993 John Morley

Constituency : Newcastle-upon-Tyne  1883-95 ,  Montrose  Burghs 1896-1908

In  February  1883  one  of  the  most  important  Liberal  politicians   entered  the  Commons  when  John  replaced  the  ailing  Ashton  Dilke  at  Newcastle.

John  was  born  in  Blackburn, the  son  of  a  surgeon. He  was  educated  at  Cheltenham  College  and  Oxford  though  he  left  the  latter  after  a  row  with  his  father who  wanted  him  to  become  a  clergyman.  John  was  an  agnostic. John  initially  became  a  barrister  but  soon  decided  to  pursue  journalism  instead.  In  1870  he  married  a   recent   widow  with  whom  he  had  had  a  liaison  for  many  years; this  handicapped  him  socially  and  politically.  He  put  a  gloss  on  the  social  ostracism  saying  country  house  weekends  blighted  his  democracy. He  became  the  editor  of  the  Fortnightly  Review  in  1867  and  the  Pall  Mall  Gazette  in  1880.  He  approached  journalism  with  superb  vigour  and  brilliance. He  saw  himself  as  successor  to  John  Stuart  Mill.  Outstanding  politicians  would  lead  the  masses, "The  extreme  advanced  party  is  likely  for  the  future  to  have  on  its  side  a  great  portion  of  the  most  cultivated  intellect  in  the  nation, and  the  contest  will  be  between  brains  and  numbers  on  the  one  side,  and  wealth, rank, vested  interest, possesssion  in  short, on  the  other".  He  also  credited  Palmerston  with  having  an  honest  interest  in  good  government. John  stood  for  Blackburn  in  a  by-election  in  1869  and  for  City  of  Westminster  in  1880.

Newcastle  was  a  difficult  constituency  to  represent. John  had  the  support  of  Robert  Watson  who  was  chair  of  the  National  Liberal  Federation  from  1890  to  1902 but  not  his  parliamentary  colleague ( until  1886 ) Joseph  Cowen  , the  radical  owner  of  The  Chronicle. Cowen  persistently  attacked  him, calling  for  working  class  representation  at  the  same  time  as  printing  sympathetic  stuff  about  the  Tory  candidate. Cowen  helped  to  engineer  John's  defeat  in  1895.

John  was  briefly  Chief  Secretary  for  Ireland  in  1886  then  resumed  the  role  in  1892. As  a  strong  supporter  of  Home  Rule  he  was  fiercely  attacked.  He  was  petulant  and  always  threatening  to  resign.

John  started  to  lose  working  class  support  in  1889  when  he  made  clear  his  opposition  to  labour  demands  for  an  8  hour  working  day. This  went  against  John's  attachment  to  political  economy; it  would  be "thrusting  an  Act  of  Parliament  like  a  ramrod  into  all  the  delicate  and  complex  machinery  of  British  industry".  Any  reduction  in  working  hours  should  be  voluntarily  negotiated  with  regard  to  the  "great  diversity  in  local  and  natural  conditions ". In  1891  labour  leaders  like  John  Burns  and  Keir  Hardie  spoke  publicly  against  him. In  the  1892  election  the  Eight  Hours  League  and  socialist  Social  Democratic  Federation  declared  for  the  Unionist  candidate. John  came  in  second  behind  the  Unionist. In  the  by-election  which  followed  his  ministerial  re-appointment  the  Irish  vote  in  Newcastle  rallied  to  support  him. When  the  Eight  Hours  Bill  passed  in  March  1892 John  noted  sourly,  "That  has  taken  place  which  I  apprehended. The  Labour  party  - that  is , the  most  headstrong  and  unscrupulous  and  shallow  of  those  who  speak  for  labour - has  captured  the  Liberal  party.Even  worse, the  Liberal  party, on  our  bench  at  any  rate, has  surrendered  sans  phrase , without  a  word  of  explanation  or  vindication."  In  1897  Beatrice  Webb  wrote  of  him  that  he  had  "a  closed  mind  and  lack  of  pluck  in  asserting  the  dogmas  that  dominate  him".

John  was  not  opposed  to  all  forms  of  state  intervention  and  believed  in  "protection  thrown  over  classes  of  men  and  women  who  are  unable  to  protect  themselves". In  1885  he  declared  that  "I  am  not  prepared  to  allow  that  the  Liberty  and  Property  Defence  League  are  the  only  people  with  a  real  grasp  of  Liberal  principles; that  Lord  Bramwell  and  the  Earl  of  Wemyss  are  the  only  Abdiels  of  the  Liberal  Party." He  went  on  to  describe  himself : "I  am  a  cautious  Whig  by  temperament , I  am  a  Liberal  by  training, and  I  am  a  thorough  Radical  by  observation  and  experience". Nevertheless  he  became  very  sceptical  about  social  reform. Governments  could  not  "insure  steady  work  and  good  wages"  because  of  "great  economic  tides  and  currents  flowing  which  were  beyond  the  control  of  any  Statesman, government  or  community". He  attacked  Unionist  proposals  to  help  farmers and  said  this  would  lead  to  "national  workshops  to  which  anybody  has  a  right  to  go  and  receive  money  out  of  your  pockets."  

John  was  strongly  opposed  to  imperialism  fearing  the  pernicious  effects  of  raised  public  expenditure  and  foreseeing  that  it  would  lead  to  a  revival  of  protectionism. In  a great  speech  in  Manchester  in  1899  he   declared  "You  may  make  thousands  of  women  widows  and  thousands  of  children  fatherless. It  will  be  wrong. You  may  add  a  new  province  to  your  empire. It  will  still  be  wrong. You  may  increase  the  shares  of  Mr  Rhodes  and  his  Chartered  beyond  the  dreams  of avarice. Yea, and  it  will  still  be  wrong !"

 In  the  quarrels  over  the  leadership  of  the  Liberals  after  Gladstone's  resignation  John  didn't  support  Harcourt  in  1894  but  thereafter  took  his  part  against  Rosebery  and  was  the  recipient  of  his  resignation  letter  in  1898.  He  was  appalled  by  Rosebery's  appointment  of  Kimberley  to  the  Colonial  Office.

From  then  until  1903  John  was  principally  engaged  on  his  great  biography  of  Gladstone  which  sold  very  well  when  published.  He  also  wrote  monographs  on  his  other  heroes , Burke, Rosseau, Cromwell  and  Cobden

John  was  hoping  to  be  Chancellor  of  the  Exchequer  in  1905  but  had  to  be  content  with  India  instead, a  difficult  challenge  for  an  anti-imperialist. He  took  strong  measures  against  sedition  which  drew  criticism  from  the  radicals  in  the  party.  In  1906  he  urged  the  party  to  resist  railway  workers'  agitation  for  higher  wages  because  "railways  are  the  middle  class  investment...  if  anybody  thinks  we  can  govern  this  country  against  the  middle  class  he  is  wrong". In  1908  Asquith  created  him  Viscount  Morley  of  Blackburn.

John  fretted  about  the  Peoples  Budget  fearing  again  that  it  would  increase  support  for  Protection. In  1910  he  was  switched  to  Lord  President  of  the  Council.

John's  last  great  public  act  was  to  resign  from  the  Cabinet  on  the  outbreak  of  World  War  One.  He  could  not  stomach  Britain  going  to  war  as  an  ally  of  autocratic  Russia.  He  said  in  his  resignation  letter  that  he'd  be  of  no  use  in  war  deliberations.

In  retirement  John  published  two  volumes  of  his  memoirs. He  was  a  strong  critic  of  Wilson's  moralising  after  the  war  and  described  the  League  of  Nations  as  "A  mirage  and  an  old  one ".   He  spoke  out  against  the  guarantee  to  France  in  the  Treaty  of  Versailles. He  remained  a  fierce  critic  of  Labour,  denouncing  Henderson's  support  for  a  capital  levy  as  "rank  piracy".

T P  O  Connor  said  of  him  "The  inner  conflict  between  the  man  of  letters  and  the  man  of  politics  in  Morley  pursued  and  paralysed  him  all  through  his  life".

He  died  of  heart  failure  in  1923  aged  84.