Jo Grimond

Jo Grimond (born July 29, 1913, St. Andrews, Fife, Scot.—died Oct. 24, 1993, Kirkwall, Orkney Islands) was the leader of the British Liberal Party during its resurgence after World War II.

Educated at Eton and the University of Oxford, Grimond was called to the bar in 1937. After serving as an officer in the British army from 1939 to 1947, he was appointed secretary of the Scottish National Trust, an organization concerned with the preservation of historic buildings. Elected to the House of Commons in 1950, he was soon chosen Liberal whip.

In 1956 Grimond was elected leader of the parliamentary Liberal Party and set out to revitalize the party. He attacked the 1957 Suez invasion by England, France, and Israel and set the Liberals in opposition to an independent British nuclear deterrent. The Liberals had been the first party to favour entry into the European Economic Community in 1955, and he was vigorous in promoting the policy. He offered proposals for greater social and educational expenditure and called for “co-partnership in industry” between management and labour. His innovative approach and telegenic personality brought early success in 1958 with a major upset by-election victory for himself and increased support for the Liberals in other by-elections. In 1959 the Liberals more than doubled their vote of 1955, though they won only six seats. They carried nine constituencies in 1964 and won a 1965 by-election.

Though the party won 12 seats in 1966, Grimond, dissatisfied with the rate of progress, relinquished the leadership in January 1967. Briefly, for two months in 1976, he assumed a caretaker’s role until David Steel replaced Jeremy Thorpe as party leader. He wrote The Liberal Future (1959), The Liberal Challenge (1963), and The Common Welfare (1978). An autobiography, Memoirs, was published in 1979.