Radical Action was a political group within the BritishLiberal Party. It advocated for Liberal candidates to stand in elections despite thewar-time electoral pact.
The organisation was founded in 1941 as theLiberal Action Group. It included some prominent members of the Liberal Party who disagreed with the war-time electoral pact in which the Liberals,Conservative Party andLabour Party agreed not to stand candidates against each other. Initially, its leading figures wereLancelot Spicer,Honor Balfour andEverett Jones, whilePhilip Fothergill became treasurer andDonald Johnson was the first chairman.[1][2]
The group supported a wide range of policies; it was moreradical and lesslibertarian than much of the Liberal Party and accepted the need for government intervention. It strongly opposed theNational Liberal Party and any possible merger with it, and called for more internal party democracy, new party structures to revitalise the party, and for the party to stand as many candidates as possible at thenext general election.[2][3]
By 1943 the group had the support of 23 LiberalProspective Parliamentary Candidates. Johnson resigned from the Liberal Party to stand unsuccessfully in the1943 Chippenham by-election and was replaced by Spicer as chairman, then Balfour followed suit and only lost the1943 Darwen by-election by 70 votes. The group endorsedMargery Corbett Ashby as an independent Liberal at the1944 Bury St Edmunds by-election. Support for the group only increased within the party, with five MPs joining, includingMegan Lloyd George,Clement Davies, and newly electedWilliam Beveridge.[1][2]
The group dissolved in 1945 afterWorld War II ended and the electoral pact was discontinued.[2] Several former members assumed leading positions in the party; Davies became leader, Fothergill treasurer, and Lloyd George was later appointed as deputy leader.[4]