Jo Grimond 1913 – 1993 Joseph (Jo) Grimond Was Born 100 Years Ago, on 29 July 1913
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JO GriMOND 1913 – 1993 Joseph (Jo) Grimond was born 100 years ago, on 29 July 1913. As leader of the Liberal Party from 1956 to 1967, Grimond made a difference not just to the fortunes of his party but to British politics, helping to end the two-party mould into which Britain had seemed to settle. He made the most substantial contribution to Liberal politics of any post-war politician, taking over an ailing party and transforming it into a formidable force. His idealism, his imagination, his ability to communicate, his freshness, made him ‘the personification and the hope of post-war Liberalism’. Here we reprint David Steel’s lecture to mark the 100th anniversary of Grimond’s birth, given at Firth Kirk, Finstown, Orkney, on 18 May 2013. 8 Journal of Liberal History 80 Autumn 2013 JO GriMOND 1913 – 1993 t is a trite, commonplace cli- later as rector at Aberdeen and should do so. I insisted that I was ché for a politician to open a chancellor at Kent, he loved to put only there to take the collection Idiscourse such as this by saying together generous dinner parties to cover the costs, and he spoke what a pleasure it is to be here and of a dozen or so for convivial dis- for about three minutes. Then Jo doing so. In this case, the moment cussion, and at one of these he sat wowed the audience. Unfortu- I received the invitation I replied me next to a fellow law student nately I had decided we would saying that genuinely it would give whom I knew but slightly, called have questions, and of course Jo me enormous pleasure. So before I Judy MacGregor. I offered her a answered superbly. Then a man delve into Jo Grimond’s life let me lift back to her flat afterwards. We in a loud tweed suit with a pukka explain why I owe him such a huge celebrated our golden wedding last voice – obviously up for the grouse personal debt on two levels. year. shooting – got up at the back and In 1961 when I had been presi- My second reason for my insisted on addressing his ques- dent of the Liberal Club at Edin- indebtedness to him occurred two tion to the candidate: ‘What is the burgh University I persuaded Jo years later by which time I was pro- Liberal Party policy on defence?’ Grimond to stand for the office of spective candidate for Edinburgh I looked at Jo. Jo looked at me. rector and he was indeed elected. Pentlands – a seat not fought by the We both looked at Alasdair, and The secretary of the club, George party for many years and where my I could see my sparkling career Inglis, and I went on a camping ambition was to save my deposit. in the party about to disappear. holiday in the Highlands in my old I was, on graduating, offered and Alasdair got very slowly to his motor car and had the temerity to accepted the full-time job of assis- feet, cleared his throat noisily, travel over to Orkney to land our- tant secretary of the Scottish Lib- and said very slowly: ‘The Liber- selves on the Grimonds for free eral Party. One of my tasks in al Par-ty will de-fend Brit-ain, bed and breakfast at the Old Manse that august role was to organise a the common-wealth and the free of Firth, and similarly lodge with pre-election tour for the Leader in world’. He sat down to tumultu- the former rector James Rob- the summer of 1964. So I was Jo’s ous applause, and went on to win ertson-Justice on our way back bag carrier (as we call them in the the seat and be an excellent MP. It south at Spinningdale. Jo’s recto- trade) as we travelled from hall to was a model answer. rial address was entitled ‘In praise hall. All went well in Inverness and Some of you may remember my of politics’ and in it he declared: ‘I Caithness & Sutherland where we boss, the secretary of the Scottish urge all of you to become politi- knew Russell Johnston and George party, Arthur Purdom, whose reac- cians, Liberals preferably, but if Mackie had good chances of win- tion to the good second places at you can’t manage that even Labour ning, but in Stornoway and espe- by-elections we had polled in East or Conservative politics are bet- cially Ross & Cromarty things Aberdeenshire, Galloway, and Kin- ter than none. I urge you because were different. Neither Jo nor I ross was ‘we need fewer brilliant politics are important, because knew the newly adopted candidate second places and a few more medi- politics are rewarding, but, most Alasdair Mackenzie. Gaelic was his ocre firsts!’ of all, because politics are one of first language and he was already Well one constituency where we the greatest, most natural and most into his sixties, was an expert on had always been in well-entrenched enjoyable of human activities’. sheep but not thought to be so on second place, and indeed fleetingly Now Jo Grimond was notori- politics. – before the boundary changes ously mean when it came to small The town hall in Dingwall was turned it into a safe Tory seat – the amounts of money, preferring to packed to the rafters, and Alasdair Jo Grimond Liberals had won it in 1950 (the eat in one of the Commons caf- who had never addressed more (1913–1993), same year Jo won here), was Rox- eterias rather than pay for din- than a local NFU meeting pan- Leader of the burgh, Selkirk & Peebles, but an ner in the Members’ dining room, icked and said he could not make Liberal Party active Labour candidate called Tam but for students at Edinburgh and the supporting speech, and that I 1956–1967 Dalyell had nearly pushed us down Journal of Liberal History 80 Autumn 2013 9 JO griMOND 1913 – 1993 to third place at the 1959 general agent. ‘Indeed’, was the response, Conventional Council and operating directly for election. ‘for which party?’ example to rescue and preserve the The prospective Liberal candi- He and Laura revived the some- canvass- little row of houses beside St Mag- date was a distant Asquithian rela- what moribund Liberal organisa- nus Cathedral which are her monu- tive of Laura Grimond – the Hon. tion and he lost by just 329 votes. ing was not ment today. James Tennant of the Glen. He fell We won no seats at all in Scotland, I enjoyed many visits to his con- out with the local party and they five in England and seven in Wales. his forte, stituency, not least on the weekend parted company. In the autumn of But he soldiered on as prospec- when he told me not to go over- 1963 with no candidate there and tive candidate whilst being the and he was board when addressing the evening – we thought – a general election full-time secretary of the National Orkney supper because he intended looming, Jo Grimond came into the Trust for Scotland, and won the suspicious to tell our colleagues next week of Edinburgh HQ and rightly insisted seat at the next election in 1950. of outside his intention to retire as leader. Our that the seat must be fought at all From then on until and indeed son Graeme was four months old, costs, and if nobody else was availa- after his retirement as MP in 1983, interference, and on Sunday morning we left ble ‘young Steel you will have to go it was a fully requited love affair him sitting in a plastic chair with and do it’. And so to cut a long story between these islands and the Gri- promising Jo as baby sitter while we went to short I did. monds. Conventional canvassing church with Laura. Jo was terrified, Alec Douglas-Home became was not his forte, and he was suspi- that if mate- and when we returned he said: ‘it prime minister and delayed the cious of outside interference, prom- made some noises but I didn’t know election for another year. With ising that if material was sent from rial was sent what to do’. the help of many student friends I Liberal HQ he would ensure that all His commitment to his constitu- reduced the Tory majority in the Liberal literature would be ‘seized from Liberal ency was something I tried to emu- 1964 election, and when the MP at the ports’. late in my beloved Borders with the suddenly died just a few weeks His devotion to the islands shone HQ he would result that we were both less than later, I was elected at the subsequent through many of his speeches in the enthusiastic about the policy of the by-election in March 1965 bring- Commons and produced tangible ensure that party on electoral reform – STV in ing the total number of Liberal MPs results getting an amendment into multi-member seats did not appeal back into double figures – ten. the Scotland Bill; and securing the all Liberal to us, and we would still I believe So you can see why both in my twelve-mile fishery limit instead have been better to disinter the 1930 private and public life I owe Jo Gri- of the six-mile one elsewhere when literature Speaker’s Conference recommen- mond the most extraordinary debt we joined the EEC. In 1973 he dation for multi-member seats in and why I rejoice in this opportu- piloted through the Zetland Bill in would be the cities, but AV in the rural areas nity to mark the 100th anniversary cooperation with the Council to ‘seized at the and single burghs.