Fifty years ago
A LIBERAL stocktaking was more than necessary, and the committee that had undertaken the work has made a good job of it. The details of the proposed reorganisation are a secondary matter; the real question is whether the Liberal Party as a party is worth reorganising. What for that matter is the Liberal Party? In the House of Commons there are 13 National Liberals, but National Liberals only polled a total of 740,000 votes at the General Election; there are 12 Liberals "without suffix of affix," but their total vote was 2,240,000. There is no sign of any approach to union; the Liberals tend generally to vote with the Government, National Liberals general- ly to vote against it. The Liberals sans phrase seem to think the National Liber- als, with their 740,000 votes, are on the way to extinction, but it has to be recorded that at the General Election very few Liberals were just beaten; the Liberal was usually well at the bottom of the poll in any three-cornered con- test. But I am told that Liberalism is strong among the university entrants of the moment. If so, that bears promise for the future.
The Spectator 22 March 1946
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