Per Ardua ad Nauseam..
Grimond was always fond of military analogies - the Liberal Party was forever to be marching toward the sound of gunfire, engaging with the enemy, tactically advancing and the rest.
His admirers loved it - some others in the parliamentary party found it a shade repetitive and cumbersome but there was little doubt the public found Jo Grimond inspiring. As Parliament broke for the summer holidays in 1961, Grimond could look back on a remarkable period with 7 gains in by-elections since the turn of the year.
Assembly in 1961 was a buoyant almost euphoric gathering. However, there was serious discussion regarding the Party's strategy at the next election. The Conservatives were in trouble after nearly a decade in power but Labour were not seemingly able to break into Conservative areas and prospective seats in numbers sufficient to suggest a Labour majority was inevitable.
If there were to be a hung Parliament, what would or should the Liberals do ? The weight of history mitigated against strong support for a deal with Labour but could the party seriously prop up a defeated or semi-defeated Conservative Government ? Grimond was careful,not to be seen to be favouring one side or the other and offered a policy which would later be known as equidistance but was called "a plague on both their houses" by Day.
The autumn by-election season of 1961 began with another spectacular Liberal gain in Manchester Moss Side and the election of one of the Party's most colourful MPs, Ruslyn Hargreaves. Hargreaves would in time provide ample fodder for the gossip columnists and tabloid press in the 1960s but his election made him the 22nd Liberal MP.
The same day saw James Buchanan snatch Oswestry by just 179 votes from the Conservatives after two recounts.
The spring of 1962 continued to show strong progress - after a mildly disappointing result in Lincoln, the Liberals stormed home in Blackpool North with 40-year old Harry Hague winning by nearly 3,000 votes while in suburban London Orpington was captured by Eric Lubbock who won the seat by nearly 15,000 votes, a remarkable triumph for the London by-election team.
In Labour seats, Liberal fortunes were also starting to improve with strong second places in Stockton-on-Tees and Derby North though mostly taking votes from the Conservatives rather than seriously eating into the Labour vote share. At Middlesborough West on June 6th 1962, the defending Conservatives were pushed into third as the Liberals got to within 1,300 votes of the successful Labour candidate.
On the same day, however, Ronald Gardiner-Thorpe captured West Derbyshire from the Conservatives by 3,000 votes and in July the Liberals snatched Leicester North East from Labour.
The Conservative Prime Minister MacMillan had been planning to purge up to half his Cabinet but as it seemed Labour was suffering as much as his party from the Liberal surge, he held back keeping Selwyn Lloyd in post as Chancellor.
if the 1961 Liberal Assembly had been euphoric, the 1962 Assembly was even more so though wiser heads were warning this was mid-term popularity rather than a definite shift away from the two main parties. The truth was some in the party began to wonder if they might not be in Government sooner than anyone expected.
The problem for the campaigning team was the Party couldn't fight 640 simultaneous by-elections. Apart from the 24 seats already held, the party had developmental activity in another 50 but beyond that virtually nothing.
The first signs the Liberal tide had peaked came with the clutch of by-elections held on 22nd November 1962. The five contests produced one gain at Chippenham and three strong second places but Labour profited more winning four seats from the Conservatives and Hugh Gaitskell seemed to have become the real Prime Minister-in-waiting.
Sadly, on January 18th 1963, Gaitskell died. Harold Wilson energed from the election as the new Labour leader and for the Liberals the road would get much tougher.
Grimond was always fond of military analogies - the Liberal Party was forever to be marching toward the sound of gunfire, engaging with the enemy, tactically advancing and the rest.
His admirers loved it - some others in the parliamentary party found it a shade repetitive and cumbersome but there was little doubt the public found Jo Grimond inspiring. As Parliament broke for the summer holidays in 1961, Grimond could look back on a remarkable period with 7 gains in by-elections since the turn of the year.
Assembly in 1961 was a buoyant almost euphoric gathering. However, there was serious discussion regarding the Party's strategy at the next election. The Conservatives were in trouble after nearly a decade in power but Labour were not seemingly able to break into Conservative areas and prospective seats in numbers sufficient to suggest a Labour majority was inevitable.
If there were to be a hung Parliament, what would or should the Liberals do ? The weight of history mitigated against strong support for a deal with Labour but could the party seriously prop up a defeated or semi-defeated Conservative Government ? Grimond was careful,not to be seen to be favouring one side or the other and offered a policy which would later be known as equidistance but was called "a plague on both their houses" by Day.
The autumn by-election season of 1961 began with another spectacular Liberal gain in Manchester Moss Side and the election of one of the Party's most colourful MPs, Ruslyn Hargreaves. Hargreaves would in time provide ample fodder for the gossip columnists and tabloid press in the 1960s but his election made him the 22nd Liberal MP.
The same day saw James Buchanan snatch Oswestry by just 179 votes from the Conservatives after two recounts.
The spring of 1962 continued to show strong progress - after a mildly disappointing result in Lincoln, the Liberals stormed home in Blackpool North with 40-year old Harry Hague winning by nearly 3,000 votes while in suburban London Orpington was captured by Eric Lubbock who won the seat by nearly 15,000 votes, a remarkable triumph for the London by-election team.
In Labour seats, Liberal fortunes were also starting to improve with strong second places in Stockton-on-Tees and Derby North though mostly taking votes from the Conservatives rather than seriously eating into the Labour vote share. At Middlesborough West on June 6th 1962, the defending Conservatives were pushed into third as the Liberals got to within 1,300 votes of the successful Labour candidate.
On the same day, however, Ronald Gardiner-Thorpe captured West Derbyshire from the Conservatives by 3,000 votes and in July the Liberals snatched Leicester North East from Labour.
The Conservative Prime Minister MacMillan had been planning to purge up to half his Cabinet but as it seemed Labour was suffering as much as his party from the Liberal surge, he held back keeping Selwyn Lloyd in post as Chancellor.
if the 1961 Liberal Assembly had been euphoric, the 1962 Assembly was even more so though wiser heads were warning this was mid-term popularity rather than a definite shift away from the two main parties. The truth was some in the party began to wonder if they might not be in Government sooner than anyone expected.
The problem for the campaigning team was the Party couldn't fight 640 simultaneous by-elections. Apart from the 24 seats already held, the party had developmental activity in another 50 but beyond that virtually nothing.
The first signs the Liberal tide had peaked came with the clutch of by-elections held on 22nd November 1962. The five contests produced one gain at Chippenham and three strong second places but Labour profited more winning four seats from the Conservatives and Hugh Gaitskell seemed to have become the real Prime Minister-in-waiting.
Sadly, on January 18th 1963, Gaitskell died. Harold Wilson energed from the election as the new Labour leader and for the Liberals the road would get much tougher.