Richard Wainwright was a proud son of Leeds and a key figure in the revival of Liberal politics in Yorkshire and nationally. He was a West Yorkshire Liberal MP for seventeen years, but his life tells us about more than politics: he lived in prosperity, but campaigned against poverty; refused to fight in World War Two but saw the conflict at its cruellest; and joined his party when it seemed doomed, but took it to the brink of power through the Thorpe scandal, the experiment of the Lib-Lab Pact and the formation of the Liberal Democrats. Wainwright’s life gives a distinctive perspective on his own time and place, but is also a parable for those interested in the tensions between public life and principle today.
Matt Cole is the author of Richard Wainwright, the Liberals and Liberal Democrats: Unfinished Business (Manchester University Press) and teaches at Lancaster University’s Regional Heritage Centre.
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