Resisting the Centre at the Extremes: ‘English’ Liberalism in the Political Thought of Interwar Britain

Abstract

This article focuses on a current of liberalism which remained distinct from the progressive politics of the 1930s, and whose identity as such emerged in its attack upon political extremism, principally although not exclusively of the left. It took as its starting-point the articulation and defence of a unique English identity. In this form, it was not confined to the channels and spokesmen of organised political liberalism, but instead cut across the main ideological divisions of liberalism, conservatism and socialism. The article aims to challenge interpretations of the 1930s as a decade of agreement in political thought constituted largely of progressive opinion, emphasising instead the existence of a significant polarity whose force was as much apparent after 1945 as before.