Clement Davies

Clement Davies KC
Leader of the Liberal Party
In office 2 August 1945 – 5 November 1956
Deputy	Megan Lloyd George (1949–1951)
Preceded by	Archibald Sinclair
Succeeded by	Jo Grimond
Member of Parliament for Montgomeryshire
In office 1929–1959
Preceded by	David Davies
Succeeded by	Emlyn Hooson
Personal details
Born	19 February 1884
Died	23 March 1962(1962-03-23) (aged 78)
Alma mater	Trinity Hall, Cambridge

Edward Clement Davies, KC (19 February 1884 – 23 March 1962) was a Welsh politician and leader of the Liberal Party from 1945 to 1956.

Born in Llanfyllin, Wales, and educated at Trinity Hall, Cambridge. Davies was called to the Bar of England & Wales and was subsequently appointed a KC in 1923.

Davies was elected to the House of Commons in the 1929 General Election as a Liberal Member of Parliament (MP) for Montgomeryshire. In 1931, the Liberals divided into three groups and he became one of the Liberal National MPs supporting the National Government. He came under increasing pressure from his local Liberal executive and also his predecessor as MP Lord Davies who was President of Montgomeryshire Liberal Association, to move into opposition. In 1939, he resigned from both the Liberal Nationals and the National Government whip. In 1940, he was chairman of the All Party Action Group that played a significant role in forcing the resignation of Prime Minister, Neville Chamberlain.

In 1942, he rejoined the Liberal Party, becoming a prominent figure in the Radical Action group, which called for the party to withdraw from the war-time electoral pact and adopt more radical policies. Despite the fact that he had been absent from it for a decade, with lingering suspicions that his commitment to Liberalism was less than full, he became leader of the party in 1945 after Archibald Sinclair surprisingly lost his seat in the electoral debacle of that year that reduced the Liberals to just 12 seats in the House of Commons.

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