Radical Reform Group
Encyclopedia
The Radical Reform Group was a pressure group inside the Liberal Party
, set up in 1952 to campaign for social liberal and Keynesian economic approaches. According to Andrew Gamble
, the Radical Reform Group believed that 'the task of Liberals was not to retreat from Social Liberalism
but to propose ways in which the institutions and policies of the Welfare State
and the managed economy could be improved and strengthened.'
, the party was falling unduly under the sway of classical, free-market liberals
and was drifting to the right. Under the influence of economic Liberals such as Oliver Smedley
and Arthur Seldon
who helped establish the Institute of Economic Affairs
, the think tank which was to later become an engine of Thatcherism
, the Liberal ship was coming loose from the New Liberal anchors it had adopted from the 1890s and reinforced in the 1920s with the Lloyd George
, Keynes and Beveridge
inspired coloured books. In 1948 the Liberal Party Assembly called for a drastic reduction in government expenditure and for a committee to be set up to recommend severe cuts. The drift to the right so alarmed many left wing Liberals that many chose to abandon the party and join Labour
, chief among them being the MPs or former MPs Lady Megan Lloyd George, Dingle Foot
, Tom Horabin
and Edgar Granville.
(later Lord Banks of Kenton) and Peter Grafton who was Liberal candidate for Bromley
in 1950 general election
. Banks also gave as a justification for the Radical Reform Group the need to popularise and strengthen the Liberal Party as a political alternative for electors disillusioned with the main parties so as to avoid the growth of extremist groups. 'If there were no Liberal Party' he declared in a speech at Ruan Minor in Cornwall in March 1956, 'we might well be witnessing today the growth of some dangerous movement akin to that of M.Poujade
in France.
and from moderate Conservatives
under the slogan 'social reform without socialism
'. While most individual members remained card-carrying Liberals however, one former chairman of the Group, E.F. Allison decided to join the Labour Party and one of its vice-presidents, the former MP for Dundee
, Dingle Foot, openly supported Labour candidates in seats not contested by Liberals at the 1955 general election
. This was an early attempt to provide a radical, progressive, non-socialist, cross-party force in British politics similar to the re-alignment of the left that Liberal leader Jo Grimond (who was president of the Radical Reform Group in the late 1950s) was to call for.
in a leader entitled Left or Limbo.
reported on 1 May 1954 that the Radical Reform Group had gathered strength from the Liberal revival in the universities. In addition to Jo Grimond, the Radical Reform Group was endorsed by many top people in the party amongst them Frank Owen
the former MP for Hereford
who contested a by-election there in February 1956, pushing Labour into third place and Jeremy Thorpe
who went on to succeed Grimond as party leader. In 1955, The Western Morning News reported that Thorpe was proclaiming the gospel of his Radical Reform Group with the energetic support of university students from Exeter and Bristol.
The Group continued into the 1960s and although it was never formally wound up it became increasingly a debating society as the mainstream of the party endorsed Grimond's political strategy and the economic liberals gradually lost influence or left the party.
Liberal Party (UK)
The Liberal Party was one of the two major political parties of the United Kingdom during the 19th and early 20th centuries. It was a third party of negligible importance throughout the latter half of the 20th Century, before merging with the Social Democratic Party in 1988 to form the present day...
, set up in 1952 to campaign for social liberal and Keynesian economic approaches. According to Andrew Gamble
Andrew Gamble
Andrew Gamble FBA, AcSS, FRSA is a British author and academic. Since January 2007 he has been Professor of Politics at the University of Cambridge...
, the Radical Reform Group believed that 'the task of Liberals was not to retreat from Social Liberalism
Social liberalism
Social liberalism is the belief that liberalism should include social justice. It differs from classical liberalism in that it believes the legitimate role of the state includes addressing economic and social issues such as unemployment, health care, and education while simultaneously expanding...
but to propose ways in which the institutions and policies of the Welfare State
Welfare State
The Welfare State is a commitment to health, education, employment and social security in the United Kingdom.-Background:The United Kingdom, as a welfare state, was prefigured in the William Beveridge Report in 1942, which identified five "Giant Evils" in society: squalor, ignorance, want, idleness...
and the managed economy could be improved and strengthened.'
Reasons for formation
The founding members were concerned that, in the years after the Second World War, under the leadership of Clement DaviesClement Davies
Clement Edward Davies KC, MP was a Welsh politician and leader of the Liberal Party from 1945 to 1956.-Life:...
, the party was falling unduly under the sway of classical, free-market liberals
Classical liberalism
Classical liberalism is the philosophy committed to the ideal of limited government, constitutionalism, rule of law, due process, and liberty of individuals including freedom of religion, speech, press, assembly, and free markets....
and was drifting to the right. Under the influence of economic Liberals such as Oliver Smedley
Oliver Smedley
Major Oliver Smedley MC was a British businessman involved in classical liberal politics and pirate radio. He was acquitted of the murder of a business rival on the grounds of self-defence.-Military:...
and Arthur Seldon
Arthur Seldon
Dr Arthur Seldon CBE was joint founder president, with Ralph Harris, of the Institute of Economic Affairs, where he directed academic affairs for 30 years....
who helped establish the Institute of Economic Affairs
Institute of Economic Affairs
The Institute of Economic Affairs , founded in 1955, styles itself the UK's pre-eminent free-market think-tank. Its mission is to improve understanding of the fundamental institutions of a free society by analysing and expounding the role of markets in solving economic and social...
, the think tank which was to later become an engine of Thatcherism
Thatcherism
Thatcherism describes the conviction politics, economic and social policy, and political style of the British Conservative politician Margaret Thatcher, who was leader of her party from 1975 to 1990...
, the Liberal ship was coming loose from the New Liberal anchors it had adopted from the 1890s and reinforced in the 1920s with the Lloyd George
David Lloyd George
David Lloyd George, 1st Earl Lloyd-George of Dwyfor OM, PC was a British Liberal politician and statesman...
, Keynes and Beveridge
William Beveridge
William Henry Beveridge, 1st Baron Beveridge KCB was a British economist and social reformer. He is best known for his 1942 report Social Insurance and Allied Services which served as the basis for the post-World War II welfare state put in place by the Labour government elected in 1945.Lord...
inspired coloured books. In 1948 the Liberal Party Assembly called for a drastic reduction in government expenditure and for a committee to be set up to recommend severe cuts. The drift to the right so alarmed many left wing Liberals that many chose to abandon the party and join Labour
Labour Party (UK)
The Labour Party is a centre-left democratic socialist party in the United Kingdom. It surpassed the Liberal Party in general elections during the early 1920s, forming minority governments under Ramsay MacDonald in 1924 and 1929-1931. The party was in a wartime coalition from 1940 to 1945, after...
, chief among them being the MPs or former MPs Lady Megan Lloyd George, Dingle Foot
Dingle Foot
Sir Dingle Mackintosh Foot, Q.C. was a British lawyer and politician, born in Plymouth, Devon.-Education and career:...
, Tom Horabin
Tom Horabin
Thomas Lewis Horabin was a British Liberal Party politician who defected to the Labour Party. He sat in the House of Commons from 1939 to 1950.- Early life :Horabin was born in Merthyr Tydfil...
and Edgar Granville.
Founding fathers
The two main protagonists in the birth of the Radical Reform Group were Desmond BanksDesmond Banks, Baron Banks of Kenton
Desmond Anderson Harvie Banks, Baron Banks was a British Liberal Party politician.Banks was born in Ascot, Surrey. He was educated at prep school in Harrow and University College School in Hampstead. During the Second World War he served as an officer in the Royal Artillery...
(later Lord Banks of Kenton) and Peter Grafton who was Liberal candidate for Bromley
Bromley (UK Parliament constituency)
Bromley is a former borough constituency in the House of Commons of the Parliament of the United Kingdom. It elected one Member of Parliament by the first past the post system of election. Its best-known MP was Harold Macmillan ....
in 1950 general election
United Kingdom general election, 1950
The 1950 United Kingdom general election was the first general election ever after a full term of a Labour government. Despite polling over one and a half million votes more than the Conservatives, the election, held on 23 February 1950 resulted in Labour receiving a slim majority of just five...
. Banks also gave as a justification for the Radical Reform Group the need to popularise and strengthen the Liberal Party as a political alternative for electors disillusioned with the main parties so as to avoid the growth of extremist groups. 'If there were no Liberal Party' he declared in a speech at Ruan Minor in Cornwall in March 1956, 'we might well be witnessing today the growth of some dangerous movement akin to that of M.Poujade
Pierre Poujade
Pierre Poujade was a French populist politician after whom the Poujadist movement was named.-Biography:Poujade was born in Saint-Céré, Lot, France, Europe. When he was only 8 years old, his father died, in 1928....
in France.
Leaving the Liberal Party
In 1954, the Group decided to disaffiliate from the Liberal Party to try to attract members from the social democratic wing of the Labour PartyLabour Party (UK)
The Labour Party is a centre-left democratic socialist party in the United Kingdom. It surpassed the Liberal Party in general elections during the early 1920s, forming minority governments under Ramsay MacDonald in 1924 and 1929-1931. The party was in a wartime coalition from 1940 to 1945, after...
and from moderate Conservatives
Conservative Party (UK)
The Conservative Party, formally the Conservative and Unionist Party, is a centre-right political party in the United Kingdom that adheres to the philosophies of conservatism and British unionism. It is the largest political party in the UK, and is currently the largest single party in the House...
under the slogan 'social reform without socialism
Socialism
Socialism is an economic system characterized by social ownership of the means of production and cooperative management of the economy; or a political philosophy advocating such a system. "Social ownership" may refer to any one of, or a combination of, the following: cooperative enterprises,...
'. While most individual members remained card-carrying Liberals however, one former chairman of the Group, E.F. Allison decided to join the Labour Party and one of its vice-presidents, the former MP for Dundee
Dundee (UK Parliament constituency)
Dundee was a constituency of the House of Commons of the Parliament of the United Kingdom from 1832 to 1950, when it was split into Dundee East and Dundee West....
, Dingle Foot, openly supported Labour candidates in seats not contested by Liberals at the 1955 general election
United Kingdom general election, 1955
The 1955 United Kingdom general election was held on 26 May 1955, four years after the previous general election. It resulted in a substantially increased majority of 60 for the Conservative government under new leader and prime minister Sir Anthony Eden against Labour Party, now in their 20th year...
. This was an early attempt to provide a radical, progressive, non-socialist, cross-party force in British politics similar to the re-alignment of the left that Liberal leader Jo Grimond (who was president of the Radical Reform Group in the late 1950s) was to call for.
Rejoining the Liberal Party
This strategy was not successful however and the Group voted narrowly to move back into the Liberal Party in 1955. The move was welcomed by the Liberal leaning newspaper the News ChronicleNews Chronicle
The News Chronicle was a British daily newspaper. It ceased publication on 17 October 1960, being absorbed into the Daily Mail. Its offices were in Bouverie Street, off Fleet Street, London, EC4Y 8DP, England.-Daily Chronicle:...
in a leader entitled Left or Limbo.
Influence
The Group was at the peak of its influence in the mid-1950s. The EconomistThe Economist
The Economist is an English-language weekly news and international affairs publication owned by The Economist Newspaper Ltd. and edited in offices in the City of Westminster, London, England. Continuous publication began under founder James Wilson in September 1843...
reported on 1 May 1954 that the Radical Reform Group had gathered strength from the Liberal revival in the universities. In addition to Jo Grimond, the Radical Reform Group was endorsed by many top people in the party amongst them Frank Owen
Frank Owen (politician)
Humphrey Frank Owen was a British journalist and Liberal Member of Parliament. He was a Lloyd Georgite Liberal MP for Hereford between 1929 and 1931...
the former MP for Hereford
Hereford (UK Parliament constituency)
Hereford was, until 2010, a constituency of the House of Commons of the Parliament of the United Kingdom. Since 1918, it had elected one Member of Parliament by the first-past-the-post voting system....
who contested a by-election there in February 1956, pushing Labour into third place and Jeremy Thorpe
Jeremy Thorpe
John Jeremy Thorpe is a British former politician who was leader of the Liberal Party from 1967 to 1976 and was the Member of Parliament for North Devon from 1959 to 1979. His political career was damaged when an acquaintance, Norman Scott, claimed to have had a love affair with Thorpe at a time...
who went on to succeed Grimond as party leader. In 1955, The Western Morning News reported that Thorpe was proclaiming the gospel of his Radical Reform Group with the energetic support of university students from Exeter and Bristol.
The Group continued into the 1960s and although it was never formally wound up it became increasingly a debating society as the mainstream of the party endorsed Grimond's political strategy and the economic liberals gradually lost influence or left the party.
Refounding
Shortly before the 2010 General Election Peter Ticher refounded the Radical Reform Group as a political party, and stood for election in Epsom and Ewell, London. After the election Peter was approached by a new group of progressives, and together with the Radical Reform Group they formed the Democratic Reform Party.Works by the Radical Reform Group
- Radical Approach: A Statement of Aims by the Radical Reform Group (1953)
- Radical Aims: Social Reform without Socialism (undated, probably 1954)
- Radical Challenge (1960)