National Labour Organisation - Relations With The Conservatives

Relations With The Conservatives

After the election MacDonald persisted in trying to find a seat for Jowitt. All that Stonehaven would offer was Nottingham South, where the Conservative Association might be persuaded to support Jowitt should the sitting National Labour member George Wilfrid Holford Knight stand down. Unexpectedly Holford Knight refused to comply; MacDonald was not angry with him but with the Conservatives for not offering a seat they held. In July 1932, a by-election arose in Wednesbury, a seat which Labour had held at every election except 1931. De La Warr expressed to Stonehaven the hope that the local Conservatives would accept a National Labour candidate, but Stonehaven wrote back that the suggestion amazed him: he had tried, but the Wednesbury Conservative Association were obdurate in refusing to have a National Labour candidate which would mean handing over their organisation and funding the campaign. MacDonald may have considered resigning, although he decided only to refuse to send a message of support to the Conservative (who ended up losing the seat to Labour). In its publicity, National Labour was concerned to stress that although Parliament was heavily dominated by the Conservatives, the cabinet was much more evenly balanced between the parties.

In 1933, a local electoral pact was agreed in Finsbury between National Labour and the Municipal Reform Party in advance of the London County Council election in 1934. The Parliamentary constituency had a National Labour MP but the two LCC seats were held by Labour, and the pact agreed that Kenneth Lindsay would run in conjunction with one Municipal Reform candidate in the election. In the event Michael Franklin of National Labour and Fordham Flower of Municipal Reform stood as 'National Municipal' candidates, but they failed to win seats.