Ayer had not previously known Roberts, and described him as "very tall, unmistakably English, quiet, with an undercurrent of strong feeling, cultivated and philanthropic.

[6] He described the tradition of Cumbrian local politics in an interview with Hunter Davies for A Walk Along the Wall (1974): There's always been a branch of the Howard family which has been radical.

[13] In June and July 1936, Dudley Aman, 1st Baron Marley and Roberts were in Budapest, negotiating on behalf of Mátyás Rákosi.

[22] The initial reception camp for Basque children was at Stoneham in Hampshire, and was organised by Roberts and Henry Brinton, in response to the relief efforts of Leah Manning in May 1937 at Bilbao.

[29] At this period he was an active speaker for the Left Book Club (LBC), a publishing company founded in 1936, with Acland.

Both Roberts and Acland were counted by Cripps in "The Group", his cadre of supporters gathered after he was expelled from the Labour Party in early 1939.

John Strachey in late 1938 saw the move by which Acland, Cripps and Roberts were proposed as additions to the LBC book selection committee as the beginning of an "Anti-Fascist Association".

[33] As an LBC speaker, Roberts was in a Popular Front group prepared to share platforms, with Acland, Sir Norman Angell, Cripps, David Lloyd George, Hewlett Johnson, Harry Pollitt, Paul Robeson and Strachey.

Roberts was a founding member of the group, along with Megan Lloyd George, Thomas Horabin, Clement Davies, Vernon Bartlett, and William Beveridge.

[12] The party headquarters moved back into central London in December 1941, and he worked to reconstruct Liberal organisations.

[40] At the end of 1941 a group consisting of the Conservative Herbert Williams, Clement Davies, and Roberts began pressing for a reorganised government.

James Chuter Ede observed mealtime meetings in the House, on 21 January seeing Roberts sitting with Tories (Charles Emmott, Arthur Evans), and a group from other parties.

[43][44] Roberts on 26 March opened the "Freedom of the Press" debate caused by a Philip Zec cartoon in the Daily Mirror, aimed at the Battle of the Atlantic, and called "wicked" by Herbert Morrison.

[45][46] According to Maurice Edelman, Roberts was an "uninspiring speaker" who had difficulty holding an audience in the Commons, but on this occasion rumour had it that the government sought a "showdown" with the Mirror, through Morrison and Brendan Bracken, and the House filled.

[51] Later in 1942 he was behind moves to get the annual Liberal Party Assembly in August to debate a series of progressive social policies.

Claud Cockburn was using a small group of contacts to research stories for his scandal sheet, This Week, in an effort to embarrass the government.

[57] In 1945 Roberts went on a mission to Moscow, to meet Stalin, and published a pamphlet in April of that year with his views of the USSR.

[60][61] On 19 April 1949 he opened an attack on the Labour government over the Amethyst Incident, stating that it would be better to improve relations with the Chinese Communist Party.