A United Party candidate, he became an MP for Hillbrow in 1943 when Smuts was returned to power. In Parliament he was noted for the informed content of his speeches, particularly those on financial and treasury matters, and was admired by members on both sidesof the House for his quick repartee and cutting interjections and "brilliant presentation" of argument in support of press freedom. Friedman kept his seat until 1948 when Jan Smuts fell from power and the Nationalist Party under D. F. Malan took over Government. Dr Friedman saw the nationalists as doomed to failure. He said "The National Party has always had its back to the wall and so it has never been able to read the writing on it".
Stand against Apartheid, and Liberalism
In 1955, Friedman resigned his seat in protest against the United Party's refusal to pledge to the restoration of Coloured voters on the common roll. He defied the Party whip and challenged the failure of his leader and colleagues to oppose the apartheid government unequivocally. He stood as an Independent but was narrowly defeated by the UP candidate - from his own former party. Profoundly disappointed, he saw this as a defeat for liberal principles. When he resigned, he was already engaged in talks with those seeking a merger of the smaller opposition groups, into a non-racist opposition party. He then became one of the founders of the Progressive Party and was its leader in the Transvaal for 10 years. Helen Suzman was a protégé of his. C. Kaplan wrote in his obituary, "He was a man who saw the injustice of reducing the rights of South Africans of all races and was not afraid to say so".
Race Relations advocacy
He retired and became President of the South African Institute of Race Relations in which role he argued for a new constitution and bill of rights in a non-racial society. Dr Friedman wrote also on assimilation and his view was "it is a fundamental principle of every democratic state to permit within its borders a diversity of elements who are held together by a common bond of loyalty". He regretted there would be little future for liberalism in South Africa but saw the future as a clash between the Nationalist Party that introduced apartheid, and the Communist-dominated African National Congress. He was also the founder and chairman of the Prudential Building Society, Chairman and Director of Unisec Ltd., Unit Securities and Trust Company of South Africa Ltd., and numerous other companies. He was befriended by Princess Alice, Countess of Athlone, when the Earl was Governor-General of South Africa. He developed the township of Northcliffe, near Johannesburg. He was also a friend of Gandhi.
Personal Life
He was married to Florence Louie Friedman the satirist, translator of poetry, and publisher, the first publisher of Nobel Prize Winner, Nadine Gordimer who became her good friend, and South African secretary of PEN and good friend of the writer Rebecca West. It was at Dr. and Mrs. Friedman's house, "Tall Trees" in First Avenue, Lower Houghton, Johannesburg, that many anti-apartheid writers met. Dr. Friedman was the father of the writer and expert on terrorism, Jillian Becker and a son, Jonathan Friedman, who predeceased him.
