Party Leaders
The first Unionist Party of South Africa leader, from May 1910, was Leander Starr Jameson. He was created a Baronet after the Union of South Africa came into existence and was thereafter known as Sir Leander Starr Jameson. Dr Jameson was famous as the leader of the ill-fated Jameson Raid before the Second Boer War. He had also been Prime Minister of Cape Colony from 1904 to 1908.
Jameson retired from the leadership in April 1912, when the Irish born Sir Thomas Smartt was unanimously elected as the new leader. Smartt had been a senior colleague of Jameson's, both in the Cape Colony Parliament and government and the Union House of Assembly. Smartt remained the Unionist leader until the fusion with the South African Party in November 1920.
Read more about this topic: Unionist Party (South Africa)
Famous quotes containing the words party and/or leaders:
“In inner-party politics, these methods lead, as we shall yet see, to this: the party organization substitutes itself for the party, the central committee substitutes itself for the organization, and, finally, a “dictator” substitutes himself for the central committee.”
—Leon Trotsky (1879–1940)
“The rank and file have let their servants become their masters and dictators.... Provision should be made in all union constitutions for the recall of leaders. Big salaries should not be paid. Career hunters should be driven out, as well as leaders who use labor for political ends. These types are menaces to the advancement of labor.”
—Mother Jones (1830–1930)