Election result started the decline of Asquith’s Liberals
Paisley was at the centre of the political universe in 1924, thanks to a hard-fought General Election campaign – and the defeat of a high-flying politician.
Henry Herbert Asquith was Prime Minister of Great Britain from 1908 to 1916 – the longest spell in office until the record was broken in 1988 by Margaret Thatcher.
After that, he became the Member of Parliament for the Paisley seat, and would regularly ‘board’ with Sir Harold Glen-Coats at his Ferguslie home when north of the border.
But it was at the election of 1924, which led to the downfall of Asquith’s Liberals, that helped to polarise British politics between the Labour and Conservative parties.
The election took place on Wednesday, October 29, and Mr Asquith arrived in Paisley less than a fortnight beforehand to begin his campaign to be re-elected to the seat he had held for five years. Standing in his way was Mr Edward Rosslyn Mitchell, from Queensborough Gardens, in Glasgow, the Labour Party candidate.
It was a tight one to call as Mr Asquith had previously been returned to Parliament with a narrow majority of 156 votes, so Labour saw an opportunity to take a key seat from the Liberals.
Mr Asquith chaired several public meetings in the Liberal Club at the corner of High Street and Church Hill, in Paisley, and also gave a keynote speech in Ferguslie School.
On the Saturday before voters went to the polls, he was invited to Love Street to watch St Mirren play Partick Thistle but declined due to inclement weather, and his place was taken by his wife and daughter.
On the day of the election, a record number of Buddies went to the polls – 84.12 per cent of the electorate – and they overwhelmingly voted in favour of Mr Mitchell.
The final count was: Mr Mitchell 17,057, and Mr Asquith 14,829 – a majority of 2,228.
Mr Mitchell was welcomed to his party headquarters, the Co-op halls in Causeyside Street, by a crowd of 10,000 well wishers and was carried shoulder high into the building.
Meanwhile, at the nearby Liberal Club, Mr Asquith said: “It is a serious blow to Liberalism and our party. This result is nothing to do with slackness by our supporters, but a steady growth of Socialistic poison in recent years.”
Mr Asquith’s daughter, Violet Bonham Carter, was the grandmother of the wellknown actor, Helena Bonham Carter.
As Prime Minister, Mr Asquith had overseen a number of domestic reforms, and had also led the nation into the First World War, but a series of military and political crises led to his replacement by David Lloyd George.