1221 David Lloyd George

Constituency : Caernarvon  Boroughs  1890-1945

There's  no  doubting  who  the  most  significant  arrival  during  the  1886-92  Parliament  was. By  the  time   David's  55-year  unbroken  stint  as  an  MP  finished  the  political  landscape  was  utterly  transformed  and  he  had  had  a  large  say  in  bringing  that  about. He  had  a  large  part  in  both  his  party's  greatest  triumph  and  arguably  the  nation's  yet  to  many  , including  the  late  Roy  Jenkins  he  was  the  principal  agent  of  the  Liberal  Party's  destruction. None  of  this  could  have  been  foreseen when  he  recaptured  Caernarvon  Boroughs  by  a  mere  18  votes  in  a  by-election  after  the  surprise  Tory  victory  in  1886.

David  was  born  in  Manchester  in  1863  to  Welsh  parents  and  learned  the  language. His  father  died  when  he  was  very  young  and  his  mother  moved  the  family  to  the  household  of  her  brother  Richard  Lloyd  in  rural  Wales. He  was  a  shoemaker, a  Baptist  minister  and  strong  Liberal. He  was  the  major  influence  on  David's  upbringing. Historians  tend  to  think  that  David  did  not  have  strong  religious  convictions  himself  but  a  strong  attachment  to  Welsh  Nonconformity  through  childhood  nostalgia. Richard  encouraged  him  and  his  brother  William  to  take  up  law  and  set  up  a  solicitors'  practice

David's  energies  contributed  to  the early  expansion  of  the  practice  but  his  mind  was  set  on  a  political  career. He  was  a  supporter  of  Chamberlain's  "unauthorised  programme"  in  1885  but  was  disappointed  that  the  Liberal  Unionists  were  offering  nothing  to  address  specifically  Welsh  grievances  and  so  stayed  with  the  Gladstonians. In  1888  he  helped   win  an  important   court  case  on  Nonconformist  burial  rights  and  it  was  this  that  secured  him  the  nomination  at  Caernarvon.

At  first  David  collaborated  with  a  group  of  Liberal  backbenchers  on  disestablishment, temperance  and  Home  Rule  for  Wales  but  when  his  proposals  for  a  merged  Welsh  Liberal  federation  were  blocked  by  David  Thomas  and  other  Welsh  Liberals  he  found  new  causes. He  came  to  prominence  as  the  fiercest  critic  of  his  old  hero  Chamberlain   and  went  on  the  stump  attacking  him  for  profiting  from  the  Boer  War which  he  denounced  as  unjust  and  its  conduct  inhumane. He  took  the  fight  to  the  dragon's  lair  speaking  in  Birmingham  where  he  had  to  be  smuggled  out  dressed  as  a  policeman. He  also  made  significant  interventions  in  the  debates  on  the  1902  Education  Act.

The  attacks  on  the  Boer  War  put  him  in  the  same  camp  as  the  new  Liberal  leader  Campbell-Bannerman  and  he  was  rewarded  with  a  place  in  his  Cabinet  as  President  of  the  Board  of  Trade. David  was  now  aware of  the  threat  posed  by  the  new  Labour  party  and  along  with  his  friend  Churchill  who  he  had  encouraged  to  defect  from  the  Tories  , argued  that  the  Liberals  had  to  outflank  them  on  social  questions  to  survive. At  the  Board  of  Trade  he  brought  the  Port  of  London  into  public  ownership  and  brought  commercial  shipping  into  line  but  most  significantly  headed  off  a  proposed  rail  strike  with  his  deft  negotiating  skills  which  considerably  enhanced  his  reputation.

In  1908  the  accession  of  Asquith  brought  his  promotion  to  Chancellor  of  the  Exchequer.  He  had  to  accept  the  Cabinet's  decision  to  build  eight  rather  than  four  dreadnoughts  but  this  only  made  his  1909  budget  more  radical  as  he  was  determined  that  plans  for  national  insurance  for  the  sick  and  unemployed  not  be  sidelined  by  the  military  expenditure. Thus  came  the  people's  Budget  increasing  income  tax  and  death  duties  and  introducing  new  taxes  on  land  ownership  and  a  super  tax. The  response  from  the  truncated  Tories  in  the  Commons  was  muted   but  the  Lords  were   outraged  and  defied  all  convention  by  throwing  it  out.

This  gave  David  and  Asquith  the  excuse  they  needed  to  take  on  the  Upper  House  who  had  been  frustrating  the  Liberal  reform  programme  since  the  landslide  victory  of  1906. While  Asquith  negotiated  with  the  King, David  went  out  on  the  stump  again   and  his  Limehouse  speech  upped  the  ante  in  the  same  way  as  Chamberlain's  "ransom"  speech  a   generation  earlier. The  general  elections  of  1910  allowed  both  the  passage  of  the  Budget  and  the  curtailing  of  the  power  of  the  Lords  but  between  them  the  King  demanded  the  parties  negotiate  and  during  the  negotiations  David  first  showed  that  he  might  not  be  the  party  man  that  others  supposed.

He  felt  that  he  could  broker  a  deal  between  the  parties  on  all  the  major  issues  dividing   them  including   Home  Rule,  the  Lords   and  Free  Trade  and  then  presumably  form  a  united bulwark  against  socialism. He  found  few  takers  for  the  idea  and  after  the  crisis  had  passed worked  on  the  National  Insurance  Act  1911  which  required  more  skilful  negotiations  between vested  interests.  He  faced  his  greatest  political  crisis  to  date  in  1913   when  he  and  two  other ministers  were  accused  of  profiting  from  holding  Marconi  shares  when  the  firm  won  a government  contract.  With  Asquith's  support  he  survived  but  his  reputation  took  a  bit  of  a hammering.

David  was  not  enthusiastic  about  entering  the  First  World  War  and  did  not  come  round  to  the  idea  until  the  invasion  of  Belgium. However  once  the  decision  was  made  he  was  single-minded  about  the  need  to  win  it. He  created  the  financial  conditions  necessary   with  his  war  budgets  but  began  to  hanker  for  a  more  direct  role  and  when  the  Shell  Crisis  of  1915  necessitated  the  formation  of  a  coalition  government  he  pressed  for  and  got  the  creation  of  a  Ministry  of  Munitions   with  himself  at  the  head. His  success  in  the  role  made  him  absolutely  indispensable  to  the  government  and  when  Kitchener  drowned  in  June  1916  he  replaced  him  as  Secretary  of  State  for  War. His  support  for  general  conscription  dismayed  many  of  his  fellow  Liberals  but  increased  respect  for  him  among  the  Tories.

With  Asquith  doggedly  refusing  to  give  the  conduct  of  the  war  his  undivided  attention, David  proposed  the  establishment  of  a  small  war  committee  headed  by  himself. At  first  Asquith  was  inclined  to  agree  but  when  a  newspaper  article  suggested  he  was  being  sidelined  his  attitude  hardened  as  he  believed  David  was  briefing  against  him  and  he  insisted  he  must  chair  the  committee  himself. David  resigned  precipitating  a  political  crisis  which  ended  with  he  himself  becoming  Prime  Minister   with  the  majority  of  his  support  coming  from  the  Tories  and  Asquith  de  facto  Leader  of  the  Opposition.

This  was  an  uncomfortable  situation  but  it  allowed  David  to  lead  the  country  to  a  satisfactory  conclusion  to  the  War  and  his  own  acclamation  as  the  main  architect  of  the  victory. The  leading  Tories'  continued  willingness  to  accept  his  leadership  led  to  the  momentous  decision  to  fight  the  next  long  overdue  election  as  a  coalition. David  neglected   to  ensure  that  enough  of  his  "couponed"  supporters  were  actually  Liberals , believing  his  prestige  would  overcome  party  differences. The  result  absolutely  smashed  Asquith's  Liberal  faction  and  left  the  Tories  with  a  majority  to  govern  without  David  and  his  "Coalition  Liberals"  if  they  so  chose.

David  was  able  to  enhance  his  prestige  by  taking  a  leading  part  in  the  Paris  Peace  Settlement   but  at  home  his  government's  attempts  to  introduce  social  reform  measures  were  defeated  by  economic  circumstance  as  the  government  was  forced  into  a  policy  of  retrenchment. David  had  to  sacrifice  a  key  ally  Christopher  Addison   as  a  result. The  government  was  also  forced  into  fighting  a  nasty  war  in  Ireland  and  although  he  was  able  to  negotiate  a  peace  settlement  which  in  part  still  holds  today  his  reputation  had  taken  a  bit  of  a  battering  through  the  means  of  securing  it.

By  1920   David  was  beginning  to  become  aware  of  his  precarious  personal  position  and  revived  his  proposals  for  a  Centre  Party  uniting  the  bulk  of  the  Unionists  with  his  Liberal  supporters. It  was  rejected  by  both  sides  , the  Liberals  still  hoping  for  reconciliation  with  the  Asquithians  and  the Tories  seeing  little  benefit  in  allying  with  a  group  who  were  losing  every  by-election  they  contested. David's  reputation  sunk  lower  still  with  his  cynical  sale  of  honours  to  build  up  a  personal  war  chest   which  so  offended  the  likes  of  Stanley  Baldwin.

In  1922  David's  rather  reckless  support  for  Greece's  war  with  Turkey  convinced  his  enemies  in  the  Tory  party  that  they  should  strike  now  and  they  carried  a  party  meeting  that  they  should  fight  the  next  election  by  themselves. David  rather  precipitately  resigned  as  the  last  Liberal  Prime  Minister,  perhaps  believing  that  his  close  ally  of  the  past  six  years  Bonar  Law  would  give  him  time  to  realign  himself.

Instead  Law  called  an  immediate  election  at  which  David  lost  two-thirds  of  his  parliamentary  following, a  personally  disastrous  result. He  then  went  on  a  tour  of  America. Law  died  and  David's  most  implacable  foe,  Baldwin  replaced  him. Believing  that  David  would  call  for  Protection  on  his  return  and  needing  to  bring  Austen  Chamberlain  ( who  had  supported  continuing  the coalition  )  back  into  the  fold  Baldwin  announced   his  own  conversion  to  the  cause  and  another  coalition. David  announced  his  continued  commitment  to  Free  Trade  and  his  willingness  to  serve  under  Asquith  in  a  reunited  Liberal  party.

The  election  rewarded  the  Liberals  with  158  seats  but  this  still left  them  in  third  place. Baldwin  hurriedly  resigned  to  avoid  coalition  talks  with   David's  party  and  Asquith  felt obliged  to  put  Ramsay  McDonald's  Labour   party in  power.  McDonald  was  hardly  less averse to  David  then  Baldwin  and  wanted  no  accommodation  with  the  Liberals  ; indeed  his  political priority  was  to  knock  them  out  of  contention. He  seized  the  first  opportunity  to  call  another election  in  1924  which  reduced  the  Liberals  to  40  seats.

The  reunion  was  now  exposed  as  a  sham  with  David's  former  opponents  trying  to  drive  him  out  of  public  life  at  whatever  cost  to  the  party. Asquith  tried  to  carpet  him  over  the  General  Strike  when  David  took  a  more  conciliatory  line  but  the  feud  finally  ended  soon  afterwards    with  Asquith's  stroke. David  was  able  to  win  control  of  the  party  machinery  thereafter.

He  immediately  used  his  money  to  commission  a  series  of  inquiries  in  order  to  build  up  a new  policy  portfolio  for  the  party. Some  of  his  old  foes  recognised  that  this  was  actually  the only  way  forward  for  the  party  and  fell  into  line. The  result  was  the  party's  1929  manifesto We  Can  Conquer  Unemployment  which  ensured  that  the  Liberals  made  the  running  in  the campaign   but  they  were  badly  served  by  the  first  past  the  post  system  and  ended  with  just 59  seats.

Nevertheless  this  left  them  holding  the  balance  of  power  and  David, now  incidentally  Father of  the  House ,  was  determined  to  get  a  better deal  from  McDonald  who  in  turn  was  a  little more  interested  in  staying  in  government  than  in  1924. Talks  seemed  to  be  making  headway with  a  deal  on  proportional  representation  in  the  offing. However  he  was  constantly undermined  by  right  -leaning  Liberals  led  by  Sir  John  Simon  who  wished  to  ally  with  the Conservatives  instead.

The  economic  crisis  of  1931  put  an  end  to   it  all. By  unhappy  chance  David  fell  seriously  ill and  the  negotiations  for  the  Liberal  party  had  to  be  conducted  by  Herbert  Samuel. David initially  approved  the  Liberals'  involvement  in  the  so-called  National  Government  but     furiously  opposed  the  calling  of  a  General  Election  to  ratify  it. He  fought  the  election  as  an  "Independent  Liberal"  opposing  the  government  as  did  those  MPs  related  to  him  but  no  one  else  followed  him. Four  out  of   the  five  retained  their  seats  and  reunited  with  Samuel's  hapless  band  when  they  returned  to  opposition  in  1933.

However  by  that  time  David  had  despaired  of  ever  returning  to  power  and  was  preoccupied with  writing  his  memoirs. In  1935  he  made  a  last  attempt  at  regaining  influence  ,by   launching  his  own  version  of  the  New  Deal  though  it  was  essentially  a  re-run  of  the  1929 manifesto. McDonald  indulged  him  by  letting  him  put  his  ideas  to  a  Cabinet  sub-committee but  the  Tories  effectively  vetoed  him  joining  the  government. He  and  his  family  group retained  their  seats  in  1935.

The  following  year  he  visited  Hitler and  expressed  admiration  for  his  domestic  achievements   in  an  article  for  The  Daily  Express  but  he  later  disavowed  his  support  for  appeasement  when Neville  Chamberlain  , another  implacable  foe , became  its  leading  adherent. His  last  effective contribution  in  Parliament  was  helping  Chamberlain  on  his  way  out  during  the  Norway debate which  ushered  in  Churchill's  government.

Churchill  offered  him  a  Cabinet  post  as  Minister  of  Agriculture. Whether  through  physical frailty  or  jealousy  of  his  former  junior  colleague  he  declined  the  offer  and  then  incurred  the government's  wrath  by  advocating  a  peace  deal  after  the  Battle  of  Britain. There  was  a  later suggestion  that  he  could  become  Ambassador  to  Washington  but  his  health  was  declining  too badly  for  that.

Besides  politics  David  had  one  main  interest  in  life  , namely  sex.  He  was  said  to  have  a prodigiously  large  member  despite  his  short  stature  and  was  nicknamed  "the  Goat"  for  his sexual  appetites. He  was  assisted  by  his  wife  Margaret's  refusal  to  move  to  London  and  he married  his  longtime  mistress  Frances  Stevenson  two  years  after  her  death  in  1941  despite opposition  from  his  children.

It  was  suggested  that  he  be  allowed  an  unopposed  return  in  1945  but  Labour  objected  that his  poor  health  had  already  disenfranchised  the  constituency  for  a  considerable  period  of   time. He  was  created  Earl  Lloyd-George  of  Dwyfor  on  New  Year's  Day  1945  but  he  never   took  his  seat  in  the  Lords,  succumbing  to  cancer  two  months  later  aged  82. He  was  buried near  his  boyhood  home  in  Llanystumdwy.