Adrian Lee is a Solicitor-Advocate in London, specialising in criminal defence, and was twice a Conservative Parliamentary Candidate.
Thirty-four years ago, on 3rd April 1989, Edward Drewett Martell, a key figure in the post-war revival of the fortunes of both the Liberal and Conservative parties, died. Few obituaries were published at the time and today he is a largely forgotten figure. However, examined from the perspective of the early twenty-first century, it could be argued that Martell’s political career was amongst the most significant of those who never succeeded in entering Parliament.
Edward Martell was born on 2nd March, 1909 into a middle-class Jewish family, and was educated privately at St.George’s School, Harpenden. In 1928 he embarked on a successful career in journalism, eventually becoming Managing Editor of the weekly Saturday Review, as well as the Editor of Burke’s Peerage.
It is worth noting that his period at the Saturday Review coincided with the ownership of that paper by the highly patriotic (and eccentric) Lucy, Lady Houston, a generous sponsor to the British aviation industry. Lady Houston campaigned for British rearmament. Each Autumn she moored her yacht off the shore of the seaside town hosting the annual Conservative Party Conference and illuminated a neon sign bearing the legend “Wake Up England!”.
During the war, Martell served as a Captain in the Royal Armoured Corps. Following demobilisation, he founded his own publishing and bookselling business. However, business affairs always had to take a back seat to his political activities. After the 1945 General Election he joined the Liberal Party and became immediately active. One can only speculate how his wife, Ethel, whom he had married in 1932, and their young son, viewed this costly obsession.
In 1945, the Liberals were reduced to only twelve MPs. The party looked like an Edwardian anachronism and was unattractive to the politically ambitious. Martell joined out of principle and in opposition to the collectivist tide. He was an individualist, an “Old Whig” and a Classical Liberal.
He believed passionately in free enterprise, reducing bureaucracy, and reforming an increasingly over-powerful trade union movement. So, why didn’t he join the Conservatives? At least part of the answer lay in a May 1947 policy statement entitled “The Industrial Charter: A Statement of Conservative Industrial Policy.”
The Industrial Charter was the response of an electorally and intellectually defeated Conservative Party that had become reconciled to Labour’s agenda. It accepted that Nationalisation, economic planning, a welfare state, and a strong trade union movement were here to stay. The message was that a future Conservative government could manage socialism better than Labour.
The Industrial Charter was the foundation stone of Butskellism, and its central tenets were held until the collapse of the Heath government. Meanwhile, although Martell spent just a decade in the Liberal Party, but his impact was profound. Liberal activists spoke of the dynamism that he brought to the organisation.
His first positions were as Secretary of the Liberal Candidates’ Association and as Member of the London County Council for Bethnal Green South West between 1946 and 1949. He fought a Parliamentary by-election in Rotherhithe in November 1946 and beat the Conservatives into third place.
Martell rose quickly to the rank of Liberal Party Deputy Chairman and served as its Campaign Organiser in the 1950 and 1951 General Elections. Martell succeeded in broadening the source of Liberal funding and stabilised the Party’s finances. He substantially increased the number of Liberal Parliamentary candidates (bringing the total to 475 in 1950) and introduced community campaigning into the constituencies.
Surprisingly, Martell also found time to run for Parliament for a second time in Hendon North in 1950. Roy Douglas, Liberal Party historian, commented “…there is much to be said for the view that he played a major part in keeping the party in existence, when it could easily have disappeared as a serious political force.”
Martell’s Liberal Party career ended in September 1956. He had become obsessed with the increasing “tyranny of the trades unions” and campaigned for denationalisation. He also opposed the Liberal’s new-found enthusiasm for joining the European Common Market. Unfortunately, Martell’s policy proposals were resoundingly rejected by the Liberal Executive.
Turning over a new leaf, he set up his own organisation “The People’s League for the Defence of Freedom”. By November 1958, the League had its own newspaper (The People’s Guardian), nationwide branches, and 50,000 members.
The League was only one of a network of groups organised by Martell in the Macmillan era. Others included the Anti-Socialist Front, National Fellowship, and the Free Press Society. From April 1960, Martell was the proprietor of a commercial newspaper (New Daily) with a circulation of 100,000. Collectively, he called his network of organisations the ‘Freedom Group’.
Martell was highly adept at attracting media attention. In May and June 1958, London was hit by a bus strike, resulting in the cancellation of all buses in the Central and Country areas. Martell obtained permission for the League to run several bus routes. A fleet of recently retired vehicles was hired and Martell’s “strike-breakers” did a thriving trade in South London for 6d per journey.
Initially, he offered cooperation and assistance to the Conservative Party. But far from being welcomed into the tent, Martell and the League were actively opposed by suspicious Macmillanites. Conservative Agents were instructed to advise their members to avoid this “extremist” organisation.
Examining the Conservatives’ archive at the Bodleian Library, historian Mark Pitchford discovered that false rumours were circulated to suggest that Martell was a racist and a fascist. Central Office turned the machine created to keep out genuine racists, such as the League of Empire Loyalists, against Martell and his groups.
Martell horrified Central Office by suggesting that Conservatives should stand down their candidate in the East Ham North by-election in July 1957 and throw their weight behind a League candidate. He argued that in such a Labour stronghold “…an Anti-Socialist not tied to the Conservative Party might conceivably deprive the Socialists of a seat.”
Central Office saw this as proof that he was attempting to establish a rival political party. From that point on, cooperation was ruled out and spies were sent to infiltrate his public meetings.
Martell formally joined the Conservatives in 1962 and served as Chairman of Hastings Conservative Association the following year. In August 1963, the Conservatives stood down their candidate in the Bristol South East by-election, when Labour’s Tony Benn was permitted to renounce his peerage. Martell seized this opportunity to run independently as a “National Fellowship Conservative”. Despite having no assistance from Central Office, he came to a creditable second place with 4,834 votes.
With Macmillan’s resignation and the succession of Home to the Conservative Leadership in October, relations between Central Office and Martell markedly improved. The Party denied their previous hostility to him and even went so far as to call his newspaper “anti-fascist”.
In the 1964 General Election, and with Conservative approval, Martell’s supporters put most of their efforts into campaigning against Harold Wilson in his Huyton constituency. Sadly, the rapprochement was short-lived. From 1965, Edward Heath terminated cooperation with Martell. Tragically, having sacrificed his business interests for decades, Martell found himself in increasing financial difficulties. This eventually culminated in his bankruptcy and his withdrawal from political activities.
Edward Martell was a man ahead of his time and deserves to be remembered. His campaigning approach was revived in the seventies by Norris McWhirter and the Freedom Association and gained Margaret Thatcher’s enthusiastic support. In many ways Martell was the originator of Tebbit’s trades union reforms and even, arguably, privatisation.