Violet Bonham Carter - Political Career

Political Career

Lady Violet lived in an age when women were uncommon in frontline British politics. She was nonetheless active as President of the Women's Liberal Federation 1923 - 1925, and 1939–1945, and was President of the Liberal Party 1945- 1947. In the 1945 general election she stood for Wells, coming third, while in 1951 she stood for the winnable seat of Colne Valley.

As an old friend, Churchill arranged for the Conservatives to refrain from nominating a candidate for the constituency, giving her a clear run against Labour. She was nonetheless narrowly defeated. She continued to be a popular and charismatic speaker for Liberal candidates, including for her son-in-law Jo Grimond, her son Mark, and the then-rising star Jeremy Thorpe, and she was a frequent broadcast on current affairs programmes on radio and television.

Perhaps her greatest contribution, however, was as a much-esteemed orator and perceptive thinker on politics and policy issues, dedicated to classic Liberal politics in the mold of her father. She spoke on many platforms throughout the 1920s and 1930s, and along with Winston Churchill (and others), she very early on perceived the dangers of European fascism. In the cause to awake Britain and the world to the fascist danger, she joined and animated a number of anti-fascist groups (e.g., The Focus Group), often in concert with Churchill, and spoke at many of their gatherings.

In the non-political sphere, she was also active in the arts, being a Governor of the BBC 1941-1946, and a Governor of the Old Vic (1945–1969).

Additionally, she was an avid keeper of diaries, which now form an important original source of history of early 20th century Britain and contain many perceptive character sketches, as well as insights into contemporary events. Indeed, it was Lady Violet who supplied one of the most famous — and telling — anecdotes about Winston Churchill (in her 1965 book Winston Churchill As I Knew Him, published in the U.S. as Winston Churchill: An Intimate Portrait), the story not apparently having been recorded in her diaries or contemporaneous letters): how Churchill during the course of an intense and deep conversation at a dinner party at which they first met, concluded a thought by saying to the effect that "Of course, we are all worms, but I do believe that I am a glow worm."

In 1964, she was created Baroness Asquith of Yarnbury, of Yarnbury in the County of Wiltshire, one of the first new Liberal peers in several decades. She continued to be extremely active in the House of Lords.

Her previous title, Lady Violet, was a courtesy title from her father's elevation to the peerage as Earl of Oxford and Asquith in 1925, and her husband was a knight of the realm. She and her husband were one of the few couples who both held titles in their own right.