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Askwith looks back
Address to the Founding Conference of the National Citizen's Union (formerly the Middle Classes' Union) December 19th, 1925 by the President, George Ranken Askwith, Baron Askwith of St Ives in the County of Huntingdon.

Today's meeting is the Founding Conference of a new patriotic organisation. It is true that technically we are simply renaming an existing group. However with that new name comes a new approach and a new focus for our activities. We are casting aside the prejudices which arose, whether by misjudgement or misrepresentation, from our old name. We intend a much wider appeal and to work more closely with other organisations with similar aims. The core of all our activities though will be the renewal of representative government and opposition to the use of direct action for political purposes, such as has become so commonplace these past ten years.

I first wish briefly to rehearse some of the key events which I believe brought us to our present fractured and unhappy position, beginning with the conflicts in Parliament – and outside it – over the powers of the House of Lords that came to a head in the passage of the Parliament Act of 1911. Until that Act, the Lords had equal rights over legislation compared to the Commons, but did not utilise its right of veto over financial measures by convention. As a member of that august body, although not at that time, I hope I may be forgiven for saying that collectively their Lordships in 1909 were extremely conservative and immensely powerful but sadly, quite stupid. Their decision to break with convention and reject Mr Lloyd George's budget in 1909 was profoundly damaging and the trigger for the downfall of Mr Balfour and his replacement by Mr Bonar Law. In turn, it was his decision to use the Ulster issue as a weapon against the Liberal Party, even to the point of endorsing the threat of violence against the settled wish of Parliament that brought us to our present predicament.

Lest you think I am guilty of hyperbole, I simply repeat: – the Ulster Volunteer Force was created as an armed milita, with the explicit aim of resisting the settled will of Parliament. In normal times that might be considered seditious and yet it had the express support of the Opposition party in Parliament, publicly offered on numerous occasions by Mr Bonar Law and others. Once such a thing comes to pass it is inevitable that others would say, and indeed they did, “If His Majesty's Loyal Opposition can condone such actions, then so can we.” It was as inevitable as night follows day. And of course, once these become the norm, then others, even less scrupulous, will seize their chance – and indeed they did. So we saw the Republican Militias in Ireland and the tragedy of 1916-17, we saw the creation in England of the so-called 'Civilian Force', by the late Lord Abercorn out of a desire to protect vital services during industrial disputes, but with the precedent of the UVF converted after his death into a similar and disciplined force organised on military lines. In response, especially after the intervention of the Civilian Force in the 1913 transport strike we saw the Workers' Defence League, and others, poorly armed at first, but willing to use any means to enforce their socialist cause.

None of these militias would have existed had it not been for the decision in 1911 by Mr Bonar Law to make common cause between the Conservative Party and Mr Carson's Ulster Unionists. Once the Party showed itself willing to support the idea of violent resistance to decisions taken in Parliament, then they created a position whereby others might make the same fallacious claim to defence of Liberty.

And so I come to the critical year of 1913. You will recall that the year began with widespread violence across much of the North requiring the recall of two full regiments of infantry from Gibraltar and Malta. It was only after much bloody fighting that these disturbances were suppressed. They were however largely ad hoc, with only minor links between groups. Indeed by June of 1913, it seemed that we might see happier times ahead. Industrial unrest had receded and from almost 3 million days lost to strikes in 1912, days lost to strikes by the end of May 1913 had fallen to less than 100,000. Sadly this was not to be so, with the outbreak of yet another transport strike in June. This began, as had so many previously, in the Port of London, but rapidly spread to Liverpool and other areas. The nominal cause was the old question of non-unionism, where the employers continually refused any undertaking to restrict themselves to union labour – and, once the strike had begun, even to talk to the leaders. This was not new – this sort of posturing from both sides was well known to me. I had always found that a degree of straight speaking from me allowed progress and brought the parties together. I did this in Hull in 1911 for example, even though a local town councillor described the conditions in that town as being the worst he had seen since the Paris Commune.

I am sure, given the chance, I could have made similar progress in the 1913 dispute as it stood in August of 1913, but for one critical factor. In July of 1913, the then Secretary to the Civilian Force, Mr Blenkinsopp, a cashiered cavalry officer, persuaded the Grand Council of the Force to throw their entire resources, by then substantial, into the dispute. The beleaguered Shipping Federation accepted this offer with alacrity. The dispute was spreading beyond the ports and police resources were stretched. Support from the Metropolitan Police in Tilbury was for example only offered in such meagre numbers and on such stringent terms that it was ineffective. The Civilian Force provided some 400 men, some to replace strikers, the remainder to provide protection. Rumours that these men were to be armed were denied by the Shipping Federation so the Home Secretary declined to intervene.

We now know of course how matters went on that dreadful August day and their consequences. We have seen the world at war. We have seen the finest of our young slaughtered in unimaginable numbers. We have seen much of Europe fall under the yoke of socialism. Saddest of all we have seen the decline and degradation of our once noble country and its Empire. We cannot let this unhappy position persist. If Britain is to survive as a Nation, let alone the Empire, we cannot continue to settle our political differences by main force. A new politics is essential. Change must come and the National Citizens' Union intends to be in the van of securing that change. Let me now move on to the work ahead.
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