Wilfrid Hubert Wace Roberts (28 August 1900 – 26 May 1991) was a radical British Liberal Party politician who later joined the Labour Party. Personal life Roberts was born to Charles Henry Roberts, who became Liberal MP for Lincoln, and Lady Cecilia Maude Roberts, daughter of the 9th Earl of Carlisle; the artist Winifred Nicholson was his elder sister. He was educated at Gresham's School, Holt, Norfolk, and Balliol College, Oxford. A farmer, Roberts in 1934 and 1935 broadcast two series of talks, Living in Cumberland, on the BBC Home Service. He commissioned Leslie Martin to work on Banks House, near Brampton, Cumberland, in 1937. From September 1943 A. J. Ayer was a lodger in his flat near the House of Commons. Ayer had not previously known Roberts, and described him as "very tall, unmistakably English, quiet, with an undercurrent of strong feeling, cultivated and philanthropic." Roberts was also the owner of the Carlisle Journal newspaper, which ceased publication in 1969. He served as a Justice of the peace. Political career Roberts's first political involvement came as a district councillor. He described the tradition of Cumbrian local politics in an interview with Hunter Davies for A Walk Along the Wall (1974): There's always been a branch of the Howard family which has been radical. In this area three families have been running things for decades, the Howards, the Grahams of Netherby, and the Lowthers. I've tried to keep the anti-Tory tradition alive, fighting our traditional Tory rival families, the Lowthers and the Grahams. Election as Member of Parliament Roberts first stood for parliament, without success, for North Cumberland in 1931, losing by 1,277 votes. Roberts became a Member of Parliament (MP) for North Cumberland at the 1935 election, gaining the seat from the Conservatives. The Labour Party did not contest the seat, a tribute to his existing reputation as a radical. Sir Archibald Sinclair, the Liberal leader, appointed Roberts an Assistant Whip in the House of Commons, working under the Chief Whip Sir Percy Harris. Following on from his BBC talks on Living in Cumberland, Roberts was chosen by the BBC as one of their regular speakers on The Week at Westminster. An internal BBC memo in 1939 described Roberts as having a "pleasant manner". In June and July 1936, Dudley Aman, 1st Baron Marley and Roberts were in Budapest, negotiating on behalf of Mátyás Rákosi. Spanish Civil War At