Lloyd George formed the Coalition Government in 1916 as a leader of the Liberal Party, in forming this new Government he split his own Liberal Party. Lloyd George took over Herbert Asquith’s role of Prime Minister in 1918, however Asquith remained leader of the Liberal Party. Whether Lloyd George survived or not in the political jungle, depended on the co-operation of the Conservatives. It was the leading Conservative M.P.’s vote he was relying on to maintain himself in office. However Lloyd George won election in emphatic style, winning over a huge majority of the British public. Lloyd George’s election looked to be a crucial and promising part of Britain’s future.
Lloyd George’s fall from power may have been due to several reasons. Towards the end of his time in office he lost support incredibly. He was said to have aroused every feeling in the British nation but trust. “In all of his greatest acts there was an element of self-seeking.” Lloyd George was dynamic but ruthless. He was not worthy of trust and he lacked stability, the Conservative Party repudiated him. To be fair to Lloyd George he faced problems of mammoth proportions. He was hailed to be “The Man who won the War” yet other problems would arise that would threaten his position as Prime Minister. Social and economic problems were probably Lloyd George’s long-term thorn in his side. World War 1 had left huge problems for him, war loans to Great Britain were not being paid by Russia and neither were our ones to America. By 1921 there were signs that unemployment might be more of a long-term cyclical nature, all this became a huge economic problem that faced Lloyd George. The World War left a devastating aftermath on Britain; 745,000 Britons were killed, 3.5 million people were now receiving war pensions, markets were lost to Britain, debts incurred to the U.S.A. and were relying on payment from Russia. In fairness Lloyd George couldn’t have come into power at a worse time depending on how you look at it. He might have seen it as the best opportunity possible, to revive a nation and bring it from the depths of a possible depression and become a national hero, Lloyd George did do this however his success was indeed short-term.
Industrial unrest also posed huge threats to Lloyd George and more importantly the Government. Syndicalism, the French idea that a General Strike of big enough proportions could bring down and cripple a Government, was always possible. The Tripple Alliance formed by rail workers, miners and factory workers set out to improve better hours and wages for these workers.
Lloyd George’s main aim would have been to sort out the situation abroad. With the uncertainty hanging over Germany, the crisis in Chanak and the situation in Ireland, Lloyd George didn’t have much of a chance to rescue the situation. After the embarrassment of Chanak came Ireland Things are being done in Ireland that would disgrace the blackest of annals of the lowest despotism in Europe
Conclusively I think that the sheer amount of endless problems Lloyd George had to face finished him off These problems almost single handedly decided his fait as Prime Minister
