Asquith by Roy Jenkins Page B

the intellectual attraction of a subtle and cultivated mind. But his political outlook was basically different from that of the group. They were social reformers. Haldane, Acland and Ellis were all deeply interested in education; Buxton, who sat for Poplar, was much concerned with sweated labour and housing; and Asquith shared the interests of his friends. On all these matters Morley’s outlook was strictly Gladstonian. His concern with what his chief rather incredulously and distastefully described as “ construction ” was always minimal.
    In addition the group soon began to develop imperialist leanings. They were as opposed to Little Englandism abroad as they were to a purely negative Liberalism at home. In Haldane’s case, and to some extent in Asquith’s too, this sprang from the nature of their legal practices. They were much involved in arguing Colonial appeals before the Privy Council. This gave them a close interest in the systems of government and practices of life in what Dilke had called Greater Britain; and it divided them sharply from Morley, who was every bit as much of a Little Englander as Harcourt. It also made them draw closer to Lord Rosebery, who was their other favourite guest at the Savoy Hotel or National Liberal Club dinners, and who had been an active participant in the affairs of the Imperial Federation League since soon after its inception in 1885. In 1889 Asquith joined the League, and provoked some further displeasure. “ Spencer was very angry about Asquith joining the Imperial League,” Harcourt wrote, “ and said he was greatly disappointed in him.” h
    Haldane and Asquith also organised a series of dinners which, while still rigidly masculine, were less austerely political in purpose than those of the Articles Club. These took place annually at the Blue Posts inn, off Cork Street, and the normal practice was for the two hosts to invite four prominent politicians, and four other men who were eminent for other reasons. Rosebery recorded in his diary for an evening in 1889: “Dined with Asquith and Haldane at the Blue Posts. Sate (sic) next A. Balfour. Took John Morley on to the National Liberal Club Reception.” i Other politicians who attended included Chamberlain, Randolph Churchill, Grey and Carson. Amongst the non-politicians were Bowen, Burne-Jones, Alfred Lyall and Russell Lowell. These dinners continued until 1892. They indicated both that the hosts had a parliamentary position which enabled them to command the attendance of important guests and that they were anxious to enlarge their social circle. In Asquith’s case, in particular, there was room for this. Throughout the late ’eighties he continued to live quietly in Hampstead, although in 1887 he moved to a larger, more modern, less attractive house at 27, Maresfield Gardens, off Fitzjohn’s Avenue. He was a figure of note in the House of Commons, but he moved in no general society. Almost the only women he knew were the wives of his Oxford and legal friends, a restriction made greater by the fact that so many of these friends were bachelors.
    Asquith’s practice at the bar, as already indicated, benefited rather than suffered from his election to Parliament. But it took no bound forward during his first few years in the House. Since his call he had been a member of the North-Eastern circuit, which was centred on Leeds and which he had chosen, there being no obvious alternative, on the slender ground of his old Yorkshire connection. He had always been a half-hearted circuit-goer, for he had no taste for the criminal and jury work which it involved; and, particularly after his election, his practice was almost entirely in London and on the civil side. Much of his work was in the appellate courts. It was an unexciting, moderate sized, high quality practice. In 1888 he began to take pupils, and one of the first, John Roskill, later a judge, recorded that “ before he took Silk in 1890 he was not in a very large practice