Tory Achates
ROBERT BLAKE
Atemoirs of a Conservative: 1. C. C. David- ,on's Memoirs and Papers 1910-37 Robert Rhodes James (Weidenfeld and Nicolson 84s) Lord Davidson was the intimate friend and political adviser of two Prime Ministers. Bonar Law and Baldwin. In the case of the former, he had to dispUte the position with Lord Beaverbrook. In the case of Baldwin, his pre-eminence was uncontested, and his services were immense. He had intended to write his memoirs but unhappily a serious illness struck him five years ago when he had completed only seven draft chapters. However, he had had a good many tape recorded conversations with Mr John Barnes. joint author of a forthcoming life of Baldwin, though it is perhaps a pity that these are mostly undated: and he kept every letter he received. Mr Robert Rhodes James at his request has woven this material into an excellent and most absorbing book. It should be read with two reservations. Lord Davidson did not keep a diary, and so his recollections must inevitably be coloured to some extent by later events; and Mr James, regarding himself as editor rather than biographer, has not in general tried to assess his version of particular episodes, pre- ferring to leave the story as it was seen through Lord Davidson's eyes. A case in point is the crisis over the naval estimates 1924-26. Davidson regarded it as part of a manoeuvre by the 'Old Gang'. Churchill and F. E. Smith, to push out Baldwin. Mr lames mildly suggests that possibly this was an exaggerated view. In fact it obviously is, and there is plenty of evidence to show that, without necessarily having any ulterior motive. Churchill invariably pressed the claims of any department—in this case the Treasury—which he happened to head, with unbalanced extremism. This was one of the reasons why he was such a' maddening colleague, and why the premiership, which has no department, was the only office that really suited his great gifts.
Davidson did not like Churchill or F. E. Smith. He was a puritan, and moral dis- approval, by no means peculiar to him, is at least part of the reason for the fall of the great Coalition of 1922 which not only included these two but was headed by Lloyd George and had as Chancellor of the Ex- chequer that forgotten devotee of the night clubs, Sir Robert Horne. (Incidentally, this book is the first to give a list of the voting at the celebrated Carlton Club meeting.) Sonar Law was a puritan personally, though he could get on well with those who were not. Baldwin- was more censorious. He re- garded Lloyd George in particular with reit detestation and, while he saw the advantage of having Churchill and F. E. Smith in his cabinet after 1924, he kept them at arm's length.
In 1927 Davidson became chairman 'of the Tory party. This section of the book is fascinating. Davidson, backed by his master, Was determined to eliminate the sale of
honours which had evidently not disappeared with the Coalition. Sir George Younger ambiguously wrote to him in 1927: 'I never, so to speak, sold an honour, nor did I ever make any bargain; but from time to time I did raise a substantial contribution.' The line is hard to draw, but Davidson stopped the really flagrant transactions. He also ruined that fraudulent honours broker. Maundy Gregory, by infiltrating a spy into his en- tourage and ensuring that none of his clients, whatever their merits, got an honour. How- ever, he did not welcome Gregory's prosecu- tion, for there was a danger of alarming revelations. He solved the problem by giving him a pension from the party fund when he came out of prison and arranging for him to live anonymously in France as the price of silence.
Other achievements of Davidson were the suborning of a printer in Odham's Press to give him advance 'pulls' of Labour party propaganda before it even reached Transport House: and, on a more permanent level, reforms in the organisation of the party usually attributed to his successor. Neville Chamberlain, whom he also disliked. The most important of these were the separation of the chairmanship of the National Union from that of the party organisation and the creation of the Conservative Research Department. Davidson was ousted in 1930-- a belated victim of the usual row which follows a lost general election. It was the only occasion when his relations with Bald- win were clouded, for the leader, himself in a perilous position, felt unable to make public acknowledgement of Davidson's services. But he was not forgotten in 1931 and be- came Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster. once again right hand man of Baldwin, till the latter's resignation in 1937, when David- son decided to quit also. He was only forty- eight. This is a most interesting book. Lord Davidson is to be congratulated both on allowing the material to be published and or his choice of editor. There is much new light on many episodes: the Curzon-Baldwin im- broglio of 1923: the elections of 1923. 1924. and 1929: the General Strike: and above al' the inner history of the Conservative party. Last' but not least it provides a fascinating portrait of Baldwin, a statesman who has been under a cloud for far too long and whose talents are given full but not excessive credit here.
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