis of the Yellow Book. It was the Liberal Summer Schools, which for difficult reading; indeed, Keynes the product of two confluent streams sought to promote new Liberal himself was highly critical of the pa- journal of liberal democrat history 24: autumn 1999 31 per’s wordiness and its tendency to tion on the desirable level of taxa- He contended that the Yellow excessively blow the Liberal trumpet. tion. Grigg cited a clumsily written Book can be seen as a continuation Richard Grayson summarised the passage that warned of the negative from the second, pre-Great War ver- Yellow Book’s analysis of the prob- consequences for productivity of sion of Asquithian Liberalism. Both lems of British industry. These were: using higher taxation to finance an were firmly based on the New Lib- high unemployment (‘the gravest of improved social infrastructure while eralism, which essentially argued that our social maladies’), low wages, a at the same time advocating policies liberty was threatened not merely by depression in staple industries, inef- to promote a more equal distribu- the lack of political freedom but also ficiency, immobility in the labour tion of wealth, in order to build a by poverty and dire inequalities in force (caused by such factors as a truly democratic society and reduce society — which created a lack of housing shortage) and an excess of class tensions! freedom. They charged government UK investments abroad. The Yellow Richard Grayson argued that al- with the responsibility for tackling Book proposed public boards as a though the Yellow Book represented this problem. The New Liberalism new way of running public concerns ‘a radical advance in the journey of represented a move from a party that and new controls over monopolies. Liberalism’, this did not involve a believed in negative liberty (govern- It sought to expand the domestic total break with the ideas and meth- ment could do best by doing less) economy, with a programme of gov- ods which Asquith and his colleagues towards positive liberty (government ernment-led investment in home had adopted whilst they were in needed to be more active to promote markets, the establishment of an government. He explained this by liberty). Economic General Staff and coor- defining the three phases of Dr Grayson argued convincingly dinated investment by public con- Asquithian Liberalism. that the Yellow Book was a radical cerns. (Still, as John Grigg made clear, The first was Asquith’s political development of Asquithian Liberal- apart from supporting the nationali- roots, in which a strong commitment ism, in that it represented a view of sation of coal royalties, it did not pro- to free trade loomed large. This society in which interests could be pose a significant expansion of pub- brought him to the forefront of Lib- balanced in corporatist structures. lic ownership.) The report also con- eral politics during Joseph Chamber- Whereas Liberals had traditionally tained policies to improve the lot of lain’s tariff reform campaign in . thought of people as individuals, trade unions and employees. These By producing budget surpluses in a groups loomed much larger in the included a commission to review free-trade economy when he was schemes put forward by the Yellow trade union law and a special coun- Chancellor, Asquith did as much as Book. Further, Liberals came to be cil to review pay, conditions and rel- anyone else to defeat the arguments motivated as never before by anger evant legislation in each industry. for tariffs. about unemployment. In doing so, The Yellow Book set out new The second phase was the Lib- they spoke of the ‘defects of the in- policies to tackle poverty and unem- eralism he put into practice as Prime dustrial system’, positioning them- ployment. Minimum wages would Minister from . This period in- selves as anti-market. The Yellow be set, on an industry, rather than a cluded the People’s Budget, which Book was more conscious of the national, basis. Responsibility for featured graduated taxes as a belief in positive liberty than poor relief would be moved from the redistributive measure, and the Asquithians had been. However, Dr state to local authorities, in part to National Insurance Act, a major Grayson may have gone a doctrine take the financial burdens off indus- plank in the embryonic welfare state. too far with his claim that the Yel- try. Crucially, the report linked poli- In the wake of the Great War, such low Book placed the Liberal Party cies for national development with ideas became outmoded as conscrip- ‘firmly on social democratic terri- the attack on unemployment and tion became the litmus issue of Lib- tory’. It made no firm commitment poverty. It proposed a programme of eral politics and, later, the rival claims to redistributive taxation and, under- investment in roads, housing, elec- to leadership of Asquith and Lloyd standably for a document that was tricity, waterways and docks and a George fatally split the party. The supposed to be about industry and new emphasis on training young Liberal Party then organised itself employment, contained no detailed people working in industry. around Gladstonian ideas of free proposals to reform social services or, As John Grigg said, however, that trade and financial retrenchment — indeed, to establish a welfare state. for all the document’s innovation, paying off debts and reducing taxes. As for the consequences of the there is much evidence of ‘compro- In some senses this third phase of Yellow Book, it did not help the mise and fudge’ on vital points. This Asquithian Liberalism revived the electoral fortunes of the Liberal is no more evident that in its expla- first. Therefore, according to Dr Party. The proposals on national de- nation of how the bold proposals Grayson, by the early s the Yel- velopment were developed and set would be paid for. Whilst it was clear low Book could be compared out in a shorter pamphlet, We Can that any economies required should against two versions of Asquithian Conquer Unemployment. This became come from cuts in defence spend- Liberalism — what it had been in the basis of the Liberal Party’s ing, the Yellow Book took no posi- its prime, and what it had become. general election campaign. John
32 journal of liberal democrat history 24: autumn 1999 Grigg showed how poorly the Lib- case for a managed economy’ pub- economic policies of the Liberal erals fared in that election. The Lib- lished in by the dissident Con- Democrats, or, indeed, those of any eral vote rose by two million from servative MP Harold Macmillan. major political party. but the enfranchisement of John Grigg argued that the Yel- The Yellow Book may have built women under thirty had added six low Book prefigured ‘Butskellism’, on the version of Asquithian Lib- million new voters to the electoral the partly mythical post- con- eralism that accepted the need for register. Further, the Liberals put up sensus between the Labour and a more active role for the state and many more candidates than in . Conservative parties on running the carried it forward into new forms The party’s average share of the vote mixed economy. He demonstrated of industrial interventionism and, in the seats it contested fell from % the connection between the In- indeed, corporatism. But the deci- to %. quiry’s recommendations for state sive break for twentieth-century In any case, to quote John Grigg, investment in industry and the ‘Lit- Liberalism was made very early on, the Yellow Book ‘cut little ice with tle Neddies’, government investment when the New Liberals moved the general public’. People were boards that included employer and away from the Gladstonian, more concerned with the party’s union representatives, set up in the minimalist vision of the state’s role. overall ‘image’ and its credibility as a early s. Indeed, the assumption For the Liberal Party at least, the prospective government. These were that the state should take responsi- Yellow Book was, in John Grigg’s based mainly on the deep divisions bility for the country’s economic words, something of a blind alley. the party had suffered over recent well-being was not seriously dis- Notes: years and the dubious reputation of puted until the late s. Roy Douglas, The History of the Liberal Lloyd George. Skidelsky believes This longer term significance of Party –, (Sidgwick & Jackson, that, although the Liberals had the the Yellow Book has a powerful ), p. . radical programme and the Con- irony. Just as they gained more cur- Robert Skidelsky, Politicians and the servatives and Labour both offered rency with the other parties, the Slump (Macmillan, ), p. . ‘safety first’, voters saw the election findings of the Liberal Industrial In- Robert Skidelsky, John Maynard Keynes: The Economist as Saviour (Macmillan, ‘as a fight between the ‘capitalist’ par- quiry became less relevant to Lib- ), p. . ties on the one hand and the ‘La- eral policies and campaigns. As Douglas, The History of the Liberal Party., bour and Socialist Party’ on the Duncan Brack reminded the meet- pp. –. other’. Still, the Yellow Book may ing, after Lloyd George no Liberal Skidelsky, Politicians and the Slump, p. . have helped the Liberal Party to sur- leader until Jo Grimond showed any See Robert Skidelsky, Oswald Mosley (Macmillan, ), Chapter . vive as a political force. Richard interest in its proposals. And it finds Paul Addison, The Road to (Pimlico, Grayson suggested that there was still few echoes in the contemporary ), p. . considerable public interest in the party during the s — the report provided both a focus for that latent support and evidence of the Liber- als’ continuing vitality and relevance. It also served an internal purpose, Reviews providing a source of motivation for candidates and activists. According to John Grigg, the publication of the Yellow Book Virtues and Flaws brought a ‘bemused, bored’ reaction Richard Shannon: Gladstone: Heroic Minister from the political class. Nevertheless, many of its contents would be cen- 1865–1898 (Penguin Press, 1999) tral to British politics for more than fifty years. Their significance went Reviewed by Tony Little beyond the usual confines of the ‘right’ and ‘left’. The report’s influ- Gladstone undoubtedly ranks as the greatest leader of British ence can be clearly seen in Oswald Liberalism and would be a challenger for the country’s greatest Mosley’s famous ‘Memorandum’ to the Cabinet of May , calling on Prime Minister, holding office four times. A front-bencher in his Labour colleagues to tackle un- the s, he did not retire from office until . employment by setting up a state fi- nance corporation and mounting a In , Richard Shannon published . This covered Gladstone’s jour- central public works programme. It the first half of his biography of ney from Peelite Tory to Peelite Lib- can also be seen in The Middle Way, Gladstone, now re-issued by Penguin eral. His reputation was made at the ‘a comprehensive statement of the in paperback as Peel’s Inheritor – Exchequer in the s but, in the journal of liberal democrat history 24: autumn 1999 33 first volume, Shannon left him fac- the public, particularly the striving not commit and bind the party. You ing his first true test of leadership lower middle and working classes, at are the party and your acts are its acts.’ after the death of Palmerston. We a period when these were becom- (Shannon p. ) have had to wait seventeen years for ing electors — through the second the second half of the story, now and third Reform Acts — and when available in hardback. Taken together, popular appeal was first used to sup- The flaws of his virtues the two volumes have a good claim port a government and a positive But like all great leaders, Gladstone to be considered the standard mod- programme. Until the s, it was had the flaws of his virtues. These ern biography of Gladstone. What more critical to command the sup- Shannon makes abundantly clear, light do they throw on the man and port of the elite, though fear of mob almost as if determined to offset the leader? rule could occasionally drive reforms some of the more flattering ac- When Morley completed his for which the elite had no real en- counts. The strong drive for classic biography in , it was in- thusiasm. Once Gladstone had dem- achievement of great ends led him tended as an act of homage, putting onstrated the value of appealing to to use the party as an ‘instrument’ Gladstone, the heroic statue, on its the electorate over the heads of par- for their accomplishment. The Lib- pedestal. Since then we have discov- liamentarians, mass public meetings eral Party was not something to be ered more of the feet of clay. became a necessary component of nurtured or cherished and devel- Gladstone’s diaries, in particular, have every general election until the ad- oped in its own right but was just revealed the fallibility of the man, but vent of television. available to be employed as re- in the process have enhanced the Part of Gladstone’s mass appeal quired. While personally sociable, he scale of his achievement even if one was the firm moral drive with which did not make sufficient effort to sometimes wishes to join Roy he endowed policy and the impor- mollify his colleagues or flatter his Jenkins in expressions of head- tance he vested in his chosen poli- back-benchers and increasingly, as masterly exasperation. To the mod- cies. A feature of his speeches was he aged, looked to the support of a ern man in the street the fallibility the way in which he talked up rather close family group — the same which is remembered is the rescu- than down to vast audiences, seem- flaws which helped to destroy Peel. ing of fallen women but, to his con- ing to involve them in deciding the In consequence, while the party temporaries even in a more religious great issues of state. And while ‘out of doors’ continued to identify age, Gladstone’s direct link to the di- speeches could cover a compendium itself entirely with the Grand Old vinity must have been a greater trial. of issues, each election campaign had Man, in each of his governments he As Labouchere put it: ‘I do not ob- a clear single issue on which to fo- drove the parliamentary party to de- ject to the old man always having a cus. Gladstone was reluctant to adopt struction. Internal revolt and exhaus- card up his sleeve, but I do object to the omnibus manifesto strongly ad- tion brought down the first three his insinuating that the Almighty vocated by Joe Chamberlain. governments. The final government placed it there’. To Gladstone him- Gladstone failed that first test of ended with Gladstone’s resignation self the feeling that what he was do- leadership in – — outma- in a quarrel with his ministers, but ing served the divine purpose was a noeuvred by the flexibility of the party failed to revive under his source of immense strength, recog- Disraeli on the Reform Bill and un- successor. More importantly, his nised more clearly by Shannon than willing to compromise with the sense of mission, or perhaps his ego, by other modern biographers. rebels in his own party. But he as we would now describe it, pre- bounced back to win the elec- vented him from recognising the A first-rate man of tion with his plan to disestablish the right moment to retire or from de- Church of Ireland. With the defeat veloping a worthy successor. Shan- business of his government in he retired, non is particularly scathing about the hurt and perplexed, only to recover failure of Gladstone either to retire What then marked Gladstone out as with the campaign against Bulgar- after or to put forward a sub- the leader to succeed Palmerston? ian atrocities of and the stantive programme for the – Firstly, he was a first-rate ‘man of Midlothian onslaught on the cyni- government. This government was business’ — a government minister cal foreign policy of Disraeli. The marked by uncontrolled quarrelling completely in control of his brief. great final crusade for Irish Home inside the cabinet. Gladstone’s come- Secondly, he was a compulsive if Rule started in demonstrates back after destroyed sometimes convoluted communica- his technique and its importance in Hartington’s chance of leadership tor. His budget speeches could last all its flawed magnificence. and his underestimation of Cham- for three hours but throughout he Gladstone’s chosen policies so be- berlain wrecked another strong can- would hold the attention of the came the party’s that as Harcourt ar- didacy. Rosebery, who inherited by House and command coverage in gued to Gladstone in : ‘Pray do default, was not up to the job and the newspapers. More importantly not entertain the notion that you can talked himself out of it even before he aroused a natural empathy with say anything personally which does Gladstone’s death.
34 journal of liberal democrat history 24: autumn 1999 Shannon has clearly used the does not provide any concluding Waugh’s grandfather. Add to all this missing seventeen years to immerse passages that might balance the jus- his. success as a journalist, and you himself in the Gladstone papers, and tified criticisms against the great re- have the full C. B. Fry legend. is always ready with the apposite ref- forms we owe to Gladstone. When Even in cricket, though, the erence. Indeed, there are times when writing on Joe Chamberlain, Enoch cracks soon appear. Fry’s bowling his own prose style takes on some- Powell pointed out the inevitability action was illegal and he was rarely thing of a Gladstonian hue. How- of political failure in any extended able to reproduce his best batting ever, this is a work for those who political career. Gladstone’s was ex- form in tests. Then there are his have some familiarity with the pe- tended well beyond anything we are bouts of mental illness. He suffered riod, as he does not spare time in likely to experience today. Its fail- a first breakdown at university, and painting the background to the is- ures were significant but its achieve- a more serious attack in which sues. This is a pity because Shannon ments great. kept him out of public life for sev- eral years. Nor can you ignore Fry’s strange private life. In he married Beatrice Holme Sumner, ten years his Cricket, Albania and Liberals senior. She had long been involved with Charles Hoare, a married banker, Iain Wilton: C. B. Fry: An English Hero and the relationship had resulted in a (Richard Cohen Books, 1999) scandalous society divorce. Her mar- riage to Fry has been seen by some Reviewed by Jonathan Calder as a business arrangement: Fry made an honest woman of her in return for As English cricket disappeared beneath the waves last month, Hoare financing his cricket career. Wilton rejects this theory, yet his rev- many spectators found themselves remembering the heroes elation that the first child of the mar- of happier seasons. But there is only one England captain riage was probably fathered by Hoare who also fought three seats for the Liberals, served as a seems to support it. Hoare had established the Mercury, diplomat at the League of Nations and was offered the throne a training establishment for boys of Albania. In short, there is only one C. B. Fry. wishing to go to sea. On Hoare’s death in Fry became its nomi- lain Wilton’s new biography reveals resentatives. He invited Fry to assist nal head, but the real power was some heavy feet of clay, but first it is him and, aided by their cricketing Beatrice. Her rule became increas- important to appreciate just how fame and Ranji’s lavish entertaining, ingly brutal, and the rigours of life compelling a figure Fry was in his they exerted considerable influence. under it proved fatal to one young prime. Born in , his fame came As a Liberal candidate Fry was inmate. That reliable arbiter of mor- originally from his extraordinary defeated at Brighton in , at als, The Cricket Statistician, has gone so ability as a sportsman. He equalled Banbury in and at a by-elec- far as to describe both Fry and his the world long jump record while a tion in Oxford later the same year. wife as psychopaths. Yet she remained student at Oxford, was reserve for an He was an unorthodox campaigner in charge until her death in . Fry England rugby trial, won an England — he liked to address voters from followed her ten years later. soccer cap and played for Southamp- the back of a white horse — but at Ultimately this is a sad book — ton in the FA Cup final. Contem- Banbury he came within votes sadder than Wilton admits. Yet it con- poraries likened him to a Greek god of victory. Though his politics were tains many incidental pleasures. Try in appearance. idiosyncratic, his support for the the accomplished poem on Indian As a cricketer Fry was one of the League of Nations, which he called independence which Fry wrote for giants of the golden. years before the ‘Liberalism internationalised’, places The Times or the photograph of First World War. Batting for Sussex him in the mainstream of party Boris Karloff keeping wicket. Above with Rankitsinhji, the silk-shirted thinking. all, the fact that Fry opened for Eng- Indian whose wristy stroke play rav- The most famous story about Fry land with W. G. Grace and lived to ished Edwardian crowds, he turned is that he was offered the throne of be surprised by Eamonn Andrews himself into the most remorselessly Albania. In later life Fry liked to for This is Your Life makes him one effective batsman in the country. embroider his tales, but Wilton con- of the great men of this century. In Ranji acceded to the cludes that this one is probably true. throne of Nawangar, an autonomous Certainly, the Albanians were seek- This review originally appeared in Lib- state under the Raj. When the ing ‘an. English country gentleman eral Democrat News ( August League of Nations was formed in with £, a year’, and one of the ) and is reprinted by kind permis- , he became one of India’s rep- men they approached was Auberon sion of the Editor. journal of liberal democrat history 24: autumn 1999 35 Liberal Democrat History Group Meetings
A Liberal Democrat History Group Fringe A Liberal Democrat History Group Evening Meeting Meeting 1974 Remembered Dancing the Charleston Again The two elections of 1974 formed the peak Liberal/Labour relations 1918–31 of the second post-war Liberal revival, giving Professor Ben Pimlott (Warden of Goldsmith's the party six million votes but no more than College and biographer of Hugh Dalton) and fourteen MPs. Participants in the campaigns – Dr David Dutton (biographer of Sir John including Tim Beaumont, Viv Bingham, Adrian Simon) will review relations between Liberals Slade, Sir Cyril Smith, Paul Tyler MP and and Labour during the key period when Richard Wainwright – share their recollections Labour established itself as the main opposi- of the elections of twenty-five years ago. tion party to the Conservatives. 8.00pm, 6.30pm, Sunday 19 September Monday 22 November Committee Room, Majestic Hotel, Harrogate National Liberal Club, London SW1
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