William John Gruffydd - Historians' Judgment

Historians' Judgment

The 1945 general election brought a reduction in Liberal strength in the House of Commons and was particularly savage for its leadership. Sir Archibald Sinclair the party leader lost his seat in Caithness and Sutherland, the Chief Whip Sir Percy Harris and William Beveridge were also beaten. In fact apart from Gwilym Lloyd-George who was in any case travelling in the direction of the Tories every Liberal MP who had ever held government office was defeated. This meant a new leader was required. Gruffydd was not a candidate and historians have noted that he was more concerned with his academic work than with trying to make a career in politics but the judgment of one historian of the Liberal Party that he was an academic of extremely limited political experience only sitting in the House because of the University seats, seems unduly harsh in the light of Gruffydd's long-time association with Welsh political and social affairs previous vice-presidency of Plaid Cymru and his managing to be returned to the House of Commons when so many others were falling by the wayside - even candidates for university seats had to win the votes of real voters.