SHIRLEY WILLIAMS bowed out of frontbench politics yesterday with an appeal to Liberal Democrats not to abandon social justice for the sake of pure liberal economics.
In a brief and entirely unsentimental speech, Baroness Williams of Crosby, 74, made only one fleeting reference to her role as one of the Gang of Four, who left Labour to set up the SDP in 1981.
Evoking the old SDP slogan Lady Williams, who is standing down as Lib Dem leader in the Lords, ended her valedictory conference speech saying: “The mould may not yet be broken, but the crack is dramatically widening.”
She preceded this by urging the party to see Labour and the Conservatives as political targets, a reference to claims that some so-called economic liberals want to enhance the party’s appeal to Tory voters.
Lady Williams said that market economics must be embedded in a society’s political and legal system and be accompanied by a belief in the value of each human life or risk becoming “a jungle in which power replaces law”.
She pointed to post-Soviet Russia in the 1990s, saying that a free market without independent courts and accountability consigned millions to extreme poverty and made a few incredibly rich.
“We must always bear in mind our commitment to social justice, rooted in the radicalism of a Lloyd George and the political compassion of a William Beveridge,” Lady Williams told the conference.
She criticised Tony Blair over Iraq, which she called the greatest diplomatic blunder since Suez, over failing to make progress on peace in the Middle East and for not taking seriously his accountability to Parliament and the people.
“Governments must be held to account. If they are not, democracy itself fades away,” she told the conference.
Her speech was given a warm standing ovation.
Lord McNally, her deputy, is tipped to replace her as leader of Lib Dem peers. Lord Wallace of Saltaire and Lord Dholakia are among those expected to stand as the party’s new deputy leader in the Lords.