Keeping the British Liberal Party flag flying high

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pipisme

There was also elections for leader and deputy leader of the Socialist Labour Party in which Socialist Labour MPs were the only eligible voters. The candidates for leader were Barbara Castle, Hugh Gaitskell and Edward Shackleton. Fred Peart, the acting leader, decided not to stand for election as leader. Instead he stood for deputy leader. The other candidates for deputy leader were Patrick Gordon Walker and Tom Fraser.

Both elections were held on Thursday 23 June 1960. If no candidates received more than half the votes, the third placed candidates would be eliminated and there would be a second round a week later. The result of the ballot for leader was as follows:
Edward Shackleton: 72
Barbara Castle: 38
Hugh Gaitskell: 25.

The deputy leadership election result was as follows:
Fred Peart: 77
Tom Fraser: 41
Patrick Gordon Walker: 17.

Therefore Edward Shackleton and Fred Peart were elected leader and deputy leader respectively.
 

sarahz

pipisme said:
There was also elections for leader and deputy leader of the Socialist Labour Party in which uSocialist Labour MPs were the only eligible voters. The candidates for leader were Barbara Castle, Hugh Gaitskell and Edward Shackleton. Fred Peart, the acting leader, decided not to stand for election as leader. Instead he stood for deputy leader. The other candidates for deputy leader were Patrick Gordon Walker and Tom Fraser.

Both elections were held on Thursday 23 June 1960. If no candidates received more than half the votes, the third placed candidates would be eliminated and there would be a second round a week later. The result of the ballot for leader was as follows:
Edward Shackleton: 72
Barbara Castle: 38
Hugh Gaitskell: 25.

The deputy leadership election result was as follows:
Fred Peart: 77
Tom Fraser: 41
Patrick Gordon Walker: 17.

Therefore Edward Shackleton and Fred Peart were elected leader and deputy leader respectively.
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ah Patrick Gordon-walker the victim of the notoriously racist 1964 Birmingham election campaign in OTL
 

pipisme

Megan Lloyd George was still the leader of the Liberal Party until a new one was elected, so she appointed a shadow cabinet. Because three cabinet ministers had been defeated and Michael Foot, Edgar Granville, Harold Macmillan and Senator Geoffrey Mander had decided to retire to the back benches, the shadow cabinet was somewhat different than the last Liberal cabinet. Here are the shadow cabinet ministers:
Leader of the Opposition: Megan Lloyd George
Lord Chancellor: Lord Edward Mallalieu
Chancellor of the Exchequer: Roger Fulford
Foreign Secretary: Ivor Davies
Home Secretary and Leader of the House of Commons: Honor Balfour
Minister of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food: Mark Bonham Carter
Colonial Secretary: Peter Calvocoressi
Commonwealth Relations Secretary: Frances Louise Josephy
Defence Secretary: Jo Grimond
Minister of Education and Science: Nancy Seear
Minister of Health: Ruth Crisp English
Minister of Housing and Local Government: Aline Mackinnon
Minister of Labour: Frank Owen
Minister of Overseas Development: Basil Houldsworth
Minister of Power: Harold Wilson
Scottish Secretary: Ian McColl
Leader of the Senate: David Seaborne Davies
Minister of Transport: Frank Byers
President of the Board of Trade: Denis Healey
Welsh Secretary: Emrys Owain Roberts.
 
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pipisme

The election for the twelve elected members of the Parliamentary Committee of the Parliamentary Socialist Labour Party [the shadow cabinet], took place on Tuesday 28 June 1960. These were Socialist Labour MPs voted for by their colleagues. The successful candidates in order of votes received were as follows:
1. Barbara Castle
2. Tom Fraser
3. Ness Edwards
4. Harriet Slater
5. John Dugdale
6. Anthony Crosland
7. Harold Neal
8. Hugh Gaitskell
9. Denis Howell
10. Patrick Gordon Walker
11. George Brown
12. John Hynd.
 

pipisme

Edward Shackleton allocated the following portfolios to the twelve elected members of the Socialist Labour shadow cabinet:
Exchequer: Barbara Castle
Foreign Office: Tom Fraser
Home Office: Ness Edwards
Colonies: Patrick Gordon Walker
Commonwealth Relations: John Dugdale
Defence: Hugh Gaitskell
Education: Denis Howell
Health: Harold Neal
Housing and Local Government: Harriet Slater
Labour: John Hynd
Trade: Anthony Crosland
Transport: George Brown.
 

sarahz

pipisme said:
The election for the twelve elected members of the Parliamentary Committee of the Parliamentary Socialist Labour Party [the shadow cabinet], took place on Tuesday 28 June 1960. These were Socialist Labour MPs voted for by their colleagues. The successful candidates in order of votes received were as follows:
1. Barbara Castle
2. Tom Fraser
3. Ness Edwards
4. Harriet Slater
5. John Dugdale
6. Anthony Crosland
7. Harold Neal
8. Hugh Gaitskell
9. Denis Howell
10. Patrick Gordon Walker
11. George Brown
12. John Hynd.
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will George be tired and emotional?
 

pipisme

From a letter dated 30 June 1960 which Rosa Bancroft wrote to her German friend Sophie Rosenbaum:
Harriet Slater, who is the Socialist Labour shadow Minister of Housing and Local Government, has appointed Gwilym [that is Rosa's husband, Gwilym Edwards] as her deputy. That means he will sometimes lead for the party on debates on housing or local government.
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Among the Socialist Labour shadow ministers outside the shadow cabinet were:
Agriculture: Emrys Hughes
Scotland: William Ross
Wales: Arthur Probert.
 

sarahz

pipisme said:
From a letter dated 30 June 1960 which Rosa Bancroft wrote to her German friend Sophie Rosenbaum:

Among the Socialist Labour shadow ministers outside the shadow cabinet were:
Agriculture: Emrys Hughes
Scotland: William Ross
Wales: Arthur Probert.
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Have Sam and John Silkin got involved in Socialist Labour?
 

pipisme

sarahz said:
Have Sam and John Silkin got involved in Socialist Labour?
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They both have.

Nye Bevan passed away in his sleep on 6 July 1960. Commentators were of the opinion that politically he was overshadowed by his wife. The highest ministerial position he had held was that of Minister of Works, though he was MP for Ebbw Vale since April 1928 and at times was in the Socialist Labour shadow cabinet and was a candidate for the leadership of his party in 1946.

Jennie Lee was desolate. In losing Nye she lost the will to live. She considered suicide. She had the sleeping pills that Nye had left behind and two bottles of whisky in the dining room cupboard in their house.
 

sarahz

pipisme said:
They both have.

Nye Bevan passed away in his sleep on 6 July 1960. Commentators were of the opinion that politically he was overshadowed by his wife. The highest ministerial position he had held was that of Minister of Works, though he was MP for Ebbw Vale since April 1928 and at times was in the Socialist Labour shadow cabinet and was a candidate for the leadership of his party in 1946.

Jennie Lee was desolate. In losing Nye she lost the will to live. She considered suicide. She had the sleeping pills that Nye had left behind and two bottles of whisky in the dining room cupboard in their house.
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oh no.....
 

pipisme

Jennie held on, just, because her mother, Euphemia Lee, needed her because her cancer was spreading and her memory was going. Jennie "was in no state to look after herself, let alone Ma." "When she had suffered her spells of severe depression, Nye had supported her through them. Now there was no one." "Jennie had no strength left, she was utterly exhausted, unable even to weep,"

Nye was cremated and his ashes were "scattered high on the Duffryn hillside under a mountain ash where the bluebells grow." [1]

[1] The above quotations and the information about Jennie Lee and Bevan's death in the previous message are taken from Jennie Lee: A Life by Patricia Hollis, Oxford University Press, 1997.
 

pipisme

The Liberal Party milked their leadership contest for all it was worth. They made the most of the fact that they were the first major party to open its leadership election to its members and not restrict to its MPs, unlike the other two parties. The three candidates travelled the length and breadth of Britain speaking and debating at hustings. These were open to the general public and not only to Liberal Party members. There was also an hour long Question Time programme on television, chaired by Richard Dimbleby, in which the candidates took turns to answer questions asked by the studio audience.
 

pipisme

Roger Fulford was the candidate of much of the Liberal Party establishment. Among the shadow cabinet and former Liberal ministers, he had the support of Robert Bernays, Edgar Granville, Edward Heath, Ian MacColl, Edwin Malandine, Sir Granville Sharp, Harold Macmillan, Harold Wilson, Glyn Tegal Hughes, Francis Louise Josephy, Nancy Seear, Adrian Liddell Hart, Russell Thomas, Mark Bonham Carter, Lady Violet Bonham Carter, Lord Edward Mallalieu, David Seaborne Davies. Among those backing Honor Balfour were Michael Wedgwood Benn, Richard Wainwright, Thomas Granville Jones, Ruth Crisp English, Dingle Foot, Michael Foot, Aline Mackinnon, Basil Houldsworth, Donald Wade. Ivor Davies was supported by Denis Healey, Peter Calvocoressi, Frank Owen, Jo Grimond, Roger Bushell, Owain Roberts. Megan Lloyd George did not give her support to any candidate.
 
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pipisme

The result of the Liberal Party leadership election was announced at a special Party conference in London in the afternoon of Saturday 3 September 1960. The first preference votes for each candidate were as follows:
Roger Fulford: 45%
Honor Balfour: 31%
Ivor Davies: 24%.

After Davies' second preferences were redistributed, the final result was:
Roger Fulford: 56%
Honor Balfour: 44%.

So Fulford was declared duly elected as leader of the Liberal Party. It was thought that he received the support of the majority of the armchair members, who just pay their subscriptions and help out at elections, whereas Balfour and Davies got the support of more of the activists who go to meetings, deliver leaflets and knock on doors, week in and week out.
 
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pipisme

On 5 September 1960 Roger Fulford appointed Honor Balfour has deputy leader of the Liberal Party and shadow Chancellor of the Exchequer. Other changes to the shadow cabinet were as follows:
Denis Healey from Board of Trade to Home Secretary and Leader of the House of Commons; Frances Louise Josephy from Commonwealth Relations to Board of Trade; Basil Houldsworth from Overseas Development to Commonwealth Relations. Richard Wainwright joined the shadow cabinet as shadow Minister of Overseas Devolopment.
 

pipisme

The 1960 Summer Olympics were held in Lausanne, Switzerland, from 25 August to 11 September 1960. The medals table was headed by the Soviet Union, followed by the United States with the German Federation. Great Britain won five gold medals, nine silver and seven bronze, a total of twenty-one. This was one gold, two silver and two bronze more than in the 1956 Summer Olympics.
 

pipisme

1960 was an election year in the United States with polling day being 8 November. The Republican National Convention chose President Henry Cabot Lodge Jr, and Vice-President William Knowland to run again for President and Vice-President.

Several candidates were in contention for the Democratic Party nomination.
 

pipisme

Lyndon Baines Johnson, the Senate Majority Leader, was widely expected to run for the presidential nomination. But in December 1959 he gave a press conference in which he said he would not be seeking the nomination of his party for president, because he wanted to continue in office as Senate Majority Leader.

In the Democratic Party primaries Senator Henry 'Scoop' Jackson from Washington and Senator Stuart Symington from Missouri came first and second respectively. But Joseph Kennedy Jr., Congressman for the 11th District of Massachusetts, was in third place. At the Democratic National Convention in Los Angeles in August 1960, the delegates chose Jackson as candidate for President. Jackson picked Kennedy as vice-presidential candidate.
 
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