Because of the success of that coalition as an example of national unity, Lloyd George wanted to keep it together in peacetime and even extend it. He asked Labour to remain a partner and invited Asquith to join him as Lord Chancellor, which would have reunited the Liberals; both approaches were rejected. Lloyd George and Andrew Bonar Law, the Conservative leader, reached an agreement to safeguard the seats of candidates from the Liberal and Conservative parties who had the official support of the coalition. They were offered a letter of endorsement, the so-called ‘Coupon’, from the two leaders, which set out that such ‘Coupon’ candidates not to stand against each other. Lloyd George also told Liberal followers that if there was no Liberal ‘Coupon’ candidate in their constituency, then they should vote for the Conservative ‘Coupon’ candidate; Bonar Law instructed the Conservatives similarly. This helped to maximise the vote for coalition candidates and increased the number of seats won by them.
It was accepted by Bonar Law, that Lloyd George would be Prime Minister after a successful election. In fact, both in the War Government and afterwards, Lloyd George were dependent on the support of Conservatives MPs for his continuation in power. With the split in the Liberal party and the slow rise of the Labour party, the Conservatives had enough seats after the election to form their own government, had they wished. Interestingly, it has been said that the electors voted mainly for Conservative candidates simply because there were more of them pledged to support Lloyd George.
The Government had extended the franchise in the 1918 Representation of the Peoples Act, allowing more people the vote, as a ‘reward’ for success in the war, From then on, all men over twenty-one and women over thirty-one could vote for the first time rather than the property-based all-male electorate before the War. Lloyd George believed that he needed to offer additional benefits to the newly-enfranchised men and women of the country to win their votes. He therefore promised widespread improvements to education, housing, health and transport, to make Great Britain ‘a fit country for heroes to live in’.
However, Lloyd George misjudged the attitude of a very large part of the electorate, failing to realise that many people wanted revenge on Germany as well as the social improvements that he had promised. Although he initially spoke out against this, once he realised the need to change, he quickly revised his promises to include taking reparations from Germany to pay the entire cost of the war. However, he recognised privately that this was an economic impossibility.
Lloyd George’s election strategy was successful. One hundred and thirty-four coalition Liberals and 339 coalition Conservatives were elected as MPs, out of 707 seats. Seventy-three republican Irish MPs refused to come to Westminster, leaving the Conservatives with a majority had they wished to form a government.