Talk:Pembrokeshire (UK Parliament constituency)

Gwilym Lloyd George

His article is currently silent on when he 'left' the Liberal Party to join the National Liberal Party. For 1950 Craig describes him as 'National Liberal & Conservative' one of the variations of descriptions used at the time. GLG effectively 'joined' the National Liberal Party after the signing of the Woolton-Teviot agreement in 1947. Graemp (talk) 13:40, 18 February 2014 (UTC)

Thanks I wasn't sure when Gwilym Lloyd George left the Liberals. I am not even sure he re-joined then as such in 1935 with the rest of the Lloyd George Independent Liberal group. I know in October 1939 he became a junior minister in the National Government and stayed there after the Liberals officially left the Churchill Coalition government in May 1945. So his official Liberal status is questionable in 1945. According to Roy Douglas's History of the Liberal Party, he was offered the chairmanship of the Liberal and Liberal National groups but declined both. --Gepid (talk) 16:07, 18 February 2014 (UTC)

It can be difficult to interpret these things if we simply talk in terms of joining as being a subscribing member of a political party. I don't think by 1950 party names had started appearing on ballot papers. Often what appears in a candidates election literature can be vague or misleading. I assume that in 1950 there was only one 'Liberal' organisation for Pembrokeshire and I assume that he was chosen as their candidate and that they probably chose to change their affiliation sometime between 1947-50 to reflect the actions of their MP. I think it is usually best in the case of MPs to talk in terms of which whip they took. Immediately after the 1935 elections all the 'Lloyd George' Liberals re-took the Liberal whip. GLG accepting office as early as October 1939 was an oddity which seems to have been treated by historians as insignificant.Graemp (talk) 17:32, 18 February 2014 (UTC)