Maxwell Thornton

[3] There was lots of goodwill and fraternal sounding speeches but beyond fine words the meeting did not bring about any definite conclusion.

One outcome of Thornton's meeting was Asquith's sacking of his Chief Whip James Myles Hogge in February 1923 because he supported reunion and his replacement by Vivian Phillipps, Liberal MP for Edinburgh West who was strongly opposed.

[5] At the 1923 general election Thornton held his seat, having what was at that time described a ‘strong hold on this agricultural constituency’[6] – although his majority increased only slightly over its 1922 total to one of 1,811 votes.

Despite Thornton's arguing that only a Liberal government could provide security for the farmer and good wages for the agricultural labourer, and his reputation for being on the Right of his party[10] the Tories led by Stanley Baldwin came to be regarded as the champion of the countryside against the urban areas and London based politicians.

[11] Asquith lost his seat in the 1924 election, Lloyd George became party leader and a ferment of new ideas and policy initiatives flowed forward in the next few years.