Richard Wainwright, the Liberals and Liberal Democrats : unfinished business / Matt Cole.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Cole, Matthew, 1962-

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Wainwright, Richard, 1918-2003.

Wainwright, Richard.

Politicians--Great Britain--Biography.

Politicians.

Great Britain.

Liberal Party (Great Britain).

Liberal Democrats (Great Britain).

Liberalism--Great Britain--History--20th century.

Liberalism.

History.

Great Britain--Politics and government--1945-.

Politics and government.

Genre:

Biographies.

Physical Description:

xv, 233 pages : illustrations ; 25 cm

Place of Publication:

Manchester ; New York : Manchester University Press, 2011.

Summary:

Richard Wainwright, the Liberals and Liberal Democrats: unfinished business offers new research on familiar themes involving loyalties of politics, faith and locality.

Richard Wainwright was a Liberal MP for seventeen years during the Party's recovery, but his life tells us about much more than this. Wainwright grew up in prosperity, but campaigned against poverty; he refused to fight in World War Two, but saw war at its cruellest; he joined the Liberal Party when most had given up on it, and gave his fortune to it; lost a by-election but caused the only Labour loss in a Labour landslide. He played key roles in the fall of Jeremy Thorpe, the Lib-Lab Pact and the formation of the SDP-Liberal Alliance and the Liberal Democrats; he travelled the world but represented a unique Yorkshire constituency which reflected his pride and hope for society; and whilst he gave his life to the battle to be in the Commons, he refused a seat in the Lords.

Richard Wainwright is central to the story of the Liberal Party and sheds light on the reasons for its survival and the state of its prospects as the Liberal Democrat Party. At the same time this book is a parable of politics for anyone who wants to represent an apparently lost cause, who wants to motivate people who have been neglected, and who wants to follow their convictions at the highest level. Book jacket.

Contents:

Part 1 Before Parliament

1 Early life 5

2 Cambridge 16

3 Wainwright's War 26

Part 2 Outside Parliament

4 Liberal Clubs 43

5 Wainwright's faith 51

6 The press 61

7 The Party in the country 67

8 Colne Valley 80

9 Campaigning 96

Part 3 In Parliament

10 The Parliamentary Liberal Party 141

11 Wainwright and Jeremy Thorpe 156

12 The Lib-Lab Pact 177

13 The SDP/Liberal Alliance 185

Part 4 After Parliament

14 The merger and the Liberal Democrats 195.

Notes:

Includes bibliographical references (pages 222-226) and index.

ISBN:

9780719082535

0719082536

OCLC:

687699392