1046 Sir Edward Grey

Constituency  :Berwick-upon-Tweed  1885-1916

Berwick  was  reduced  to  a  single  member  constituency  in  1885 . Neither  of  the  incumbents  - the  Liberal  was  Hubert  Jerningham  stood  and   Sir   Edward  triumphed  over  the  Conservative  candidate. He  was  only  23  at  the  time  and  became  the  youngest  MP  in  the  House.

Sir  Edward  was  the  grandson  of  the  former  Home  Secretary  George  Grey. He  was  educated  at  Winchester  College  and  Oxford. In  1882 he  inherited  his  grandfather's  baronetcy  and  estate.  He  was  a  lazy  student  who  left  Oxford  with  a poor  degree. He  became  private  secretary  to  Evelyn  Baring,  the  British  consul  in  Egypt,  through  an  introduction.

Sir  Edward  was  an  old-fashioned  moderate  Liberal  who  believed  in  cautious  reform  underpinned  by  a  fatalistic acceptance  that  the  future  shape  of  politics  would  not  be  kind  to  his  class. He  supported  women's  suffrage.

In  1892  Sir  Edward  became  under  secretary  of  state  for  foreign  affairs   after  Herbert  Gladstone  had  declined  the  post. He  retained  the  post  when   Rosebery  stepped  up  to  P.M.  and  made  his  first  big  impression  with  a  statement  in  1895  about  French  activity  in  West  Africa  which  contributed  to  Anglo-French  tension  although  Edward  blamed  Hansard  for  not  reporting  his  statement  accurately. Edward  left  office  in  1895  expecting  to  lose  his  seat  but  his  majority  actually  increased.

While  the  Liberals  were  in  opposition  Edward  became  identified  with  the  Liberal  Imperialist  faction  and  was  part  of  the  so-called  Relugas  Compact  to  force  Campbell-Bannerman  into  the  Lords. Instead  Edward  accepted  the  post  of  Foreign  Secretary  , the  first  holder  of  the  post  to  sit  in  the  Commons  since  1868  and  still  holding  the  record  for  the  longest  tenure  in  the  post.

Edward's  stint  in  the  job  is  still  surrounded  by  controversy  over  whether  he  kept  the  House  of  Commons  in  the  dark  about  military  commitments  to  France  in  the  years  preceding  World  War  One. Edward  certainly  helped  develop  the  Anglo-Russian  Entente  as  a  means  of  maintaining  the  balance  of  power  in  Europe. In  the  Agadir  Crisis  of  1911  he  generally  supported  France  against  Germany  without  wanting  the  situation  to  escalate.

In  July  1914  Edward's  offer  to  mediate  between  Austria-Hungary  and  Serbia  was  rebuffed.  He  also  failed  to  make  it  clear  to  the  German  ambassador  that  Britain  would  not  ignore  a  breach  of  the  Treaty  of  London  in  relation  to  Belgian  neutrality. When  Germany  invaded  Belgium  on  3  August  1914  he  made  his  famous  remark  to  a  newspaper  editor, " The  lamps  are  going  out  all  over  Europe. We  shall  not  see  them  lit  again  in  our  lifetime"  which  certainly  proved  true  on  many  levels.

Edward's  main  activity  during  the  War  was  concluding  secret  agreements  with  new  allies  such  as Italy  or  the  Arab  rebels. One  significant  agreement  conceded  control  of  the  Straits  to  Russia  if  the  Ottoman  Empire  was  overthrown. His  main  concern  was  holding  the  Triple  Entente together. In  1916  he  resisted  Robertson's  suggestion  of  a  separate  peace  with  Turkey  or  Bulgaria. In  July  that  year  he  went  to  the  Lords as  viscount  Grey  of  Fallodon,  a  decision  which  may  have  been  influenced  by  his  failing  eyesight.

In  December  1916  Edward  decided  to  go  into  opposition  with  Asquith. Despite  this  he  accepted  the  job  of  Ambassador  to  the  USA  from  Lloyd  George  in  1919  and  served  for  a  year. Lord  Robert  Cecil,  the  rogue  Tory  opposed  to  the  Coalition  with  Lloyd  George ,  wanted  him  to  lead  the  opposition when  he  returned  believing  that  Asquith  was  too  damaged  by  the  past. Edward  was  flattered  and  made  a  couple  of  well-received  public  speeches  but,  hampered by  near-blindness, decided  the  task  was  too  much  and  withdrew. He  was  Liberal  leader  in  the  Lords  between  1923  and  1924. He  published  his  memoirs  in  1925  and  became  Chancellor  of  Oxford  University   in  1928.

By  1931  Edward  was  the  most  respected  elder  statesman  in  politics  and  his  public  endorsement  of  the  idea  of  a  National  Government  gave  Baldwin  and  MacDonald's  administration  a  major  boost.  It  was  his  last  intervention  in  public  affairs.

Edward  was  described  by  the  Kaiser  as  "a  capable  sort  of  country  gentleman". Lloyd  George  admired  his appearance : "the  thin  lips, the  firmly  closed  mouth, and  the  chiselled  features  give  the  impression  of  cold  hammered steel".  He  was  a  reserved  man, notably  calm   under  pressure.  Despite  his  position  he  hated  socialising  and  foreign  travel  preferring  to  spend  his leisure  time   at  a  cottage  on  the  Itchen,  particularly  with  his  first  wife  who  died  in  a  carriage  accident  shortly  after  he  became  Foreign  Secretary. As  a youth,  he  excelled  at  football  and  tennis  but  later  in  life  settled  into  bird  watching  and  fly-fishing, publishing  books  on  both.

He  died  two  years  later  aged  71.