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John Simon and the post-war National Liberal Party: an Historical Postscript*

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  11 February 2009

David Dutton
David Dutton
Affiliation:
University Of Liverpool
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Extract

Historians have not expended much energy in tracing the fortunes of the National Liberal party. Though the party enjoyed a theoretically independent existence for nearly forty years, there is general agreement that it is best seen as a mere adjunct of Conservatism. Writers whose sympathies lie with the mainstream Liberal party have been particularly dismissive. Roy Douglas notes that as early as the autumn of 1933 the Liberal Nationals ‘had become Conservatives for all practical purposes’. In similar terms, Sir Dingle Foot concludes that they ‘became the obedient servants of their Tory masters. In return they received their quota of offices and honours.’ Yet while the policies of National Liberalism became increasingly indistinguishable from those of their Conservative allies, many who bore this label clung tenaciously to it and proved most reluctant to give up their independent identity and ‘the grand old name of Liberal.’ The fortunes of the post-war party, and in particular the role played by its elder statesman, Lord Simon, are not without interest for the student of the modern British political system.

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Type
Articles
Information
The Historical Journal , Volume 32 , Issue 2 , June 1989, pp. 357 - 367
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press 1989

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References

1 Douglas, R., The history of the Liberal party 1895–1970 (London, 1971), p. 233Google Scholar.

2 SirFoot, D., British political crises (London, 1976), p. 137Google Scholar.

3 Simon to Teviot, 26 July 1949, Bodleian Library, Oxford (Bodl. Lib.), MS Simon 98, fos. 3–5.

4 Douglas, , Liberal party, pp. 224–5Google Scholar.

5 The Times, 19 July 1943.

6 Ibid. 1 Nov. 1943.

7 McCallum, R. B. and Readman, A., The British general election of 1945 (Oxford, 1947), pp. 13–15Google Scholar.

8 Ibid. pp. 64–5.

9 Simon to Sir Adam Maitland, 18 June 1945, Bodl. Lib., MS Simon 96, fo. 35.

10 Simon to Churchill (draft), 2 Aug. 1945, ibid. fos. 137–40.

11 Churchill to Simon, 9 Aug. 1945, ibid. fo. 145.

12 Rasmussen, J. S., The Liberal party (London, 1965), p. 103Google Scholar.

13 Douglas, , Liberal party, pp. 253–4Google Scholar.

14 Memorandum of conversation between Teviot, Mabane and Woolton 25 Oct. 1946, Bodl. Lib., Woolton MSS 21, fo. 52; The Times 10 May 1947.

15 Butler, D. E., The British general election of 1951 (London, 1952), pp. 197–8Google Scholar.

16 The Liberal National party was renamed the National Liberal party in 1948.

17 Simon to Foot, 1 Dec. 1947, Bodl. Lib., MS Simon 13, fo. 29.

18 Simon to C. Britten, 4 Dec. 1947, ibid. 97, fo. 54.

19 Bodl. Lib., MS Simon 13, fo. 30.

20 Ibid.

21 Simon to H. Glanville, 13 Jan. 1948, Bodl. Lib., MS Simon 97, fo. 65.

22 Simon was regularly consulted by Lords Swinton and Salisbury.

23 Simon to Teviot, 26 July 1949, Bodl. Lib., MS Simon 98, fos. 3–5.

24 Ibid.

25 Ibid.

26 Simon to Churchill (draft), n.d. (but Nov. 1948), Bodl. Lib., MS Simon 97, fos. 141–3.

27 Churchill to Simon, 13 Nov. 1948, ibid. fo. 140.

28 Simon to Churchill, 18 Jan. 1949, ibid. fos. 169–71.

29 Churchill to Simon, 9 Feb. 1949, ibid. fo. 177.

30 Simon to Teviot, 26 July 1949, ibid. 98, fos. 3–5; House of lords debates, 5th series, CLXIV, cols. 405–16.

31 See, for example, entry in diary of Sir Henry Channon for 13 May 1940, James, R. R. (ed), Chips (Penguin edn, 1970), p. 310Google Scholar.

32 Teviot to Simon, 27 July 1949, Bodl. Lib., MS Simon 98, fos. 6–7; H. L. debs., 5th series, CLXIV, col. 254. In a debate on the Iron and Steel Bill Samuel argued that the National Liberals had been swallowed by the Conservative party and went on: ‘Sometimes when I have heard the noble Lord, Lord Teviot, prognosticating in somewhat sepulchral tones, I have remembered that we are told that Jonah spoke from the belly of the whale. But that noble Lord is not aware that the process of deglutition has been completed and the process of digestion is very far advanced.’

33 Nicholas, H. G., The British general election of 1950 (London, 1951), p. 82Google Scholar.

34 The Times, 18 Nov. 1949.

35 Simon to A. Head, 9 Jan. 1950, Bodl. Lib., MS Simon 98, fo. 107.

36 Daily Herald, 10 Feb. 1950.

37 Simon to Woolton, 6 Jan. 1950, Bodl. Lib., MS Simon 98, fo. 106.

38 Nicholas, , General election, pp. 83–4Google Scholar; Pelling, H., Winston Churchill (London, 1974), p. 581Google Scholar.

39 Nicholas, , General election, p. 123Google Scholar.

40 Memorandum for Lord Woolton by Simon, 27 Feb. 1950, Bodl. Lib., MS Simon 98, fos. 130–1.

41 Woolton to Churchill, 9 Mar. 1950, Bodl. Lib., Woolton MSS 21, fo. 103.

42 Simon to Macmillan, 9 May 1950, Bodl. Lib., MS Simon 98, fos. 225–6.

43 Maclay became minister for civil aviation, but resigned because of ill-health in May 1952. The National Liberals' chief whip, Sir Herbert Butcher, became government deputy chief whip with special responsibility for liaison with the official Liberals. The nineteen members were well distributed throughout the country, though it is worthy of note that in Sheffield the Woolton-Teviot agreement worked particularly well, with all seven constituencies being contested by jointly selected candidates.

44 Seldon, A., Churchill's Indian summer (London, 1981), pp. 146–7Google Scholar.

45 Simon to J. Sparrow, 18 July 1952, Bodl. Lib., MS Simon 100, fos. 165–6.

46 Nicholas, , General election, p. 299Google Scholar.

47 Rasmussen, , Liberal party, pp. 11–12, 16, 19Google Scholar.

48 Simon to Law, 18 Dec. 1950, Bodl. Lib., MS Simon 99, fos. 28–9.