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Abstract
Mutual Aid, the practice by which Conservative constituency associations in safe seats regularly sent groups of party workers to nearby marginals, was widely presumed at the time to have been a contributory factor to consecutive Conservative General Election victories in the 1950s. Indeed, Mutual Aid is still a part of party electoral organisation today. However the practice has been subject to little detailed analysis, its effectiveness and contribution to Conservative electoral recovery simply taken for granted. It is the purpose of this article to examine the origin, operation and effectiveness of Mutual Aid in the marginal constituencies. Although the direct impact of Mutual Aid may always be impossible to prove beyond doubt in terms of victories won, it can be shown that the perception of its wider benefits guaranteed it a place in the party hierarchy's campaigning strategy.
Notes
[1] CitationDavid Willetts with Richard Forsdyke, After the Landslide, 75.
[2] Lord Woolton judged the Conservative arty to have become a ‘vigorous and challenging machine’ by the end of his chairmanship in 1955. Memoirs, 359. Even when Woolton's assertions were treated more critically, as, for example, by John Ramsden and Stuart Ball, there was an assumption of solid organisational recovery playing a part in electoral victory. See CitationRamsden, The Age of Churchill and Eden, 136–7 and CitationBall, ‘The National and Regional Structure’, in Seldon and Ball (eds.), Conservative Century, 298.
[3] CitationJohnson, ‘From Defeat to Victory’. Compared with CCO's blueprint for organisational effectiveness, all three constituencies fell short in terms of sustained membership numbers, active branches, finance, political education and the qualities of some agents.
[4] John Ramsden, for example, who writes far more about the operation of the party at constituency level than most other historians, included one paragraph on ‘mutual aid’ in The Age of Churchill and Eden, 225 and 226. Stuart Ball also referred briefly to the practice in his chapter ‘Local Conservatism and Evolution of the Party Organisation’, 308.
[5] CitationMcCallum and Readman, The British General Election of 1945.
[6] CitationJames Douglas, Conservative Research Dept, ‘How to Calculate Swings’, 9.
[7] Conservative Party Archive, Bodleian Library, Oxford, CCO 4/3/201 June 1950, Information from summary of Surrey Mutual Aid scheme prepared by Dorothy Spencer, deputy organisation officer, for circulation to all COAs.
[8] West Croydon was won by 987 votes, Merton and Morden by 2,793 and Mitcham by 4,826. The Mitcham result was particularly impressive, overturning a Labour majority of 7,168 in 1945. The Conservative share of the poll increased from 42.3% to 50.7% while the average swing to the Conservatives in London and the suburbs was 6.4%. The other two victories are harder to gauge as Merton and Morden was a new seat and all the Croydon seats underwent repeated reorganisation between 1945 and 1955.
[9] CCO 1/8/426. Files on the Esher Constituency Association.
[10] CCO 4/4/217. Mutual Aid Scheme Files, letter from Robert Carr MP to the General Director, 24 October 1950. Also letter from F. F. Walter to Robert Carr, 6 November 1950.
[11] CCO 4/4/217. Mutual Aid Scheme Files, letter from Robert Carr MP to the General Director, 24 October 1950. Also letter from F. F. Walter to Robert Carr, 6 November 1950. General Director to J. P. L. Thomas, draft reply to Commodore Allen, 16 November 1950.
[12] CCO 4/3/201. Files on Mutual Aid Schemes, 14 June 1950, and Memorandum from Dorothy Spencer to T.F. Watson.
[13] Author's interview with Jean Lucas, 4 November 1999.
[14] CCO 4/4/217. Marjorie Maxse to General Director, October 1950.
[15] CCO 4/4/217. Various COA reports to T. F. Watson, Chief Organisation Officer, October and November 1950 and Beryl Cook to the General Director, 24 November 1950.
[16] CCO 4/5/251. Avis Lloyd Memorandum to T. F. Watson, Chief Organisation Officer, 6 July 1953.
[17] See Surrey County Conservative association report on C.V.C. Scheme to 23 Nov 1950, detailing contacts with Acton, Croydon West, Mitcham, Clapham, Merton and Morden, S Battersea, S Hammersmith, Holborn and Spelthorne CCO 4/4/217.
[18] See Surrey County Conservative association report on C.V.C. Scheme to 23 Nov 1950, detailing contacts with Acton, Croydon West, Mitcham, Clapham, Merton and Morden, S Battersea, S Hammersmith, Holborn and Spelthorne CCO 4/4/217. E.g. Wessex, S Bucks was sending over 200 canvassers to Wycombe, Eton and Slough and Uxbridge, 18 October 1951. Cornwall Mutual Aid mass canvass in Falmouth and Camborne, 4 June 1951.
[19] CCO 4/5/251. Woolton letter to Area chairmen, 5 May 1953.
[20] CCO 4/5/251. Woolton letter to Area chairmen, 5 May 1953. Lord Woolton to Area chairmen, draft of letter sent on 26 October 1953.
[21] CCO 4/5/251. Mutual Aid Scheme files, report from S E Area COA to General Director, 5 October 1953.
[22] CCO 4/10/218. Unattributed memorandum on Mutual Aid dated May 1970.
[23] CCO 2/4/8. Home Counties North File, Area Chairman's letter, 1 June 1955.
[24] CCO 2/5/1.
[25] CCO 1/7/426—1/10/426 and 1/11/430—1/14/430. Esher Association files.
[26] CCO 1/7/38—1/10/38; 1/11/37—1/12/37 and 1/14/90. Wandsworth Central Association files.
[27] CCO 1/10/38. H. S. Clippingdale to John Hare, 31 May 1954, Clapham files.
[28] CCO 4/6/263. A. E. Entwisle, Report on Mutual Aid 1955.
[29] CCO 2/4/6. 2 April 1957, Area WAC Annual Report.
[30] CCO 4/4/217. See Mutual Aid files, for the exchange of correspondence on West Portsmouth.
[31] CCO 1/7/462–1/10/462 and 1/11/466–1/14/466. The problems of West Portsmouth.
[32] CCO 1/11/43. May 1956 Basic Report, Carlisle files.
[33] CCO 4/6/263. 20 December 1955, Donald Kaberry to General Director; Mutual Aid files. He continued ‘As you know, there is really an Iron Curtain round each place but we are doing our best to raise it chink by chink’.
[34] CCO 4/6/263. 15 March 1954, W. H. L. Urton, COA for London, to R. K. Carrick, COA for S.E. Area; Mutual Aid files.
[35] CCO 4/6/263. 14 May 1954, Avis Lloyd to Area chairman, Col. Ruddle.
[36] CCO 4/5/251. 1 December 1953, Sir Hugh Chance, Area chairman to Lord Woolton; Mutual Aid files.
[37] CC0 4/4/217. J. Galloway to General Director, 30 December 1950, Mutual Aid files.
[38] The 1945 Labour majority of 2,023 was reversed by a Conservative majority of 2,075 in 1950. The Conservative majority was only slightly increased to 2,949 in 1951 despite the absence of a Liberal candidate in this contest.
[39] CCO 4/6/263. Mutual Aid files; Smyth to Woolton, 13 October 1954, Urton to Greville, 18 October 1954, Woolton to Smyth, 18 Oct 1954 and Smyth to Woolton, 1 November 1954.
[40] Norwood Special Executive, 17 June 1955. The surviving Lambeth Norwood Constituency Conservative Association records are held in the Lambeth Archive.
[41] Norwood Executive Council minutes, 21 October 1955, 20 January 1956 and 6 April 1956.
[42] Author's interview with Jean Lucas, 4 November 1999.
[43] CCO 4/5/251. For example, AE Entwisle to General Director, 5 October 1953, ‘I know that long-term Mutual Aid can detract from the efforts of local people.’ Mutual Aid files.
[44] CitationButler, The British General Election of 1951, 142.
[45] Respectively 0.4%, 0.8% and 0.5%, while the average for London was 1.8%, the same as that for the UK as a whole.
[46] Although this was influenced by the failure of a Liberal candidate to stand in 1955.
[47] CitationButler, The British General Election of 1955, 205
[48] David Butler has not subsequently modified this view. Author's interview with David Butler, 2 February 2004
[49] CitationButler and Pinto-Duschinsky, The British General Election of 1970, 318)
[50] Butler and Pinto-Duschinsky, The British General Election of 1970, 342
[51] See CitationJohnson, ‘Did Organisation Really Matter?’, 391–412, for discussion of the role of organisation in these victories. See also Johnson, ‘From Defeat to Victory’.