„ POLITICAL COMMENTARY HUGH MACPHERSON
'The disintegration of the Liberal party began with the Coupon Election of December 1918. It then received a blow from which it has never recovered', wrote Mr Asquith sadly to his friends in 1926. How right he was. But the death has been so prolonged that many undertakers have been interred before the corpse. What then of the present Liberal party? Back in 1945 it had twelve members, a number which dropped to nine in 1950. In 1951, 1955 and 1959 it mustered six members. This rose to nine in 1964, to twelve in 1966, and, with the aid of a by-election, to thirteen by the end of the last Parliament. Now they are back to six. The other statistics are brutal. They finished second in only twenty-seven seats although 332 Liberals were in the field. One hundred and eighty-two lost their deposits at a cost of more than £27,000.
Whatever else be said about the Liberal party it must be acknowledged that it now bears little relation to the bold band of reformers of 1906, or to Messrs Gladstone, Asquith or Lloyd George. The only con- nection with that period lies in its leader Mr Thorpe who has a kind of Edwardian elegance that is often captivating. He is, indeed, at times as effective in the jolly club debating atmosphere of the Commons as he was in the Oxford Union, and no doubt is in the Reform and National Liberal Clubs, the Café Royal, Buckingham Palace and other such London museums. Sharing part of a bench below the gangway with him• is a motley collection of rugged political in- dividualists.
There is Mr Russell Johnston, the Chair- man of the Scottish Liberal party and once a fearsome exponent of the Highland game of shinty, which is more or less like hockey except that it is an offence to play the ball. The same rugged qualities have been carried into the field of politics, for the Liberal party in Scotland gaily fought the last election with a devolution policy for Britain which awarded England a Parliament of its own, in common with the three other countries, and a federal Parliament at the top, English Liberals would have none of it. They fought the election on the basis that there would be no home Parliament for England, which would be split up into regions, thereby equating (in Caledonian minds) Scotland with Yorkshire. But what is a Parliament between friends? No one seemed to notice the difference,
Then there is Mr Emlyn Hooson, QC, whose constituency of Montgomery is the
last establishment stronghold of the Liberal party in the land. He is styled the Leader of the Welsh Liberal party whatever that may mean since he is the only Liberal mr.
in Wales. No doubt he is also the Welsh Whip. The silkiest of silks, he is at least as much absorbed in the Law as he is in politics, and the call to the Bench is expected in the near future. Indeed there is some speculation that he may be just the chap for one of the Industrial Courts when they are eventually set up Another of the present Liberal strength in the Commons is David Steel from the Scottish borders. He showed considerable ability in steering through the Abortion Bill as a Private measure which was no mean achievement for a man who was then under thirty. Unfortunately he has also shown a predilection for political experiment either in the direction of the Scottish Nationalists in company with Mr Grimond, or even, in recent years, towards young right-wing members of the Labour party in company with Mr John Pardoe. With a few Labour backbenchers he tried to set up an embryonic party called the Radical Action Movement. Alas, Mr Wilson provided the perfect balm for political irritation by promoting a few. The electorate subsequently dealt with the others. Mr Pardoe himself holds a wafer- thin majority in Cornwall with the aid of a magnificent party organisation. He is per- haps the most dedicated Liberal of all, not least because as a former member of the Labour party there really is nowhere else for him to go.
Finally, there is Mr Grimond. Having tried so desperately to gain political power and failed, he retired as Liberal leader in January 1967, apparently weary of the struggle. But far from making his successor's life easy his actions have at times made it exceedingly difficult. Before long he was telling Mr William Hardcastle on the radio that given the opportunity for real power he would leap at it like a trout (or was it a salmon?). Whatever the fish, he certainly has floundered around merrily. When the Liberals held their Assembly in Edinburgh in 1968, the Young Liberals set up a rival `talk-in' which they chose to call the 'Free Assembly' mainly to embarrass the leader- ship. Along trotted the distinguished figure of Mr Grimond, to brood silently over the quite extraordinary gathering of youngsters like a middle-aged disc jockey with laryn- gitis. He was flanked by David Steel and John Pardoe and the press were informed in advance.
Around the same time Mr Grimond ex- pressed interest in the abortive Radical Action Movement, and also started to woo the Scottish Nationalists. They took the view (very foolishly) that he should join a local party and work his way up. It did not appeal. So Mr Thorpe, wrestling with a tiny party in financial difficulties, watched the antics of the former leader who was ready to don a kilt and sing a lusty chorus of 'Scots Wha Hae' (albeit in the accents of Stratford- Atte-Bowe); or conduct the young radicals in the Labour and Liberal parties in a spirited rendition of Blake's `Jerusalem'; with just the possibility of a raucous performance of the 'Red Flag' with the Liberal Red Guard. It has not been a helpful performance.
And the difficulties continue. One of the proud boasts of the Liberal party has been that the other two parties have stolen their ideas and in particular the possibility of entering the EEC. It is part of the Liberal charm that this is somehow seen as a vote- catcher. Mr Hooson has made no bones about the fact that he is not for it. Mr Grimond, on the other hand, presided over a party which passed resolution after resolu- tion calling for a negotiated entry, On 10 February of this year he intimated that he had experienced a change of heart, The present terms, he explained, were unaccept- able. The needs of the inshore fishing industry had been ignored, and the ideal solution for Scotland would lie in closer ties with other smaller European countries. The first intimation that John Pardoe, who heads the party's policy-making committee, had of this Damascus Road conversion was when he read it in the morning paper.
So Mr Thorpe has the formidable task of leading this disparate group which bears the title of an historic political party. He himself has matured considerably over the last few years, and it was his personal drive that raised a six-figure sum to bring the party out of the red. But what can be done in the future? Mr Pardoe takes the view that the party should fight every single seat at the next election. Mr Thorpe, perhaps with the memory of how close the party was to bankruptcy before the last election, thinks that paper candidates are no use and that the party must concentrate on key con- stituencies.
Memories are being invoked of the 'Yellow Book', Britain's Industrial Future, which Lloyd George published in 1928 with the assistance of Keynes and Sir Josiah Stamp : followed by We can conquer Un- employment which sold like Fanny Hill. Cannot the same thing be done on the subject of inflation? Alas, it is the old Liberal sickness to look for analogies from the past with which the present party does not have even the most tenuous links. And the result of all the efforts in the late 'twenties, not to mention the Lloyd George funds from his piratical booty, led to only fifty-nine seats—even though more than five million votes were gained.
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