Joseph Grimond, Baron Grimond, , known as Jo Grimond, was a British politician, leader of the Liberal Party for eleven years from 1956 to 1967 and again briefly on an interim basis in 1976. Grimond was a long-term supporter of Scottish home rule; and, during his leadership, he successfully argued that the Liberal Party support the abolition of Britain's nuclear arsenal.
After serving as a Major in World War II, he was selected by the Liberal Party to contest Orkney and Shetland, the most northerly constituency in the United Kingdom. He narrowly missed capturing the seat in 1945 but entered Parliament at the 1950 general election for the constituency. The Liberals and their successors, the Liberal Democrats, have continuously retained the seat to the present day. Grimond continued to represent the constituency until he retired from politics in 1983, and regularly polled more than 60% of the votes cast in the northern Scottish archipelagos.
Leader of the Liberal Party
The party Grimond inherited from former leader Clement Davies had commanded barely 2.5% of the vote at the general election of 1955, but even that figure amounted to a modest revival in Liberal Party fortunes compared with 1951. This progress increased under the leadership of Grimond who proved himself to be a man of considerable personal charm and intelligence, with substantial gifts as public speaker and as an author. Widely respected as well as trusted, he ensured that by the time he left the leadership in 1967, the Liberals had once again become a notable political force. It was during his tenure that the first post-war Liberal revival took place: under Grimond's leadership, the Liberals doubled their seat tally and won historic by-elections at Torrington in 1958, Orpington in 1962, and Roxburgh, Selkirk and Peebles in 1965. In 1962, the Liberals almost succeeded in capturing Blackpool North, West Derbyshire and Chippenham from the Conservatives and Leicester North East from Labour. Grimond's dynamic and principled leadership proved attractive to many young aspiring politicians, including John Pardoe and three future party leaders, David Steel, Paddy Ashdown and Sir Menzies Campbell. In 1967, having led the party through three general elections, he made way for a younger leader, the charismatic Jeremy Thorpe. In 1976, when Thorpe was forced to resign because of a scandal, Grimond stepped in as interim leader until the election of a replacement, David Steel. Among other posts, Grimond was a barrister and publisher in the 1930s, an army major during World War II, Secretary of the National Trust for Scotland from 1947 to 1949, and held the Rectorships of the University of Edinburgh and the University of Aberdeen and the Chancellorship of the University of Kent at Canterbury. His many books include The Liberal Future, The Liberal Challenge, and Memoirs. He was the subject of This Is Your Life in 1983 when he was surprised by Eamonn Andrews.
In 1938, Grimond married liberal politician Laura Bonham Carter. His wife was the granddaughter of the former Liberal Prime Minister H. H. Asquith, and the daughter of the influential Liberal politician and peer Violet Asquith and her politician and civil servant husband, Maurice Bonham Carter. Laura Grimond was also the sister of another life peer, Mark Bonham Carter, who was the victor of the 1958 by-election at Torrington. The couple had four children:
Andrew Grimond, a sub-editor of The Scotsman, lived in Edinburgh until his suicide at the age of 26.
Grizelda "Gelda" Grimond, who had a daughter Katherine by the film and stage director Tony Richardson.
John Grimond, a former foreign editor of The Economist as Johnny Grimond, now writer at large for the publication, who in 1973 married Kate Fleming, eldest daughter of the writer Peter Fleming and actress Celia Johnson, and the couple have three children together. He is the main author of The Economist Style Guide.
Magnus Grimond, journalist and financial correspondent, married to travel author Laura Grimond, and has four children.
Writings
The Liberal Future
The Liberal Challenge
The Referendum
The Common Welfare
Memoirs
A Personal Manifesto
The St. Andrews of Jo Grimond
Grimond was also a prolific writer of pamphlets: see the McManus biography for a complete list of publications.
