Asquith, Herbert Henry, 1st earl of Oxford and Asquith

Asquith, Herbert Henry, 1st earl of Oxford and Asquith (1852–1928). Prime minister. Between 1908 and 1914 Asquith enjoyed an outstanding record, pushing through a series of major constitutional and social reforms. But he had less success as a wartime premier from 1914 to 1916, and his reputation declined during the undignified period of infighting within the Liberal Party from 1918 to 1926.

Asquith's early life was spent in Morley and Huddersfield where his relatives were minor employers in the woollen trade. He soon left these modest origins behind and advanced by means of a scholarship to Balliol College (1870), to the bar, and to a safe seat in Parliament—East Fife—which he held from 1885 to 1918. His first wife Helen, by whom he had five children, died in 1891, and when he remarried in 1894 it was to a very different character, Margot Tennant, the daughter of a wealthy Scots chemicals magnate. Margot was a terrible snob who insisted on calling her husband Henry not Herbert, and described him as ‘incorrigibly middle‐class’.

Though his attendance at Westminster was restricted by the need to maintain his legal income, Asquith's abilities were quickly recognized. His systematic working habits and skill in mastering a brief made him a formidable parliamentarian. In 1892 Gladstone gave him the vital experience as home secretary which placed him in line for the premiership. Subsequently, however, Asquith's career entered the doldrums for a time. In 1898 he declined the chance to lead the Liberals in the Commons, largely for financial reasons. Worse, Asquith became associated with the Liberal Imperialist cause during the South African War which detached him from the mainstream of the party. However, between 1903 and 1905 he worked his passage back into favour by championing free trade against the protectionism propagated by Joseph Chamberlain. When offered the Exchequer in December 1905 he quickly accepted.

Asquith proved to be one of the most important, innovative chancellors of modern times. He made it compulsory to provide an annual return of income to the Inland Revenue; he drew up the scheme for non‐contributory old‐age pensions; and he prepared the ground for the ‘People's Budget’ of 1909 by forcing the Treasury to abandon its opposition to a supertax on incomes above £5,000.

When Campbell‐Bannerman retired in 1908 Asquith seemed to be the natural successor as prime minister. He presided over a highly talented cabinet, and was never afraid to promote able and ambitious men like Lloyd George and Winston Churchill. As premier Asquith played a key role in supporting Lloyd George's 1909 budget against criticism in the cabinet. As a result of the ensuing controversy he led the Liberals through two general elections in 1910 and ultimately resolved the problem that had hampered them since Gladstone's days; the 1911 Parliament Act curtailed the powers of the House of Lords and excluded it altogether from financial legislation.

The outbreak of war brought further proof of Asquith's skills. Against expectations he succeeded in taking his cabinet to war with only two resignations. But his cold, legalistic temperament was not well suited to the emotional atmosphere of wartime. Asquithian cabinets—during which the prime minister often wrote long letters to Venetia Stanley, a young woman with whom he was infatuated—were protracted and inconclusive. But he was unlucky that neither the generals nor the admirals proved capable of scoring a military victory. His decision to form a coalition government with the Conservative and Labour parties in May 1915 was the beginning of the end for Asquith. Increasingly the Liberals began to blame him for right‐wing policies like conscription. When presented with an ultimatum by Bonar Law and Lloyd George in December 1916, he misjudged his strength by resigning. The result was a new coalition under Lloyd George and a split in the Liberal party. This led to the disastrous ‘coupon’ election in 1918 in which Asquith lost his seat and the Liberals were displaced by Labour on the opposition front bench. Though he achieved a comeback by winning a by‐election at Paisley in 1920, he was by then a negative force, intent upon keeping the party out of the hands of Lloyd George. He finally surrendered the leadership in 1926.