John Hope (Liberal politician)

J.D. Hope

John Deans Hope (8 May 1860 – 13 December 1949) was a Scottish Liberal Party politician.

Family and education

Hope was born in Duddington, Midlothian, the son of the late James Hope of Eastbarns, Dunbar, a famous agriculturalist. In 1899 he married Elizabeth Holmes-Kerr whose father had homes in Glasgow and Underbank in Ayrshire. They had one daughter. His brother, Sir Harry Hope, 1st Baronet, was the Unionist MP for Buteshire. Hope was educated at Fettes College and Edinburgh University.

Career

By profession Hope was a chartered accountant and later became a stockbroker. Hope was also a Justice of the Peace in Haddingtonshire.

Politics

Hope first stood for Parliament at West Perthshire at the 1895 general election but could not remove the sitting Liberal Unionist MP Sir Donald Currie.

1895 general election: Western Perthshire

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Liberal Unionist	Donald Currie	3,379
	Liberal	John Hope	3,087
Majority
Turnout
	Liberal Unionist hold		Swing

However he was successful in being returned as Liberal MP for West Fife in succession to Augustine Birrell in the Khaki election of 1900

General election 1900: Fife West

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Liberal	John Hope	4,352	64.7
	Conservative	G W Ralston	2,374	35.3
Majority			1,978	29.4
Turnout			6,726	60.0	−12.2
	Liberal hold		Swing

Shortly after his election, Hope was described in Dod's Parliamentary Companion as a Radical who was opposed to Imperialism. This was shorthand for being opposed to the Boer War.

General election 1906: Fife West

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Liberal	John Hope	6,692	79.0
	Liberal Unionist	Nelson B Constable	1,776	21.0
Majority			4,916	58.0
Turnout			8,468	55.4	−4.6
	Liberal hold		Swing

General election January 1910: Fife West

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Liberal	John Hope	6,159	47.8
	Labour	William Adamson	4,736	37.7
	Conservative	G W Ralston	1,994	15.5
Majority			1,423	11.1
Turnout			12,889	73.1	+17.7
	Liberal hold		Swing

and he held the seat until the general election of December 1910 when he lost to the Labour candidate William Adamson the Secretary of the Fife Miners’ Association.

General election December 1910: Fife West

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Labour	William Adamson	6,128	53.0
	Liberal	John Hope	5,425	47.0
Majority			703	6.0
Turnout			11,553	61.4	−11.7
	Labour gain from Liberal		Swing

Return to Parliament

Hope did not have long to wait before getting the chance to return to Parliament as in 1911 the MP for Haddingtonshire, Richard Haldane, was made a Viscount and went to the House of Lords and Hope was chosen by the local Liberals to succeed him. In the by-election that followed Hope emerged the winner with 3,652 votes to the 3,184 of the Unionist candidate B Hall Blyth – a respectable majority of 468 (albeit a decrease on the last election of over 200).

1911 Haddingtonshire by-election: Electorate

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Liberal	John Hope	3,652	53.4	−1.5
	Conservative	Benjamin Hall Blyth	3,184	46.6	+1.5
Majority
Turnout
	Liberal hold		Swing

In his victory speech at Haddington Assembly Rooms, Hope said that East Lothian had been true to the cause of freedom, liberty and justice and had given a decisive verdict against the veto of the House of Lords (a reference to the ongoing struggle originating with the People's Budget of 1909 and the Parliament Act 1911. The result, claimed Hope, would strengthen the government against the forces of privilege and obstruction. It was a victory for self-government for Ireland, Home Rule for Scotland and reform of land law.

Haddingtonshire constituency was abolished in 1918 and Hope was adopted for one of its successor constituencies Berwick and Haddington. Hope was a supporter of the coalition government of Lloyd George Liberals and the Conservatives and he received the infamous government ‘Coupon’ at the 1918 general election, standing as a Coalition Liberal against Labour and Independent Liberal opposition.

General election 1918: Berwick and Haddington

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	National Liberal	John Hope	8,584
	Labour	R.W. Foulis	4,783
	Liberal	Harold Tennant	2,567
Majority
Turnout
	National Liberal hold		Swing

Out of Parliament

At the 1922 general election both the local Conservative and Lloyd George Liberal Associations repudiated Hope as their candidate on the grounds that he had not made a single speech during his 24 years in Parliament. He had not been completely anonymous however having served on ten Parliamentary Commissions and having seconded a number of resolutions, apparently without ever being called upon to speak. Arthur Balfour wrote Hope a letter of support under the impression he was still Lloyd George's nominee but he later retracted it. In the election Hope supported Bonar Law as an Independent Lloyd Georgian but there was also an official Lloyd George candidate, Major Walter Waring and an Asquithian, Mr H Pringle as well as R Spence for Labour.

General election 1922: Berwick and Haddington

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	National Liberal	Walter Waring	6,342
	Labour	Robert Spence	5,842
	Liberal	William Henderson Pringle	4,422
	Independent Liberal	John Hope	3,300
Majority
Turnout
	National Liberal hold		Swing

It was the end of Hope's Parliamentary career as Waring won the contest.

External links

• Hansard 1803–2005: contributions in Parliament by John Hope