In the late 1940s and 50s the Liberal party seemed doomed to irrelevance. Its few MPs held their seats as a result of local pacts to which Winston Churchill, who still retained an affection for his old party, turned a blind eye. Its share of the vote was just 2.5%. Clement Davies, its leader at the time, in one of the bravest decisions he made, refused an offer of merger from Churchill and chose to soldier on. But it was Grimond, who picked up the torch for this seemingly doomed movement on Davies’ resignation and, in the face of seemingly insuperable odds, turned the fortunes of the Liberal party round.
Mark Bonham Carter’s victory at Torrington was the first fruit of revival, followed by the famous victory at Orpington, after which, for the first time since the war, the Liberals briefly led the polls. When Grimond passed the torch on to his successor, Jeremy Thorpe, the Liberals were secure in their independence as the third force in British politics. On Thorpe’s resignation it was Grimond once again who stepped into the breach. By the time of his death he was a beloved elder statesman of a great national party.
Jo Grimond was highly regarded both as a politician and a man of personal integrity. He combined his life as leader with that of MP for the most remote constituency in the United Kingdom, where he was a much loved figure. His story is intimately intertwined with the great Liberal families of the opening of the century - the Bonham Carters and the Asquiths - and he knew almost every major figure of his time. For the leader of a small party he operated on a surprisingly wide stage.
This is the biography of a man who acted as the intellectual inspiration for a generation and carried universal respect from all parties. In an age where cynicism about politics and politicians is universal, he stood for an integrity and honour which, while it did not lead to power, led to influence him and his party far beyond their modest means.
’Jo Grimond brought the Liberal cause back from the verge of extinction, introduced new ideas which have today become commonplace in the agenda of all parties and inspired a whole new generation of liberal thinkers and activists’
- Paddy Ashdown
’Jo Grimond brought me into politics and he was the inspiration of an entire generation of Liberals. But his gift was that he reached out beyond the ranks of Liberals’ - Lord David Steel
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