Why did Lloyd Georgewin a great victory in 1918, yet fall from power only years later?

Why did Lloyd George win a great victory in 1918, yet fall from power only years later?

There had not been a general election in Great Britain for nearly eight years. The war was a very long and particularly brutal one and the British Government clearly needed a fresh mandate in readiness for the forthcoming peace negotiations.

Asquith was not an inspiring leader and before the end of the war, he was replaced by Lloyd George who had become the munitions minister. He was very dynamic and had the opinion that the Liberals had outgrown its original theories. Therefore, with the powers he had he set about on a course or radical change, he slashed bureaucratic red tape by requisitioning a hotel for his new ministry. He instituted a five man war cabinet for the first time, this cabinet was not full of friends or cronies but instead it had influential people like Conservative leader Andrew Bonar Law Lords Curzon and Mulner And probably the most surprising member was Jan Smuts the South African Leader.

Lloyd George had much to sort out, Britain’s food production was crucial but he resolved this by establishing a minimum wage for farm labourers and using prisoners of war, he started food rationing and licensing hours. He instigated a convoy system from America to U.K to stop the German submarines sinking too many cargo ships. This proved successful with less than 1% of escorted ships being sunk.

When the war had ended and a general election called Lloyd George tried to unite the Liberal Party by offering a key post to Asquith, he refused therefore the liberal party had well and truly been split. A coalition between the Conservatives and Liberals remaining loyal to Lloyd George was setup and this election turned out to be almost a one man show, it was classed as the coupon election after Bonar Law signed a statement of support. Lloyd George made claims that he would make the Germans pay for their wrong doings and he would provide homes fit for heroes however, when you look at the results of that election it is clear that Lloyd George only won because of the electoral system. The actual fact was more people voted against the alliance and Lloyd George than for them.

The 1918 election was won during a period of high optimism this led to too much being expected too soon. Lloyd George started well enough. A plan for developing housing was drawn up en extension of unemployment insurance and the abolition of the old poor law. Unfortunately the toll on Britain during the war starting to take effect, these programme were unsustainable the economy had been wrecked by the war; Britain had huge debts and was owed vast amounts by other countries which was never repaid. There was huge over investment in the staple industries i.e. iron and shipping ...

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As with any government even today, it is never a popular move to instigate cutbacks of any description. Lloyd George had to make substantial cuts and introduced the Geddes Axe. This was to affect everybody, the farmers were worst hit, as they no longer had a minimum price protection for their produce, this meant severe hardship for farmers and it led to the alienation of around 40 to 50 MPs who represented these people. The reconstruction industry also suffered severely, unemployment rose to nearly 700,000.

In industrial relations, Lloyd George fell fowl of the trade unions by refusing to nationalise the coalmining industry. Due to the fact, this was a coalition Government it meant that Lloyd George could not afford to ignore his backbenchers. This meant that the mines and the railways were returned to private ownership. It was only through Lloyd George’s intervention and powers of negotiation that he managed to split the coalminers from the main union alliance and advert a huge massive General strike that had blighted Europe.

In 1920 there was a short post war Boom in the economy, however it did not last for a long and when the boom collapse came it had a major impact on the economy and on the Lloyd George Government. Unemployment began to rise to over two million by 1921. The unemployment rate only fell below one million when the Second World War started in 1939.

With all the unemployed workers in Britain, the government had to prevent large industries such as coal, steel, cotton (the Staple industries) and smaller industries taking direct action against the government. Trade unions organised strike action so the workers could get more money and better working conditions. With these strikes, coming and going the government decided to introduce Unemployment Insurance which gave unemployed workers 75 pence a week for 15 weeks and if you needed further benefits they were also available this helped to relieve slightly the hardship on large families for a short time however this scheme did not bring back employment.

One of many major problems that Lloyd George faced was the Great Irish Problem. The Irish problem was all about the division between Catholics and Protestants. The Catholics wanted Ireland to be a Republic State, (free of English Rule) However, the Protestants wanted the opposite.

The I.R.A (Irish Republican Army) led a very violent campaign against the British Army in November 1920, which is known to everybody as “Bloody Sunday.” The government’s reaction to this massacre in which 1000 people were shot dead was to send in a Special Armed Force called the Black and Tans (referring to their uniform that they wore) to take the I.R.A head on, this tactic the Lloyd George took led to even more deaths in Ireland. With this in mind Lloyd George had to make the violence stop, so Lloyd George made the Anglo-Irish Treaty. This treaty was to spilt Ireland in two. The Northern (Northern Ireland) half of the country would be Protestant areas with a small minority of Catholics and the southern part of the country would be a catholic domain. This method to try to stop the violence in Ireland failed with lost more lives being taken, even today there is still large scale protest and there is still some violence. Many in Ireland hated this treaty. There ½ million Catholics were still under British rule, and many Catholics felt cheated by the British Government.

As with any Prime Minister, a successful and steadfast foreign policy is essential for success unfortunately, as we will see Lloyd George’s foreign policy was a complete flop. The famous Treaty of Versailles where we could have crippled Germany forever and almost certain made WW2 would never happen was a complete washout. Lloyd George was more content to reconcile France and Germany. The French were against at this. With this as the forerunner to his foreign policy, it was little wonder that the Chanak incident was a complete and utter disaster and it was only the Guile and intellect of the commanding officer General Harrington that stopped this from ascending into another possible full-scale war. As it was civil revolt in the area cost over 100,000 lives.

The sale of honours was a further cause of discontent of Lloyd George’s Government. Which made Lloyd George’s reputation tarnished and many conservatives, journalist and the public were questing his integrity. The sale of honours rose staidly and then rapidly after 1918. Anyone who wanted and OBE, Knighthood, MBE just had to pay ’The Going Rate’ the money did however, go in to Lloyd Georges government fund and then the money went to support the liberal party in 1920 for their campaign. Many other Prime minister had done this kind of thing before him but not on this scale. There was however, growing concerns about the style of leadership Lloyd George had adopted.

Many historians clam that Lloyd George was a great ‘War leader’ as well as a great prime Minister. When you look at his policies we can see that they were Conservative policies brought to fruition by Lloyd George, they were a complete failure and it was not surprising to see the Conservative party and the coalition Conservative party distance themselves from them and Lloyd George. It is fair to say that not everything was his fault, bringing a country back from war is never easy as we can witness from today’s world events he was probably the only politician capable of running the country at the time. Everybody was quite prepared to let him do it and support him UNTILL it all started to go wrong. Not much different from today really!!!