Philip George Watkins (5 November 1930 – 1 June 1995) was an English accountant and

Liberal Party The Liberal Party is any of many political parties around the world. The meaning of ''liberal'' varies around the world, ranging from liberal conservatism on the right to social liberalism on the left. __TOC__ Active liberal parties This is a li ...

politician. He was for many years treasurer of the Liberal Party and during the 1970s had to endure both the spotlight of the media during the

Jeremy Thorpe John Jeremy Thorpe (29 April 1929 – 4 December 2014) was a British politician who served as the Member of Parliament for North Devon from 1959 to 1979, and as leader of the Liberal Party from 1967 to 1976. In May 1979 he was tried at the ...

affair and an investigation into the finances of the party under Thorpe's leadership.

Family, education and career

Philip Watkins was born in Bristol, one of a pair of twin boys. He was orphaned in childhood and he and his twin, Bob, and their brother David were looked after by an uncle and aunt. He read Greats at Brasenose College, Oxford and was both treasurer and president of the

Oxford University Liberal Club The Oxford University Liberal Club (OULC) was a student political club at the University of Oxford from 1913 to 1987. Initially formed from clubs called the Russell Club and the Palmerston Club, in its early years it also occupied premises in Oxfor ...

in 1951. After leaving university Watkins went into accountancy, running his own firm.

Religion

Watkins was a lifelong and committed Christian, a devout Anglican and a member of the Synod.

Politics

Parliamentary candidate

Watkins fought six

general elections A general election is a political voting election where generally all or most members of a given political body are chosen. These are usually held for a nation, state, or territory's primary legislative body, and are different from by-elections ( ...

as a Liberal between 1959 and 1974. He contested Bridgwater in Somerset in

1959 Events January * January 1 - Cuba: Fulgencio Batista flees Havana when the forces of Fidel Castro advance. * January 2 - Lunar probe Luna 1 was the first man-made object to attain escape velocity from Earth. It reached the vicinity of E ...

1964 Events January * January 1 – The Federation of Rhodesia and Nyasaland is dissolved. * January 5 - In the first meeting between leaders of the Roman Catholic and Orthodox churches since the fifteenth century, Pope Paul VI and Patriarc ...

, and 1966. Then he switched his attention to

North Dorset North Dorset was a local government district in Dorset, England. It was largely rural, but included the towns of Blandford Forum, Gillingham, Shaftesbury, Stalbridge and Sturminster Newton. Much of North Dorset was in the River Stour vall ...

which had been

Frank Byers Charles Frank Byers, Baron Byers, (24 July 1915 – 6 February 1984) was a British Liberal Party politician who later became a life peer and Privy Councillor. Background Byers was born in Wallasey, Cheshire. He was the son of Charles Cecil By ...

’ old seat from

1945 1945 marked the end of World War II and the fall of Nazi Germany and the Empire of Japan. It is also the only year in which Nuclear weapon, nuclear weapons Atomic bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki, have been used in combat. Events Below, ...

–

1950 Events January * January 1 – The International Police Association (IPA) – the largest police organization in the world – is formed. * January 5 – Sverdlovsk plane crash: ''Aeroflot'' Lisunov Li-2 crashes in a snowstorm. All 19 ...

. He kept the Liberals in second place on each occasion but never really got close to winning the seat.

Party official

However, despite his inability to get into the

House of Commons The House of Commons is the name for the elected lower house of the bicameral parliaments of the United Kingdom and Canada. In both of these countries, the Commons holds much more legislative power than the nominally upper house of parliament. T ...

, by 1973 Watkins was being described in the press as one of the party's most powerful men. Devotedly loyal to Jeremy Thorpe, Watkins stayed unswervingly Liberal and took on other responsibilities in the party. In 1969 he was chairman of the party's finance and administration board before being elected treasurer of the party, in which capacity he served from 1972–77. He was vice-president of the Liberal Party from 1977 until the merger with the SDP in 1988.

Treasurer

By most accounts, Watkins was an effective treasurer, applying rigorous discipline to the party's expenditure and accounting. The problem Watkins had was that he was never made fully aware of all the income to the party and in particular to certain special funds arranged by Jeremy Thorpe, the details of which were the subject of a special investigation by the party. However it has been alleged that Watkins' approach to this issue was to accept the status quo rather than probe too deeply and run the risk of finding out what was under the stones. A more charitable explanation was that Watkins found it hard to accept that Liberals, especially those to whom he had given his loyalty, did not share his own high standards. It also seems that Watkins disliked the process of raising funds for the party, particularly from business and business people. One senior party official who worked closely with him recalled that Watkins loathed fund-raising and had once sent back a cheque enclosing a rare and unsolicited donation from the company

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with a statement that the Liberal Party did not accept contributions from business.

Other appointments

Watkins was member of the

National Liberal Club The National Liberal Club (NLC) is a London private members' club, open to both men and women. It was established by William Ewart Gladstone in 1882 to provide club facilities for Liberal Party campaigners among the newly enlarged electorate ...

for many years, having first joined as an undergraduate. He was elected a vice-chairman of the Club not long before his death. He served on the executive of the London Liberal Party, being elected president in 1987. He also took on roles in

Liberal International Liberal International (LI) is a worldwide organization of liberal political parties - a political international. It was founded in Oxford in 1947 and has become the pre-eminent network for liberal parties, aiming to strengthen liberalism aroun ...

, the Liberal Parliamentary Candidates Association and the

Electoral Reform Society The Electoral Reform Society (ERS) is an independent campaigning organisation based in the United Kingdom which promotes electoral reform. It seeks to replace first-past-the-post voting with proportional representation, advocating the single t ...

. He was a founder member of the Liberal Friends of Israel.

Death

Philip Watkins died aged 64 years at

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Clapham Common Clapham Common is a large triangular urban park in Clapham, south London, England. Originally common land for the parishes of Battersea and Clapham, it was converted to parkland under the terms of the Metropolitan Commons Act 1878. It is of g ...

on 1 June 1995. He was unmarried and had been cared for during his illness by his brothers.The Guardian, 9 June 1995

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Watkins, Philip George 1930 births 1995 deaths Liberal Party (UK) parliamentary candidates Politicians from Bristol Alumni of Brasenose College, Oxford