William McKeag

William McKeag MSM (29 June 1897 – 4 October 1972) was a British politician, soldier and solicitor. His political affiliations changed over the years from Liberal to National Liberal, back to Liberal and finally to Conservative, but he never wavered from a fierce loyalty to his native North East of England and was described in his obituary in ''The Times'' as one of the North East's leading figures, a keen publicist for the area and for Tyneside in particular.The Times, 5.10.72

Early life and education

William McKeag was born in County Durham, the son of William McKeag Sr. of Carrville near Belmont. McKeag was educated at Belmont School, at Johnston's School in Durham and privately. Afterwards, McKeag qualified as a solicitor becoming a partner in firm of Molineux McKeag and Cooper, which had offices in Newcastle upon Tyne and Durham. He later became the director of various companies.''Who was Who''

Military career

McKeag was 17 years old at the outbreak of the Great War. He joined the army and served six years in France, Italy, Turkey and Russia.''Who’s Who of 475 Liberal Candidates fighting the 1950 General Election''; Liberal Publications Dept. 1950 p49 He fought with the White Russian commanders Anton Ivanovich Denikin and Pyotr Nikolayevich Wrangel and during his time in Russia, he became the youngest First-Class Warrant Officer in the British Army. During his service, McKeag was awarded the Meritorious Service Medal as well as two Russian decorations, the Order of Saint Stanislaus and the Order of Saint Anne.

During the Second World War, McKeag attained the rank of Major in the infantry and was Deputy Assistant Adjutant General.

Political career

Parliamentary career

At the 1924 general election, McKeag, who had reputation for being a witty and able debater was the Liberal Party candidate for Durham but lost to the Labour Party candidate Joshua Ritson who had held the seat since 1922. He fought Durham again in 1929 but was again defeated by Ritson. By the time of the 1931 general election however, the national mood was swinging against Labour. The crisis in the economy over the summer of 1931 which brought about the National Government of prime minister Ramsay MacDonald meant that McKeag fought the general election in October as a Liberal in support of the National Government, enabling him to take advantage of the public support for the coalition and win the seat by the narrow majority of 270 votes. When the Liberal Party led by Sir Herbert Samuel withdrew from the coalition in November 1933, McKeag refused to cross the floor into opposition with Samuel. He then associated himself with the Liberal National group in Parliament led by Sir John Simon at least to allow him to be the nominated National candidate at the 1935 general election, which he fought under the description Liberal National in a straight fight with the former Labour MP Joshua Ritson. Labour were confident of a political revival in 1935, attacking the government on domestic policy and the armaments programme insisting that a vote for the National Government meant a vote for war. Durham went solidly Labour with the party winning every seat in the county, including the Seaham constituency represented by Prime Minister Ramsay MacDonald.

Local politics

McKeag resumed political activity at a local level after losing his Parliamentary seat. He resumed his status as a Liberal without prefix or suffix and was elected to Newcastle City Council in 1936. He remained a member of the council for 25 years, during which time he was raised to the Aldermanic Bench, Deputy Mayor and was Mayor of the City twice, in 1951–52 and in 1953–54. In 1966, he was declared an Honorary Freeman of Newcastle.

McKeag still retained ambitions to return to Parliament as a Liberal but during the Second World War there was a truce between the main political parties which ensured that they did not oppose each other when by-elections occurred. In 1940 however the seat of Newcastle upon Tyne North became vacant on the retirement of Sir Nicholas Grattan-Doyle, the sitting Conservative MP. While the Liberals would not officially oppose the Conservative candidate, Sir Nicholas' son Second Lieutenant Howard Grattan-Doyle, McKeag was talked of as a possible Independent candidate for the by-election. However, the seat was successfully contested by an Independent Unionist, Cuthbert Headlam. In the event, McKeag did not stand, perhaps because like a large number of electors he found it distasteful to fight an election when the British Expeditionary Force was struggling to get home from the beaches of Dunkirk

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