 Never a great party man, in March 1931 he tried to get the Liberal candidate at the by-election at Pontypridd, Captain G Crawshay, to make a public statement that as soon as the Labour government introduced what he described as any openly socialist measure he would vote to try and turn out the government.Rhys-Williams promised Crawshay that if he would make this pledge he would do his best to get the Conservatives to stand aside and support him in a straight fight against Labour.When Crawshay refused to agree Rhys-Williams came out in support of David Evans, the Conservative candidate in the by-election.