The Anti-Waste League was a political party in the United Kingdom, founded in 1921 by the newspaper proprietor Lord Rothermere.
Formation
The formation of the League was announced in a January 1921 edition of the Sunday Pictorial with Rothermere attacking what he saw as government waste during the Depression of 1920–1921. [1] As such the party advocated reduced spending in government, at both local and national level. [1] It was particularly critical of the retention of the high levels of income tax after the end of the war as well as the funding provided for the ' homes fit for heroes' scheme. [2]
Electoral performance
The party stood in a number of by-elections, taking an increasingly anti-communist line. James Malcolm Monteith Erskine was elected as a joint nominee with an unofficial Conservative Association in the 1921 Westminster St George's by-election, and Murray Sueter was elected in a joint candidacy with the Independent Parliamentary Group in the 1921 Hertford by-election. Rothermere's son Esmond Harmsworth became the leader of the party's Westminster grouping, which co-operated closely with the Independent Parliamentary Group of Horatio Bottomley. [1] Max Aitken, Lord Beaverbrook was also a leading patron of the group. [2]
A further crisis came with a by-election in the Abbey division of Westminster in August 1921. All three candidates claimed to be representing Anti-Waste and to be unconnected with the Coalition. Brigadier-General Nicholson, theoretically the official Unionist nominee, described himself as 'Constitutional and Independent Conservative Anti-Waste', as opposed to Lieutenant R.V.K. Applin, the Anti-Waste's official candidate, and Sir Arnold Lupton, a former Liberal MP for Sleaford who stood as 'Independent Liberal and Anti-Waste'. Nicholson's victory by just over 1,000 on a low poll was indeed a glorious triumph for the government. It was followed by another desperate contest in London, in West Lewisham where Sir Philip Dawson, Conservative and Anti-Waste, defeated Lieutenant-Commander Windham, the Anti-Waste candidate, by just 747 votes.
— Kenneth O. Morgan, Consensus and Disunity: The Lloyd George Coalition Government 1918-1922 [3]
Dissolution
In reaction to the growth of the League, the Conservatives launched a Committee for National Expenditure, led by Eric Geddes, with the aim of cutting spending, and eventually acted on many of its recommendations. [1] As their support dipped in the face of the Conservatives co-opting their ideas the League changed its focus to sponsoring independent candidates and even those from other parties who shared their aims. [1] Following the 1922 general election the League disbanded with most of its members returning to the Conservative Party. [1]
References
- ^ a b c d e f D. Boothroyd, The History of British Political Parties, Politico's Publishing: 2001, p. 15
- ^ a b Martin Pugh, Hurrah for the Blackshirts: Fascists and Fascism in Britain Between the Wars, Pimlico 2006, p. 76
- ^ Morgan, Kenneth O. (1979). "10: Major Challengers: the Die-Hards". Consensus and Disunity: The Lloyd George Coalition Government 1918-1922. Oxford: Clarendon Press. p. 245. ISBN 0198224974.