Welsh Journals

LLOYD GEORGE, WELSH LIBERALISM AND THE POLITICAL CRISIS OF 1931 'A LOST battle in view of our hopes and aims.'1 The stark words of the Liberal Magazine convey something of the profound sense of heartfelt disappointment and deep-rooted frustration and bitterness which permeated Liberal ranks following the outcome of the general election of 30 May 1929. The trauma of defeat-although the party did return fifty-nine MPs to Westminster-was inevitably to lead to an abrupt cessation in the rapid flow of cash and ideas, so prominent during the period 1927-9 when D. Lloyd George, again Liberal leader since October 1926, had given his party a dynamism and sense of purpose, even an illusion of unity, unknown since Gladstone's Midlothian campaign more than a generation earlier. Even in Welsh Liberal circles, renowned for their 'intensive work and infectious enthusiasm',2 the same sense of overwhelming gloom and despair prevailed. 'The battle for Liberalism has been fought and lost. We who are Liberals should not hide our heads in the sand, but should frankly recognize the position. The country no longer takes Liberalism into account. The only alternative to Conservatism is Labour. If we could not obtain 100 seats from the present campaign, with all the magnetism of its leader, its organization, its magnificent platforms, its ringing slogan, then what can we hope to win them by?'3 Even so, it was clear that the voters of much of rural Wales, most notably the north and west, remained true to the faith of their fathers. In north Wales, semi-industrial Wrexham alone fell to Labour in the face of a powerful 'new Socialist' onslaught spearheaded locally by Professor Robert Richards. Flintshire was re-captured by Fred 1 Liberal Magazine, September 1929. 2 Daily News and Westminster Gazette, 8 April 1929. 3 Rhondda Gazette, 8 June 1929.