Cecil King on Lord Longford

Longford-a bigraphical portrait by Mary Craig published by Hodder and Stoughton £5.95p.

THOUGH this biography is short - only 200 pages - it must have been difficult to write. Frank Longford has appeared in so many roles that it is exceddingly difficult to present a coherent picture.
He was born the second son, and only inherited the family honours on the death of his elder brother in 1961. The family seat in West Meath was left to his eldest son Thomas, but we are not told about the 'very valuable Longford property in Dun Laoghaire. In the meanwhile Frank had been left two fortunes by relatives and has always been well off. He is very ready to say that he is proud to be an Irishman but, this claim is entirely bogus. He is very nearly pure English by descent, he was born in London, and has spent his life in England. His contact with Ireland has been the occasional brief holiday.

I went to school with his elder brother at Christ Church, Oxford. During that time Edward Longford caused a stir by speakking up at the Union in favour of the assasssination of Sir Henry Wilson. He was ducked in the college fountain, which seems a mild reaction, but Frank was "stirred to fury by such mindless persecuution." This did not mean that Frank was in favour of political assassination, that there should be tolerance for all points of view. It is this attitude that has made Frank one of the founders of the permissive society, which has resulted in easy abortion, sexual promiscuity, juvenile delinquency, and the mounting wave of violent crime.

Frank is, of course, passionately opposed to all these developments but he seems unable to forsee the further connsequences of his campaigns of tolerance. He is fond of saying that we must love the sinner while hating the sin. This is familiar Christian teaching but to an ordinary prison inmate love for the sinner must innevitably be interpreted as condonation of the sin.

Frank's political career began with two attempts to become MP for Oxford. Both times he was defeated by Quentin Hogg (now Lord Hailsham). It was as a reward for keeping the socialist flag flying in Oxford that in 1945 Attlee offered him a peerage (not a life peerage as is stated twice in this book) and a minor place in the Government. From this he rose to be - very briefly - First Lord of the Admiralty. During this period he was at logger-heads with both Attlee and Bevin in their attitude to the Germans which he thought should be more conciliatory. In Wilson's Government he became Leader of the House of Lords and for a short period Colonial Secretary. He resigned when the Government decided to postpone the raising of the school-leaving age. He noted with regret that not one of his colleagues wrote to express sympathy when he left.

It seems clear that during his period as a Cabinet Minister he had no influence on his colleagues, who resented the lectures he gave them on moral issues. A "holier than thou" attitude is never popular. The raising of the school leaving age was generally recognised to be a mistake when it finally took place. Before then, more and more children were voluntarily staying on at school, and it was far better to let this trend continue than to compel children who were anxious to be out and about in the world. The result of the compulsion' was increased truancy, and disruption of classes.

According to our author an important episode in Frank's life was when he joined the army at the outbreak of war. He was ranked 2nd Lieutenant but was unable to cope either with his fellow officers or with the ordinary chores of a military life. His health gave way and he left the army. He felt he had been 'humiliated and that this afterwards gave him a bond with the down-and-out who, also, had been humiliated.

Our author claims that in the latter period of the war it was Frank who was responsible for the publicity given to the

I, Beveridge report, I was working closely with Cripps at the time, the initial 'publicity was launched by the Daily

Mirror, and I never heard of Frank's which must have been insignificant.

It was while serving in the army that Frank became a Catholic though he did not tell Elizabeth his wife, until later. She, in turn, was converted some years afterrwards. Whatever else Frank is, or is not, he is a devout and zealous Catholic. It is this that lies at the centre of his life. I think his Catholicism would be accepted with more sympathy if he was not so anxious to make converts of even the most unbelievving people. He reminds me of the story of Mrs. Luce of Time who, at an audience with the Pope, was so eloquent on the glories of Catholicism that his Holiness felt compelled to say that he, too was a Catholic.

Frank's campaigns against pornography received a vast amount of publicity. I

joined one of his committees. But this whole affair was so little thought out and so badly organised that I resigned. I feel very strongly that pornography is highly damaging to society and hard porn would, in most periods of history, have led to the death penalty. But Frank's approach to this problem could only lead to publicity for himself and extra business for the pornographers.

Of course Frank indugles in so many campaigns - Anglo-German relations, Power Sharing in Northern Ireland, baby battering, sympathy for vogues of all kinds, inflation. You name it-he has attacked it.

Operating on such a wide front may be a tribute to his sympathies but ensures his political ineffectiveness. Our author says he was a successful banker because for a few years he was Chairman of the National

Bank. He devoted his time to getting to know the employees at the bottom of the ladder (which was not his job) but made no impact on the banking world. As an author he has showed the same fault as 2 politician -too many subject dealt with toe superficially. Books on himself (three), on Jack Kennedy, Jesus Christ, de Valera etc, can only raise a smile which broadens when one considers his book on "Humility," of which he can only have learned by hearsay.

There is little in this book about Eliza, beth but when you meet the partnership, il is Elizabeth who stands out. In intelligence in looks, and in achievement she comes easily first with dear Frank stumbling along in the rear. In fact I am inclined tc think that Frank's greatest achievemern was in persuading Elizabeth to marry him.