David Lloyd George (17 January 1863 – 26 March 1945) was Prime Minister of the United Kingdom from 7 December 1916 to 19 October 1922, succeeding H.H. Asquith and preceding Bonar Law. He was the final Liberal Party prime minister.
Biography[]
Early career[]
David Lloyd George was born in Chorlton-on-Medlock, Lancashire, England in 1863 to Welsh parents, and 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 Second Boer War at a time when many Liberals were embarrassed by their hostility to the war. In 1905, Henry Campbell-Bannerman appointed him President of the Board of Trade. He rapidly established a reputation for competence and energy, and in 1908 he followed H.H. Asquith as Chancellor of the Exchequer.
Here he gained a crucial reputation poor 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.
Premiership[]
The statue of Lloyd George at Parliament Square
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 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.
Later career[]
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 program partly inspired by John Maynard 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 the Treaty of Versailles, he opposed the Munich Agreement, and supported British entry into the war in 1939. He refused office in Winston Churchill's coalition, as the latter wanted to make the offer conditional on Neville Chamberlain's agreement. He died in 1945 at the age of 82.