  thumb|right|clement davies edward clement davies kc, mp (19 february 1884 â 23 march 1962) was a welsh politician and leader of the liberal party from 1945 to 1956. ==early life== born in llanfyllin, wales, and educated at trinity hall, cambridge. davies was called to the bar of england & wales and was subsequently appointed a kc in 1923. ==political career== davies was elected to the house of commons in the 1929 general election as a liberal member of parliament (mp) for montgomeryshire. in 1931, the liberals divided into three groups and he became one of the liberal national mps supporting the national government. he came under increasing pressure from his local liberal executive and also his predecessor as mp lord davies who was president of montgomeryshire liberal association, to move into opposition.liberals in schism: a history of the national liberal party by david dutton in 1939, he resigned from both the liberal nationals and the national government whip. in 1940, he was chairman of the all party action group that played a significant role in forcing the resignation of prime minister, neville chamberlain. ===leader of the liberal party=== in 1942, he rejoined the liberal party. despite the fact that he had been absent from it for a decade, with lingering suspicions that his commitment to liberalism was less than full, he became leader of the party in 1945 after archibald sinclair surprisingly lost his seat in the electoral debacle of that year that reduced the liberals to just 12 seats in the house of commons. davies had not sought the position of leader and was not enthusiastic about it. however, with only 12 mps, 6 of whom were only newly elected that year, the party's choice was somewhat limited. it was widely expected and generally hoped (probably even by davies himself), that he would be only a 'caretaker' leader until the more dynamic and popular sinclair could get back into the house of commons. since that never happened, davies was in fact to remain party leader for the next 11 years, taking the liberals through three general elections. davies was president of the london welsh trust, which runs the london welsh centre, gray's inn road, from 1946 until 1947.{{cite web|url=http://www.londonwelsh.org/archives/1796|title=our former presidents: london welsh centre |publisher=[[london welsh
1884_births 1962_deaths Alumni_of_Trinity_Hall,_Cambridge Leaders_of_the_Liberal_Party_(UK) Liberal_Party_(UK)_MPs Members_of_the_Parliament_of_the_United_Kingdom_for_Welsh_constituencies Members_of_the_Privy_Council_of_the_United_Kingdom UK_MPs_1929a31 UK_MPs_1931a35 UK_MPs_1935a45 UK_MPs_1945a50 UK_MPs_1950a51 UK_MPs_1951a55 UK_MPs_1955a59 UK_MPs_1959a64 Welsh_barristers Welsh_politicians