The party of which Grimond became leader on 5 November 1956 had just six MPs, reduced to five in the Carmarthen by-election in February 1957, and was arguably at its lowest ebb since the First World War-uncertain of what it stood for, unappealing to the electorate, and seemingly destined to be wiped out as a force in British politics. Grimond rapidly rallied the party and showed himself to be the most attractive and popular leader of the Liberals since Lloyd George. His greatest success lay in attracting both young people and an impressive coterie of intellectuals into the Liberal fold on the basis of its appeal as a fresh, forward-looking, and radical force, without either the ideological baggage or the class consciousness of the Conservatives and Labour. He brought back into Liberalism the intellectual ferment that it had last known in the early days of Beveridge and Keynes.
Thursday, 30 July 2015
Jo Grimond
I share a birthday with Jo Grimond (1913-1993), a fact which I was not aware of until I received my regular update from ODNB. A scion of Dundee's jutocracy, he became leader of the Liberal party on the resignation of Montgomery's Clement Davies. The biography goes on:
The party of which Grimond became leader on 5 November 1956 had just six MPs, reduced to five in the Carmarthen by-election in February 1957, and was arguably at its lowest ebb since the First World War-uncertain of what it stood for, unappealing to the electorate, and seemingly destined to be wiped out as a force in British politics. Grimond rapidly rallied the party and showed himself to be the most attractive and popular leader of the Liberals since Lloyd George. His greatest success lay in attracting both young people and an impressive coterie of intellectuals into the Liberal fold on the basis of its appeal as a fresh, forward-looking, and radical force, without either the ideological baggage or the class consciousness of the Conservatives and Labour. He brought back into Liberalism the intellectual ferment that it had last known in the early days of Beveridge and Keynes.
The party of which Grimond became leader on 5 November 1956 had just six MPs, reduced to five in the Carmarthen by-election in February 1957, and was arguably at its lowest ebb since the First World War-uncertain of what it stood for, unappealing to the electorate, and seemingly destined to be wiped out as a force in British politics. Grimond rapidly rallied the party and showed himself to be the most attractive and popular leader of the Liberals since Lloyd George. His greatest success lay in attracting both young people and an impressive coterie of intellectuals into the Liberal fold on the basis of its appeal as a fresh, forward-looking, and radical force, without either the ideological baggage or the class consciousness of the Conservatives and Labour. He brought back into Liberalism the intellectual ferment that it had last known in the early days of Beveridge and Keynes.
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