FIGHTING FUNDS

Evening Post, Volume CXIII, Issue 54, 5 March 1927, Page 6

FIGHTING FUNDS

CLASH AMONG- LIBERALS "MORE BLIGHT THAN BLESSING" VISCOUNT GREY SPEAKS FRANKLY Friction among members of the Liberal Party continues to be the kading feature of British politics. About the middle of December Viscount Grey of Falloden made a frank speech which, to some extent, cleared the atmosphere, but he made it more apparent than ever that the real obstacle to Liberal unity is the big political fund controlled by Mr. Lloyd George. Viscount Grey's speech, of which the following are the salient points, according to "Public Opinion," was spoken on the occasion of a Liberal dinner to Mr. Vivian Phillips, who was retiring from active service with the party.

"Wo find it impossible to keep step with Mr. Lloyd George, and we know that if wo said the past differences had disappeared and. we were ready to march side by side we should be ready to fall out of step within a very short time—only it is not. we but he who changes step," said Viscount Grey. "I cannot help feeling what a disturbing thing it is that there should be a fund of one or two millions—a very large sum of money—which should i'ollow a single man. It is exercising the mind of the Liberal Party, and it is as a matter of fact a new thing, unprecedented in the politics of this country, and a disturbing feature in our public life. "There is nothing illegal. We do not make it a matter of reproach, but it is unprecedented that there should be an enormous fund for political purposes at the disposal of one man. It concerns the Liberal Party to-day. It may concern the Conservative Party with a Coalition to-morrow, or the Labour Party, or it may be used for some entirely separate political campaign with which no party has anything to do. That is a disturbing element in public life, and ia "going to be a source ! of discomfort to every party. A POSITION OP DISTURBANCE. "Mr. Lloyd George himself, however good his intentions, cannot escape that position of disturbance which the possession of this fund is going to create. The existence of tho fund has brought more blight than Mossing to the Liboral Party. There has been lately a very good statement of the effect which must be produced by a fund of this kind m an article written by Mr. Snowden with special reference to the Labour Party. 'If a party organisation and the Parliamentary candidates of the party are financed by one man, the party ceases to be a democratic party and is placed under the heel of a personal dictator. His motives may be beyond reproach, his aim inspired, solely d$ a desire to advance a great reform for the common.good, but, on tho other hand, such financial power might be used for. reactionary aims and for personal aggrandisement. For any political party to be under the fcuaucial control of one man, or of a number of rich men who dictate its policy, is the negation of all democratic principles.' I feel that we will serve the party better by continuing out Liberal work -without being a party, to these particular negotiations." . MASTER OF THE SITUATION. Tho "Westminster Gazette," in its leader on Viscount Grey's speech, in emphasising the • danger of the control oi party funds, asserts:—"Mr Lloyd George, said an enthusiastic leader-writer in the 'Star' last week is at the moment master of tho situation and tho holder of the purse ' \ny political party which permitted the Holder of the purso to bo master of the situation could neither respect- itself nor expect to bo respected by the public; and Lord Grey and those who think with him have now mnde^it perfectly clear that they will not put themselves in this position. It is open to Mr Lloyd George, as to any other man with money at his disposal, to make a contribution to the Liberal Million t und and to leave it at that: but it is not or ought not to be, open to him to place the party under an obligation as a condition of accepting this contribution, either to proscribe an individual who is unacceptable to him or to accept his ideas of policy, unless these happen to commend themselves on their merits.' These, we say, are clomentury maxims which no party can ignore and least of all a Liberal Party in its dealings with Mr. Lloyd George. He, as his record proves, is a brilliant, way-" ward, unstable politician, whoso intoiitions are a subject of unceasing speculation. Each party in turn has been distracted in its attempts to discover what he will do next, and none of them so tar, have known till tho last minute ot tho twelfth hour. Possibly he' does not. know himself.

'Lord Grey briefly reveiwed tlio experiences of the Liberal Party in its endeavour to work with him dui-in.r the last three years, and tlio least that can be s;ud is that they justify the strongest objection to making a compact with lum about funds with actual or implied conditions attached to them. A cash nexus between a political leader and us tollowers is in any case undesirable but ono in which a leader of unstable political character remains 'master of tho situation' whilo his followers accept Jus conditions would bo also in the highest degree inexpedient, and those who walk this path will almost certainJy have reason to regret it. Lord trrcy a declaration of indepcndence'will wo are confident, be welcomed by the large body of Liberals who have watched with misgiving the various stages in this affair as well as by the large number of other people who think that an independent, steady, and wisely controlled Liberal Party is ono of the greatest needs of this time. The existeuco of this fund has been an unmitigated disaster." ON BEINO OUT Or STEP. The "Daily Chronicle," in an outspoken leader in favour of Mr. Lloyd George, says:—"The thing which, in tho words of Lord Grey, makes it 'absolutely impossible' to pass over past differences, which 'destroys confidence,' is the unhappy circumstance that Lord Grey finds himself 'unable to keep step' with Mr. Lloyd George. It is sad, and it is true. The saddest thing about it is that it is true. Lord Grey and some of his elderly associates are, indeed, out of step with Mr. Lloyd George. Among the young Liberals throughout the country there is a passionate demand that an end shall be made of party feuds and personal wrangles. Lord Grey is out of step with the young Liberalism which means to march forward. From every part of industrial England, indeed from every part of post-war Europe, comes tho appeal to statesmen, to statesmanship, and to Liberalism for help, for guidance, for leadership. Lord Grey is out •of step. A. new world, a new generation, with new problems, new aspirations, now ideals, thundors past his door. Lord Grey is out of step." SLAMMED AND BOLTED. . "Viscount Grey has slammed and bolted the door. He repudiates the idea of setting up a new Liberal Party or a division of one. Yet that in effect is what he and his friends are doing. It may bo for th ebost, of course; no one can definitely say," asserts tho "Liverpool Post." "But, clearly, for the mo- I

ment it puts tho Liberal Party out of politics as an effective force. No party could do anything while its attention is absorbed by a personal disjftite so sharp as this one is, and as it looks like continuing to be. In regard to finance, Viscount Groy was right in laying so much stress upen the und^sirability of a political party fund being wholly in the control of one individual."

"If we are now driven to support Mr. Lloyd George and his policies, that is not out of any admiration for Mr. Lloyd George's beautiful eyes, nor out of any undue respect for his money or unconsciousness of the obvious defects of his qualities," says the "Daily News," "but simply because, for the time being at any rate, Mr. Lloyd George lias chosen to express and to identify himself with the aims and aspirations of the Liberal 'crowd,' and Lord Grey and the Liberals to whom the 'Times' and tho 'Morning Post' give such copious and consistent advertisement appear to be blind, deaf, indifferent, and hostile to the feelings and sympathies of nine-tenths of the party."