Liberal party
JO GRIMOND was the last Liberal leader to be be an economic liberal. That was in accord with his approach to politics, which I heard him explain, years ago, at a dinner in our college. You might like to know what to do (he told his audience) if you meet a nice girl called Bonham-Carter — the sort of thing that might happen to any of you — and find that you have married into a small political party. The first thing to decide is which side in politics your party is on. Easy. There's only room for one party in favour of leaving things alone, so you must be in favour of changing things. Then you must decide whether you want a presence in Par- liament. It's a nuisance, and expensive and often disappointing and sometimes absurd, but you must have it, because MPs are what make the difference between a party and a pressure group. After that, said Jo, every- thing falls into place. So it did.
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