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For the study of Liberal, SDP and Issue 90 / Spring 2016 / £7.50 Liberal Democrat history

Journal of LiberalHI ST O R Y

Liberal clubs and Liberal politics Matt Cole ‘The Liberal echo chamber’ What Liberal politics gained and lost with Liberal clubs David Dutton Liberalism’s radical Lord Chancellor Robert Threshie Reid, Lord Loreburn John Shepherd A Lancashire miner in Walthamstow Sam Woods and the by-election of 1897 Michael Meadowcroft Eric Lubbock and the Orpington moment Douglas Oliver Liberal leaders and leadership Meeting report Liberal Democrat History Group @BITEBACKPUB 2 Journal of Liberal History 90 Spring 2016 WWW.BITEBACKPUBLISHING.COM Journal of Liberal History Issue 90: Spring 2016 The Journal of Liberal History is published quarterly by the Liberal Democrat History Group. Liberal history news 4 ISSN 1479-9642 Gladstone Umbrella; Survey of subscribers; Volunteers wanted for digitising tapes; On this day in Liberal history Editor: Duncan Brack Deputy Editor: Tom Kiehl Assistant Editor: Siobhan Vitelli ‘The Liberal echo chamber’ 6 Archive Sources Editor: Dr J. Graham Jones Matt Cole considers what Liberal politics gained and lost with Liberal clubs Biographies Editor: Robert Ingham Reviews Editors: Dr Eugenio Biagini, Dr Ian Cawood Contributing Editors: Graham Lippiatt, Tony Little, Liberalism’s Radical Lord Chancellor 14 York Membery The life and political career of Robert Threshie Reid, Lord Loreburn, 1846–1923; by David Dutton Patrons Dr Eugenio Biagini; Professor Michael Freeden; A Lancashire miner in Walthamstow 24 Professor John Vincent Sam Woods and the by-election of 1897; by John Shepherd Editorial Board Dr Malcolm Baines; Dr Ian Cawood; Dr Matt Cole; Eric Lubbock and the Orpington moment 29 Dr Roy Douglas; Dr David Dutton; Professor Richard Michael Meadowcroft remembers the victor of the 1962 Orpington by- Grayson; Dr Michael Hart; Peter Hellyer; Dr Alison election Holmes; Dr J. Graham Jones; Dr Tudor Jones; Tony Little; Michael Meadowcroft; Dr Tim Oliver; Dr Mark Pack; Dr Ian Packer; Dr John Powell; Jaime Reynolds; Report 31 Dr Iain Sharpe; Dr Michael Steed Liberal leaders and leadership, with Simon Hughes and Paul Tyler; report by Douglas Oliver Editorial/Correspondence Contributions to the Journal – letters, articles, and Letters to the Editor 33 book reviews – are invited. The Journal is a refereed Targeting (Mark Pack); Madam Mayor (Michael Meadowcroft) publication; all articles submitted will be peer- reviewed. Contributions should be sent to: Reviews 34 Duncan Brack (Editor) 54 Midmoor Road, London SW12 0EN Bloch, Jeremy Thorpe, reviewed by David Steel; Deacon, Deacon, The Welsh email: [email protected] Liberals: the History of the Liberal and Liberal Democratic Parties in Wales, reviewed by J. Graham Jones; Sloman, The Liberal Party and the Economy, All articles copyright © Journal of Liberal History. 1929–64, reviewed by J. Graham Jones; Wyburn-Powell, Political Wings: William All rights reserved. Wedgwood Benn, First Viscount Stansgate, reviewed by David Dutton Advertisements Prices on application; discounts available for repeat ads or offers to readers (e.g. discounted book prices). To place ads, please contact the Editor.

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Published by the Liberal Democrat History Group, For more information, including historical commentaries, details of publications, back issues c/o 54 Midmoor Road, London SW12 0EN of the Journal, and archive and other research sources, see our website at: www.liberalhistory.org.uk. Printed by Kall-Kwik, 18 Colville Road, London W3 8BL Subscribers’ code for discounted sales from the History Group online shop: mbr011 May 2016 Chair: Tony Little Honorary President: Lord Wallace of Saltaire

Journal of Liberal History 90 Spring 2016 3 Liberal History News Spring 2016

The Gladstone Umbrella £192, and non-residential from Gladstone’s Library, at Hawarden £150. Discount rates for clergy and How much of the Journal do you in North Wales, is holding a col- students apply. To book, please call normally read? loquium, titled ‘The Gladstone 01244 532350 or email enquiries@ Umbrella’, from Friday 15th to Sun- gladlib.org. Offers of papers should day 17th July 2016 to discuss Wil- be sent to [email protected]. 27% 28% liam Ewart Gladstone (1809–1898), The residential library, which the greatest Liberal Prime Minister. was founded by Gladstone and con- Liberal Democrat History tains his own books, is to be found Group members are welcome to at Church Lane, Hawarden, CH5 apply. Residential prices (bed and 3DF, about ten miles west of Ches- 45% breakfast, morning and afternoon ter. Their web site is www.glad- coffee, lunch and dinner) start from stoneslibrary.org. All of it Most of it A few items

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Would you like to see … Survey of subscribers Thank you to the seventy-one of the articles and other items, and subscribers of the Journal of Liberal whether the Journal was striking the 8% History who completed our online right balance between accessibility 19% questionnaire in January. The feed- and authority, and between gen- back we received was immensely eral introductory pieces and more helpful; here we summarise the key detailed treatment of specific top- points and give our responses. ics. As you can see from the charts, 73% We asked a series of questions the clear message is that our sub- about how much of the Journal subscribers are very happy with almost scribers normally read, how they all aspects of the Journal (though rated different aspects of the of course we recognise that peo- More general introductory material Jour- More specialist material nal, what they thought of the length ple who don’t like what we publish Neither – the balance is about right

Future History Group meetings may not respond, or may simply stop subscribing – though our • Monday 27 June, House of Lords: The legacy of Roy Jenkins, with John Campbell and retention rate is quite high). These David Steel (see back page for full details) findings, which are in line with our previous feedback exercises, • September (either Sunday 18 or Monday 19), Liberal Democrat conference, Brighton: are obviously reassuring! Many of The 2010–15 coalition: what could the Liberal Democrats have done differently? the individual comments subscrib- Speakers to be announced. ers added were along the same lines (‘excellent content and great value’ • January/February 2017: History Group AGM and speaker meeting; details to be was a typical observation); but we announced will of course repeat the survey

4 Journal of Liberal History 90 Spring 2016 On This Day … Every day the History Group’s website, Facebook page and Twitter feed carry an item of Liberal history news from the past. Below we reprint three. To see them regularly, look at www.liberalhistory.org.uk or www.facebook.com/LibDemHistoryGroup or follow us at: LibHistoryToday.

March 26 March 1896: Death in Brighton of Thomas Hughes, author, social reformer and Liberal MP for Lambeth 1865-68 and Frome 1868-74. Educated at Rugby and Oxford, Hughes used his experiences in his famous novel of 1857, Tom Brown’s Schooldays, and its sequel, Tom Brown at Oxford. Hughes was involved in the both the Co-operative and the Christian Socialist movements and was one of the founders of the Working Men’s College in Great Ormond Street. In parliament Hughes campaigned to improve the legal position of co-operatives and trade unions. In later life he founded a settlement in the US – Rugby, Tennessee – designed as an experiment in utopian living for the sons of the English gentry; it still exists today.

April 8 April 1908: H. H. Asquith is appointed Prime Minister by King Edward VII in a hotel room in the South of France. The king was holidaying in Biarritz and, unwilling to interrupt his holiday, Asquith was summoned there. Following the adjournment of the House of Commons on 6th April Asquith secretly caught the boat train for Paris. Writing to his wife Margot afterwards, Asquith described the scene: ‘This morning I put on a frock coat and … went to the King who was similarly attired. I presented him with a written resignation of the office of Chr. of the Exr; & he then said “I appoint you P.M. & First Lord of the Treasury” whereupon I knelt down and kissed his hand. Voila tout! He then asked me to … breakfast with him. We were quite alone for an hour & I went over all the appointments with him. He made no objection to any of them and discussed the various men very freely & with a good deal of shrewdness.’

May 31 May 1877: The National Liberal Federation is launched by Gladstone at the Bingley Hall Birmingham, ‘to form new Liberal Associations based on popular representation’. While its decisions were non-binding on the party leadership, they came to be seen to represent the party’s grassroots and were sympathetic to radical causes within the party, such as universal male suffrage, extension of the factory acts and reform of the House of Lords. Joseph Chamberlain was a dominant force in the Federation in its early days, though his influence declined after the mid 1880s when the NLF decided to ally with Gladstone over the 1886 Irish Home Rule Bill. periodically to make sure subscrib- Liberal parties outside the UK. We the resources contained in it, and ers have a chance to tell us what have occasionally published these will keep subscribers updated on they think. in the past, but will make efforts to developments. Thanks also for all the sugges- publish more in the future. Finally, we held a prize draw for tions for new articles and authors; The lowest score for any of the any of the History Group’s books as we will do our best to follow them rating questions was on what sub- a reward for completing the survey; up. The single most commonly sug- scribers thought of the presentation the winner is one of our regular gested topic was more articles on (layout and design) of the Journal, contributors, Michael Meadow- and quite a few of the individual croft. Congratulations! Rating (1 (worst) – 5 (best) comments were critical of our current layout. Accordingly, this issue Your overall impression will be the last in the current three- Volunteer needed Presentation and-half column layout; we will For the first fifteen or so years of Articles and biographies introduce a new, and hopefully the History Group, we recorded Meeting reports more attractive, layout in the sum- our meetings on cassette tapes; mer issue. The cover design will, about ten years ago, we switched to Book reviews however, remain the same. digital recordings, which we hope Liberal History News Subscribers also gave us valu- to make accessible via our website. Letters able suggestions for future His- We would like to do the same for Value for money tory Group meetings, and we will our tape recordings, so if anyone 3.40 3.63 3.85 4.08 4.30 aim to follow up as many of these has access to technology which can as we can. There were a number of convert them to digital files, and requests for greater advance notice would be willing to spend time Is the length about right, too long of the meetings, so from this issue doing so, we would very much like or too short? (%) we are adding a forward diary to to hear from them. Please email the this ‘Liberal History News’ section Editor at journal@liberalhistory. Articles and biographies listing our planned meetings – even org.uk. where we don’t have a confirmed Meeting reports date, we will let you know what subjects we’re thinking of. Apology Feedback on future ideas for We would like to apologise for the Book reviews books, and on our website, Face- late despatch of this issue of the book page and Twitter feed was Journal of Liberal History – it went Journal as a whole also useful; about two-thirds of to press about six weeks later than our subscribers at least occasion- originally planned. 0 25 50 75 100 About right Too long Too short ally looked at our website. We aim We will aim to catch up with the to increase both its accessibility and summer issue, due out in mid-July.

Journal of Liberal History 90 Spring 2016 5 ‘The Liberal echo chamber’ what Liberal politics gained and lost with Liberal clubs

In 1981 the Barton- on-Humber Liberal Club was reopened by Liberal MP Richard Wainwright, who asserted that ‘if it wasn’t for Clubs such as this, the whole Liberal movement would die, for they embody the momentum and spirit of the Party.’1 Wainwright had a long association with Liberal clubs, and his claim showed a mixture of experience, nostalgia and optimism, for the role of Liberal clubs in the history of British Liberalism is odern political clubs followed by Conservative and the story of a powerful emerged in the new Constitutional dining clubs around Mpolitical environment the country intended to recruit the and often neglected created by the Great Reform Acts newly represented to the Conserva- of 1832, 1867 and 1884. It was Rob- tive cause, with tickets ‘at such a contribution as well as ert Peel’s relaunch of the Tories price as would be within the reach as the Conservative Party in 1834 of the lowest individuals connected difficult and shifting which first prompted the establish- with the associations.’2 relations in more recent ment of social clubs to encourage Liberal politicians rallied their party support. This started with forces at the Reform Club, which years. By Matt Cole. the Carlton in 1832, but was soon was founded in 1836 and which

6 Journal of Liberal History 90 Spring 2016 ‘The Liberal echo chamber’ what Liberal politics gained and lost with Liberal clubs

opened its Pall Mall buildings in base. Following the passage of the centres of the provinces, but were 1841. Conditions for membership Second Reform Act in 1867 enfran- still limited in number and far too included support of the Reform chising most men in borough con- exclusive to draw in newly enfran- Act, and it became a meeting place stituencies, and Gladstone’s Secret chised voters and the wider activist for Whig peers and their successors. Ballot Act of 1872 which made a base of the National Liberal Fed- Lord Strabolgi remembered that, democratic discourse with these eration formed in 1877. Though a even at the party’s weakest point in voters even more essential, the few other, smaller clubs emerged the 1950s, ‘we used to have a dinner great Liberal or Reform clubs of at the same time – Tydesley, Burs- every year for the Liberal Peers – a Manchester (1867), Birmingham lem, Chester, Barrow, Bradford and sort of “thank you” I think – at the and Newcastle (both 1880), Leeds Ipswich all had clubs before 1882 Reform, a rather splendid dinner (1881) and the National Liberal Club – it was in the wake of the Third starting with caviar.’3 The Reform (1882) were founded. Reform Act of 1884, widening the competed with Brooks’s in St These clubs enjoyed prestigious franchise in the counties, that the James’s, which had been established Liberal Party patronage, quickly real growth in provincial town in 1764 by twenty-seven leading attracted impressive memberships and village Liberal clubs began. Whig nobles and where Charles and established equally impressive By the end of the century, most James Fox had held court.4 These club buildings. The National Lib- districts had a cluster of clubs of two London Liberal gentlemen’s eral Club, built between White- varying sizes, from the great din- clubs were joined in 1874 by the hall and its terraces on the Thames, ing clubs of the cities to the modest Devonshire Club and the City Lib- boasted a membership of around village halls or terraced houses in eral Club, and six years later by the 3,500 even at the party’s nadir in small towns where liberal opinion Eighty Club. Though their expan- the 1950s. Asquith was the presi- was shared amongst new voters. sion reflected the increasing scope dent of Birmingham Liberal Club Some of these – such as at Crowle of party political activity amongst and its early officers included John near Scunthorpe, and Leaming- the public in the nineteenth cen- Bright and Joseph Chamberlain; ton – were specifically titled ‘Lib- tury, these clubs remained open Gladstone laid the foundation eral working men’s clubs’. East only to the affluent, and limited to stone of the Manchester Reform Devon had at least six, including London. In the new age of a mass Club’s King Street premises in the 600-strong Torquay and Cock- (albeit still restricted) electorate, 1871 and Churchill was amongst ington club; West Somerset had these were useful only as meeting its early members; and the Leeds eight, with 750 members at Bris- points for the political and social and County Liberal Club, the new tol Liberal Club, where John Mor- elite. building of which was opened by ley was president; Warwickshire, Sir James Kitson MP in 1890, had a which had none before the Second membership of 1,650. In the grand Reform Act, and the Lancashire The Victorian and Edwardian circumstances of these institutions, industrial town of Burnley (popu- periods: the high point of Liberals could hear leading party lation 95,000), had at least ten clubs Liberal clubs figures speak, discuss and develop each by 1900.5 It was with the development of ideas for local and national policy, These clubs performed vital representative democracy that Lib- and, equally importantly, raise functions for a campaigning party, eral clubs emerged alongside the funds to fight elections. both explicit and implicit: explic- National Liberal Federation as one These striking examples estab- Barnstaple and itly they were the venues for party of the mobilising forces for a vastly lished high-profile hubs of Lib- North Devon meetings ranging from speeches increased electorate and activist eralism in the growing industrial Liberal Club by visiting party leaders to regular

Journal of Liberal History 90 Spring 2016 7 ‘The Liberal echo chamber’: what Liberal politics gained and lost with Liberal clubs committee and general meetings on political and other subjects’ and Liberal Clubs we are most grateful of the local association or Young ‘the rendering of voluntary aid to and we appreciate the loyalty and Liberal socials: Newcastle-upon- Liberal candidates at parliamentary, help of all Club members.’ In the Tyne Liberal Club’s Memorandum municipal and other elections.’ In Federation’s Golden Jubilee book- of Association stated its objects as one year alone of its first decade let of 1953, a full-page advertise- ‘the promotion of the cause of Lib- the club welcomed Campbell-Ban- ment by the National Union and eralism’; ‘the delivery of lectures nerman, Lord Granville, Sir Wil- the Yorkshire Federation of Liberal liam Harcourt, Earl Kimberley, Clubs reflected this support.10 Lord Ripon and Earl Spencer. Later Just as important, however, guests included Lloyd George, was the unstated way in which the R. B. Haldane, Earl Carrington clubs embedded Liberalism in their and Lord Herschell. Smaller clubs communities. Voters who did not like Longridge (1887) and Gainsbor- see themselves as political activ- ough (1902) were opened by visiting ists could nonetheless acknowledge Liberal MPs. Especially at election their broad sympathies with- times many agents used the local out buying a membership card Liberal club as headquarters and or attending meetings – and they even recruited club staff – stewards could meet others who shared their and their families were often resi- sympathies and engage with elected dent, even at smaller clubs – to the representatives and party officers in campaign. the course of ostensibly non-politi- Clubs from Peckham to Lin- cal leisure activities. Most clubs had coln, from Rochdale to Kendal, a regular schedule of whist drives, were the regular meeting place of dances and facilities for billiards, Liberal associations, or provided snooker, dominoes or darts. Many funds to support local associations competed in local sports leagues: or federations. It was to Manches- the tiny John O’Gaunt Liberal Club ter Reform Club that the Roch- in Lancaster ran teams in several dale Radical Association executive sports in the 1920s; Greets Liberal invited Ludovic Kennedy to assess Club was delighted to win the West his fitness to be the Liberal candi- Bromwich Division One Snooker date for the by-election of 1958; the trophy in 1947; Saffron Waldon presidency of Lancaster Reform Liberals ran their own tennis club, Club was, during 1947–49, in the and Winsford Liberal Club won hands of Harold Rogerson – as sole the Manchester Evening News bowl- (and then leading) liberal council- ing cup; and as late as 1977 Hud- lor, parliamentary candidate and dersfield Liberal Clubs Winter rebuilder of the local party in the Games League arranged fixtures post-war years, he used the club as for over thirty teams at each of an organising base, and it contin- snooker, dominoes and All Fours. ued to donate to party funds until Other clubs offered coach outings 1998.6 Egan points out how Dundee to the seaside or the country, or Liberal Association was ‘peculiarly elaborate artistic entertainments reliant’ upon its Liberal club for such as Lewisham Liberal Club’s fundraising,7 and Blondel showed 1902 ‘Bohemian Evening’ featur- that significant elements of Read- ing twenty-four items including ing Liberals’ income had been gen- soloists, duettists and groups offer- erated by the Reading and County ing songs, instrumental perfor- Liberal Club in the decade after the mances, dance, recitation and two Second World War.8 comedians. The value of this support was It is easy to forget in the age of recognised by Liberal officials, home entertainment and central especially as the party’s fortunes heating how integral collective plummeted. In 1954, the organis- voluntary organisations were to ing secretary of the West Midlands the social life of all classes, and how Federation asked his opposite num- useful they could be in maintaining ber at Bedworth Liberal Club in the bond now sadly lost between Nuneaton ‘to give all your mem- politicians, activists and the wider bers my best wishes to them for electorate. Colley Lane Liberal 1954, and thank them for the co- Club in Cradley Heath went fur- operation we have always received ther and ran a sickness insurance from them.’9 The Yorkshire Lib- scheme in the days before Lloyd eral Federation reiterated in annual George’s reforms. reports of the 1940s and 1950s that Liberal MP Richard Wain- ‘for the continued support of the wright was a member of Leeds Liberal Clubs and the Federation of Liberal Club from the 1930s, and

8 Journal of Liberal History 90 Spring 2016 ‘The Liberal echo chamber’: what Liberal politics gained and lost with Liberal clubs used links with the dozen clubs clubs provided a redoubt for sup- in his constituency of Colne Val- porters and a physical reminder ley to great effect from the 1950s of the Liberals’ glory days. Most onwards. He advised his constitu- of the experience of the twentieth ency organiser in the run-up to the century, however, was to be one 1970 election that rather than try- of decline in the fortunes, of the ing to recruit unwilling patrons of clubs and the party, and of their Liberal clubs to the party, ‘it is more relationship. a question of talking to them, hear- ing from them what is being said locally, and sorting out who can be 1918 onwards: drift and relied upon.’11 decline Though he lost the 1970 elec- The interwar years and especially tion, Wainwright later remem- the period after 1945 saw first a dis- bered that ‘immediately after the tancing in the relationship between defeat, it was agreed (and carried the party and many of the Liberal out) that the Officers visit each Lib- clubs and subsequently the financial eral Club in turn, fraternising and collapse of most of the clubs. running a full-scale monthly public In the 1920s and 1930s the draw with a very wide sale of tick- great clubs of the cities shrank and ets. That certainly helped morale.’12 drifted from the Liberal Party, itself Wainwright regained his seat at the fragmented by repeated internal next election, and at subsequent conflict: the clubs at Manchester elections local Liberal clubs pro- and Newcastle-upon-Tyne aban- vided up to a third of his campaign doned political conditions for costs. He regularly toured the clubs membership; the Bristol Liberal in his constituency on Friday eve- Club’s political committee did not nings, and the political secretary meet after 1929; and in the 1920s of the largest of them watched him Leeds Liberal Club began to rent at work: ‘I could take him to Gol- out space as offices. The number car Liberal Club, and he knew most of temporary members joining people; and he didn’t just stand Birmingham Liberal Club annu- at the bar talking to his own col- ally fell from 78 in 1918 to single leagues. He spoke to everybody in figures in the 1930s;16 at Newcastle the Club – he went out of his way the same figure went from nearly in some cases to talk to people, 700 to barely 100 between 1926 and and they liked that. Since then I’ve 1939. Few, if any, new clubs were found politicians – local as well as founded after 1918, and the smaller Above: Burslem to keep quiet about his apparent national – stand in the corner.’13 clubs also experienced difficulties Liberal Club, with duplicity. If it had got back to his The high point of these devel- maintaining their political iden- detail of gable employers he would certainly opments was the formation of the tity. Though with many it was not have lost his job.17 National Union of Liberal Clubs in so well documented as with their Left: 1913. The NULC linked the hun- more prestigious counterparts until Blackpool Liberal From the earliest stages of the post- dreds of clubs in the country to later, there is clear anecdotal evi- Club, 1897 war period, Party officials were each other, and to the Liberal Party dence of it in the inter-war period. ‘Bohemian expressing their disquiet that clubs nationally because it had guaran- A relative of one official at Port Concert’ at the were no longer fulfilling the use- teed representation on the Liberal Talbot Liberal Club, for instance, Lewisham and ful functions expected of them: in Party Council. Its rules confirmed remembers that: Lee Liberal Club, 1945, a meeting of the London Lib- that their objective and that of their 1902 eral Party Executive agreed that ‘all affiliated clubs was ‘to carry on, The local employer was a Lib- possible information be obtained both amongst its members and the eral, so unless you also professed regarding the status of ‘Liberal general public, propaganda in sup- to be a Liberal you had no access clubs’ in and around London. ‘The port of the Liberal Party.’14 to jobs either in the Docks or Battersea Liberal Association Club In October 1956 – the month Tin Works. Consequently the … and the Ilford Liberal Club … before Jo Grimond took over as Labour-voting constituents of appeared to be typical cases of party leader – the diary column Sandfields joined the Liberal Clubs being Liberal in name only, of Liberal News shows that Liberal Club. As a committee member being actually social clubs run for clubs and Halls hosted party meet- Dai was called on as a repre- profit. The Secretary will con- ings, lectures, socials and dances sentative at certain Liberal party duct investigations and report to everywhere from Hyde to Her- venues and was once quizzed the Committee and to the LPO.’18 eford and Yeadon to Yeovil as well by a newspaper reporter who Similar concerns were raised by as Oxford, Blandford, Torquay, had seen him at the equivalent the Western Counties Federation Tavistock, Chippenham, Poole and Labour party venue only the Executive in 1947: a resolution was Sidmouth – and of course at the previous week. Ever the fast passed appointing a small commit- National Liberal Club in London.15 talker, Dai manufactured some tee ‘to investigate and report on At the party’s lowest point, Liberal tale and persuaded the reporter all Liberal Clubs in its area and to

Journal of Liberal History 90 Spring 2016 9 ‘The Liberal echo chamber’: what Liberal politics gained and lost with Liberal clubs

From top: County Liberal Association expressed concern that Soham Lib- Colley Lane eral Hall ‘should not be lost to the Liberal Club, Liberal Party’, and asked their sec- Cradley Heath, retary to secure the deeds for the about 1906. property.23 The members A deteriorating relationship pictured between the clubs and the party include a had been rightly identified. Even warehouseman, in areas of relatively strong contact a painter, a between the two, the evidence of butcher, a works increasing distance was unavoid- manager, two able. The West Midlands Federa- engineers and a tion kept a contact list of at least colliery engine- twenty-nine Liberal clubs in its minder, a twine area. However, this network was maker, a coal misleading in its scope: a fundrais- merchant, a ing raffle in 1952 secured a total sum schoolteacher, approaching £10 from seven of the two blacksmiths addresses on the list (in cases like and four the Woodside Liberal Club ‘after a chainmakers struggle’); but most returned all the tickets to Federation Headquarters. Castleford Some excused themselves as hav- Liberal Working ing already sought contributions Men’s Club from their members for the Liberal Billiard team in Fighting Fund or their own benev- the 1920s olent funds; others claimed to have lost the tickets. Some, like Foleshill Eastleigh Liberal Liberal Club in Coventry, were Club charabanc more frank: ‘Regret we have been outing, 1926 unable to sell any. I am very much afraid that this sort of raffle does not go down well here but we still wish you good luck.’ The clubs were allied to two movements in gradual but seem- ingly inexorable decline: men’s social clubs and the Liberal Party.24 Some therefore understandably sought to play down their relationship with at least one of those causes to preserve their membership. Wit- ness to this is borne by the membership figures of the clubs, and by the controversies within them. The chairman of Blackheath Liberal Club in the West Midlands (motto ‘Unity is Strength’) resigned after he found his committee unwilling to expel a member who had expressed Labour sympathies in the bar and suggested the club’s window bearing the Liberal Party recommend what action should be future Truro MP David Penhaligon name be removed. The West Mid- taken to encourage such Clubs to into the party, but by then meet- lands Federation was consulted give more support to the Liberal ings were held in private homes about both this incident and a sec- Party.’19 or hired rooms.20 In Scotland, the ond one, in 1953, along with Clem- Truro Liberal Club also closed Helensburgh and Gareloch Liberal ent Davies himself, in which the down following the Second World Club in West Dumbarton was sold Portobello Liberal Club in Willen- War – it had been the former meet- to the Red Cross Society in 1948,21 hall, Staffordshire had apparently ing place of the local association and the destination of the proceeds been sold privately to its secretary.25 where ‘your Liberalism was taken of the sale of clubs became a mat- This decline in numbers and for granted.’ It was also the meet- ter of legal contest in Newbury and party activity in clubs was part ing place of the Trewins, the cou- Leicester in the 1950s.22 In 1945 and of a national picture which saw ple who in 1964 were to welcome 1947 the Executive of Cambridge the National Union’s number

10 Journal of Liberal History 90 Spring 2016 ‘The Liberal echo chamber’: what Liberal politics gained and lost with Liberal clubs of affiliates almost halved from was a small and distorted sample: Clubs Committee and the National around 400 to just over 200 between they were by White’s admission Union of Liberal Clubs (still very 1945 and 1962.26 By 1981 the NULC all known to him, and thus from supportive of the party), and sug- could not summon 100 delegates that minority of club secretaries gested a conference of all club to its conference.27 The 1946 Lib- who valued close relations with the secretaries and LPO officers. But eral Party Reconstruction Report party.28 the writing was on the wall, and recommended the formation of a White proposed closer con- nowhere was this better illustrated special committee of enquiry into sultation with the LPO Liberal than in the demise of the most the position of Liberal clubs, which went on to become a standing committee of the party. The LPO Executive returned to the matter a decade later, and took stock of the situation in a report commissioned from a member of the Liberal Clubs Committee, B. S. White. White’s interim report was peppered with health warnings because ‘it is quite possible when further information is gathered conclusions might vary; because of the lack of confirmed information it is brief.’ The diffi- culty in gathering data was itself evidence of the awkwardness of the relationship between the clubs and the party; rather than focus upon this, however, White looked for short-term, individual factors, and the optimistic prospects they implied for turning things around. He attributed the concur- rent decline in memberships of both clubs and associations to poor com- munication and to the fact that ‘the Liberal Party has not been able to give financial aid as other parties have to their clubs.’ White claimed that ‘difficulties have arisen chiefly between individuals on both sides more than general hostility. A great deal of this can be overcome in time by a personal approach of the right type of Federation Officer or representative.’ White pointed to the good work done by many Liberal clubs, especially in the North, West Midlands and Devon & Cornwall, and argued From top: that ‘if there had been no Liberal Clubs in some parts of the country Newcastle there would have been fewer can- Liberal Club, didates for both Local and General Barrack Road, Elections.’ He proposed a series of 1930 measures to a dozen club secretaries and chairmen: they approved Greets Green the ideas of joint membership and Liberal Club mutual publicity drives by clubs snooker team, and associations, and in Liberal winners of News; they were uncertain about West Bromwich party money-raising events at Lib- Division 1 trophy eral clubs or prize competitions (a 1947 Clement Davies Snooker Cup or Jo Grimond Bowls Cup were sug- Bloxwich Road gested); they even thought the North Liberal ambitious idea of opening new Lib- Club, Walsall, eral clubs worth discussing. Yet this around the 1950s

Journal of Liberal History 90 Spring 2016 11 ‘The Liberal echo chamber’: what Liberal politics gained and lost with Liberal clubs

From top: high-profile clubs in major population centres. In each case, declining Garstang Liberal membership was accompanied by Club diluting political identity, and ultimately closure. The Liberal Manchester Reform Club even- Working Men’s tually merged on its hundredth Club, Royal anniversary with the Engineers’ Leamington Spa Club to form the Manchester Club, which closed in 1987.29 Likewise in Yeovil Liberal 1967 the Bristol Liberal Club closed Club its doors after annual reports showing ‘concern over membership Greg Mulholland numbers’ and ‘many resignations’.30 MP celebrates Birmingham Liberal Club con- the centenary of tinued only in name, sharing the Yeadon Liberal address, and secretary, of the West Club with Liberal Midlands Liberal Federation until Democrat in 1957 its name finally disappeared councillors in from local trade directories.31 Leeds 2013 Liberal Club had only 178 members by 1941 and was abandoned in 194732 and the representatives of other Liberal clubs in Leeds complained in 1954 that they were made to feel unwelcome at the city’s federation executive meetings.33 By 1955 Bradford Liberal Club was negotiating its merger with the local Conservative club;34 Holm- firth in Colne Valley closed in 1961, and Blackpool and Garstang in Lancashire held on until the 1970s and 1980s respectively. As recently as 2013 the Liberal club at Ches- ter closed its doors after 130 years. The Devonshire and Eighty clubs closed in the 1970s and of the longest-established London clubs only the Reform and the National Lib- eral Club still survive – the former now reassuring visitors to its website that it is ‘no longer associated with any particular political party, and now serves a purely social function.’35 In 1959, a proposal to drop the word ‘Liberal’ from Newcas- tle-upon-Tyne Liberal Club pro- voked ‘a very animated discussion,’ in which some argued the name was deterring potential new members from joining, but others replied that the building itself ‘was well known throughout the country as the Liberal Club [and] was the home of Liberalism.’ The name was kept, and the membership kept falling until a meeting of only thirty- nine members vacated the premises in 1962, formal AGMs (latterly of two members) being held at the County Hotel until 1970.36 When the Liberals merged with the SDP in 1988, official recognition of the NULC by the party was

12 Journal of Liberal History 90 Spring 2016 ‘The Liberal echo chamber’: what Liberal politics gained and lost with Liberal clubs ended, and Liberal clubs lost the Liberals had been around for a Yorkshire Archive Service, Simpson, Secretary, National representation they had enjoyed century and more, that there Sheepscar, ref. LIB/P. Union of Liberal Clubs, 18 Aug. on national party committees. still were enough around to 11 Richard Wainwright to Maurice 2004. Some Liberal MPs like Rich- run a club, and that as long as Burgess, 22 Apr. 1970. 27 ‘Yes Liberal Clubs do matter’, ard Wainwright revived the the club was there, there still 12 Richard Wainwright to David Liberal News, 16 June 1981. The relationship to mutual advan- would be. Ridgway, 16 July 1987. website of the NULC (http:// tage locally, but usually only 13 Barry Fearnley, interview 31 www.interface-wizardry.co.uk/ temporarily or with a strong Matt Cole is a Teaching Fellow Oct. 2008. nulc/, accessed 11 May 2015) air of nostalgia: Nick Harvey’s at the University of Birmingham. 14 National Union of Liberal contains little evidence of recent campaign to defend his North The author would appreciate con- Clubs Ltd. Rules, 1935, p. 1, and activity and gives an impres- Devon seat in 2015 was based tact with any readers with further revised rules, 1965 and 1998. sion of the current state of clubs in the premises of Barnstaple information about Liberal clubs past 15 Liberal News, 5, 12, 19 and 26 Oct. which is further reduced from Liberal Club (where portraits or present. Please email m.r.cole@ 1956. the position in the 1980s. of Grimond, Thorpe and Glad- bham.ac.uk. 16 Birmingham Liberal Club Fort- 28 A copy of White’s interim report stone decorate the meeting nightly Members Book, Bir- is in West Midlands Liberal room), and in 2013 a Commons 1 Lincolnshire and Humberside Times, mingham City Archives, MS Federation papers, op.cit. Four Early Day Motion was spon- 31 Oct. 1981. 810. years later a similar report was sored by six Liberal Democrat 2 Manchester Operative Conserva- 17 Pam Walsh, http://trees. prepared by D. Fletcher Bur- MPs celebrating the cente- tive Association: Proceedings of the ancestry.co.uk/tree/21181252/ den, secretary of the NULC, for nary of Yeadon Liberal Club.37 First Anniversary Meeting, Mon- person/1067859960/ Richard Wainwright, reaching In 1976 Paddy Ashdown was day August 24th 1835 (pamphlet photox/314841ac-d88b-417e- similar conclusions (Wainwright selected as Liberal candidate for reprinted from the Manchester 9c5f-478e8c6b9fd0?src=search papers, LSE, file 8/2). Yeovil at Crewekerne Liberal Courier by T. Sowler, Manches- (accessed 5 Jan. 2015). 29 Manchester Reform Club Hall and in 1982 his refurbished ter, 1835) 18 London Liberal Party Executive records, John Rylands Library, offices were opened by David 3 Lord Strabolgi, interview 19 minutes, 20 Dec. 1945, Metro- Manchester ref. MRC, Admin- Steel at Yeovil Liberal Club Aug. 2003. politan Archives, ACC/1446/4. istrative History. ‘which had become little more 4 See C. Sebag-Montefiore and J. 19 Western Counties Liberal Fed- 30 Bristol Liberal Club records, than a working men’s club’;38 Mordaunt Crook (eds.), Brooks’s, eration Executive minutes, 12 Bristol Record Office ref. 36202/ yet today the club at Yeovil 1764–2014: The Story of a Whig July 1947, University of Bris- A/1–3. See also Western Coun- echoes the Reform’s insistence Club (Paul Holberton Publish- tol Special Collections, GB003 ties Liberal Federation Executive that ‘we are not affiliated to any ing, 2013). DM1172. minutes op. cit., passim, and political party!’39 5 The details of club numbers are 20 A. Penhaligon, Penhaligon Bristol East, Bristol South and B. S. White remarked that drawn from local trade direc- (Bloomsbury, 1990) p. 12. Bristol South East Liberal Asso- ‘politics being very much a tories such as Kelly’s and local 21 Helensburgh and Gareloch ciations minute books 1946–71 social thing, if other parties press references; there is also Liberal Association papers, passim., University of Bristol have clubs in an area where some useful reference to the role National Library of Scotland, Special Collections GN 0003 there are no Liberal Clubs, they of Liberal clubs in Lancashire acc. 11765/38. DM668 & DM1172. have an advantage.’40 This was and Yorkshire in P. Wrigley and 22 Egan op.cit. p. 68. 31 See Kelly’s Directory of Bir- unfortunately as important J. Reynolds, ‘Liberal Roots’, 23 Cambridge County Liberal mingham, 1957. about the past as it was irrel- Journal of Liberal History, 80, and Association Executive min- 32 J. Newiss and K. Grady, ‘Leeds evant about the future. How- J. Reynolds, ‘The Strange Sur- utes, 24 Nov. 1945, 17 May 1947 and County Liberal Club: His- ever, to the extent that they vival of Liberal Lancashire’, and AGM 15 Mar. 1958, Cam- torical Notes’, Leeds Civic Trust cooperated with the party, Journal of Liberal History, 85. bridgeshire Record Office, leaflet, July 2004. Liberal clubs lent it not merely 6 Information from George How- R93/73. 33 Egan op cit., p. 68. material resources, but a sense son, interview 27 Mar. 2004, and 24 A measure of the decline in 34 Bradford Club papers, West of its historical existence, John Wilson, Treasurer, Lancas- working men’s clubs more gen- Yorkshire Archive Service, links with long-standing Lib- ter Reform Club, interview 9 erally is that even since the Bradford ref. 50D86. eral values, and a belief in the Aug. 2004. 1970s the Clubs and Institutes 35 http://www.reformclub.com/ intangible property referred to 7 M. Egan, ‘Grassroots Organisa- Union, to which most work- (accessed 11 Jan. 2015). by the Blackheath Club chair- tion of the Liberal Party, 1945- ing men’s clubs belong, has lost 36 Newcastle upon Tyne Liberal man so exercised by his dissi- 64’ (PhD, Oxford 2000) p. 68. half of its 4,000 member clubs Club records, Tyne & Wear dent member as ‘a really Liberal 8 Blondel, ‘The Political Structure (see BBC News, ‘Brewers call Archive Service ref. 200. atmosphere’. In 2015 the Liberal of Reading’, unpublished thesis, time on Barrow working men’s 37 EDM 246, tabled 13 June 2013 by Democrat campaign organiser Oxford 1955, p. 216, quoted by club’, accessed 11 May 2015). Greg Mulholland MP. in Barnstaple could still rec- Egan op.cit., p. 68. The CIU’s enthusiasts’ website, 38 P. Ashdown, A Fortunate Life ognise the value of the Liberal 9 Newton Hyde to Bedworth Lib- http://www.clubhistorians. (Aurum Press, 2009), pp. 176 and club as an ‘echo chamber’ in eral Club, 4 Jan. 1954, West Mid- co.uk/ (accessed 11 May 2015), 200. which Liberals were reassured lands Liberal Federation papers, does not give detailed figures, 39 http://www.libclub.co.uk/ by their shared opinions with Cadbury Research Library, but regrets the necessity for its (accessed 11 Jan. 2015). fellow members.41 The psycho- University of Birmingham, ‘Obituary’ page marking the 40 See report by B.S. White (1956), logical effect of this is not to be WMLF/25. regular closure of clubs. West Midlands Liberal Federa- underestimated, and it proved 10 See for example Yorkshire Lib- 25 West Midlands Liberal Federa- tion papers, op.cit. especially valuable to the party eral Federation Annual Report tion papers, University of Bir- 41 Alice Bridges-Westcott, inter- at its weakest moments in the 1950; this and the Golden Jubilee mingham Special Collections, view 8 Apr. 2015. 1950s. The clubs reminded Lib- booklet are in Yorkshire Lib- ref. MSS 11/i, Box 25. erals and their opponents that eral Federation papers, West 26 Information from Bernard

Journal of Liberal History 90 Spring 2016 13 Liberalism’s Radical Lord Chancellor Robert Threshie Reid, Lord Loreburn, 1846–1923

At the edge of the churchyard in the tiny parish of Mouswald, a few miles south-east of Dumfries, a simple, now broken, stone cross marks the last resting place of Robert Threshie Reid, first and last Earl Loreburn. The casual visitor might easily fail to notice this grave, overshadowed as it is by a number of larger and far grander funerary memorials, of the kind so favoured in the nineteenth century, to no doubt worthy but relatively unknown local figures. In a similar manner, Reid’s historical reputation has now largely been eclipsed by those of the distinguished contemporaries alongside whom he held high office. By David Dutton.

14 Journal of Liberal History 90 Spring 2016 Liberalism’s Radical Lord Chancellor Robert Threshie Reid, Lord Loreburn, 1846–1923

hen Reid was Oxford, but risked losing it when not spectacular, progress. He took appointed to the Wool- he competed for a scholarship at silk at the exceptionally young Wsack by Prime Minister Balliol a month later. He won that age of 36 in 1882, but by then had Henry Campbell-Bannerman in too. Two years later he secured embarked upon a second career in December 1905, he entered a gov- a First Class in Honour Modera- politics. James’s influence helped ernment that would boast three tions and, in 1868, a First in Greats, secure his election in the Liberal future prime ministers, H. H. together with the university’s lead- interest in the two-member con- Asquith, David Lloyd George and ing classical scholarship, the ‘Ire- stituency of Hereford in the general Winston Churchill, as well as such land’, the equivalent of the senior election of 1880 and he made his secondary luminaries as Edward wranglership at Cambridge. maiden speech in September of that Grey, Richard Haldane, John Despite being warned by the year at the committee stage of the Morley and Herbert Gladstone. Master of the College, Benjamin Employers’ Liability Bill. He did Yet Reid’s elevation was one of Jowett, that he thereby risked get- much to advance reforming legis- the most significant of Campbell- ting a Third, Reid had not devoted lation, notably the Allotments Act Bannerman’s cabinet nominations, himself entirely to his studies. He (1887), for which credit is usually not simply because of the intrinsic kept wicket against Cambridge accorded to Joseph Chamberlain’s importance of the office involved, for three successive years and also close associate, Jesse Collings. His but also as an expression of the new secured a ‘Blue’ for rackets. Despite career suffered a temporary setback prime minister’s determination to this impeccable record, Jowett when, after redistribution removed maintain a balance between oppos- insisted on telling Reid, before he Hereford’s second seat, Reid unsuc- ing factions of the Liberal Party and left Oxford, that he had one great cessfully sought election for Dun- his refusal to accept dictation over defect – a lack of imagination. To bartonshire in the general election cabinet appointments from its Lib- this Reid is said to have replied: ‘I of 1885. Mistakenly anticipating eral Imperialist wing. am sure, sir, you would not have his success, the Scotsman described Reid was born in Corfu in April reminded me of a defect unless you ‘a sound, well-formed politician, 1846. His father, himself a distin- could prescribe a remedy.’ ‘The who can be of great service not guished lawyer, had been promi- fact that you ask that question,’ only to the Liberal party but to the nent in the reform agitation of responded Jowett, ‘shows that my constituency’.3 In 1886, however, 1830–32, but was serving as a judge criticism was just.’1 the opportunity arose to contest in the Supreme Court of the Ion- After Oxford, Reid seemed set the seat of Dumfries Burghs. The ian Islands, then a British protec- fair to follow his father and pur- sitting Liberal MP, Ernest Noel, torate, at the time of his son’s birth. sue a career in the law. He was found himself at odds with Glad- The future Lord Chancellor was called to the Bar at the Inner Tem- Robert Threshie stone’s policy towards Ireland and educated at Cheltenham College, ple in June 1871 and, in the same Reid, 1st Earl withdrew from the general election where he showed signs of both aca- year, married Emily Douglas, the Loreburn called for July. At the invitation of demic distinction and sporting daughter of a captain in the Dra- GCMG PC QC (3 the local party, Reid agreed to fight prowess. In October 1864 he won goon Guards.2 He devilled for Sir April 1846 – 30 the seat as ‘an advanced Liberal in a demyship at Magdalene College, Henry James and made steady, if November 1923) favour of Home Rule’.4 It was, the

Journal of Liberal History 90 Spring 2016 15 Liberalism’s Radical Lord Chancellor: Robert Threshie Reid, Lord Loreburn, 1846–1923 new candidate declared, the most backed strongly by Asquith, and According to custodians of national security.’11 important political issue to have is probably the ablest man of the The resulting landslide Union- arisen in his lifetime and was at the three; but he is an equity law- George Gos- ist general election victory was heart of his local campaign.5 Reid yer, and it would not do to have entirely predictable. The Union- took the seat with a majority of 330 him as well as Rigby for Law chen, Reid ists gained 110 seats, giving them a votes over his Unionist opponent, Officers. So the appointment 152-seat majority in the new House Miles Mattinson, and held it until will probably be offered to Reid, ‘was doing of Commons. By this stage in his his elevation to the Lord Chancel- though Rosebery [the prime career, however, Reid clearly ben- lorship in 1905. minister] said that he thought it very well efited from a significant ‘personal Despite his precocious talents, a bad principle to reward a man as Solicitor- vote’ among the electors of Dum- few at the time would have pre- who, like Reid, has shown a fries Burghs and, despite arriving dicted that Reid’s career would good deal of discontent.8 General; somewhat late in the constitu- one day culminate in the most ency, he never seemed in danger decorous and dignified of ministe- Then, that autumn, Rigby him- and … proof defeat. With his Unionist oppo- rial appointments. Looking back self became a judge in the Court of nent making the tactical mistake of from the vantage point of 1910, Sir Appeal, leaving Reid the opening gress [on focusing too narrowly on the issue Henry Lucy doubted whether ‘the to become the government’s chief of home rule – ‘the supreme mat- most daring seer, casting the horo- legal officer. the budget] ter now before you’ – Reid defied scope of Bob Reid … would ever Given the Rosebery govern- the national trend and secured a have perched him on the Woolsack ment’s minority status, it was always would be slightly increased majority.12 … At that period [the 1880s] Reid likely that this first episode in Reid’s In opposition the Liberal Party was by instinct and habit far too ministerial career would be rela- much more conspicuously lacked the strong radical in his views for the conveni- tively brief. But he did enough to leadership which might have ence of his pastors and masters on enhance his standing in the party. rapid if Har- helped it to regroup. In Michael the Front Bench.’6 Reid not infre- Reid’s main responsibility in par- Bentley’s words, ‘the overwhelm- quently voted against the party’s liament was to help the Chancel- court would ing sense conveyed by Liberal his- Gladstonian leadership and seemed lor, Sir William Harcourt, to get tory after 1895 is one of shrinking almost to delight in finding him- his budget through the Commons. leave more horizons and a feeling of involu- self among minority opinion. He This was the famous Finance Bill tion. What Liberals want to dis- was, for example, an early advocate that first introduced death duties to Reid and cuss is themselves.’13 Following of giving Indian natives a share in to the British public. According to an apparent call from the ageing the government of their country George Goschen, Reid ‘was doing interfere Gladstone for British intervention and, while supporting Gladstone’s very well as Solicitor-General; and himself less in response to Turkish atrocities in Home Rule Bill, suggested that … progress [on the budget] would Armenia, Rosebery unexpectedly the only long-term solution lay be much more rapid if Harcourt frequently’. announced his resignation as Lib- in a scheme of ‘Home Rule All- would leave more to Reid and inter- eral leader on 6 October 1896. As Round’. Soon after entering parlia- fere himself less frequently’.9 Reid the party was not in government, ment, he made a vigorous attempt had ‘fully justified his promotion the leadership was divided between to limit the excesses of vivisection.7 to the Solicitor-Generalship’, noted Harcourt in the Commons and the Gladstone’s commitment to Edward Hamilton at the end of the Earl of Kimberley in the Lords. Irish Home Rule badly split the parliamentary session.10 This arrangement was short-lived. Liberal Party, casting it into oppo- Rosebery’s government was Harcourt soon became aware that sition for the next two decades, save visibly disintegrating even before he could not command the loyalty for a brief and somewhat unhappy a narrow Commons defeat on 21 of the whole of the parliamentary interlude of minority govern- June 1895 on a motion to reduce the party and he announced his own ment between 1892 and 1895. This War Secretary’s salary, following resignation on 14 December 1898. did, however, afford Reid his first allegations of a shortage of cord- With Asquith ruling himself out of taste of ministerial office. Changes ite and small arms ammunition, contention for fear of the impact on among the government’s law offic- provided the coup de grâce. Ever his earning potential at the Bar, the ers gave him his opportunity. In since Gladstone’s retirement from Liberals were running out of viable the summer of 1894 the Attorney the premiership in March 1894, the leadership candidates. The man- General, Charles Russell, became Liberal Party had found it impos- tle now passed to the 63 year-old a Law Lord and was succeeded sible to coalesce around an agreed former Secretary of State for War, by the Solicitor General, Sir John programme and strategy. Resig- Sir Henry Campbell-Bannerman, Rigby. Granted his reputation as nation was not automatic but, ‘by very much a compromise candi- something of a loose cannon on the electing to resign … the Liberal date drawn from the centre ground Liberal benches, Reid was not an Government arguably chose the of the party’s increasingly broad automatic choice to fill the result- worst of the three options available ideological spectrum. Few believed ing vacancy. But circumstances to it. Going out of office on an issue that, if and when the time came, worked to his advantage. Of the of military preparedness could do Campbell-Bannerman would candidates in contention, it no good in the country, and the become prime minister. Such a Liberals forfeited thereby part of situation might induce Asquith to [Francis] Lockwood it is the entitlement which they could put political honour before finan- believed looks for promotion have claimed by virtue of their cial advantage. Alternatively, the to the Bench and has an uncer- extensive programme of naval rear- monarch could decide to send for tain seat. [Richard] Haldane is mament to be regarded as reliable Lord Spencer, a former Viceroy

16 Journal of Liberal History 90 Spring 2016 Liberalism’s Radical Lord Chancellor: Robert Threshie Reid, Lord Loreburn, 1846–1923 of Ireland. Or perhaps Rosebery British policy entertained by ‘strong disapproval’ of the govern- would be persuaded to abandon his the Boers. They think we are ment’s conduct of negotiations, self-imposed Olympian detach- aiming at their internal inde- produced an embarrassing three- ment and return to the political pendence, which is plainly way split. More than forty Liberals fray. Yet, as opposition leader in the guaranteed to them by the Con- followed Campbell-Bannerman’s Commons, Campbell-Bannerman vention of 1884. lead and abstained; but over ninety, would reveal ‘previously unsus- including Reid, supported the pected talents’.14 The only way of securing peace, amendment, while fifteen voted By the time that Campbell- he insisted, was by unreserv- with the Unionist government. Bannerman succeeded Harcourt, edly respecting this convention Reid himself quickly emerged as the focus of the Unionist govern- in actions and not just words. The one of the government’s most effec- ment and of British politics in gen- alternative policy of ‘trying to tive critics. A Commons speech at eral was increasingly fixed upon the frighten the Boers may land us in the end of January 1900, in which deteriorating situation in south- a ruinous war’.17 The following Reid gave a detailed critique of ern Africa which led, in October month a mass Liberal meeting in government ‘treatment of the 1899, to the outbreak of the second Leeds heard Reid’s words read out South African question from first to Boer War. But events, which might from a letter. Calling for a British last’ and called for the reopening of have been expected to channel Lib- reiteration of the Boers’ internal the enquiry into the Jameson Raid eral energies into hostility towards independence to be balanced by of 1896, was described by the Man- the government’s policies, served steps from the Transvaal govern- chester Evening Times as one ‘the like only to exacerbate lines of division ment to recognise the civic rights of which has not often been heard within the Liberal opposition itself. of all its residents and for points of during recent years in Parliament’.20 As Reid’s local newspaper put it in difference to be referred to arbitra- At its conclusion he received ‘a March 1900 following a meeting of tion, Reid warned of the grave dan- most remarkable ovation, the Lib- the council of the National Liberal ger posed by ‘incendiary speeches erals cheering again and again and Federation, ‘there are some who As Reid’s and newspaper articles’. His need to crowding round him with con- hold that the war is just and neces- speak out was compelling. ‘Silence gratulations in the lobby’. The reply sary, some that it is just but unnec- local news- in such circumstances is next door from the War Secretary, St John essary, some that it is both unjust to complicity, and if on such an Brodrick, ‘did little to remove the and unnecessary’.15 The last group, paper put it occasion as this the Liberal party effects of the powerful pleading of of which Reid became a leading fails to act up to its traditions, it the ex-Attorney-General’.21 member, were inevitably dubbed in March 1900 will cease either to deserve or enjoy Over the months that followed, the ‘Pro-Boers’ by the Unionist the public confidence.’18 Reid continued to make his case government and its backers in the following a The actual outbreak of fight- in what was an extremely diffi- right-wing press, but the title was meeting of ing made Reid’s position no easier, cult political environment. Initial misleading. Being a ‘Pro-Boer’ did as it was the Boers who took the Boer victories, culminating in the not require any degree of support the council of first military action when Presi- so-called ‘Black Week’ of Decem- for the Transvaal and Orange Free dent Kruger of the Transvaal sent ber 1899, were followed by a series State republics and their govern- the National his commandos into the northern of British victories, secured by ments, nor did it mean hoping for Cape and Natal on 12 October. the now augmented forces led by their military victory. It was based Liberal Fed- While Rosebery now called upon Field Marshal Roberts and Gen- rather on the conviction that the the nation to ‘close its ranks and rel- eral Kitchener. The danger always conflict had been wilfully engi- eration, egate party controversy to a more existed that Reid and those who neered by the British authorities convenient season’, Reid needed agreed with him would be over- and, in particular, by the Colonial ‘there are to put across a more nuanced mes- whelmed in a tide of jingoistic sup- Secretary, Joseph Chamberlain.16 sage. While insisting that the attack port for the national war effort. He In opposition after 1895, Reid some who on the Queen’s dominions had got clearly felt the need to emphasise tended to concentrate on his legal to be repelled, he trusted that at that he was not opposed to the idea career and in 1897 Sir Richard Web- hold that the the end of the war both British and of Empire per se: ster, Attorney General in the Union- Boer interests would receive fair ist government, asked him to assist war is just and generous treatment. Further- If Imperialism means a sober in the so-called Venezuelan Bound- more, he thought it difficult to con- pride in our great Empire, an ary Dispute. Reid was in fact in Paris and neces- demn too strongly the ‘miscarriage’ earnest desire to knit together during the autumn of 1899 for the of South African affairs that had led the bonds of friendship of the arbitration of this case as the diplo- sary, some to the present situation. He held the various populations, and a firm matic conflict with the Boers moved that it is just British government to be guilty of determination to preserve the towards open hostilities. But he took ‘exasperating, injudicious and ill- integrity of our Empire and to steps to ensure that his constituents but unneces- considered conduct, the disastrous use its resources as a means of were fully informed of his views: consequences of which we are now advancing civilization, there is sary, some watching in operation’.19 no one who is more Imperialist I see no points between Great The extent of Liberal disunity than I am.22 Britain and the Transvaal which that it is both in relation to the war was soon could not be settled honourably made public. An amendment in the At the same time, Reid worried without a sacrifice of interests on unjust and House of Commons on 19 October, that military victory in South either side. The obstacle seems moved by the radical backbencher, Africa might be followed by the to be the profound distrust of unnecessary’. Philip Stanhope, which expressed annexation of the Boer republics:

Journal of Liberal History 90 Spring 2016 17 Liberalism’s Radical Lord Chancellor: Robert Threshie Reid, Lord Loreburn, 1846–1923

We have already more than cannot conceive of anybody Cabinets’. ‘In one I see that Sir we can digest; anything we do venturing to differ from him Henry Campbell-Bannerman is in that direction increases the without attributing to him a Prime Minister and Sir Robert Reid burden upon us, and does not double-dyed depravity which is is set down as Lord Chancellor.’28 increase our strength, but on almost beyond the powers of his It has become something of an the contrary diminishes our expression.25 historical truism to suggest that strength, because it increases the While these the Liberal Party made a dramatic drain upon our resources. I hold In response, Reid conceded that recovery following the final end- that no statesman ought, if he develop- Boer aggression had indeed made ing of the Boer War in May 1902.29 can fairly help it, to increase any it necessary to fight, but he still Nor is this contention without sub- further the already enormous ments came insisted that government diplo- stance. It was the Unionist govern- territories which are under the macy could and should have pre- ment which now showed clear signs British Crown.23 close to vented matters ever reaching the of disintegration, especially after destroying point of armed conflict. Granted the launch of the campaign for Tar- Reid’s position became particu- that the swing against ‘pro-Boers’ iff Reform by Joseph Chamberlain larly vulnerable when the Colonial any remain- was, on the whole, greater than in May 1903. Most Liberals rallied Secretary, Joseph Chamberlain, against Liberal supporters of the unhesitatingly to the defence of judging that the war was effec- ing cohesion war, he did well to hold on to his free trade. Other aspects of govern- tively won, persuaded a somewhat seat, his majority down by just fifty ment policy, such as the Balfour hesitant prime minister, Lord Salis- within the votes from 1895. Education Act of 1902, with its bias bury, to call a general election, to Contrary to most expectations, towards Church of England estab- be held between 28 September and Liberal Party, however, the war was not in fact lishments, also had the effect of 24 October 1900. Nationally, the over. The Boers, aware that they bringing Liberalism’s warring fac- contest found the Liberal Party they worked could not prevail in a conventional tions together. Yet the point must deeply divided, a situation which military conflict against the British not be taken too far. The Boer War Reid’s Unionist opponent in Dum- to Reid’s army, resorted to guerrilla tactics. had opened up serious divisions fries Burghs, William Murray, The forces of the Crown, now under within Liberal ranks which, if now clearly hoped to exploit: long-term Kitchener’s command, replied with less obvious, had not gone away. a ruthless scorched earth policy, This became evident in the events It might be that the fate which personal whose implementation increasingly surrounding the formation of a Lib- had attended the Radical party outraged moderate opinion in Brit- eral cabinet in December 1905. in the House of Commons might advantage ain. Emily Hobhouse’s revelations Three months earlier, with attend it in the constituencies of conditions in the concentration Balfour’s Unionist administra- also. The divisions of opinion by forcing camps set up by the British authori- tion evidently on the verge of col- which had driven brother from the party ties were of particular importance. lapse, senior members of the Liberal brother, which had sent Mr Hal- While these developments came Party’s Imperialist wing, who had dane in one direction, Sir Rob- leader to close to destroying any remaining never really accepted Campbell- ert Reid in another direction cohesion within the Liberal Party, Bannerman’s claims to the leader- and left that poor old leader Sir abandon they worked to Reid’s long-term ship and still less the premiership, Henry Campbell-Bannerman personal advantage by forcing the met to determine their tactics. stuck upon the highest hedge, his efforts party leader to abandon his efforts Under the terms of the resulting might appear in the Dumfries to occupy the middle ground and, Relugas Compact, the three con- Burghs also. He did not say they to occupy appalled by Britain’s ‘methods of spirators agreed that H. H. Asquith would, but it was something at barbarism’, to come out decisively, should be appointed Chancellor of all events worth waiting for.24 the middle like Reid, as an opponent of govern- the Exchequer in any forthcoming ment policy.26 It was, therefore, in Liberal government, Edward Grey Indeed, securing Reid’s defeat ground and, the later stages of the war that firm Foreign Secretary and R. B. Hal- became an important objective of bonds were established between dane Lord Chancellor. In addition, the government’s election campaign. appalled the two men, which would ensure Campbell-Bannerman himself As Chamberlain himself put it: Reid’s prominence in any future would be largely sidelined by the by Britain’s government which Campbell-Ban- enforced acceptance of a peerage, I saw the other day a report of nerman might have the opportu- leaving Asquith to lead the admin- a speech by Sir Robert Reid … ‘methods of nity of forming. At the beginning of istration in the Commons. who is himself, I have no doubt, 1902, the Dumfries Standard singled But the conspirators had consist- a conscientious pro-Boer and barbarism’, out Reid and John Morley as ‘trust- ently underestimated Campbell- ‘Little Englander’ and he said to come out worthy colleagues’ of the leader in Bannerman’s strength of character that, among the things that you the ‘crusade for peace on terms that and purpose. The latter was deter- were to vote against at the elec- decisively, will ensure to the Boers the largest, mined to construct a balanced tion, above all was the scan- earliest measure of self-government cabinet, reflective of all strands of dalous administration of the like Reid, as that is consistent with the supremacy party opinion. At the same time, Colonial Office. Scandalous is of this country’.27 A fortnight earlier, he recognised that acceptance in a strong word, but weak people an opponent the writer of the same newspaper’s full of the Relugas terms, while not always use the strongest words. ‘London Letter’, anticipating an achieving this, would also fatally I believe Sir Robert Reid is a of govern- early general election, had suggested undermine his authority within the most amiable man at home, but that some commentators were new government. On two points, in politics he loses his head. He ment policy. beginning to construct ‘imaginary therefore, the would-be new prime

18 Journal of Liberal History 90 Spring 2016 Liberalism’s Radical Lord Chancellor: Robert Threshie Reid, Lord Loreburn, 1846–1923 minister was adamant. He would function of the Opposition Union- ‘To call upon on the Woolsack, with a bishop not compromise his own premier- ists’ overwhelming numerical supe- on one side and a Tory duke on ship by going to the Lords and he riority in the upper chamber; in him to pre- the other, the three engaged in would insist upon Reid’s claims, as part the result of the constitutional friendliest conversation, is to a former law officer, to the Wool- crisis which soon developed as a side over the invite the inquiry: ‘Do we sleep, sack. It seems reasonable to con- succession of government bills met do we dream, and are visions clude that Campbell-Bannerman their fate at the hands of intransi- sittings of about?’37 envisaged that his personal alliance gent Unionist peers. The govern- with the radically inclined Reid ment had a strictly limited pool the House Though passions ran high in the would be a key axis in counterbal- of oratorical talent upon which to Lords at this time, Loreburn suc- ancing the influence of the govern- draw. Apart from the Lord Chan- of Lords ceeded in winning the respect of his ment’s leading Liberal Imperialists. cellor, the chief Liberal spokesmen seemed to political opponents. An article in Once he had loosened Asquith’s in the parliament of 1906 were the the Unionist-supporting Observer ties with his fellow plotters, Camp- Earl of Crewe (Lord President), the the per- in August 1907 pointed out that he bell-Bannerman was home and Marquess of Ripon, already nearly now found himself dry. Asquith tried to press Hal- 80 years of age (Lord Privy Seal and turbed mind dane’s claims to the Lord Chancel- Leader of the House), Lord Tweed- in a position of authority and lorship, arguing that Reid would mouth (Admiralty), the Earl Car- equivalent personal popularity exceeded make a suitable Home Secretary, rington (Agriculture and Fisheries) by none of his predecessors. but to no avail.30 Accordingly, Reid and the Earl of Elgin (Colonial to wantonly Naturally acceptable on his own took office as Lord Chancellor on Office). It was not a strong team and side, he has won the confidence 11 December 1905, assuming as his much responsibility fell on Lore- loosening a and esteem of stern, unbend- title the old war cry of his native burn’s shoulders.33 The Lord Chan- ing Tories … Such a statesman town of Dumfries and emerging cellor was taken seriously ill in the bull upon a deserves encouragement and it is now as Baron Loreburn.31 autumn of 1906.34 He recovered, but graciously bestowed.38 The ancient office of Lord Chan- the strain did not go away. As the china shop cellor, at least until the reforms clerk to the Privy Council recorded Enjoying the respect of his oppo- introduced by the Blair govern- a few months later: … [But] nents did not, however, mean that ment after the general election of Loreburn shied away from the vig- 2001, was one of the curiosities of He spoke with great empha- the rugged, orous presentation of the govern- the British constitution, combin- sis and concern of the immense blunt-spoken ment’s case. The journalist Harold ing in one person and in apparent burden cast upon him by the Spender penned a vivid description contradiction of Montesquieu’s combination of his judicial Bob Reid of the Lord Chancellor’s response dictum on the separation of pow- and ministerial work with the to the rejection of the ‘People’s ers, judicial, legislative and execu- duties of the Speakership in the has become Budget’ of 1909 by Unionist peers: tive functions. The office holder House of Lords, which tended to was, at one and the same time, head become more and more onerous. the supple, Lord Loreburn pushed aside of the independent judiciary, a sen- He deplored, too, his obligation the end of his wig, swung his ior government spokesman in the to intervene so often in debate, accommo- robes away from him, and faced House of Lords and, in practice, as he said ‘they are so few’ and the crowded House. He spoke that chamber’s Speaker, and a lead- added that his Cabinet work, dating Lord slowly and clearly, without a ing cabinet minister. Some occu- which he would not shirk, was moment’s hesitation. He went pants of the position were clearly in itself a heavy load.35 Loreburn.’ straight for the constitutional uneasy about this combination of point. He brushed aside Lord functions and saw the need to mini- The Lord Chancellor hoped that Lansdowne’s sophisms. Was this mise their strictly political activi- his colleagues would agree to the rejection of the Budget legal? ties, especially those falling outside appointment of a salaried deputy Yes. Was it constitutional? No. their direct departmental respon- Speaker who would be able to take Then, very simply and clearly, sibility. As the longest-serving his place in the event of prolonged preaching like a St Augustine Lord Chancellor of the twentieth sittings of the House.36 to the barbarians, he tried to century put it, ‘I assumed that my For all that, few questioned the set forth to these ‘wild men’ the appointment was, in a sense, a sig- success of Loreburn’s tenure of the elements of the British Consti- nal from my younger colleagues Woolsack. In some respects it had tution. First they laughed and that the more political aspects of been ‘the most daring of Campbell- sniggered, but in the end they government policy should be left Bannerman’s experiments in Min- listened. For it was with a touch to others. I was grateful, and took istry making’: of that old-world, noble enthu- the hint.’32 By contrast, even if his siasm that inspired Chatham public pronouncements became To call upon him to preside and Edmund Burke that Lord more restrained, the evidence sug- over the sittings of the House of Loreburn spoke of that strange gests that Loreburn remained active Lords seemed to the perturbed mystic entity, the ancient ‘Con- across the entire range of the gov- mind equivalent to wantonly stitution’ of these islands. The ernment’s political agenda. loosening a bull upon a china phrases fell like blows.39 Loreburn’s position as a gov- shop … [But] the rugged, blunt- ernment minister in the House spoken Bob Reid has become the If Loreburn could not expect to of Lords came to assume particu- supple, accommodating Lord prevail in the division lobby against lar importance. In part, this was a Loreburn. To see him beaming the massed ranks of his Unionist

Journal of Liberal History 90 Spring 2016 19 Liberalism’s Radical Lord Chancellor: Robert Threshie Reid, Lord Loreburn, 1846–1923 opponents, this had nothing to do tell you is that this is an attempt It was hardly On the formation of the Liberal with his advocacy of his party’s to force upon me what I regard Government … three Minis- causes. as a prostitution of my office and surprising ters, Mr Asquith, Mr Haldane, Ironically, it was the exercise of that I will resign the Great Seal and Sir Edward Grey, laid the one of the Lord Chancellor’s more sooner than do it’.43 Only in 1910 that, hav- foundation for a different pol- routine duties that caused some was the problem resolved when a icy, namely, a policy of British consternation within the grass roots Royal Commission recommended ing watched intervention if Germany should of the Liberal Party itself. Over the setting up of regional com- make an unprovoked attack on the previous generation of almost mittees which would advise the this blatant France. They did this within a uninterrupted Unionist domina- Lord Chancellor on appropriate abuse of the month, probably within a few tion, the venerable Lord Halsbury appointments. days of taking office, by means had come to regard the Woolsack Loreburn’s opposition to Lord Chan- of communications with the almost as his own personal fiefdom. ‘political jobbery or corruption French Ambassador and of mili- Lord Chancellor 1885–86, 1886–92 in appointments’ extended also to cellor’s pow- tary and naval conversations and 1895–1905, Halsbury appeared the judiciary.44 Here, he was deter- between the General Staffs of to be a permanent fixture in the mined to elevate the best candidates ers, many the two countries, who worked Unionist hierarchy and, aged 88, rather than seek to satisfy Liberal out plans for joint action in war was still attending meetings of the Party interests, frequently tell- Liberals now if Great Britain should inter- shadow cabinet as late as 1912. As ing the prime minister that he was vene. They did it behind the Lord Chancellor, he had routinely unaware of an appointee’s poli- expected back of nearly all their Cabi- and almost exclusively appointed tics. Loreburn was also responsible net colleagues, and, what really known political supporters to the for some significant reforms, not Loreburn matters, without Parliament magistrates’ bench. It was hardly least the setting up in 1907 of the being in any way made aware surprising that, having watched Court of Criminal Appeal, which to redress that a policy of active interven- this blatant abuse of the Lord Chan- soon became an indispensable part tion … was being contemplated. cellor’s powers, many Liberals now of the constitution. In addition, the balance, As time went on our Entente expected Loreburn to redress the it was partly owing to Loreburn with France was still further balance, especially granted their that in 1913, after his own retire- especially developed … and France was party’s overwhelming victory in ment from office, the government encouraged more and more to the general election of 1906. As the secured the passage of legislation to granted their expect that Great Britain would clerk to the Privy Council put it, reverse the Osborne ruling of 1909, party’s over- stand by her in arms if she were ‘with the present majority in the and thereby permit the use of trade attacked by Germany without House of Commons the great risk union funds for political purposes. whelming giving provocation.45 to which administration is exposed The absence before December lies in the pressure upon Ministers 1916 of a cabinet secretariat and victory in the Loreburn’s fury was increased by to exercise their powers in obe- the resulting lack of a set of cabinet the fact that he was one of those dience to preconceived ideas of minutes relating to the Edwardian general elec- cabinet ministers who were kept in political obligation’.40 To his credit, era limits the historian’s ability to the dark about the new policy. however, Loreburn refused to make evaluate Loreburn’s contribution tion of 1906. After 1906 Loreburn repeatedly such appointments on the basis of to the full agenda of government pressed Grey not to turn his back political affiliation. business. What is, however, clear is on the idea of improved relations Reactions within his own that the Lord Chancellor quickly with Germany, without fully real- party were predictable. ‘The Lord emerged as a leading critic of the ising how difficult the Foreign Sec- Chancellor’s refusal to make the drift of British foreign policy as retary’s fundamental commitment Magistracy the reward of politi- constructed and conducted by Sir to France rendered such advice. cal activity, ‘to hawk justice’, as Edward Grey. The divisions which Moreover, the Lord Chancellor’s he calls it, in the purlieus of poli- arose within the private discussions relative power within the govern- tics, has excited more prejudice in of the cabinet in some ways mir- ment diminished over time. Camp- the Liberal ranks than any other rored those which had been on pub- bell-Bannerman’s resignation on single act of the administration, lic view during the Boer War. The grounds of ill health in April 1908, although Lord Loreburn is perhaps key element in British diplomacy in and his replacement by Asquith, the most advanced Radical of the these years was the Anglo-French was a particular blow. ‘It is a differ- lot.’41 Of around 7, 000 magistrates Entente Cordiale, concluded by ent Government today from what appointed between January 1906 Grey’s Unionist predecessor, Lord it was three years ago’, complained and November 1909, less than half Lansdowne, in 1904. But Loreburn the Lord Chancellor shortly after- were known Liberals. The Lib- became convinced that responsibil- wards, on the occasion of the inevi- eral whip, whose duties at this date ity for transforming this agreement table retirement of the now aged included the management of the away from its original, limited Lord Ripon.46 Remaining Radicals party in the country, protested to and largely colonial intentions and either lacked the necessary political Campbell-Bannerman that Lore- towards a full-blown quasi-alliance clout or were too ineffectual inside burn was ‘upsetting and most seri- lay firmly with Grey and his close the cabinet to provide Loreburn ously damaging our Party’. Liberal colleagues in the Liberal govern- with the backing he needed. Rela- activists were ‘indignant beyond ment. Loreburn offered a succinct tions between Lord Chancellor and restraint, and I do not wonder at indictment of what had happened Foreign Secretary were often tense. it’. 42 The Lord Chancellor, how- in his book, How the War Came, By 1911, the Chancellor of the ever, remained unmoved: ‘all I can published in 1919: Exchequer, David Lloyd George,

20 Journal of Liberal History 90 Spring 2016 Liberalism’s Radical Lord Chancellor: Robert Threshie Reid, Lord Loreburn, 1846–1923 who, notwithstanding his pedigree immediately resigned his office. Chancellor’s ideas were vaguely as a ‘Pro-Boer’ of earlier times, was Haldane recalled receiving an early expressed, but they caught a grow- himself now moving into the Grey morning message which ‘asked me ing mood. According to The camp on matters of foreign policy, to communicate this to the Sover- Observer, the letter had ‘profoundly confided that Loreburn was ‘petu- eign as he was too ill to do so him- altered the face of politics. Its man- lant’ and ‘unreasonable’, always self ’.52 These health problems were ner of grappling with the verities ‘rubbing Grey the wrong way’.47 genuine, though Loreburn later has given the ordinary talk of Par- But Loreburn had good grounds admitted that he would certainly liament and platform an air of mere to feel aggrieved. That August a have resigned over the ‘German cant and jargon.’ Loreburn had special meeting of the Committee business’, but for his conviction ‘made it infinitely more difficult for of Imperial Defence, from which that he should remain in office to a vicious deadlock of constitutional Radical ministers had been pur- try to ‘get a sensible policy instead elements to drag a paralysed nation posely excluded, considered the of what had been pursued’.53 Once to disaster’.55 immediate deployment of a Brit- again, Loreburn recovered rela- Ministers, however, were less ish Expeditionary Force to France tively quickly and he had returned impressed, not least because, in the in the event of the outbreak of war. to limited political activity by the early stages of drafting the Home Yet the manner in which Lore- start of 1913. But there could be Rule Bill, the then Lord Chancellor burn learnt of this meeting, not no question of a resumption of the had bitterly opposed the attempts from one of his own colleagues continuous grind of ministerial of Lloyd George and Churchill but via the Unionist frontbencher, office. In any case, he felt increas- to exclude Ulster from its provi- Alfred Lyttelton, was ‘guaranteed ingly alienated from his former sions.56 His intervention now, ‘with to injure his vanity and stoke the colleagues and his subsequent polit- a typical elder statesman’s show of fires of his indignation and wrath ical interventions often seemed non-partisan wisdom’, was bound against the “Liberal Leaguers”’ (as ‘Loreburn’s designed to embarrass the govern- to cause resentment.57 Nor did it he continued, with reference to the ment of which he had so recently offer a clear path to a compromise right-wing group founded by Lord initiative was been a leading member. settlement. At that time, in fact, Rosebery towards the end of the It was the apparently dead- the province of Ulster as a whole Boer War, to describe his oppo- not alone locked situation over Ireland which returned virtually the same num- nents).48 There were rumours of brought Loreburn back to the cen- ber of Nationalist as Unionist MPs the Lord Chancellor’s imminent responsi- tre of political controversy. With to the Westminster parliament. resignation.49 In fact, with some the Liberal government’s Home According to his daughter, Asquith help from John Morley, Loreburn ble for the Rule Bill facing implacable oppo- regarded Loreburn’s suggestions staged a showdown at two cabinet sition, especially from the Union- as ‘quite unfeasible and absurd’.58 meetings on 1 and 15 November. opening of ists of Ulster, yet bound under the Nonetheless, the prime minis- Here the existence of the military negotiations terms of the recently enacted Par- ter wrote to his former colleague conversations between Britain and liament Act to make its way on to to press for further details. Lore- France was finally revealed to the between the statute book, Loreburn used a burn responded with a confiden- full cabinet. ‘Asquith, Grey, Hal- Lords debate in July 1913 to appeal tial memorandum for the cabinet’s dane, Lloyd George and Church- the leaders, for a settlement by consent along consideration, arguing for a form ill thought they could boss the rest federal lines. Visiting the former of ‘home rule within home rule’ for of us but were mistaken’, recorded which were Lord Chancellor the following the unequivocally Protestant coun- Jack Pease, the president of the month, Sir Almeric Fitzroy found ties within Ulster.59 The importance Board of Education.50 Loreburn inevitable him surprisingly ready to make of Loreburn’s letter has sometimes found no logic in Grey’s reason- concessions on other government been exaggerated, and the meas- ing, telling C. P. Scott of the Man- anyway, but measures in order to secure Union- ured words of Patricia Jalland merit chester Guardian that the Foreign ist assent to ‘Home Rule in any repetition: ‘Loreburn’s initiative Secretary’s case rested ‘on one or it helped shape’. ‘He did not seem to have was not alone responsible for the other of two really absurd propo- reflected very deeply on the atti- opening of negotiations between sitions – either that our forming to create tude his late colleagues might take the leaders, which were inevitable a close friendship with Germany towards such a scheme of accom- anyway, but it helped to create an would cause France to attack Ger- an atmos- modation, but spoke with very atmosphere which allowed conver- many – or that our remaining close great fervour upon his own sense sations to begin sooner than might friends with France would cause phere which of responsibility in the matter.’54 otherwise have been the case.’60 Germany not to attack France’. Loreburn’s next move was to send Not surprisingly, Loreburn The once informal association with allowed con- a lengthy letter to The Times, pub- greeted Britain’s declaration of war France had been ‘perverted’ into an versations to lished on 11 September under the against Germany on 4 August 1914 alliance.51 heading ‘Lord Loreburn’s Appeal with dismay. Had he still been in Any advantage Loreburn may begin sooner to the Nation: A Liberal Plea for government at this time, he would have derived within the inter- a Conference’. In it, he wrote that almost certainly have joined Mor- nal power struggles of the Lib- than might the time had come for Ulster to ley and John Burns in resigning eral government as a result of the receive special treatment within a his office and he might well have cabinet meetings of November otherwise home rule settlement and he called led a more substantial opposition 1911 was, however, short-lived. for ‘a Conference or direct com- group within the cabinet than in The Lord Chancellor became seri- have been munication between the lead- fact emerged. He praised the Man- ously ill over the Whitsun recess ers’ of the opposing factions to chester Guardian’s leading article of of 1912 and, on doctor’s orders, he the case.’ reach agreement. The former Lord 31 July which argued that ‘England

Journal of Liberal History 90 Spring 2016 21 Liberalism’s Radical Lord Chancellor: Robert Threshie Reid, Lord Loreburn, 1846–1923 had been committed, behind her At a time his former antagonist in the upper left the latter with little room for back, to the ruinous madness of chamber, the Unionist Lord Lans- manoeuvre in the crisis of 1914, a share in the wicked gamble of a when it has downe, when the latter’s celebrated even though the secrecy of the war between two militant leagues letter to the Daily Telegraph called transformation prevented the For- on the Continent’.61 When shown become for a compromise peace as the only eign Secretary from making Brit- Morley’s memorandum on the alternative to the destruction of ain’s commitment to France clear events leading to his resignation, he normal to civilisation itself.66 to Germany. This in turn ruled out found ‘indelible proof of the central In the course of 1918, however, any hope that Germany might be fact that our duties to France and view politics Germany crumbled in the face of deterred and war averted. Lore- the Entente caused our entry into a remorseless allied advance, giv- burn’s analysis of the consequences the war and that the case of Bel- and politi- ing rise to a renewed confidence of secret diplomacy and the reality gium might (but for that) have been cians with a in outright victory. Any possibil- of Britain’s position in 1914 con- dealt with and Belgium secured ity that Loreburn might be able to tinue to resonate within the still without war’.62 cynical con- play a significant role in the conclu- contested historiography of Brit- Loreburn’s public appearances sion of the conflict quickly passed. ain’s involvement in the Great War. and speeches during the war were tempt, it is With the war over, he rejected the With his book published, Loreburn comparatively few, but he was active idea that he should return to pub- remained in almost total retirement behind the scenes, working for an difficult not lic life: ‘I should be in perpetual at Kingsdown House, Deal, where early and just peace. He was quick antagonism with the Old Gang, he died on 30 November 1923. to recognise that the American to see in Lord who have sold and deceived us.’67 At a time when it has become president, Woodrow Wilson, could He despaired of the Liberal Party normal to view politics and politi- play a pivotal role in bringing about Loreburn a – indeed, he questioned the very cians with a cynical contempt, it such a settlement and made con- existence of such a body ‘of the real is difficult not to see in Lord Lore- tact with him via his special envoy, man of prin- old kind’ – hoped that the country burn a man of principle. He was Colonel House.63 He also collabo- would get rid of Lloyd George, but ‘one of those men in whom Liberal- rated with those MPs such as Percy ciple. He was could not regard Asquith as a pos- ism burned like a flame’.70 Asquith Molteno, the Member for Dum- sible replacement.68 It has even been recalled ‘a direct and virile robust- friesshire, who shared his analysis ‘one of those suggested that ‘once, if not twice’, ness in his creed and his character of the changes that would be needed he voted for a Labour candidate ‘as which was singularly attractive’.71 in diplomatic practice if the tragedy men in whom a protest against the foreign policy The Manchester Guardian wrote of of 1914 were not to be repeated.64 of Lord Grey’.69 If true, this action one who ‘loved justice and hated all Lloyd George suggested that he Liberalism can only refer to a local election, the pettiness and meannesses which might have restored Loreburn to the burned like a granted that Loreburn’s position as creep into politics as into every Woolsack on the formation of his a peer of the realm denied him the other great department of life’.72 His coalition government in Decem- flame’. vote in general elections. His last greatest legacy lay in his determi- ber 1916, had the latter not been significant task was to see his vol- nation, as far as he could, to exclude a ‘“pacifist” Radical’.65 In reality, ume, How the War Came, through party politics from the administra- however, there was never a chance to publication. The book offered tion of justice, thereby doing much that Loreburn would have returned a powerful indictment of Grey’s to restore the Lord Chancellorship to office under a man now inextri- foreign policy. In it Loreburn was to its proper place in the British cably linked to the notion of the able to rehearse in public the cri- government. Yet, if his Liberalism ‘knockout blow’. In the latter stages tique of the Foreign Secretary’s was ‘of the unflinching type’, his of the war, he welcomed the first diplomacy which he had previ- radicalism still had its blind spots.73 Russian Revolution of February/ ously voiced in the privacy of the For example, he opposed the cam- March 1917, hoping that it would cabinet. His argument was that, paign for women’s suffrage, trying ‘sow freedom and security broadcast in virtual secrecy, Grey had con- unsuccessfully to delete from the on a scale never approached hereto- verted the entente of 1904 into a Representation of the People Bill fore’, and he gave public support to de facto alliance – a situation which (1918) the section dealing with the female vote.74 Though he justified his stance on the grounds that to Liberal Democrat History Group online enact such a measure without the clear sanction of the country would Website be ‘a great outrage on the Consti- See www.liberalhistory.org.uk for details of our activities and publications, guides to archive sources, tution’, he clearly accepted the tra- research resources, and a growing number of pages on the history of the party. ditional idea of ‘separate spheres’, asking an Anti-Suffrage meeting in Email 1912 whether ‘the feminine point of Join our email mailing list for news of History Group meetings and publications – the fastest and earliest view and temperament and mode way to find out what we’re doing. Fill in the form at: http://bit.ly/LDHGemail. of action [were] suitable for managing great affairs of State’.75 Gener- Facebook page ally, however, there is an admirable News of the latest meeting and publications, and a discussion forum: consistency and integrity running www.facebook.com/LibDemHistoryGroup. through his long career. His contribution to British public life merits Twitter greater recognition than it has yet A daily posting of Liberal events on this day in history. Follow us at: LibHistoryToday. received.

22 Journal of Liberal History 90 Spring 2016 Liberalism’s Radical Lord Chancellor: Robert Threshie Reid, Lord Loreburn, 1846–1923

David Dutton is co-author of a new However, he interpreted the 31 ‘A Lore Burn’: ‘To the Lower cited Heuston, Lord Chancellors, A-level textbook, The Making South African problem pri- Burn’. At the insistence of King p. 168. of Modern Britain, 1951–2007 marily as a clash between two George V, who greatly valued 54 Fitzroy, Memoirs, 2, p. 522. (Cambridge University Press, competing European colonial his counsel, Loreburn was raised 55 The Observer, 14 Sep. 1913. forthcoming). traditions and his concern here to an earldom in 1911. 56 Lord Riddell, More Pages from is with the violation by the Boer 32 Lord Hailsham, The Door My Diary 1908–1914 (London, 1 J. Reid, Some Dumfries and Gal- republic of the civic rights of the Wherein I Went (pb. edn., Glas- 1934), p. 186; A. Chamberlain, loway Men (Dumfries, 1922), so-called Uitlanders, mainly but gow, 1978), p. 250. See also Lord Politics from Inside: An Epistolary p. 200. No collection of Lore- by no means exclusively Brit- Hailsham, A Sparrow’s Flight Chronicle 1906–1914 (London, burn’s papers is known to have ish migrants who had poured (London, 1990), p. 377. 1936), pp. 572–3. survived. ‘I have no papers’, into the Transvaal following the 33 C. Hazlehurst and C. Woodland 57 Jenkins, Asquith, p. 287. he wrote towards the end of discovery of the Witwatersrand (eds.), A Liberal Chronicle: Journals 58 Bonham Carter and Pottle (eds.), his life. ‘I never keep them.’ C. Gold Field in 1886. and Papers of J. A. Pease, 1908–1910 Lantern Slides, p. 393. Hazlehurst and C. Woodland, A 19 Meeting at Liberal Club, West- (London, 1994), p. 69. 59 Asquith MSS 38, fols. 181–91, Guide to the Papers of British Cabi- minster, 28 Nov. 1899, reported 34 R. Churchill, Winston S. Loreburn memorandum, 17 net Ministers 1900–1951 (London, in Dumfries Standard, 2 Dec. 1899. Churchill, vol. 2, companion part Sep. 1913; P. Jalland, ‘United 1974), p. 121. 20 Manchester Evening Times, 1 1 (London, 1969), p. 599. Kingdom Devolution 1910–14: 2 Reid’s first wife died in 1904. Feb. 1900; Dumfries Standard, 3 35 Sir A. Fitzroy, Memoirs, vol. 1 Political Panacea or Tactical In December 1907 he married Feb. 1900. The Jameson Raid (London, 1925), pp. 331–2. Diversion?’, English Historical Violet Elizabeth Hicks-Beach, of 1895–6 was an abortive coup 36 Ibid., p. 332. Review, xciv (1979), pp. 779–80. niece of the former Conservative designed to prompt the over- 37 Diary of Sir Henry Lucy, quoted 60 P. Jalland, The Liberals and Ire- Chancellor of the Exchequer. throw of the Kruger govern- in Dumfries Standard, 13 Sep. land: The Ulster Question in British 3 T. Watson, ‘Sons of the South: ment in the Transvaal, in which 1922. Politics to 1914 (Brighton, 1980), p. Sir Robert Threshie Reid, MP’, the complicity of the Colonial 38 The Observer, 11 Aug. 1907. 128. The Gallovidian 9, iii (1901), p. 4. Secretary, Chamberlain, was 39 Manchester Guardian, 23 Nov. 61 S. Koss, Asquith (London, 1976), 4 Dumfries and Galloway Standard widely suspected. 1909. See also A. C. Murray, p. 157. and Advertiser (hereafter Dumfries 21 Harold Spender in Manchester Master and Brother (London, 62 Loreburn to F. W. Hirst, 1 Nov. Standard), 12 June 1886. Guardian, 1 Feb. 1900. 1945), p. 29. 1917, published in Manchester 5 Dumfries Standard, 16 June 1886, 22 Dumfries Standard, 3 Feb. 1900. 40 Fitzroy, Memoirs, 1, p. 334. Guardian, 19 Oct. 1928. address to Special General Meet- 23 Speech to Dumfries Liberal 41 Ibid., pp. 334–5. 63 L. W. Martin, ‘Woodrow Wil- ing of Liberal Association. Association, 13 Sep. 1900, 42 Whiteley to Campbell-Banner- son’s Appeals to the People of 6 Dumfries Standard, 13 Sep. 1922. reported in Dumfries Standard, 15 man, 3 Dec. 1906, cited R. F. V. Europe: British Radical Influ- 7 House of Commons Debates, Sep. 1900. Heuston, Lives of the Lord Chan- ence on the President’s Strategy’, vol. 277, cols 1399–1413. 24 Adoption meeting in Dumfries, cellors 1885–1940 (Oxford, 1964), Political Science Quarterly 74, 4 8 D. Brooks (ed.), The Destruction 20 Sep. 1900, reported in Dum- p. 155. (1959), p. 501. of Lord Rosebery: From the Diary of fries Standard, 22 Sep. 1900. 43 Loreburn to Whiteley, 10 Dec. 64 See unpublished biography of Sir Edward Hamilton, 1894–1895 25 Speech in Birmingham, 22 Sep. 1906, cited ibid., p. 156. Molteno by F. W. Hirst, galley (London, 1986), pp. 132–3. 1900, reported in Dumfries Stan- 44 Heuston, Lord Chancellors, p. 153. pp. 448–9, 454–5, 478, 483, 496– 9 Ibid., p. 148. dard, 26 Sep. 1900. 45 Lord Loreburn, How The War 7, 500, 514, 517, 522–3, www. 10 Ibid., p. 167. 26 In an important speech to the Came (New York, 1920), p. 216. moltenofamily.net. 11 Ibid., p. 93. National Reform Union in June 46 Loreburn to Ripon, 30 Oct. 65 J. McEwen (ed.), The Riddell Dia- 12 William Murray’s election 1901, marking a distinct move- 1908, cited P. Rowland, The Last ries (London, 1986), p. 178. address, Dumfries Standard, 10 ment in his own position, Camp- Liberal Governments 1905–1910 66 Manchester Guardian, 7 July 1917; July 1895. The result was: R. T. bell-Bannerman asked, ‘When (London, 1968), p. 164. The Times, 1 and 26 Feb. 1918. Reid 1,785, W. Murray 1,185. is a war not a war?’ He answered 47 T. Wilson (ed.), The Political Dia- 67 Loreburn to Bryce, 25 June 1919, 13 M. Bentley, The Climax of Liberal his own question: ‘When it is ries of C. P. Scott 1911–1928 (Lon- cited Heuston, Lord Chancellors, Politics: British Liberalism in The- carried on by methods of barba- don, 1970), pp. 47–8. p. 180. ory and Practice 1868–1918 (Lon- rism in South Africa.’ J. Wilson, 48 A. J. A. Morris, Radicalism 68 F. W. Hirst, ‘Lord Loreburn’, don, 1987), p. 106. CB: A Life of Sir Henry Campbell- Against War (London, 1972), p. Contemporary Review (Jan. 1924), 14 R. Hattersley, Campbell-Banner- Bannerman (London, 1973), p. 296. p. 38; Wilson (ed.), Scott Diaries, man (London, 2006), p. 65. 349. 49 Manchester Guardian, 30 Oct. pp. 377–8. 15 Dumfries Standard, 14 Mar. 1900. 27 Dumfries Standard, 1 Jan. 1902. 1911. 69 Hirst, ‘Loreburn’, p. 37. Heuston 16 For a more nuanced assessment 28 Dumfries Standard, 18 Dec. 1901. 50 Pease diary, 1 Nov. 1911, cited repeats this claim: Lord Chancel- of Chamberlain’s role, see A. N. 29 See, for example, G. R. Searle, A B. Gilbert, ‘Pacifist to Interven- lors, p. 174. Porter, The Origins of the South New England? (Oxford, 2004), p. tionist: David Lloyd George 70 Dumfries Standard, 5 Dec. 1923. African War: Joseph Chamberlain 351. in 1911 and 1914. Was Belgium 71 H. H. Asquith, Fifty Years of Par- and the Diplomacy of Imperialism 30 R. Jenkins, Asquith (London, an Issue?’ Historical Journal 28, 4 liament, vol. 1 (London, 1926), p. 1895–99 (Manchester, 1980). 1986), p. 148, citing Margot (1985), p. 878. 112. 17 Letter to constituent, 24 Sep. Asquith’s diary; M. Bonham 51 Scott diary, 1 Dec. 1911, cited K. 72 Manchester Guardian, 1 Dec. 1923. 1899, published in Dumfries Stan- Carter and M. Pottle (eds.), Lan- Wilson (ed.), British Foreign Sec- 73 Ibid., 11 June 1912. dard, 27 Sep. 1899. tern Slides: The Diaries and Letters retaries and Foreign Policy: From 74 The Times, 11 Jan. 1918. H. H. 18 Dumfries Standard, 11 Oct. 1899. of Violet Bonham Carter 1904–1914 Crimean War to First World War Asquith, Memories and Reflections, Reid’s use of the phrase ‘all resi- (London, 1996), p. 90; Bodleian (London, 1987), p. 186. vol. 1 (London, 1928), p. 218. dents in the Transvaal’ might Library, Oxford, Asquith MSS 52 R. Haldane, An Autobiography 75 Chamberlain, Politics from Inside, seem to imply concern for the 41210, f. 247, Asquith to Camp- (London, 1929), p. 237. p. 424; Manchester Guardian, 29 indigenous African population. bell-Bannerman, 25 Nov. 1905. 53 Loreburn to Bryce, 3 Sep. 1912, Feb. 1912.

Journal of Liberal History 90 Spring 2016 23 A Lancashire Miner in Walthamstow Sam Woods and the By-election of 1897

The Walthamstow by-election of 3 February 1897 was the most remarkable result of over seventy parliamentary contests during the 1895–1900 parliament. Sam Woods, a white-haired miner in his early fifties, unexpectedly became the first Liberal- Labour Member for Walthamstow. The Liberal press hailed the result as ‘the most astonishing political transformation of recent times’.1 However, The Times declared: ‘We had no notion that the crude, violent and round midnight on 3 Feb- Previous general election results: subversive Radicalism ruary 1897 the result of the 1892 of Mr Woods would Aparliamentary election for E. W. Byrne (Con) 6,115 the Walthamstow (South Western W. B. Whittingham (Lib) 4,965 find acceptance even Division of Essex) constituency was Con majority 1,150 announced at the old town hall in 1895 in a working-class Orford Road. The dramatic elec- E. W. Byrne (Con) 6,876 2 tion result was: A. H. Pollen (Lib) 4,523 constituency’. John Con majority 2,353 Shepherd tells the Sam Woods (Liberal-Labour) 6,518 Thomas Dewar (Cons.) 6,239 From 1886 to 1895 Waltham- story. Lib-Lab majority 279 stow returned Tory MPs, and the

24 Journal of Liberal History 90 Spring 2016 A Lancashire Miner in Walthamstow Sam Woods and the By-election of 1897

Liberal Party saw the constituency Walthamstow contained the two trade, with many skilled workers, as a hopeless cause. The first work- largest electorates in the country. engaged mainly in house construc- man to contest Walthamstow, Sam The South-Western Division with tion. Of the individual occupations Woods, was a former hewer from 19,846 adult male voters out of a represented in the local commu- Wigan and a complete stranger who total population of around 150,000 nity, the most numerous were had been adopted shortly before was a vast constituency which carpenters and joiners, printers, polling day. In the late nineteenth comprised Walthamstow, Ley- clerks and domestic servants. Out- century miners’ unions were the ton, Leytonstone, Harrow Green side their homes, women worked pioneers of labour representation, and Woodford and stretched from mainly in domestic service, dress- but their candidates stood only in Tottenham in the west to Wan- making and the manufacture of mining constituencies. stead in the east, and Chingford in books, paper and stationery. There In 1897 Sam Woods’ campaign the north to Clapton in the south. were over 350 women schoolteach- manager, Herbert Samuel, wrote to Before 1850 there were fewer than ers and more than 250 female com- the former Prime Minister and Lib- 5,000 inhabitants in the rural parish mercial clerks in the town. By the eral leader William Gladstone for of Walthamstow, but by 1883 the turn of the century, at least seven- support. Samuel stressed ‘the great socialist writer, designer and crafts- teen trade unions had been estab- importance at the present moment man William Morris described lished in the district. While similar of a hearty alliance between the Walthamstow, his birthplace, as urban development took place party and the more sober section of ‘a suburban village on the edge of in nearby Leyton, the villadom Labour politicians’,3 a well-directed Epping Forest and once a pleas- of Woodford, with four times as reference to the long-established ant place enough, but now terribly many domestic servants per head links in Victorian politics between cocknified and choked up by the of population as Walthamstow, the Gladstonian Liberal Party and jerrybuilder’.5 retained its middle-class character.7 prominent trade union and labour In Walthamstow during 1871–1891 From 1886 to 1895 the Waltham- leaders. In this way, before the the population expanded dramati- stow Liberal Party found great advent of the modern Labour Party, cally from 11,092 to 95,131. The difficulties in persuading wealthy Sam Woods joined the small group estate developers and the Great Liberals to contest the constitu- of working-class MPs known as Eastern Railway Company created ency. To obtain help, Walthamstow ‘Lib-Labs’ who represented labour the new, predominantly working- Liberals approached party head- interests but were Liberals in class, suburb. The extension of the quarters in London, but with little politics. railway to Walthamstow in 1870 success. Pressed by his local party, Nearly fifty years later, Her- and the G.E.R. Company’s promo- Courtenay Warner told Herbert bert (then Viscount) Samuel tion of workmen’s tickets and half Gladstone: ‘I am afraid this division recalled that ‘Woods knew as lit- fares in 1872 and 1885 attracted the is a forlorn hope. I shall do what I tle of Walthamstow as Waltham- skilled artisans and clerks who set- can for the candidate they choose stow knew of coalmines’.4 How tled in the town with their families, though I should not like to stand Sam Woods became the Member but commuted to London. Many myself’.8 for Walthamstow provides a fas- worked in the City, the financial Prospective Liberal candidates cinating insight into the politics centre of the world at this time.6 were not encouraged by the bitter and society of the town during its The major estate developer in internal party feuding surround- important period of urban develop- Walthamstow was Thomas Cour- ing the political activities of J. J. ment in the late nineteenth century. tenay Theydon Warner, one of the McSheedy, an Irish Radical and largest landowners in the locality, schoolmaster, who had first earned whose Warner Estate Company his reputation as the stormy petrel The Walthamstow built large parts of the town, start- of Walthamstow in his campaign constituency ing in the 1880s in the St James Left: Sam Woods to reform the Walthamstow Paro- In 1897 the Essex county con- Street district. The most impor- (10 May 1846 – 23 chial Charities.9 McSheedy became stituencies of Romford and tant industry was the building November 1915) the leader of the local Radical and

Journal of Liberal History 90 Spring 2016 25 a lancashire miner in walthamstow: sam woods and the by-election of 1897

Progressive Association, an alliance union and labour politics in Lanca- electoral organisation. He quickly of working men and small-scale shire, becoming the respected local prepared a short biography of Sam businessmen, which gained increas- miners’ agent at Ashton-in-Maker- Woods for distribution in the con- ing influence within the local Lib- field, and then the first president of stituency.16 Woods had entered the eral Party. Elected to the new urban the Lancashire Miners Federation mine at the age of seven and had district council with five other Rad- and vice-president of the Miners worked at every mining occupa- icals in 1894, McSheedy’s activities Federation of Great Britain. From tion for twenty years. Largely self- were publicised in his own news- 1892 to 1895 Woods was the MP educated, he had gained a first-class paper, the Walthamstow Reporter. for the Ince Division of Lancashire certificate in mining management. McSheedyism aroused demonstra- and had held his part-time TUC A Baptist convert, he had been a tions of great passion and hostility. post since 1894. In politics, he was student for the ministry, but was But the Progressives enjoyed strong a loyal Gladstonian Liberal, as the unable to take up his place. Instead, support in the new working-class Liberal Chief Whip had informed Woods’ direct experience of the areas, such as St James Street and Gladstone: hazardous conditions of mining life High Street wards; and the chang- formed the basis of his long trade ing social composition of the con- Mr Woods is the agent for the union and political career. In terms stituency was an important factor in Lancashire Miners Association of background, social position and the by-election of 1897. and has the support of the Lib- political views, the two candidates eral Party in the division. He has made a striking contrast. Woods found it necessary to declare on was a labour leader of humble ori- The by-election of 1897 Home Rule and I have a written gins, deep religious convictions The vacancy at Walthamstow was assurance that on all questions and strong temperance beliefs. caused by the appointment of the other than those specifically The wealthy Thomas (later Baron) Tory MP, E. W. Byrne, QC, to the affecting labour he will support Dewar was twenty years younger, Bench of the Chancery Division of the Liberal Party’.13 owned a string of thoroughbred the High Court of Justice. The local racehorses (including the Derby Conservative Association soon At this time many local Lib- favourite) and his own Rocket chose Thomas Dewar, a wealthy eral associations, dominated by coach. On the ‘Drink v Temper- director of Dewar’s Whisky, as middle-class elites, were hos- ance’ issue, the Director of Dewar’s their candidate; whereas the Liberal tile to working-class candidates. Whisky had publicly denounced Party in Walthamstow received the The Walthamstow Liberal Party prohibition systems and in the elec- demoralising reply from London included amongst its leadership tion enjoyed the support of his busi- that the party managers had com- two local magnates, Edward North ness rivals. mitted their resources instead to Buxton, who had been the local During his campaign, Woods another by-election in neighbour- MP briefly in 1885 and was a direc- advocated a broad Lib-Lab pro- ing Romford.10 There the Conserv- tor of the East London brewers, gramme. He told the electors: atives had held the seat for eleven Truman Hanbury and Buxton, years. In Walthamstow, Arnold and Thomas Courtenay They- I strongly favour such demo- Hills, the millionaire owner of the don Warner MP. Both men lived cratic proposals as the aboli- Thames Iron Works and Shipbuild- in the constituency, were active in tion of the power of the House ing Company, came forward briefly Victorian politics and took a proof Lords to veto legislation, the as an independent opponent in the gressive line on labour matters. Payment of Members, One Man Temperance cause.11 The situa- In these circumstances, with an Nearly fifty One Vote, a thorough Regis- tion altered unexpectedly when, at increased working-class elector- tration reform, and the control the City Liberal Club on 23 Janu- ate, the local political climate was years later, by the Irish people of their own ary, Sam Woods, Secretary of the favourable for a labour candidate in domestic affairs. I also heartily Parliamentary Committee of the Walthamstow.14 Herbert support the taxation of Ground Trades Union Congress, was finally Woods’s election costs (nearly values, a radical reform of the persuaded to accept the Liberal £1,400) had to be met entirely from (then Vis- Land Laws as affecting both nomination. However, Woods did Liberal sources including help from urban and rural land, the estab- not owe his last-minute selection to a local businessman, John (later Sir count) Sam- lishment of a complete system of the Liberal Whips in London, nor John) Roberts of Salway House, Secondary Education open to all to his Lancashire miners. A twenty- the benefactor of the Jubilee Hos- uel recalled classes, and any measures which six-year-old party worker, Herbert pital in Woodford and a stalwart would improve the housing of (later Viscount) Samuel, after visit- of the local Liberal Party.15 Once that ‘Woods the people.17 ing the constituency, took a differ- the Liberal Chief Whip’s office in knew as little ent view from his Liberal chiefs and London endorsed Woods’s candi- In particular, Woods attacked the decided to fight the by-election. He dature, Herbert Samuel remained of Waltham- Tory government’s controversial secured Woods as the candidate and in the constituency to manage the grant proposals of 1897 to assist arranged the finance and election campaign. stow as the Church schools rather than the workers.12 Board schools since, in Waltham- The Liberals in Walthamstow Waltham- stow, nearly twenty thousand chil- had always sought rich, middle- The candidates and the dren attended twenty-six local class local men as their candidates, election campaign stow knew of Board schools compared to fewer whereas Sam Woods had made Samuel found that the Waltham- than two thousand pupils in the his reputation as a pioneer in trade stow Liberals lacked an effective coalmines’. four denominational schools. He

26 Journal of Liberal History 90 Spring 2016 a lancashire miner in walthamstow: sam woods and the by-election of 1897 was well known as an advocate of Sam Woods’ the legal eight-hour day and had electon campaigned steadily in parliament address for the for the miners on this issue, as well by-election as the nationalisation of mining royalties, land and railways. These were radical proposals, rather than socialist measures, which would have then won sympathy with some advanced Liberals. How- ever, Samuel completely suppressed these references to nationalisation in Woods’ manifesto to assuage any fears which middle-class voters in the constituency might possess about a workman candidate.18 Thomas Dewar appealed to the electorate on the Tory government’s policies, especially in imperial and foreign affairs, advocating increases in military expenditure to protect British colonies and ship- ping. In domestic politics, he was in favour of conciliation courts in industrial relations, opposed alien immigration and cautiously defended the Tory education proposals. Though the Walthamstow by- election took place in mid-winter, with a similar Conservative versus Liberal contest in neighbouring Romford, the two largest constituencies in the country attracted a great deal of attention in the national and local press. The Lon- don Radical newspaper, The Star, the government’s foreign policy in John Burns, popularly known as vigorously championed the Liberal Egypt. He concluded: ‘I am going the ‘Battersea Bruiser’, owing to cause with waspish attacks on the very much for the Government, his rumbustious political style, and Tory candidates in Romford and because although in power only a as the most famous working-class Walthamstow. In Walthamstow the short time, they have brought back leader in London in the late Victo- Liberal Party hurriedly organised a the prestige of the empire, a pres- rian period.19 vigorous campaign lasting just over tige it enjoys only when a Conserv- On the Saturday, three days a week during which Sam Woods ative government is in power.’ before polling, Burns who had addressed over forty meetings. Electioneering started each ‘lungs of leather and throat of brass’ On Tuesday 25 January, he offi- morning with the distribution of addressed an immense crowd on cially opened his campaign with literature outside the railway sta- Markhouse Common, a tradi- meetings in Leyton and at the tions as early as five o’clock. The tional gathering-place for election Workmen’s Hall in the High Street, wintry weather, sometimes includ- hustings and open-air meetings in Walthamstow. There, in a forth- ing blizzards, did not deter large Walthamstow. In all, Sam Woods right speech, the Liberal candidate crowds at the outdoor gatherings spoke at thirteen meetings that day, announced his programme of trade and packed audiences at the indoor including a visit to the Great East- union and labour reforms. Besides evening meetings. The Waltham- ern Railway Company’s works at attacking the government’s Educa- stow Liberal Party received help Stratford. In the evening, the for- tion Bill, Woods declared in favour from organisations such as the mer miner ventured into upper- of votes for women, the nationali- Essex United Temperance Coun- class, Tory Woodford to address sation of railways and the munici- cil, the Poplar Labour League and a meeting at the Wilfred Lawson palisation of water supplies, though local women’s groups. The very Temperance Hotel. he opposed compulsory vaccina- few references in the local press do On Monday 1 February polling tion. Three days before, Dewar not give a full and accurate picture took place in Romford, which was commenced campaigning with a of the part women played in local regarded as a safe Tory seat, though splendid drive through the constit- politics. A bevy of Labour MPs The Star had revealed that the Con- uency in a four-in-hand. At his first and prominent trade union lead- servative candidate, Louis Sinclair, meeting at Leyton Town Hall he ers joined local Liberal politicians had only recently become a natu- presented himself as a commercial to speak in support of Sam Woods. ralised British citizen. In Waltham- man and patriot who approved of Most active was the Battersea MP, stow, despite awful weather, a

Journal of Liberal History 90 Spring 2016 27 a lancashire miner in walthamstow: sam woods and the by-election of 1897 large Liberal meeting at the Victo- by the Liberal camp in general.21 1) and is reprinted with the kind permis- ria Hall in Hoe Street heard John Instead Sam Woods’ resound- sion of the editor and the author. Burns challenge Dewar’s support ing win, achieved with a 64 per for home industries by demon- cent turnout of the electorate, was 1 The Speaker, 6 Feb. 1897. strating, to the amusement of the attributed in part to the weakness 2 The Times, 4 Feb. 1897. audience, that ashtrays advertis- of Dewar’s campaign, which alien- 3 Samuel to Gladstone, 23 Jan. 1897. ing Dewar’s whisky were ‘made in ated the temperance vote, and the Gladstone Papers B.L. Add Mss, Japan’. The next day in the Victoria voters’ dislike of the Tory educa- 44,525, f. 64. Hall Dewar responded to Burns’s tion proposals. Herbert Samuel 4 Viscount Samuel, Memoirs (1945), p. taunts by stating that he had placed believed that the popular enthu- 27. far more contracts for ashtrays and siasm for the workman candidate 5 E. P. Thompson, William Morris, similar goods with British firms was a decisive factor. As a labour Revolutionary to Romantic (1955), p. 16. than with those abroad. In ending leader of notable religious and tem- 6 R. Wall, The History of the Develop- his campaign, the Tory candidate perance beliefs, Sam Woods was ment of Walthamstow, unpublished revealed that he was against the able to unite the Liberal and Labour M.Phil. thesis (University of Lon- payment of MPs, a popular demand vote in Walthamstow at the time don, 1968). in working-class politics. In what of general hostility to the Con- 7 P.P., 1902 CXVII Census of Eng- was regarded as a strong Tory seat, servative government. While the land and Wales (1901), County of Essex the Conservatives had undertaken Liberal Party in the country was in Houses and Population. little canvassing and organised turmoil in the 1890s, the new MP’s 8 Warner to Gladstone (n.d. 1887?). fewer meetings. Dewar was not unexpected victory owed much to Viscount Gladstone Papers B.L. Add considered a good public speaker the success of the local Progressive Mss 46,044, f. 77. and was on weak ground in defend- alliance in the constituency. A few 9 John Shepherd, ‘McShecdy, James ing unpopular Tory measures. weeks later in the local elections, Joseph (1852–1923) Schoolmaster, the Progressives, led by the fire- Journalist and Radical Councillor’, brand McSheedy, gained control of in J. Bellamy and J. Saville (eds.), Polling day the district council. Dictionary of Labour Biography, vol. 8 Polling in Walthamstow took place In 1897 Sam Woods’ impres- (forthcoming). on Wednesday 3 February. Heavy sive triumph represented a swing 10 Walthamstow Central Liberal and snowfall the previous evening of over 11 per cent, but he was Radical Association, Minutes, 15 Jan. turned every street into a quagmire defeated in the ‘khaki’ election of 1897, Vestry House Museum. and most workers left the town 1900 and retired a few years later. 11 Walthamstow and Leyton and Chingford before the polling booths opened The Labour Party did not con- As a labour Guardian, 22 Jan. 1897. at 8 a.m. Consequently polling test a parliamentary election in 12 Samuel to Clara Samuel, 31 Jan. 1897, was slow until the early evening, Walthamstow until after the First leader of Samuel Papers. A/156. though in the afternoon the Rom- World War. From 1897 to 1900 Sam 13 Morley to Gladstone, 1 Nov. 1890, ford result, where the Conservative Woods had the unusual distinc- notable reli- Gladstone Papers, B.L. Add Mss majority was reduced to only 125, tion of being the town’s first Labour 44,254. ff. 124–138. became known in the town. In the MP, many years before the cel- gious and 14 John Shepherd, The Lib-Labs and Eng- evening the Great Eastern Rail- ebrated figures of Valentine (later lish Working-Class Politics, 1874–1906, way Company brought the voters Baron) McEntee and Clement (later temper- unpublished Ph.D. thesis (University home to Walthamstow, in some Earl) Attlee. of London, 1980), chapter vi. cases very near to the close of poll- ance beliefs, 15 Diary, 2 July 1900, Viscount Glad- ing at 8 p.m. The correspondent of Professor John Shepherd is now Visit- stone Papers, B.L. Add Mss 46,483 ff. the Manchester Guardian described ing Professor of Modern British His- Sam Woods 138–139; The Essex Review, XXVII what happened: tory at the University of Huddersfield. (Jan. 1918), pp. 44–45. Sam Woods is also mentioned in his was able to 16 Mr Sam Woods the Liberal and Labour The scene at St. James Street article ‘Labour and parliament: the Lib- Candidate …, Samuel Papers A/155 station as eight o’clock drew Labs as the first working-class MPs, unite the (II). near beggars description. Here 1885–1906’, in Eugenio F. Biagini and 17 For the election campaign, see The the arrivals were principally Alastair Reid (eds) Currents of Radi- Liberal and Star, 30 Jan. 1897; Daily News, 29 Jan. working men and this ward calism: Popular Radicalism, organ- 1897; Walthamstow Whip, 30 Jan. and 6 and adjoining High Street were ised labour and party politics in Labour vote Feb. 1897; Leyton Express and Indepen- great strongholds of Mr Woods. Britain, 1850–1914 (Cambridge Uni- in Waltham- dent, 20 Jan. 1897; The Times, 4 Feb. Wagonette, cart, pony carriage, versity Press, 1991). 1897. vans; everything that could run stow at the 18 Samuel to Gladstone, 23 Jan. 1897, on wheels was there to await the The author would like to thank Mr Reg Gladstone Papers B.L. Add Mss supporters of Mr Woods and a Jones (Sam Woods’ great-nephew) and time of gen- 44,252, ff. 63–70. willing crowd of helpers – all his family in Wigan, and the staff of the 19 K. D. Brown, John Burns (1977). shouting at the top of their voices Vestry House Museum, Walthamstow eral hostil- 20 Manchester Guardian, 5 Feb. 1897. – directed the voters as they came Public Library, British Library and 21 Diary, 3 Feb. 1897, John Burns out to the vehicles for the differ- House of Lords Record Office for their ity to the papers, B.L. Add Mss 46,315. ent polling stations …’20 assistance during the research. Conservative John Burns had noted in his diary This article originally appeared in the ‘victory doubtful’, a view shared Essex Journal (Spring 1987 Vol. 22 No government.

28 Journal of Liberal History 90 Spring 2016 Eric Lubbock and the Orpington Moment by Michael Meadowcroft

he death of Eric, Lord The declaration coalesced around ‘Progressive Inde- 53 per cent at the by-election. Sec- Avebury, on 14 February of the result at pendent’ candidates who achieved ond, it was the Liberals, a party T2016, at the age of 87, ended Orpington; left, significant increases in the anti- with just six MPs at the time, who the direct link with a remarkable Peter Goldman, government vote, suggested that won, rather than Labour, the offi- moment in political history. Eric, centre, Eric the electorate was disillusioned cial opposition (Labour in fact lost even though he had been ‘Avebury’ Lubbock with appeasement. Individual by- 10 per cent of its 1959 vote). Third, for forty-five years, was always bet- elections post-Orpington did not Orpington was a solid and tradi- ter known, particularly by Liberals, have the same immediate effect, but tional Tory fief which that party as ‘Lubbock’. Dick Taverne’s March 1973 victory believed it could regard as a seat it From time to time, by demon- in Lincoln as ‘Democratic Labour’ would never lose and whose elec- strating vividly the public mood, indicated the latent support for the tors could therefore be permanently by-elections have had a politi- political position taken up a decade relied upon to send whichever can- cal importance well beyond their later by the SDP, just as the by-elec- didate the party chose. This atti- immediate notoriety. The New- tions in Warrington, Crosby and tude proved fatal. port by-election of October 1922 Glasgow Hillhead in 1981 and 1982 The embedded traditionalism of brought down Lloyd George’s breathed life into that latter cause, the constituency was epitomised by coalition government and precipi- albeit only temporarily. its long-serving Member Sir Wal- tated an immediate general elec- Orpington, on 14 March 1962, dron Smithers, a typical ‘knight of tion; the East Fulham by-election was a remarkable and highly influ- the shires’, who represented Orp- of October 1933 saw a Labour gain ential by-election.1 It was a contrib- ington from 1924 until his death in on a huge swing and is often put utory cause of Harold MacMillan’s 1954, in effect following his father forward as demonstrating a pacific ‘night of the long knives’ four who had been the MP from 1918 mood amongst the voters and months later, when he sacked seven to 1922. On Sir Waldron’s death in thus delaying rearmament; and members of his Cabinet. There 1955 a local lawyer, Donald Sum- the Oxford and Bridgwater by- were a number of reasons for its ner, was easily returned at the by- elections of October and Novem- contemporary impact. First, was election (with no Liberal candidate). ber 1938 respectively, soon after the scale of the switch of votes – the Sumner sat until October 1961 the Munich settlement, in which Liberals went from third place and when he was appointed a County opposition to Neville Chamber- 21 per cent at the previous general Court Judge. Fatally, the Conserva- lain’s Conservative government election, in 1959, to first place and tives left the seat vacant for four

Journal of Liberal History 90 Spring 2016 29 eric lubbock and the orpington moment months – a decision exploited by had always been very shrewd and The by-elec- The Liberal Party had agreed the Liberal Party who declared it as pragmatic and had chosen local to second its Local Government a typically arrogant decision from election candidates on the basis of tion was an Officer, Pratap Chitnis, to Orping- a party which believed it owned who was likely to win, rather than ton to act as agent. I arrived at HQ the seat. who had seniority, and the same immense in February 1962 as his assistant, It was also a mistake to believe considerations were applied to the whereupon he decamped forthwith that the demographic makeup of by-election, with the selection of psychologi- to Orpington and never returned the constituency was the same as Eric Lubbock. As it happened, the to his old job! Pratap was a superb in Sir Waldron Smithers’ heyday. delay in calling the by-election was cal and elec- organiser and had built on the With the increase in commut- now helpful to the Liberals in ena- excellent local voluntary organi- ing and the arrival of a new young bling Eric to get up to speed and toral boost sation with a highly professional professional class it had gradually refocusing the organisation for a to the party. team, bringing in three full-time become a much more mixed com- rather different campaign. agents: Michael Key from North munity. One aspect of this which Eric Lubbock had exactly the The national Dorset, Dennis Minnis from Bir- helped in the media coverage was right background: he was by pro- mingham and Noel Penstone from that many journalists had bought fession an engineer and had historic opinion polls Torrington. Excellent profession- homes in the district because there Liberal and even aristocratic con- ally designed literature poured into were trains from Waterloo, Char- nections. This was a mixture that for a brief the constituency and party workers ing Cross and London Bridge appealed to both the new profes- arrived in their hundreds to ensure almost up to midnight. This newer sionals and the older Kentish folk. moment that all the delivering and canvass- type of resident was tailor-made He had only been a member of the ing was completed on time. On for the Grimond-led Liberal Party Liberal Party for three years and showed the the afternoon of the eve-of-poll whose opinion poll rating had had been elected almost immedi- the Daily Mail called Pratap and almost trebled, from 6 per cent to ately for his home village of Downe Liberals top informed him that an opinion poll 16 per cent, in the three years from – electorally a tiny ward with only would be appearing in the follow- March 1959 to March 1962, and the one councillor. Although deter- and at the ing morning’s paper showing the influx of sharp, bright younger mined to carry out all the promo- Liberals narrowly ahead. Pratap men and women into the party tional tasks that are part and parcel local elec- immediately ordered 9,000 cop- provided a professional and ambi- of being a candidate, he was rather ies and these were delivered on the tious set of officers and candidates, shy and far from being the capable tions two council estates and given out to underpinned by a number of older and shrewd politician that he later commuters as they arrived to catch and more experienced organisers. became. Eric was never a charis- months later, their morning trains at local sta- The local party had gone down matic speaker and in 1962 he was Liberal candi- tions. The cost of the campaign the route of fighting, and winning, hesitant rather than articulate. The was immense, and Pratap told me council seats and the Conservatives decision was made by the party dates around that he overspent the legal limit by should have been alarmed by the managers to keep Eric off all three- three times! The opinion poll and fact that at the May 1961 Orpington party television programmes and the country the flood of Liberal workers on the Urban District Council elections – a variety of excuses were used to doorstep ensured a major tactical the last before the by-election – the explain this. It had no noticeable gained seats vote away from Labour. It was this Liberals had topped the aggregate effect on the result. that gave Eric Lubbock his huge vote (on a turnout around half that The decision to keep Eric away never before majority as opposed to a comfort- of parliamentary elections.) from debating directly with the able win. Liberal Party headquarters had other candidates was also deter- won, often The by-election was an immense planned closely with the constitu- mined by the fact that the Con- psychological and electoral boost ency party and were determined to servatives had selected precisely the with minimal to the party. The national opinion import its best agents and to ensure wrong kind of candidate. Believ- polls for a brief moment showed the all necessary finance was available. ing that the electors of Orpington effort. Liberals top and at the local elec- There was, however, an immediate would vote for any Conservative tions two months later, Liberal can- and delicate problem. The adopted candidate they had chosen a Central didates around the country gained candidate was Jack Galloway. He Office high flyer, Peter Goldman. A seats never before won, often with was an excellent speaker and cam- brilliant intellectual and writer, he minimal effort. Later parliamen- paigner and had polled relatively had no local connections and came tary by-elections, however, were well at the 1959 election, but he was over as rather cold and remote. For not in seats with sufficient organi- not only known as a womaniser but instance, he didn’t knock on doors sational or representational basis – the rumours had it – he had con- but sat in a large car which cruised to enable another startling success tracted a bigamous marriage. The along a street whilst his canvassers – although in the light of later tech- press were on to the story and on asked voters whether they would niques which, for instance, ena- one occasion two reporters burst like to come out and meet Mr bled Sutton & Cheam to be gained into Jack’s hotel bedroom and he Goldman! It is possible that, quite in December 1972, some of them fled via the window. Understand- illegitimately, he lost some sup- could and should have been won. ably Jack was keen to fight the by- port on the twin grounds of being The one that should have been won election but the party realised that it Jewish but having converted to the in any case was Colne Valley in would be too much of a risk. Even- Church of England. Goldman him- March 1963; had there been a more tually Galloway agreed to ‘retire’ self, probably wisely, confronted aggressive campaign a gain might and, at short notice, a new candidate this openly himself at the begin- well have been possible. Such a vic- had to be found. Orpington Liberals ning of the campaign. tory would then have catalysed the

30 Journal of Liberal History 90 Spring 2016 May 1963 local elections and the party would have stayed in three- party contention. As it was, the Reports Orpington effect slowly dissipated and by 1970 the party was in deep electoral trouble. Even Orpington was narrowly lost, although Eric Liberal leaders and leadership Lubbock slightly increased his vote. His cousin, the 3rd Baron Avebury, Conference fringe meeting, 20 September 2015, with Simon died in 1971 and, as his heir, Eric Hughes and Paul Tyler; chair: Lynne Featherstone had to make the difficult choice of accepting a role in a House of Report by Douglas Oliver Lords whose basis he strongly disa- greed with or disclaiming the peer- he Liberal Democrat vote collapsed in association with age and hoping to come back into History Group convened the hard left – and first served the Commons at some indefinite Tfor its fringe event at the alongside David Steel. Paul Tyler future date. He decided that it was autumn Federal Conference in was first elected for Bodmin in better to continue with his parlia- Bournemouth to launch and dis- 1974, during the colourful period of mentary work and he used his seat cuss its new book, British Liberal Jeremy Thorpe’s leadership, serv- in the Lords for forty-five years Leaders: Leaders of the Liberal Party, ing for only a few months before to espouse many civil rights and SDP and Liberal Democrats since 1828. losing during that year’s second human rights causes. With the party at its lowest ebb general election, but subsequently On his election for Orpington for many years, following the dis- returning to parliament in 1992 as Eric Lubbock immediately dropped astrous electoral showing in May Tory fortunes faded in Cornwall. into the parliamentary routine and 2015, and with Tim Farron’s narrow Simon began his discussion with was appointed Chief Whip in 1963. leadership win in July, the question praise for a ‘fantastic book which He was a superb ‘fixer’ and did the of effective political leadership and had lots of insights, and would pro- job exceptionally well for seven positioning was at the forefront of vide a competitive edge for any long years. In January 1967, when most delegates’ minds. As well as internal party quiz!’ Organising Jo Grimond retired, Lubbock made hoping that the book might offer his limited time, Hughes chose a quixotic bid for the leadership, the new leader tips on the effec- to focus on the three leaders who on the basis of ‘anyone but Jeremy His first les- tive performance of his difficult were before his era but had shaped Thorpe’, but he did not have the role, the History Group felt that him the most politically, as well personality for such a task and he son was that the principles of Farron’s forebears as on those contemporaries he only secured the support of two of might act as signposts for the par- had worked directly with, and by the nine MPs who were not candi- Liberal lead- ty’s future philosophical direction. examining the parallels he sought dates – Richard Wainwright and ers had a Lynne Featherstone, former to draw lessons for the present. Michael Winstanley. MP for Hornsey and Wood Green, His first lesson was that Lib- Eric increasingly demonstrated strong ten- as well as former head of Norman eral leaders had a strong tendency that he was an instinctive Liberal Lamb and Chris Huhne’s unsuc- to be resilient and energetic. From and took on many unfashionable dency to cessful leadership campaigns, Gladstone onward, it was notable causes, such as gypsies’ rights, even chaired the discussion and opened that party leaders had great stay- when his health began to decline in be resilient by musing upon the ‘madness’ of ing power in parliament, and not later years. At one time it seemed any one person actively seeking the merely as leader. The Grand Old that whatever country I turned up and ener- role. After a decade in Westminster, Man was an MP for an epic sixty- in on a pro-democracy mission he the former coalition minister (in three years, and David Lloyd would be there making forceful getic. From both DfID and the Home Office) George for his own half century in representations on behalf of some reflected on the immense personal different eras; but even more-recent ill-treated minority. Thrust into Gladstone commitment that any leading leaders like Kennedy and Ashdown the limelight by the chance of a his- political role demands – and all the were in Westminster for relatively toric election, he carved out a polit- onward, it more so for the person tasked with long stints before and after they ical career and earned the respect of leading a party in the centre ground were leader. Despite variable per- colleagues on all sides of the politi- was notable of British politics. sonalities, outlooks and political cal spectrum. She was joined on the panel by contexts, there was, Hughes argued, that party two former Liberal parliamentary a hidden steel that linked these lead- Michael Meadowcroft was Liberal MP veterans who had first come to the ers – and that was a tendency for for Leeds West, 1983–87. leaders had party before merger with the SDP, hard work and stringency. great staying and had met and worked with a Hughes went on to conclude 1 The two key published essays on the wide range of party leaders from that a strong sense of political posi- by-election are: Donald Newby, power in par- Jo Grimond right through to Nick tioning and direction was critical to ‘The Orpington Story’, New Outlook, Clegg and now Tim Farron. Simon any party leader. Hughes said that March 1963, and, Ken Young, ‘Orp- liament, and Hughes was famously elected in in his view – which he accepted not ington and the “Liberal Revival”’, in the Bermondsey by-election in the all in the party shared – the party Chris Cook and John Ramsden (eds), not merely as spring of 1983 – benefitting from had ‘performed best’ when it stood By-elections in British Politics (UCL the largest-ever political swing in a from the centre-left, rather than the Press, 1997). leader. Westminster election, as the Labour centre-right. Furthermore, Hughes

Journal of Liberal History 90 Spring 2016 31 report: Liberal leaders and leadership argued, the greatest dangers for the neglected by the big two parties. perspective, and noted whimsically party have come when it has sought Furthermore, Thorpe was shrewd, how much had changed as cam- to represent the ‘centre ground’, and Hughes felt he was correct to paigning methods had changed. which he felt was too indistinct to turn down Edward Heath’s over- Early Liberal Prime Minister Lord hold significant political strength. tures to share power in 1974. Palmerston had been told never Looking back to the towering Despite policy agreements to visit his own constituency, the giant of Victorian politics, William with the last leader of the origi- Isle of Wight, by his wealthy local Gladstone, Hughes said that three nal Liberal Party, David Steel patron, for fear of disturbing the core lessons could be drawn from – such as over nuclear disarma- locals – an amazing contrast to the his incredibly wide and long career: ment – Hughes felt that the Scot- contemporary campaigning stand- radical policy, social commitment, tish Borders MP was able to get the ards epitomised by Simon Hughes’ and an ability to ‘wow the crowds, big message across to the voters. commitment to Bermondsey. in an effective and innovative way’. Steel was also helped by a calm dip- Nick Clegg was one of three Lloyd George who was distinc- lomatic approach which enabled surviving Liberal leaders inter- tive in many ways, had a similar him to manage party disagree- viewed and included in the book breakdown of capabilities: progres- ments and to reach out to pro- and it was his remarks that Tyler sive ideas, such as a decent budget, mote allegiances with members of sought to echo for the structure of state pension, etc.; strong social other parties. Hughes remarked his own remarks. Clegg remarked commitments and values; and his that Steel and Clement Freud had that ‘resilience, principled patience own charismatic sense of how to worked carefully together to help and perspective’ were key themes wow the crowds. Hughes’ fellow his own selection in Bermond- necessary for party leadership, Welshman Clement Davies – who sey in 1983. Despite his relatively and it was these characteristics led the Liberals during its 1945–56 quiet approach, Steel was a brave that Tyler identified in his original nadir – had a different kind of set of politician and gave loyal support to political hero, Jo Grimond, during strengths which enabled him, criti- parliamentarians. the Suez Canal Crisis in 1956. cally, to hold the party together Clegg Hughes said that Paddy Ash- Within his first year of leading during the bleakly polarised period down was unlike any other leader the party, the MP for Orkney and immediately following the Second remarked he had worked with, and would Shetland had robustly intervened World War. start work at 5 am and continue to describe the conflict as ‘unprinci- Hughes identified Davies’ suc- that ‘resil- with meetings and stringent targets pled, illegal, counterproductive and cessor, Jo Grimond, as one of his until 9 pm or even later. He was the a throwback to gunboat diplomacy’ key political lodestars when he was ience, princi- most hardworking and diplomatic within days of its commencement. himself emerging in politics as a leader we ever had. Ashdown also Whilst the Conservatives were young man. The man who led the pled patience garnered respect from having been responsible for a foreign affairs party as Britain left the straight- and perspec- in the services before he went in to shambles that was in many ways the jacket of 50s conformity, and politics. Hughes went on to speak last spasm of the Empire, and the entered the more hopeful 1960s, tive’ were fondly of Kennedy, Campbell and Labour Party under Hugh Gaitskell inspired young people to join the Clegg. In their own ways, whether uselessly vacillated for months party with charismatic communi- key themes it was Kennedy on ‘Have I Got and weeks, Grimond effectively cation skills, a clear liberal intellec- News For You’ or Clegg’s stellar used the circumstance to seize the tual lead and organisational reform. necessary for debate performance in 2010, they moment and hold Anthony Eden Hughes felt that Davies’ grasp of opened up the party’s appeal to new to account, and prove that only both an international and a national party lead- parts of the electorate. Liberalism offered a positive mes- agenda allowed the party to pick In conclusion Hughes felt that sage of where Britain might other- itself up, but that the Old Etonian ership, and the book made it clear that it was wise stand in the world. To Tyler was also helped by his ‘establish- important for the party’s leader to the rhyme of history remains clear, ment aura and credentials’ which it was these grasp priorities, to understand the ‘Suez was the Iraq of our genera- meant that he could provide a party, and, finally, to communi- tion: and it was left to Liberals like broader appeal than the alternatives characteris- cate with the public. For Hughes, Grimond and Kennedy in both in the Labour Party. In this sense he understanding the minutiae of periods to rise to both challenges.’ was redolent of Menzies Campbell, tics that Tyler policy was useful but inessential: During the 1990s, Paddy Ash- who once joked that there is no rea- energy and resilience were the down had pursued his own princi- son for Liberals not to ‘dress right, identified most important thing. Whilst he pled areas of public interest, such as but think left’. acknowledged that it was impossi- his demand for humanitarian inter- Later on, Hughes felt, Gri- in his origi- ble to read the future, he saw these vention in Bosnia, and the grant- mond’s successor Thorpe was also nal political characteristics as identifiable in Tim ing of passports to Hong Kong charismatic but with an even more Farron and therefore auspicious for citizens, as the colony prepared to immediate style, as Britain came hero, Jo Gri- his future as leader. be returned to Chinese administra- ever closer to politicians through Paul Tyler built upon the analy- tion in 1997. With these thoughts the media. Though best remem- mond, dur- sis that Simon Hughes had out- in mind, Tyler said that he felt Far- bered now for his unseemly demise, lined, and commenced his own ron’s demand for a more generous as well as mishaps involving over- ing the Suez discussion with an encouragement reception for Syrian refugees might ambitious excursions on a hover- to the audience to ‘read the book, well be the kind of issue that would craft, Thorpe was able to empathise Canal Crisis in it is amazing, fascinating and fact- prove the enduring need for the with and hence unpeel many of packed.’ He remarked that he had representation of liberal values in Britain’s latent liberal instincts 1956. gained a wide-ranging historical Westminster.

32 Journal of Liberal History 90 Spring 2016 report: Liberal leaders and leadership

Tyler said that, whilst cam- by party members when he him, and that this holds some their activities, and that politi- paigning had always been an went in to government as part truth for all politicians, who cians like Palmerston, who had important aspect of the party’s of the National Coalition in often have to think nimbly, and fathered an illegitimate child, identity, it was not always a 1931, and a shower of gifts when to adapt according to rapidly would have struggled in the defining feature of certain lead- he was removed from parlia- changing events. modern age. Simon Hughes ing individuals. Grimond and ment a short period later. This Nonetheless, Tyler con- responded that giants like Glad- Jenkins were, for instance, not characteristic was evidenced on cluded that the party would stone – who could be consid- the most ‘hands on’ when it a number of occasions by the need to be careful that it did ered as Britain’s Lincoln – still came to doorstep campaign- party with regards to its atti- not rush too quickly into ‘fight- are manifesting in society as a ing. However, Thorpe, by con- tude to the coalition. back’ mode without taking the whole, but that nowadays they trast, was very involved and Building on the theme time to decide exactly what it are often less attracted to poli- was good at ensuring that the of patient persistence which was it was fighting for – and tics because of its high risks and party focused its resources on Hughes had explored, Tyler that although the lack of atten- exposure, so instead they seek the key by-election wins that mentioned that whilst hard tion being paid to the party in reward from other things. For shaped the ‘revival’ stage of work is key for a third-party the short term was troubling, it Hughes, this was a big danger his own of leadership. All of leader, the reality of the posi- did provide a useful opportu- for public service. As a response, these individuals were known, tion, with the media often apa- nity to reflect upon the party’s he felt ‘we [in all parties] have though, to maintain an inti- thetic, meant the position of raison d’etre. got to carry on recruiting peo- mate knowledge of and curi- Liberal Democrat leader often Tyler’s final remark of the ple from outside politics’. osity about local campaigners had to deal with ‘boredom’, as main discussion was to chide Tyler concluded that the and their families, and would as you would have to continue the authors for the use of an party must not just rely on the assiduously seek updates on the to quote the liberal position analytical league table which leader to exhibit the virtues health and well-being of local time and time again, with little ranked the quality of their lead- evidenced by previous leaders, party members’ families as on means of easily transmitting it ership. In his view, leadership but should also seek to exercise salient matters of state. Tyler to the wider electorate. was a more subtle, subjective them itself. The Liberal Demo- concluded that this was another With this in mind, Tyler said and heterodox skill that was crats will need to be patient and important aspect of leadership. he felt that a knowledge of the difficult to record in such a way. reflective in order to continue Tyler wryly critiqued the tight details of policy are not Instead, he urged readers to the long march back to political tendency within the party to always essential, but that it was focus on the portraits of the dif- recovery, and that will involve be less zealous in its embrace of critical to have a strong vision. ferent leaders offered by their careful thought about what it power as it should be, remark- In Ken Clarke’s Westminster respective chapters. means to be Liberal, as well as ing that this was not a new office during the coalition years When it came to questions the self-discipline in order to characteristic. In the early there was a Punch cartoon from the floor, David Wil- achieve that end. twentieth century, the great which showed Gladstone run- liams reflected that image was Liberal MP Isaac Foot remarked ning to deliver his budget, and an increasingly significant issue Douglas Oliver is Secretary of the that he was met with hostility not taking his ‘policy’ bag with for politicians, which restricted Liberal Democrat History Group. Letters to the Editor Targeting Michael Meadowcroft is mis- constituencies, the resources seats, there is strong statistical is that the turning points for taken ( Journal of Liberal History went on more and more at each evidence – including several dif- both membership and council- 89, Winter 2015–16) when he of those subsequent elections. If ferent analyses by non-Liberal lor numbers at different points writes of ‘twenty years of tar- anything, a criticism of target- Democrat political scientists – over the years have been uncon- geting under which, hear by ing by 2010 was that it was too which shows that targeting did nected with the rise of targeting, year, the party’s financial and widespread, not too narrow. indeed cause the increase. as they happened at significantly campaigning resources were I wrote more about this in the As for the impact of targeting different times. That reading is, concentrated on fewer and special 25th anniversary edition on seats that were neither initial I concede, not based on rigor- fewer constituencies’. In fact, of the Journal (issue 83, Summer targets nor part of the very large ous analysis of the numbers but the exact opposite happened. 2014) and that piece too set out growth in the number of seats rather eyeballing the graphs, but The introduction of serious tar- the evidence that it was indeed which were targets, there could it is certainly stronger evidence geting for Parliamentary elec- targeting which produced the be an argument to make based for what happened overall than tions ahead of 1997 certainly big increase in seats in 1997 (an on what happened in member- the one council that Michael resulted in a concentration of election at which the Liberal ship, councillor numbers, local Meadowcroft refers to. resources, but then through Democrat vote fell whilst the party income and other such Targeting did not stop the the 2001, 2005 and 2010 general number of seats won by the evidence comparing target seats party increasing its national elections the number of seats party leapt upwards). Far from with non-target seats. Alas, share of the vote – it went up for targeted grew steadily. Far from being, to use Michael Meadow- Michael Meadowcroft’s piece three general elections in a row the party’s resources being con- croft’s word, ‘assumed’ that tar- does not provide such evidence. between 2001 and 2010. Nor, centrated on ‘fewer and fewer’ geting produced the increase in My reading of those numbers however, could it rescue the

Journal of Liberal History 90 Spring 2016 33 report: Liberal leaders and leadership party from the plunge in support in Clarke. He was duly proposed, sec- on polling day drove me round 2010–15. When there is only 8 per onded and voted in. He made his all the polling stations in his black cent of the vote to go round, with acceptance speech, sat down in the Humber. We were clearly better or without targeting the results are Lord Mayor’s chair – and died! He organised in the eight towns than necessarily grim in all sorts of seats. was Lord Mayor for ten minutes. the Tories (thanks to funds and the Mark Pack The Town Clerk approached the persuasion of Jeremy to draft in six Liberal Leader, Eric Morrish, and party organisers from around the gave him ten days to nominate a country), but we came across one Madam Mayor replacement. Morrish believed that village where the enemy were man- Jaime Reynolds’ piece ‘Madam in the circumstances it would be ning a caravan outside the polling Mayor’ ( Journal 89, Winter 2015) appropriate to put forward a Liberal station surrounded by blue posters. is a formidable piece of research. who was not regarded as unduly When we left Jeremy wryly com- It clearly represents a remarkable partisan. Miss Kitson was certainly mented: ‘I think we had better con- commitment to produce such a known as a Liberal but she had concede Romanno Bridge’. comprehensive article. He deserves tested elections, unsuccessfully, as a His personal victory in building congratulations for producing such candidate of the Citizens’ Munici- up North Devon over two elections a piece which is a great addition to pal Association. Despite this she was is well recounted. His extraordi- the record. certainly not regarded as ‘non-polit- nary ability to record names and I can add one small additional ical’ in the city and, being a mem- faces, and even details of their chil- point. The penultimate paragraph ber of a strongly Unitarian family dren and pets; his adoption of local refers to Miss Kitson in Leeds. She that had been in poverty only two grievances with his inimitable slo- was actually always known by her generations earlier, was not really gan of ‘mains, drains and a little bit second name, Beatrice, rather than ‘elite’! And, of course, as the first of light’; the devotion in which he her first name, Jessie. She in fact woman Lord Mayor, she was quite was held by his constituents are all became Lord Mayor under the most a radical appointment, and made an faithfully portrayed in detail, and curious circumstances. excellent job of the task. will bring joy and encouragement After long decades of party It was her uncle, Sir James Kit- to party readers. wrangling over the Mayoralty (from son, later Baron Airedale, who His later establishment of the 1897 Lord Mayoralty), a concordat developed a vast engineering works winnable seats strategy during Jo was signed between the Conserva- which made the family extremely Grimond’s leadership was the first tives and Liberals in 1902 to alter- wealthy. He had a conspicuous role real attempt at national priority nate the office annually between the in Liberal history nationally – see targeting which eventually paid off two parties. In 1918 the concordat ‘Leeds and the Liberal Pantheon’ in and without which the party would was amended to include the Labour Journal of Liberal History 69 (Winter have remained floundering. Party. Perhaps surprisingly, the 2010/11). The author also provides us with arrangement continued even when The real question to ask is why detail about his early upbringing, the Liberals were reduced to a hand- Leeds has almost completely failed very much in Conservative circles, ful of members on the Council. to produce influential women politi- and his youthful display of gifts – In 1942 it was the Liberals’ turn cians, right up to the current Leader as well as some manipulation – in to nominate the Lord Mayor. They of the Council, Judith Blake. his time at the Oxford Union. The put forward Alderman Arthur Michael Meadowcroft fact that he was born with a sil- ver spoon in his mouth did inevitably colour his political career, though, as Bloch credits, he chose Jeremy was to break away from his surround- ings to adopt the Liberal cause. On not, nor did big issues such as human rights, the Commonwealth and the European he pretend Community he gave the Liberal Reviews Party distinctive leadership. to be, an His much derided ‘bomb the railway line’ proposal to end the ideas man. Smith rebellion in Rhodesia was Jeremy’s story in fact remarkably sensible, had he He was less just used the word ‘cut’ instead of Michael Bloch, Jeremy Thorpe (Little, Brown, 2014) interested in ‘bomb’; and his decisive leading of Review by David Steel his MPs into the lobbies in support party policy of EEC membership deserves to be ichael Bloch has writ- had on the politics of our coun- recalled as one of the highlights of ten a most thoroughly try. Bloch gives full credit to his than in the his career. Mresearched book on the campaigning skills, and I person- But Jeremy was not, nor did he life of Jeremy Thorpe. Unfortu- ally have good cause to remember theatre of pretend to be, an ideas man. He was nately but predictably, the newspa- them. When I was fighting my by- less interested in party policy than per serialisation dwelt on the man’s election in 1965 he spent several the political in the theatre of the political pro- private life, thus overshadowing days acting as a well-known draw cess. The famous hovercraft tour is the considerable impact Jeremy as supporting speaker, and indeed process. well described. I was not involved

34 Journal of Liberal History 90 Spring 2016 reviews

misleading. Jo was as firmly Bloch also records correctly against propping up Heath as the that Jeremy hankered after a peer- rest of us, but he was perturbed age himself. Certainly Thorpe by some of the arguments against bombarded every successive leader coalition in principle which he on the subject, but the author is a said were nonsense. It was his stern bit unfair to describe Paddy Ash- warning on that issue which col- down’s refusal to nominate him as oured my own later judgments on the party being unwilling to for- the Lib–Lab pact and indeed the give him. There was rather more to formation of the Cameron–Clegg it than that. Following his acquittal coalition. It is doubtful whether at the famous trial for conspiracy Jeremy was ever offered any spe- to murder Norman Scott (which is cific cabinet post – certainly it was well covered in this volume), the not discussed. party executive was keen to pursue I question Bloch’s assertions on Jeremy for the return of £20,000, two other points. Firstly, he sug- which was part of the Hayward gests, as regards the speakership election donation which had been issue in the summer of 1965, that used in his attempts to suppress Jo Grimond may have fancied the Scott. I was appalled at this sugges- position himself at some time in the tion and argued that we had suf- future. I have never thought that fered quite enough bad publicity. was the case: the truth is that the The party president and the chair- matter was badly handled because man agreed the matter should be the MP for Cardigan, Roddy dropped on the clear understand- Bowen, did not come clean and say ing that Jeremy would play no fur- he would accept the deputy speaker- ther part in the party’s hierarchy: in ship. Had we known that, we might other words, no peerage. I and each as well have supported him for of my successors stuck to that. Speaker. Secondly, he claims that On the matter of Norman Scott, Jeremy offered Ludovic Kennedy a the author tells me that he never in that but I recall John Pardoe com- peerage in 1967 and that thereafter spoke to him in view of the many menting that, whilst Jeremy was Kennedy defected to the SNP. Both differing accounts he has given of endlessly briefing about the tour and are wrong. Ludo was a constituent his relationship with Jeremy. Bloch the wellingtons they should bring, of mine at the time; he never joined has however spoken to others of there was no mention of what they the SNP – merely supported their Jeremy’s liaisons leaving all of us were actually going to say, though winning candidate in the Hamilton who thought we knew him well John admired his impromptu by-election. Some years later I tried astonished at his recklessness. The speeches on the nation’s beaches. to persuade him to stand in West book – which is a rattling good read And that tended to characterise his Edinburgh with the promise that if – is indeed also an intriguing and whole approach to politics – it was a he failed to win I would nominate valuable study of the extraordinary series of fascinating dramas. him for the Lords. He declined, but high-wire behaviour of a public fig- One of those was the aftermath never suggested he had been offered ure; none of which should allow us of the February 1974 general elec- a peerage before. Of course when I to forget his charismatic leadership. tion. Jeremy without consulting became leader there was a queue of anybody dashed to London to meet people who thought they had been David Steel was a Liberal/Liberal the prime minister, who had just promised peerages by Jeremy, and Democrat Member of Parliament from lost the election. The first I (as chief some undoubtedly had been – that 1965 to 1997 and Leader of the Liberal whip) knew of this was a report on was part of his style. Party, 1976–88. the Saturday lunchtime car radio news whilst I was touring my constituency branches to thank them. Bloch says I drove to London – no I flew and got there by evening, Pioneering study of Welsh Liberals talked with Jeremy and in fact drove him to the back entrance of Russell Deacon, The Welsh Liberals: the History of the Liberal Number 10 on Sunday evening for a second meeting after our Sunday and Liberal Democratic Parties in Wales (Welsh Academic lunchtime meeting with Jo Gri- Press, 2014) mond and Frank Byers (leader in the Lords). We all raised objections Review by Dr J. Graham Jones but agreed he should probe Ted Heath further on electoral reform. his fine volume is the lat- run by Ashley Drake, ever since At the Monday meeting of the par- est in a spate of authori- 1994. For the first time ever, we liamentary party Bloch describes Ttative works regularly have a comprehensive, substantial Jo Grimond as ‘speaking in favour produced by the enterprising, Car- study of the Liberal Party (later of a coalition’. That is potentially diff-based Welsh Academic Press, the Liberal Democrats) in Wales

Journal of Liberal History 90 Spring 2016 35 reviews from the ground-breaking ‘crack- source materials – with the nota- the Carnarvon Boroughs in April ing of the ice’ general elections of ble exception of the extensive 1890. Due attention is devoted, too, 1859 and 1868 right through until records of the Welsh Liberal Party to a trenchant analysis of the key the fourth elections to the National set up, primarily by Emlyn Hoo- political themes of this period – the Assembly for Wales held in 2011. son, back in 1967. It is a shame that campaign for the disestablishment The author, Professor Russell much more extensive use was not and disendowment of the Welsh Deacon, an established academic made of the records of local and church, educational reforms, the teacher, has published widely on constituency Liberal associations land question, temperance, and an Welsh political and administrative in Wales (of which many exist) and element of administrative devolu- history in the twentieth century, the rich personal archives of politi- tion for Wales. is an expert on devolution, and is cians like Lloyd George, his politi- As Deacon clearly demonstrates, the author of the important, pio- cian children Gwilym and Megan, Liberal dominance of Welsh politi- neering volume The Governance of T. E. Ellis, D. A. Thomas, Clement cal life was nigh on monolithic by Wales: the Welsh Office and the Policy Davies, Roderic Bowen, Emlyn the time of the general election of Process, 1966–1999 (Welsh Academic Hooson and Alex Carlile. Their January 1906 when only one divi- Press, 2002). use would have enriched consider- sion in the whole of the principal- Russell Deacon has spent close ably the quality and depth of the ity – the second Merthyr Tydfil seat to a full decade immersed in this author’s analysis. captured by Keir Hardie for the major scholarly enterprise. He has The text is divided into eight Labour Representation Commit- certainly mastered the extensive discrete chapters. These are con- tee – was held by a non-Liberal MP. scholarly literature in the field. siderably fuller and more informa- There was not a single Conserva- He has also displayed considerable tive from 1945 onwards, a period tive MP in all of Wales, a result later initiative and tenacity by hold- in which, it is clear, the author feels repeated in the general election of ing some fifty personal interviews much more comfortable and in con- 1997. This overwhelming domi- with the party’s most prominent trol. (For the years up to 1922, we nance was also exercised over local leading lights in Wales, its local have, however, the still authorita- government in Wales. Of consid- activists and many of its organis- tive, major work by Kenneth O. erable interest, too, is the coverage ers over the last sixty years. The Morgan, Wales in British Politics, given to Welsh Liberal women dur- work is also much strengthened 1868–1922, first published in 1963, ing this period, among them Mar- by the author’s personal interest and now in its fourth edition [1991].) garet Haig Thomas (the daughter of and active involvement in Welsh A major asset of the present work is D. A. Thomas MP, and his successor Liberal politics over many years, a that the text is divided throughout as Lady Rhondda in 1918) and Wini- commitment which has informed into short, digestible sections, eas- fred Combe Tennant, a Neath-based and supported his scholarly work. ily read and appreciated by different party stalwart and one of many Lib- Somewhat disappointing, how- categories of readers, scholarly and eral women wholly entranced by ever, is the relative lack of use in the lay alike. The study excels when the slavish devotion to Lloyd George. study of archival and documentary author analyses different elections This pattern had been wholly in Wales and their campaigns. Espe- transformed by the time of the cially gripping are the large num- general election of 1924 when no ber of lively, well-researched pen more than forty Liberal MPs were portraits of so many Liberal politi- returned in the whole of the UK, cians and local party activists which and in Wales the party had dra- appear throughout the volume. matically very quickly retreated to Their contribution and influence its rural bastions in the north and throughout the years are thus easily west. No Liberal MPs remained appreciated by the readership. in the industrial and mercantile A major theme of the early chap- south of the country. But Wales ters is the formation of the South still remained a Liberal strong- Wales Liberal Federation and the hold especially post-1945 when, of North Wales Liberal Federation, the twelve party MPs re-elected, and the (ultimately futile) attempt seven represented Welsh constitu- to merge them together, primarily encies. The Welsh Liberal casual- by the stalwarts of the enterprising ties in the general election of 1951 Cymru Fydd movement from 1886. were the left-wing, near Socialistic There is much valuable material radicals Lady Megan Lloyd George here on the leading Welsh Liberal (Anglesey) and Emrys O. Rob- politicians of this period, among erts (Merioneth). Just three Liberal them T. E. Ellis, D. A. Thomas, MPs remained in Wales – the party Stuart Rendel, A. C. Hum- leader Clement Davies (Mont- phreys-Owen, Samuel T. Evans, gomeryshire), Roderic Bowen J. Herbert Lewis and the youth- (Cardiganshire) and Sir Rhys Hop- ful David Lloyd George, the last- kin Morris (Carmarthenshire) named elected to parliament (by a – all with marked right-wing, wafer-thin eighteen votes) at just middle-of-the-road tendencies. 27 years of age following a hotly Russell Deacon evaluates compe- contested by-election campaign in tently the political leanings and

36 Journal of Liberal History 90 Spring 2016 reviews the contributions of each of these But, somehow, the over-arching This article argues that the Liberal important political figures. key question – why the Liberal Party’s poor performance in the Seminal themes analysed in the Party so dramatically lost ground 1945 election, and the low incidence later chapters of the book include in Wales, as elsewhere, after the of tactical voting against Con- the formation of the Welsh Liberal First World War – is not really servative candidates, suggest that Party in 1966, the marked revival tackled head-on, and the various 1945 was more than just a reaction of party fortunes in the 1980s in contributing factors have, in conse- against Conservative rule. Instead, the wake of the ‘Alliance’ and sub- quence, to be teased out of a largely many voters appear to have been sequent merger in 1987 with the factual and descriptive account. positively attracted to the identity SDP. The author rightly focuses The book contains a large num- which the Labour Party projected, on the performances of Gwynoro ber of well-chosen photographs as the only party which grounded Jones for the SDP at the Gower by- which complement admirably the its promises of social reform in a election of 1982 and Felix Aubel main text, and the volume has, as vision of a planned economy. Dr for the Liberals in the Cynon Val- ever, been produced to the highest Sloman is also the author of ‘Can ley by-election of 1984. In the new standards by the Welsh Academic we conquer unemployment?: the dawn of devolution, the party won Press (although, unfortunately, Liberal Party, public works, and six seats in the first elections to there are rather too many print- the 1931 political crisis’, Historical the National Assembly for Wales ing errors). But it is undoubtedly Research, vol. 88, issue 239 (Febru- in 1999. Among the victors were a major contribution to the his- ary 2015), pp. 161–84. Jenny Randerson (now a distin- tory of the Liberal Party dur- Dr Sloman’s impeccably schol- guished Liberal peer), Peter Black ing the modern period and will arly and lucid study in the present and Mike German. The party was complement several other recent volume considers the formulation given the groundbreaking oppor- works in the same field of study. and application of economic policy tunity to participate in a coalition It is also highly likely to encour- within the British Liberal Party government with the Labour Party age and stimulate further academic from the all-important ‘We Can at Cardiff Bay in October 2000. research in this area for which it Conquer Unemployment’ gen- When Jenny Willot rather sensa- will serve as a solid and durable eral election of 30 May 1929 until tionally captured Cardiff Central foundation. This book will surely the party’s steady revival under by a wide margin in the general stand the test of time for a long Jo Grimond in the mid-1960s. As election of 2005, it gave the party while. One can but, however, befits a study which began its life an opportunity to extend its influ- quibble, as so often, at the substan- as a groundbreaking University of ence outside its key rural core areas tial cover price of £60. Is a more Oxford DPhil thesis, it is certainly of Ceredigion, Montgomeryshire reasonable paperback edition in exhaustive, encompassing full use and Brecon and Radnor. prospect? I do hope so, and soon. of Liberal Party records and pub- All of these themes are well lications, the personal papers of a analysed by Professor Deacon in a Dr J. Graham Jones was formerly Sen- large number of Liberal politicians, composite volume which will cer- ior Archivist and Head of the Welsh newspapers and journals, parlia- tainly prove of great interest to a Political Archive at the National mentary papers, and the vast sec- wide range of disparate readers. Library of Wales, Aberystwyth. ondary literature on the subject. All these highly disparate sources have been welded into a coherent, highly stimulating analysis. This volume analyses with much compe- tence the diverse intellectual influ- The economic policies and initiatives of the ences which shaped British Liberals’ economic thought up to the mid- Liberal Party twentieth century, and highlights the ways in which the party sought Peter Sloman, The Liberal Party and the Economy, 1929–1964, to reconcile its progressive identity Oxford Historical Monographs (Oxford University Press, with its long-standing commitment to free trade and competitive 2014) markets. Review by Dr J. Graham Jones From about 1990 onwards, the Liberal Party has attracted a con- ollowing a positively to the teaching of the first-year siderable scholarly literature, both brilliant carer as an under- ‘Approaches to History’ and sec- substantial published monographs Fgraduate and postgraduate ond- and third-year ‘Disciplines and unpublished dissertations, after student at Oxford University, Dr of History’ papers. His other main its sad relegation to third-party sta- Peter Sloman is currently Herbert research interests include electoral tus, really since the general election Nicholas Junior Research Fellow sociology and the politics of the of October 1924. Dr Sloman’s mon- in Modern British History at New welfare state. ograph is a major contribution to College, Oxford where he teaches His journal publications include the literature because of its focus on British history since 1815 and super- ‘Rethinking a progressive moment: the response of Liberal politicians vises numerous undergraduate the Liberal and Labour parties in to economic questions and their dissertations in this field of study. the 1945 general election’, Histori- policy making. The attention is He also contributes extensively cal Research, 84 (2011), pp. 722–44. unquestionably valid. Although the

Journal of Liberal History 90 Spring 2016 37 reviews

traces their progress up until 1929. the mainstream Samuelite Lib- These include classical econom- eral grouping was perceived as too ics, the influential ideas of Henry close to Baldwin’s Conservative George, the dramatic ‘new Liberal- Party, even during the 1935 general ism’ of the twentieth century, and election campaign. These trends the so called ‘constructive’, inter- continued largely during the run- ventionist Liberalism which came up to the outbreak of the Second to fruition in the interventionist World War, years marked by a new policies of the pre-war Asquith libertarian approach, free-market government, driven by a concern industrial policies and advocacy of for efficiency and a heartfelt wish ‘ownership for all’. to reduce unemployment and pov- The 1939–45 war saw a marked erty and reflected, for example, in change: senior Liberal politicians, the setting up of labour exchanges now led by Sir Archibald Sinclair and trade boards. The 1920s saw (whose devotion to party leader- continued support for the cardi- ship duties was consequently much nal tenet of free trade and a marked reduced), served in the new coali- departure from laissez faire. A star- tion government under Chamber- tling departure was the setting up lain and Churchill, the war effort of esteemed committees of enquiry dominated everything, and there whose lengthy deliberations led to was a mega swing to the left in the the publication of Coal and Power Liberal Party in parliament and in (1924) and The Land and the Nation the country. Policy formulation (1926) and, above all, Britain’s Indus- within the Liberal Party became trial Future (1928), the vaunted ‘Yel- much more ‘formal and committee low Book’, whose endorsement by based’ (p. 135), there was a general the National Liberal Federation in emphasis on planning and egalitar- March 1928 marked a high point ian ideas, while there was a new- of a much more interventionist found, energetic debate on the approach to economic policy by the nature of Liberalism – ‘a moment party. of ideological radicalism, when the Liberals were the third party in the The contents of chapters 2 to party shed its reservations about British state, Liberal politicians – 7 are arranged strictly in chrono- state intervention’ (p. 163). The from Lloyd George (and his empha- logical order. During the second heady days of 1945 proved espe- sis on practical Keynesianism) in minority Labour government of cially alluring to left-wing Lib- 1929 until Jo Grimond after 1956 – 1929–31 (which Liberals generally erals, some of whom came close could still be highly influential. supported with some conviction), to advocating advanced socialist Moreover, many prominent party mandarins tended to back initiatives. economists – Keynes, Sir Wil- away from loan-financed public During the period of Clem- liam Beveridge, Walter Layton, works and embraced a much more ent Davies’s leadership, 1945–56, Sir Roy Harrod and Alan Peacock traditional approach to the formi- the Liberal Party’s true nadir (with and many others – were keen Lib- dable economic problems faced by a drop to just six Liberal MPs by erals. Sloman’s pioneering work the country. Liberals now tended 1955), saw severe splits and disputes casts valuable light on the history to back down from advocacy of a within the party, including over of the Liberal Party more generally major programme of public works economic policies. Generally it was during this period, especially on largely because of the deteriorat- ‘a drift to the right’, but, as Dr Slo- the crucial question of its relation- ing economic situation. Moreo- man demonstrates here, this took ship to the British state. A concise ver the economic experts who had place within a broadly Keynes- introductory survey focuses on advised Lloyd George were no ian policy framework, with a firm the role of the Liberal Party in the longer a unified group acting in commitment to demand-manage- British political system from 1929 unison. While generally in Brit- ment policies, with support for the onwards, with an emphasis on the ain the ongoing severe economic growing welfare state and most of party’s political and economic ideas dislocation of the 1930s saw con- the nationalised industries. – their formulation and their trans- tinued advocacy of increased state Then, under Jo Grimond as mission, notably Keynesianism and intervention and planning, the party leader from 1956 onwards, Neoliberalism. Due regard is paid fragmented segments of the Brit- some marked revival was experi- to the capacity of Liberal politi- ish Liberal Party departed from enced. As far as economic policy cians to tackle economic theory and the constructive, intervention- was concerned, this embraced sup- what the author describes as ‘the ist Liberal thinking of the late port for historic Liberal principles intermittent nature of economists’ 1920s, while, more generally, ‘the like internationalism and citizen involvement in the Liberal Party’ Liberals’ problems lay in a lack of participation, but with a much (p. 13). definition, unity and purpose’, increased growth in the role of The first, introductory chap- enhanced still further by ‘the tri- the state to nurture growth, pro- ter surveys the primary economic partite division within Liberal- vide public goods and services, traditions within the Liberal Party ism’ from August 1931 onwards (p. and attempt to remedy the short- of the early twentieth century and 107). Generally, Sloman argues, comings of the market. At the core

38 Journal of Liberal History 90 Spring 2016 reviews of Grimond’s economic policies full, clearly set out bibliography of a payphone in order not to waste were support for Common Mar- the sources used is most helpful and money. That home, incidentally, ket membership, increased public a pleasure to read. It will prove of once described by the political investment, improved educational great value for future research. The journalist Michael Crick as the and training facilities, and a more book is not always an easy read, family’s ‘ancestral home’, was in competitive private sector. but it is unfailingly scholarly, con- fact a prefabricated building, cho- A short conclusion gathering tains a wealth of most valuable and sen from a catalogue and built together the main themes and find- informative material which will largely of wood. Benn’s parsimony ings of the research is appended. Dr repay detailed study and stimulate later cost him dear. In October 1940 Sloman’s overarching conclusion the interested reader to research his London home on Grosvenor is ‘that it was ideological and gen- further. It is a most valuable contri- Road, later the site of Labour’s erational changes in the early 1960s bution to this field of study. Millbank Tower, caught fire dur- that cut the party’s links with the ing an air raid. The blaze seems to New Right, opened up common Dr J. Graham Jones was formerly Sen- have resulted from an electrical ground with revisionist social dem- ior Archivist and Head of the Welsh fault, the consequence of employ- ocrats, and re-established its pro- Political Archive at the National ing the inadequate DIY skills of his gressive credentials’ (back cover). A Library of Wales, Aberystwyth. son, Michael, in a further attempt at economy. Wyburn-Powell is less convincing in his efforts to establish the intrinsic significance of his subject. In his foreword, Benn’s surviv- Tony Benn’s father ing son, David, concedes that his father was ‘never a key player’ (p. Alun Wyburn-Powell, Political Wings: William Wedgwood ix). Wyburn-Powell agrees. Benn Benn, First Viscount Stansgate (Pen & Sword Aviation, 2015) was ‘a natural deputy managing director, an adjutant, the second Review by David Dutton in command’ (p. 14). Further- more, ‘he never really developed t is a curious fact that two of State for Air under Clement Attlee the intermediate skill of detailed the most prominent post-war (1945–6). policy-making’, though ‘he thor- Ifigures on the Labour Left Benefitting from the reminis- oughly enjoyed debating and polit- – Michael Foot and Tony Benn – cences of members of the Benn ical intrigue’ (p. 33). Not much had fathers who sat in parliament family, including the late Tony scope here then for a ‘Great Man’ as Liberal MPs. The two fathers Benn, Wyburn-Powell draws a approach to history. The conclu- were almost exact contemporaries. convincing picture of this, in some sion that he was ‘a good adminis- Born three years apart, they both ways, rather eccentric individual. trator and a good party manager’ died in 1960. But whereas Isaac His life followed a repeated pat- Foot served out his political career tern of overwork resulting in spells within the Liberal ranks, William of near-exhaustion. Benn did not Wedgwood Benn, the subject of marry until he was 43 and must this very readable biography by have thrilled his bride by deciding Alun Wyburn-Powell, was among that their honeymoon should be the many prominent Liberals of spent attending the first session of his generation who defected to the League of Nations in Geneva! Labour. Wedgwood Benn, enno- His quest for an appropriate work/ bled in 1941 as Viscount Stansgate life balance was much influenced in order to enhance Labour’s ranks by Arnold Bennett’s book How to in the House of Lords – though he Live on 24 Hours a Day. Benn’s time privately likened the debates of the was not to be wasted and, to chart upper chamber to ‘old gentlemen’s his use of it, he divided his day political croquet’ – served as Liberal into half-hour units. For almost MP for Tower Hamlets, St George’s half a century, he kept a record (1906–18) and for Leith (1918–27). of how each day had been spent, Rather than represent his constitu- drawing up a daily graph of his ency under false political colours, activities. Born into a family of he resigned his parliamentary seat Congregationalist radicals whose upon his conversion to Labour, but circumstances were comfortable then secured election for Aberdeen rather than genuinely wealthy, he North (1928–31) and Manchester, was constantly, if usually need- Gorton (1937–41). As a Labour poli- lessly, worried about his personal tician, Benn enjoyed two periods finances. When he managed in of cabinet office, as Secretary of the summer of 1933 to purchase State for India throughout Ram- the house at Stansgate which his say MacDonald’s second govern- father had bought, but soon sold, ment (1929–31) and as Secretary of thirty years earlier, he installed

Journal of Liberal History 90 Spring 2016 39 A Liberal Democrat History Group evening meeting The legacy of roy jenkins Roy Jenkins is best remembered in Liberal Democrat circles as one of the ‘Gang of Four’ who established the Social Democratic Party, as the SDP’s first leader, and then as a staunch supporter of merger with the Liberal Party.

But even as a Labour politician he had a liberal record. In his first two years as Home Secretary (which began just over fifty years ago), he abolished theatre censorship, passed the first effective legislation to outlaw racial discrimination and delivered government support for private members’ bills on the legalisation of homosexuality and on abortion. In 1972 he led the major Labour rebellion that saved the Conservative government’s legislation to take Britain into the European Community.

John Campbell (author of Roy Jenkins: A Well-Rounded Life) and Lord David Steel (Leader of the Liberal Party 1976-88) discuss how much liberalism in Britain owes to Roy Jenkins.

6.30pm Monday 27 June Committee Room 4A, House of Lords, Westminster, SW1 (please allow 20 minutes to get through security) scarcely makes the reader’s having on the legislation on with Benn’s transition from to Liberal Nationalism.) Benn, pulse race (p. 205). That same peerages’ may be technically Liberalism to Labour. Here however, made a relatively reader will sometimes sense correct (p. 201). But, almost the author calls upon his ear- painless transition to Labour. It that Wyburn-Powell is having by definition, that influence lier research into Liberal defec- ‘did not involve him in a signif- to pad out his narrative. This could only become apparent tors to place Benn’s move into a icant abandonment of old poli- is most obvious in a fifteen- with his own death and would wider context. His conclusion is cies, nor the adoption of many page chapter entitled ‘Sum- have meant nothing without that Benn left the Liberal Party new ones’ (p. 99). He found ‘an mer of 1931’. Benn’s name is the determined campaign of primarily because of ‘person- acceptable home’ at the centre largely absent from the chap- his son Tony to renounce his ality clashes’ (p. 95). He was a of Labour politics, ‘or if any- ter itself and, indeed, from the inherited title. Even less com- loyal supporter of Asquith, but thing even slightly to the left dramatic events it describes. In pelling is the argument that his commitment to the party of centre’ (p. 100). These inter- reality, he was no more than a Benn’s failure to renegotiate waned once the latter gave up esting points might have been bit-player in the fall of Mac- the Anglo-Egyptian Treaty its leadership. By contrast, he developed further. Donald’s government and its in 1946 led indirectly to the declared that Lloyd George This life of William Wedg- replacement by an all-party ‘festering problems between did ‘not possess the qualifica- wood Benn will be read with National administration. Else- the two countries which ulti- tions required as leader of the pleasure, not least by those where, the impression is that mately ended in the Suez Cri- Liberal Party’ (p. 88). Granted interested in the formative Wyburn-Powell strains too sis and Eden’s downfall’ (p. the positions occupied by these influences shaping the more sig- hard to establish Benn’s impact. 199). These contrived points two Liberal heavyweights in nificant figure of Tony Benn. The suggestion that his deci- aside, Wyburn-Powell gener- the mid-1920s, most of those The author’s problems derive sion to decline the offer of the ally does as well as he can with Asquithians who chose to leave more from his subject and the position of chief whip on the the material available. At the the party’s ranks drifted to the loss to fire of much of the Stans- death of Percy Illingworth end of the day, however, a cabi- political right. (Wyburn-Pow- gate archive than from any in January 1915 ‘changed the net career totaling three years, ell’s statistical analysis should, shortcomings in his skills as a course of Liberal Party his- four months and eighteen days however, be viewed with cau- biographer. tory’ is interesting but ulti- (Wyburn-Powell provides this tion; only those readers famil- mately entirely speculative (p. degree of exactitude) offers the iar with his earlier work will David Dutton is co-author of a new 50). The statement that Benn author somewhat limited fare. know that he has taken the A-level textbook, The Making ‘has a significance beyond his Perhaps the most interesting illogical methodological deci- of Modern Britain, 1951–2007 own achievements’ because section of this book for readers sion to exclude from his calcu- (Cambridge University Press, of ‘the influence he ended up of the JLH is the section dealing lations the majority of defectors forthcoming).