James Davidson (UK politician)

James Duncan Gordon Davidson (born 10 January 1927) was a British Liberal politician and farmer. He served as Member of Parliament for Aberdeenshire West from 1966 to 1970, when he chose not to stand again because of a family illness [Michael McManus, "Jo Grimond: Towards the Sound of Gunfire", (Birlinn, Edinburgh, 2001; p311)] .

Before politics

Davidson was an Aberdeenshire farmer by profession [Jo Grimond, "Memoirs", (Heinemann, London, 1979; p.229 ] but had served as a naval officer and had been naval attache at the British Embassy in Moscow. He had been educated at the Royal Naval College, Dartmouth and Downing College, Cambridge. In 2003, he published a book about Scottish Naval History, "Scots and the Sea: A Nation's Lifeblood" [Mainstream Books, Edinburgh ] .

Parliament

Davidson was selected to fight Aberdeenhire West for the Liberals. During the 1966 general election campaign one of Davidson's main policy points was the establishment of a development authority for the North East of Scotland (on the lines of the Highlands and Islands Development Board) [The Times, 22 March 1966 ] and he was a strong advocate on behalf of small farmers and of improving communications in remote areas like the Highlands by improving road links to the major cities [Arthur Cyr, "Liberal Politics in Britain", (Transaction Books, New Jersey, 1988; p112 ] . He also campaigned for better air and sea links with Scandinavia [The Times, 22 March 1966 ] .

Davidson was Liberal spokesman on foreign affairs and defence issues in Parliament, a particularly important brief given the ongoing war in Vietnam and the arguments over Britain's role East of Suez [McManus, op cit: p255] . In February 1967 [The Times, 18 February 1967] , he took a leading role in the opposition to the government's plans to raise fees for foreign students at British universities and introduced a Bill to give the people of Scotland and Wales referendums on devolution [The Times, 28 November 1968] . This was as part of the Liberal strategy to draw the sting of the increasing popularity of the Scottish National Party and re-establish the Liberal position on 'home rule all round' with the Scottish electorate [The Times, 7 February & 12 February 1969 and McManus, op cit] .

1970 general election

When Davidson stood down from Parliament his old constituency was contested at the 1970 general election by Laura Grimond, wife of Liberal leader Jo Grimond. It was felt that had Davidson stood again he would have held the seat proably with an increased majority based on his record as a strong local MP [The Times, 6 June 1970] ut despite Davidson's campaigning alongside Mrs Grimond, the seat was gained for the Conservatives by Colonel Colin 'Mad Mitch' Mitchell formerly of the Argyll and Sutherland Highlanders who had proved his personal bravery serving in Aden. Given the size of Mitchell's majority of more than 5000 votes, the loss of another Highland seat at Ross and Cromarty and even Jo Grimond's majority in Orkney and Shetland being reduced to its lowest ever total, the opinion of The Times reporter that Davidson would have held on had he fought again must be questioned. Overall the Liberal strength in the House of Commons fell from 13 to just six MPs.

Lost leader?

When Grimond stood down as leader of the Liberal Party in 1967 he apparently asked Davidson if he wanted to be a candidate for the leadership but Davidson reported that he thought Grimond had put this question to every one of the twelve MPs in the Liberal Parliamentary Party. He declined to stand himself and, with misgivings, voted for Jeremy Thorpe as the most experienced candidate ["Jo & Laura Grimond, A Selection of Memories and Photographs", (Orkney Liberal Democrats, Kirkwall, 2000; p42] .

With effect from 1 October 1970, Davidson was appointed to be chief executive of the Royal Highland and Agricultual Society of Scotland [The Times, 16 May 1970 ] and he continued in the post until 1991.

References

Other sources

*Leigh Rayment's Peerage Page
*"Who's Who" - OUP, 2007