page_title: National Liberal Party (UK, 1931)
section_title: Split of the Liberal Party in 1931
hierarchical_section_title: National Liberal Party (UK, 1931) / History / Split of the Liberal Party in 1931
caption_attribution_description: Portrait of Walter Runciman, 1st Viscount Runciman of Doxford
context_page_description: The National Liberal Party, known until 1948 as the Liberal National Party, was a liberal political party in the United Kingdom from 1931 to 1968. It broke away from the Liberal Party, and later co-operated and merged with the Conservative Party.
context_section_description: Witnessing the rise of cheap foreign goods, the party split over how they would negotiate over ardent Conservative protectionism: supporters formed the Liberal National Party in the run-up to the 1931 general election in October. A third group under the official leader, David Lloyd George, also emerged, the Independent Liberals, who opposed the National Government completely, but this had few adherents amongst prominent Liberals beyond Lloyd George's relatives. For the next election in 1935 they reunited with the mainstream Liberals, colloquially dubbed "Samuelites".
  Following the election, Liberals following John Simon formally repudiated the official Liberal Party in Parliament and operated to all extents and purposes as a separate party group, known as "Simonites", though they were not immediately fully recognised as such. In 1932 the "Samuelite" Liberals resigned from the government over the result of the Ottawa Conference – the introduction of a series of tariff agreements – though they continued to support the National Government from the back benches. By 1933 they had abandoned it completely and crossed the floor of the House of Commons, leaving the Liberal Nationals supporting the government. The two groups were now completely separate, though some Liberal MPs like Robert Bernays remained on the Government benches before officially joining the Liberal Nationals, and other MPs maintained links across the floor.
  Within the wider party the split was not so clear. Liberal Associations which supported Liberal National candidates remained affiliated to the National Liberal Federation, the mainstream body for the official party, until that body was dissolved in 1936; in particular one Liberal National cabinet minister, Walter Runciman elected in 1899, of a wealthy shipping family, remained its President even after the Commons split. Its replacement, the Liberal National Council, the main organ of the local (extra-parliamentary) party, was founded in 1936. However, there were increasing divisions when some Liberal associations endorsed Liberal Nationals, especially at by-elections: frequently Independent Liberals came forward to oppose such a candidate endorsed by the local association that called itself 'Liberal' but was actually Liberal National.
  Throughout the 1930s and 1940s there were a number of proposals to reunite the two Liberal parties, but these routinely foundered on the question of continued support for the National Government. During World War II the Liberal Nationals suffered a stream of defectors who joined either the independent Liberals or the Conservatives, or else became non-party supporters of the government. In 1940 the National Government was replaced by an all-party coalition led by Winston Churchill; the Liberal Nationals were marginalised, with Simon "kicked upstairs" to become Lord Chancellor. The party's new leader, Ernest Brown, was only occasionally accorded the status of a party leader within the coalition and otherwise faced questions over the future of the party. Proposals emerged again for the party to reunite with the independent Liberals, but these foundered on Brown's insistence on supporting a revival of the National Government once the Coalition broke up, which the independent Liberals rejected.
  After both parties' drubbing and the Labour Party's victory in the 1945 general election, the two factions made renewed attempts at reuniting. At Westminster the core, independent Liberals were in a shattered state, their tiny numbers representing all shades of opinion; and it was doubtful that the new leader, Clement Davies (himself a former Liberal National who had defected back to the independent Liberals) could carry all of his colleagues into a united party. Only in London (where neither Liberal party had any MPs) were the two reunited at regional organisational level, although in some individual boroughs and constituencies such as Huddersfield rival Liberal associations began co-operating and eventually merging as avowed Liberal associations. At the same time there were calls from devo
caption: Walter Runciman, a key Liberal National but President of the Liberal Party's Federation until 1936
exif: {}