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Authors: David Adams Richards
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Opposition leader, lost the Conservative fight against this bill, he was forced by his own party, to step down.
Aitken did not care much for the House of Lords either. Even if he was a Conservative and the House of Lords was a mainstay of Conservatism, he was still too much of a Canadian. One of the problems Max had was subtle enough. How could he be a Conservative, if he came, as he said, from poverty in Canada? That is, people constantly equate Conservatism not with values but with property, especially if they themselves are liberal or socialist, propertied or not.
With Balfour gone, Max helped persuade his friend Bonar Law to run for the leadership of the Conservative Party. He also persuaded Bonar Law to let him, Max Aitken, handle the campaign. For Max knew how to handle things when things got unsavoury. For Bonar Law, it was perhapsthe best thing to happen to his political career. Law’s sister once complained to Law about this “awful man” Aitken, and Bonar Law supposedly said: “Mary, allow me to love him.”
The Conservative leadership of Great Britain would never have gone to the man from Rexton, New Brunswick, if Max Aitken from Newcastle, New Brunswick, hadn’t been one of the main players behind the scenes. He sized up the opposition and saw them to be the kind of mediocrities he had dealt with before. Max very likely had little respect for them and always, as a “cat who walked alone,” wanted to prove himself against them.
In the beginning, a Mr. Walter Long and Austin Chamberlain were running neck and neck against one another for the Unionist (Conservative) Party leadership. Though many Unionists of the time lamented that both candidates left much to be desired, the name Chamberlain is synonymous with British politics. Austin Chamberlain, older brother of the future prime minister Neville Chamberlain (1937–1940), who was to cave in to Hitler at Munich, had been chancellor of the exchequer under Prime Minister Arthur Balfour. His pictures, as those of his brother Neville, make me think of an austere nineteenth-century butler. He was from one of the most powerful Conservative families in the realm, and probably would have won, hadnot Sir Max Aitken himself stepped in, convinced Law, who was widely thought to be clear-thinking and practical, to run—and then taken the helm of Bonar Law’s campaign.
Aitken’s strategy was simple enough. He had Bonar Law’s supporters first back Long, then shift en masse to Chamberlain, then back to Long—like passengers rushing from one side of a sightseeing ship to the other. Finally the party realized that Bonar Law, who could so sway the leadership race, must be their new leader, as the great compromise that many wanted in the first place. Sir Max Aitken’s hands were all over this. So, I am sure, was his money. Like a behind-the-scenes conjuror, he always ran boards without belonging to them. This is why I never took seriously the contention that he aspired to the prime ministership. He was much better at back-room stuff. In this he was not unlike another New Brunswicker, of my father’s generation, Dalton Camp.
Still, back in 1912, many of the crème de la crème of the British Conservative Party felt they had been forced into this compromise by this man from away, and they would never forget the sting. They would never forget Max’s large head and moccasin mouth, grinning at them, like a man who has just put them in checkmate. Max was already disliked by the Liberals. So we will see, in the nextfew years, how both Liberals and Conservatives formed an unspoken British-born, Eton-educated coalition against him—one that he didn’t see coming until it was too late.
Max had had great moments already, but there were flaws and weaknesses that his enemies were straining to see. And some of these enemies were as cunning . . . well, as cunning as his good friend, Welsh-born radical Liberal David Lloyd George himself.
CHAPTER TWELVE
War
“I’m a friend of
Aitken did not care much for the House of Lords either. Even if he was a Conservative and the House of Lords was a mainstay of Conservatism, he was still too much of a Canadian. One of the problems Max had was subtle enough. How could he be a Conservative, if he came, as he said, from poverty in Canada? That is, people constantly equate Conservatism not with values but with property, especially if they themselves are liberal or socialist, propertied or not.
With Balfour gone, Max helped persuade his friend Bonar Law to run for the leadership of the Conservative Party. He also persuaded Bonar Law to let him, Max Aitken, handle the campaign. For Max knew how to handle things when things got unsavoury. For Bonar Law, it was perhapsthe best thing to happen to his political career. Law’s sister once complained to Law about this “awful man” Aitken, and Bonar Law supposedly said: “Mary, allow me to love him.”
The Conservative leadership of Great Britain would never have gone to the man from Rexton, New Brunswick, if Max Aitken from Newcastle, New Brunswick, hadn’t been one of the main players behind the scenes. He sized up the opposition and saw them to be the kind of mediocrities he had dealt with before. Max very likely had little respect for them and always, as a “cat who walked alone,” wanted to prove himself against them.
In the beginning, a Mr. Walter Long and Austin Chamberlain were running neck and neck against one another for the Unionist (Conservative) Party leadership. Though many Unionists of the time lamented that both candidates left much to be desired, the name Chamberlain is synonymous with British politics. Austin Chamberlain, older brother of the future prime minister Neville Chamberlain (1937–1940), who was to cave in to Hitler at Munich, had been chancellor of the exchequer under Prime Minister Arthur Balfour. His pictures, as those of his brother Neville, make me think of an austere nineteenth-century butler. He was from one of the most powerful Conservative families in the realm, and probably would have won, hadnot Sir Max Aitken himself stepped in, convinced Law, who was widely thought to be clear-thinking and practical, to run—and then taken the helm of Bonar Law’s campaign.
Aitken’s strategy was simple enough. He had Bonar Law’s supporters first back Long, then shift en masse to Chamberlain, then back to Long—like passengers rushing from one side of a sightseeing ship to the other. Finally the party realized that Bonar Law, who could so sway the leadership race, must be their new leader, as the great compromise that many wanted in the first place. Sir Max Aitken’s hands were all over this. So, I am sure, was his money. Like a behind-the-scenes conjuror, he always ran boards without belonging to them. This is why I never took seriously the contention that he aspired to the prime ministership. He was much better at back-room stuff. In this he was not unlike another New Brunswicker, of my father’s generation, Dalton Camp.
Still, back in 1912, many of the crème de la crème of the British Conservative Party felt they had been forced into this compromise by this man from away, and they would never forget the sting. They would never forget Max’s large head and moccasin mouth, grinning at them, like a man who has just put them in checkmate. Max was already disliked by the Liberals. So we will see, in the nextfew years, how both Liberals and Conservatives formed an unspoken British-born, Eton-educated coalition against him—one that he didn’t see coming until it was too late.
Max had had great moments already, but there were flaws and weaknesses that his enemies were straining to see. And some of these enemies were as cunning . . . well, as cunning as his good friend, Welsh-born radical Liberal David Lloyd George himself.
CHAPTER TWELVE
War
“I’m a friend of
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