There were many factors that contributed to the fall of Lloyd George. Some of these were his fault and some of these were ongoing factors that he had to deal with. He was a man without a party, a ‘new liberal’ where many had followed the old leader and were Asquith supporters. He was the leader of the coalition not for his liberal beliefs but his ability to lead. He was once an enemy of the conservatives but now led the coalition that was predominately conservatives, how would this work?
Some people were appalled by the softness of the Versailles treaty and appalled by the Irish settlement. One of his first obstacles was this treaty. People in Britain wanted it to be very harsh on Germans but he wanted it so that Germany could still be a big trading power in Europe. When it was signed many people changed their opinion and said it was too harsh but the conservatives, within the coalition still felt that it wasn’t harsh enough. So no groups in Britain felt satisfied with the way Lloyd George handled the treaty.
The incident of Chanak did much to harm Lloyd George’s credibility and further separate him from the conservatives. This was because Lloyd George displayed a pro-Greek stance against the Turks and many conservatives where pro-Turkey. More importantly the Prime Minister seemed to be risking war at a time of general war weariness in Britain. Many conservatives felt that this could have been solved peacefully without the threat of war and were heavily outraged by Lloyd George’s threatening response. A previous leader of the party, Bonar Law wrote a letter to the Times stating that “we cannot alone act as the policemen of the world”, this summed up what many conservatives felt at the time. Lloyd George also later supported the Greeks again ahead of the Turks in dealing with the situation in the Mediterranean, which furthermore angered the conservatives who had a good relation with the Turks. Some people generally disliked Lloyd George, his style of government or his ability to govern. The conservatives liked his ability to lead and saw him as a great leader but that was about it. Some did not like his style of government, or his political beliefs, if this was to continue, how would the coalition work in peace time? Some conservatives even said that he saw himself more as a President than a Prime Minister and that he saw himself up on the ‘highest pedestal’ in British politics, but one must remember he was representing a party that did not share his beliefs. He relied hugely on his own private unofficial advisers, which angered many people as it was seen very unconventional. This highlights the point that he sees himself as the ‘President’.
To many people Chanak was the last straw. Lloyd George unnecessarily seemed to be creating a war scare in order to create the right atmosphere to win the election. Chamberlain urged the backbenchers and the rest of his party to continue backing the coalition even though many of them were sceptical about Lloyd George’s ability. This was because Chamberlain felt that without Lloyd George they would not be capable of winning the next election.
Lloyd George was also considered corrupt and was accused of selling off peerages and honours for his own personal benefit. This hugely damaged his reputation and this and all the other aspects built up and resulted in the conclusion of the meeting at the Carlton Club in 1922.
There was clear discontent towards Lloyd Georges running of the coalition and this was clear in the meeting at the Carlton Club when a large majority, 187 to 87 voted that the conservatives fight the next election alone. These votes abolished the coalition and resulted in Chamberlains resignation along with Lloyd Georges not that much after. The people that voted against the coalition voted that way for many reasons. Some, such as Baldwin, were motivated by their dislike for Lloyd Georges running of the government and his style of government, which seemed to them corrupt. Some of the ‘diehards’ had been alienated by the softness of the treaty of Versailles and appalled by the Irish settlement.
Between 40-50 MP’s for rural constituencies were motivated primarily by the falling price of wheat. Many more disliked Lloyd George’s policy at Chanak and felt that he was no longer an electoral asset. The slump, high interest rates, high unemployment and violence in Ireland resulted in Lloyd George not being much of a vote winner anymore and was thus not needed. Instead he had become a scape goat for all the bad policies the conservatives had forced him to adopt which furthermore tarnished his reputation. This made sure he would have no future in politics. Class conflict played a big part in the collapse of the coalition and the fall of Lloyd George. The working class felt that their wages were too low, the middle class saw taxation as excessive, and this was all an impact of the war.
Due to the layout of the political party Lloyd George represented, a coalition of majority opposition to him and two other parties, it was very hard for him to keep everyone satisfied. This is clear as no decision Lloyd George made was agree satisfactory by all the parties of the coalition, this is obviously going to cause political problems. He had to govern during one of Britain’s toughest political periods, just after the Great War. This coalition and Lloyd George seemed to have inevitable failure written all over it. It is quite surprising that through all the problems economically and politically, all the arguments within the coalition that the coalition did not break down sooner.