Old Heroes for a New Leader Liberal Democrat leadership candidates describe their historical inspirations. The Liberal Democrat History Group asked all the wherever he found it, his humanity and warmth enabled him to communicate with people who five candidates for the Liberal Democrat leadership claimed not to be interested in politics, and he to write a short article for the Journal on their never took his feet off the ground. As a young favourite historical figure or figures – the ones they man he joined the Young Liberals, he cam- paigned from the grassroots up, fighting a felt had influenced their own political beliefs most, no-hope Parliamentary seat himself and en- and why they proved important and relevant. Their couraging others to stand as Liberals in local replies are printed below. elections. He was committed to community politics and to the liberal approach to local govern- ment. Penhaligon wanted to shake the estab- Jackie Ballard MP lishment and he wanted a different type of I instinctively recoil from the idea of heroes, council – devoted to the underdog, not wed- because inevitably, being human, they all have ded to nineteenth-century ritual but open and their flaws. For this reason, and because they accessible to the public. No campaigning work- would be horribly embarrassed, I’m not going shop is complete without someone quoting to write about my two living political heroes Penhaligon’s maxim: ‘If you have something to – Conrad Russell and Shirley Williams. say, stick it on a piece of paper and stuff it The real heroes in life are the people who through the letterbox’. Perhaps one of his other survive on low incomes, who bring up three attractions for me is that, in his wife’s words, children single-handedly, who challenge au- ‘he gained the reputation of being distinctly thority when no-one else believes in their difficult over pacts and alliances with Labour’. cause, who juggle part-time jobs and childcare, Nancy Seear was an active campaigner for look after elderly relatives or battle with mul- Liberalism for over fifty years. She would not tiple disabilities. They are the unknown and have described herself as a feminist, but was unsung heroes – the sort of people I look at one of our most powerful, indomitable and with admiration as I chastise myself for ever best-known female representatives, a role model complaining about my life. for many women entering politics. In contrast David Penhaligon loved people and he loved to Penhaligon, Nancy was not a grassroots poli- challenges. He was the leader the Liberal Party tician, but she was a talented and energetic never had, and his speaker who used her ability to campaign for death in robbed equal pay for women, for democracy in the us of one of our most workplace and many other causes dear to her. popular and effective In Why I Am a Liberal Democrat, published a year campaigners. I never before her death, Nancy said: ‘I was in Ger- met him, but like all many when the Nazis made their first big elec- great communicators toral advance,, and watched them centralise he had the knack of everything in sight, destroying pluralism. This making everyone feel left me with the unshakeable conviction that that they knew him. power must be spread as widely as possible.’ He fought injustice journal of liberal democrat history 23: summer 1999 5 Roy Jenkins David Lloyd George Nelson Mandela All heroes have their flaws, and by-election in Dundee as a student practical, clear and coherent. His pas- hero-worship is misplaced in a in the s and, in a poor tenement sion grew out of his commitment to Liberal. I didn’t agree with every- area of the town, came across house- his own background and his own thing David Penhaligon or Nancy hold after household in which the community. He was compromised Seear said or did – but that’s how breadwinner described himself as be- by a lack of personal wealth, which it should be. No-one, not even a ing on the ‘Lloyd George’. led him into dubious business ven- hero, is perfect. Unlike today’s Chancellors, Lloyd tures and accusations of selling titles. George steered his budget through His energies led him into many all stages in the House of Commons, compromising liaisons, which earned Malcolm Bruce MP moving clauses and amendments him the abusive nickname of the old The political inspiration for my Lib- long into the night. The Liberal goat. This doesn’t make him a more eralism has always been David Lloyd Government also fought a general attractive personality, but shows him George. He came from a fairly mod- election over the budget and pro- as very human. In today’s febrile era est background and started his ca- voked probably the most important of tabloid intrusion he would almost reer fighting to secure his home base confrontation that has ever taken certainly have been destroyed. Brit- in a tight situation, something with place between the Commons and ish society would have been the which I can closely identify. He was the Lords. He established unemploy- poorer and the torch of Liberalism not afraid to support unpopular ment and sickness benefit, and the would have been dimmed. causes, like opposition to the Boer old age pension, which still form a I regard myself as a practical radi- War, for which he required police key part of the social justice debate. cal, always striving for ideas which protection. Yet he went on from that to take are easily understood, will improve Above all, he was an energetic over leadership of the country in the people’s lives in measurable ways and campaigner for a radical agenda and, darkest hours of the First World War are credible and achievable. For this unlike Churchill, for example, com- and saw through the peace negotia- Lloyd George was and remains my bined the qualities of a great war tions. His inability to fulfil his pledge inspiration. leader with the inspiration that to build ‘homes fit for heroes’ led to founded the welfare state. his eclipse, but that was because of Simon Hughes MP His divisions within his own party that ‘People’s left him a prisoner of the Conserva- David Lloyd George Budget’ of tives. In spite of the setback he Lloyd George really did know my is a still managed to inspire the Liberal grandfather. I was first taken to Lloyd watershed Yellow Book for the election, George’s childhood home (and his in British which reinvigorated the Liberal final resting place) by the banks of the social his- Party before its demise in the De- River Dwyfor by my grandfather be- tory. I re- pression and Second World War. fore I was three. I have visited regu- member Lloyd George, for all his faults, larly ever since. Lloyd George has campaign- was the epitome of a radical cam- been an inspiration partly because he ing in a paigning Liberal. His ideas were 6 journal of liberal democrat history 23: summer 1999 David Penhaligon Nancy Seear William Wilberforce had no privileged background and a Nelson Rolihlahla Mandela, President of forgiveness, generosity and states- difficult upbringing. In spite of the of South Africa –) manship. inevitable human weaknesses of all Mandela is the radical pluralist, an Just as Lloyd George was my hero politicians, he was the central figure enlightened, principled sort of leader from the first half of the century, so of one of the two greatest periods of who is an inspiration for millions. He Nelson Mandela is my hero from radical change this country has is an object lesson, not just for this the second. I am privileged to have known during the last hundred years. century but for the next. met him. Lloyd George’s determination to When I first started campaigning set in place the beginning of our against apartheid (with Peter Hain, pension and social security system, Charles Kennedy among others), Nelson Mandela was his willingness to remain a radical one of the leaders of the struggle It is sometimes difficult to pick one when in office as well as when in from behind bars. historical hero, when there are so opposition, his great ‘People’s When I first went to South Af- many on offer to Liberal Democrats. Budget’ of , his commitment to rica in , I stood amongst the I am sure we have all been influ- constitutional reform and burned-out homes of the Cross- enced by the thinking of people such disestablishment and his abiding in- roads squatter camp, encircled by as Mill and Keynes, and they cer- terest in international affairs are a South African Defence Force ar- tainly loom large in my own per- combination of priorities to which moured cars, and sneaked into sonal hall of fame. I have always aspired. townships at night to see families But for a more personal choice, In addition, the Welsh wizard whose members had been I am opting for someone who has had the ability to inspire ordinary necklaced. Mandela was the libera- had a deep impact on my involve- non-party tion leader waiting in the wings. ment in politics, and a profound ef- political When I spoke alongside Jesse fect on the shape of our party. I have people, to Jackson to tens of thousands in Tra- also had the privilege to know and engage falgar Square at an anti-apartheid work with him for nearly twenty them in rally, Mandela was the inspiration for years: Roy Jenkins. the politi- the international solidarity and There is much that I could say cal process, struggle.