In 1945, Dorothy Crisp stood as an independent candidate for Westminster St George’s. She had stood in the Acton by-election in 1943, for which she was beaten to the Tory nomination by Henry Longhurst, the Sunday Times golf correspondent.
In 1944, she wrote Why We Lost Singapore, contending that the Japanese had taken the territory “because our politicians . . . look on Europe as the centre of civilisation”. A reviewer of her book The Path for England wrote, “Miss Crisp is a hard hitter: some of her blows . . . waste themselves in mid-air.” During the election, Crisp said: “Co-operation and comradeship between Britain and the dominions will see us through the difficulties that lie ahead.”
Stephen Brasher
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