David Lloyd George 1st Earl Lloyd-George of Dwyfor

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Lloyd George, David, 1st Earl Lloyd-George of Dwyfor (b. 17 Jan. 1863, d. 26 Mar. 1945). British Prime Minister 1916–22 Born in Manchester of Welsh parents, he was brought up in Wales after the early death of his father. Following his qualification as a solicitor in 1884 he worked in Porthmadog, where he became active in local politics for the Liberal Party. He was successful in law, and was elected as Liberal MP for Caernarfon Boroughs in 1890. A fiery orator, he rose to national prominence in 1899, over his virulent opposition to the South African (Boer) War at a time when many Liberals were embarrassed by their hostility to the war. In 1905, Campbell-Bannerman appointed him President of the Board of Trade. He rapidly established a reputation for competence and energy, and in 1908 he followed Asquith as Chancellor of the Exchequer.

Here he gained a crucial reputation for leadership, inventiveness, and success in difficult circumstances. His 1909 People's Budget introduced old-age pensions, with increasing demands for government expenditure being met by progressive direct taxation. He branded the resulting opposition by the Conservative House of Lords as an illegitimate attack of privilege against people, paving the way for the 1911 Parliament Act, which reduced the powers of the Lords. He was also responsible for the National Insurance Act of 1911, which instituted a scheme of insurance against ill health.

Originally at the Treasury at the outbreak of World War I, his energy was required at the Ministry of Munitions, where he went in May 1915. He ended the shell shortage on the Western Front, and by December 1916 his vigorous pursuit of war made him the obvious choice to take over from Asquith as Prime Minister. His War Cabinet was highly efficient, and Britain's recovery from near defeat is often attributed to his leadership. However, he failed to translate his enormous personal prestige at the end of the war into the badly needed invigoration of the ailing Liberal Party, which he split with his decision to continue working with his wartime Conservative coalition partners.

Having won the Coupon Election, he led the British delegation to the Paris Peace Conference of 1919, where he was a moderating influence on French demands for German reparations. Even more urgent was the need to find a response to Irish demands for independence. This was mostly granted in 1921 when southern Ireland gained effective independence as a Dominion, while Northern Ireland remained a part of the United Kingdom. Unfortunately, Lloyd George was increasingly perceived to be failing on his election promise of 1918 to build the ‘land fit for heroes’ that soldiers returning from the war had hoped for, and the Conservatives became increasingly disillusioned with his leadership. They disliked his personal style and increasingly failed to see why this Liberal should be so indispensable to the Conservative Party, which had a large majority in the House of Commons. Despite the loyalty of most Conservative Ministers, the party forced his resignation as Prime Minister in October 1922.

Deeply divided between the followers of Lloyd George and Asquith, the Liberals were unable to avoid being overtaken by the Labour Party as the second party in British politics. Following Asquith's retirement, Lloyd George became leader of a united party once again in 1926, but even his energy and inventiveness, which he displayed in 1929 through the adoption of a new political programme partly inspired by Keynes, was unable to regain the initiative for the Liberal Party. He opposed the Liberal Party's support of the National Government's decision to call an election in 1931, and after this led a small group of Independent Liberals in the Commons. Despite his sympathy with some of Germany's grievances arising out of Versailles, he opposed the Munich Agreement, and supported British entry into the war in 1939. He refused office in Churchill's coalition, as the latter wanted to make the offer conditional on Neville Chamberlain's agreement.

David Lloyd George, 1st Earl Lloyd-George of Dwyfor , 1863–1945, British statesman, of Welsh extraction. Lloyd George was a brilliantly eloquent, forceful, and creative statesman, but he was often unscrupulous and opportunistic in his methods and widely mistrusted.

Early Career

Elected (1890) to Parliament as a Liberal, the young Lloyd George soon became known as a radical and an anti-imperialist. He bitterly opposed the South African War . In 1905 he entered Sir Henry Campbell-Bannerman's ministry as president of the board of trade, establishing an outstanding reputation for his welfare reforms. In 1908 he was appointed chancellor of the exchequer by Herbert Asquith, later 1st earl of Oxford and Asquith . The rejection by the House of Lords of his 1909 budget, which provided for a system of social insurance partly financed by land and income taxes, led to passage of the Parliament Act of 1911, by which the Lords lost its power of veto (see Parliament ).

During World War I

In 1911, Lloyd George made his famous Mansion House speech, in which he warned Germany that Britain would not tolerate interference with its international interests. After the outbreak of World War I, Lloyd George remained chancellor until 1915 when he became minister of munitions. He was then (1916) minister of war before he succeeded (Dec., 1916) in ousting Asquith and formed his own coalition government.

Lloyd George immediately reorganized the structure of the government, creating a small war cabinet of five (which when attended also by representatives of the dominions and India became the Imperial war cabinet) and forming for the first time a cabinet secretariat. His war policy was bold and aggressive, and, although he was often at odds with the military leaders, he was largely responsible for the unification of military command under Marshal Ferdinand Foch . At the Paris Peace Conference (1919), Lloyd George exercised a moderating influence on both the harsh demands of Georges Clemenceau and the idealistic proposals of Woodrow Wilson , and to a large extent he shaped the final agreement (see Versailles, Treaty of ).

After the War

A general election in 1918 had given Lloyd George and his coalition a substantial majority, but he was heavily dependent on Conservative support. This fact accounts at least partially for the repressive policy he adopted in Ireland, although he finally concluded the treaty that set up (1922) the Irish Free State. In 1922 the Chanak crisis occurred, in which Lloyd George delivered an ultimatum to the Turks, who, having seized Smyrna from the Greeks, were poised to strike across the neutralized Straits zone. The Turks agreed to withdraw, but in Britain Lloyd George was accused of recklessness. The Conservatives withdrew from the coalition, and his ministry fell (1922).

Lloyd George continued to be active in Parliament and, despite the fact that he was disliked by many Liberals for his treatment of Asquith, served (1926–31) as the leader of the by-then shattered Liberal party. In 1936 he visited and was much impressed by Adolf Hitler, but he later attacked the policy of appeasing Nazi Germany. He was raised to the peerage only a few months before his death.

Bibliography

See his War Memoirs (6 vol., 1933–36; 2 vol., 1943) and Memoirs of the Peace Conference (1939); biographies by William George, his brother (1958), M. Gilbert (1968), and F. L. Lloyd George, his widow (1971); K. O. Morgan (1971) and J. Grigg (3 vol., 1973–85).

Lloyd George, David, 1st Earl Lloyd George of Dwyfor (1863–1945) British Liberal statesman, Prime Minister (1916–22). As Chancellor of the Exchequer (1908–15) he introduced old-age pensions (1908) and national insurance (1911). His ‘People's Budget’ (1909), intended to finance reform by raised death duties and other taxes, was rejected by the Lords and led to a constitutional crisis which was eventually resolved by the Parliament Act of 1911. Supported by the Conservatives, he took over from Asquith as Prime Minister at the end of 1916 and led the coalition government for the remainder of World War I. In the postwar period his administration was threatened by increasing economic problems and trouble in Ireland; he resigned in 1922 after the Conservatives withdrew their support.