Domestic issues were also an important part of the fall of the coalition. The failure of reconstruction after the war made a large majority turn against the coalition and David Lloyd-George. During the war Britain lost many international markets, and substantial debts were incurred, especially to the USA. In December 1920 unemployment climbed from 300,000 to 700,000 and by June 1921 it soared to 2 million unemployed. The demobilisation of millions of men and absorbing them into the peacetime economy proved very difficult – the national economy was crippled by war debts and it was not easy to switch the war economy back to peacetime conditions. In 1921 Lloyd-George appointed Sir Eric Geddes to head a committee examining government spending. Geddes proposed spending cuts of £86 million - most notably in areas of education and public health. However Lloyd-George managed to reduce the cuts to £64 million, the “Geddes Axe” severely limited the post war social reforms, leaving many working class voters feeling that the promise of a “land fit for heroes” had been betrayed. This lost Lloyd-George many supporters and voters. The problem of Ireland is arguably one of the toughest problems that faced the coalition. The 1912 Home Rule Bill was due to become law, however was postponed due to the outbreak of war. The way in which the men of the 1916 Easter Rising were dealt with by the British angered many members of the public and intensened the situation as they were regarded by martyrs and heroes by many in Ireland. British rule was directly challenged by the Sinn Fein MP’s refusing to attend Westminster and setting their own parliament in Dublin – the Dail. Escalating violence led to the outbreak of the Anglo-Irish was in 1919, a conflict to continue until 1921. Lloyd-George attempted to deal with the conflict using a mixture of repression and reform – he deployed the “Black and Tan’s” – ex-service men – which gained a reputation for ruthlessness, but they were unable to eliminate the IRA. In 1920, Lloyd-George passed the Government of Ireland Act, portioning Ireland to preserve Unionist rule in the North and to allow autonomy to the Catholic nationalist South – this angered the Conservatives as they wanted Ireland to remain under British control, and the Liberals who wanted freedom for the Irish. A council of Ireland would be set up to bridge relations between the North and South. Ulster nationals accepted, and the Province of Northern Ireland was created, however the Sinn Fein wanted independence for the whole of Ireland and rejected the Act. Thus the continuation of the Anglo-Irish war, until it reached a stalemate in 1921 and Lloyd-George proposed the Anglo-Irish treaty, Ireland would become a self-governing dominion of the British Empire, known as the Irish Free State. This is now regarded as a remarkable achievement by Lloyd-George, however at the time it was regarded as a failure by the public and many MP’s.
Foreign Policies are another important factor to consider when regarding the downfall of Lloyd-George. After the end of the first world the allies had to come up with a way to ensure peacetime. From January to June 1919 Lloyd-George was involved in talks in Paris trying to draw up peace treaties with Germany. The opinion on what was best was divided within the coalition was divided, in April 1919 233 Conservative MP’s signed a telegram expressing their fear that the treaty would be too lenient – expressing the opinions of many. However the Liberal opinion was that Versailles was too harsh. Lloyd-George believed that Europe was a single economic unit and that if Germany was impoverished by reparations then the whole of Europe would suffer, and this idea is reflected in the treaty. Lloyd-George’s foreign policy 1919-22 was designed to reconcile France and Germany and to bring the Soviet Union back into world affairs. However Lloyd-George’s policies did not work – he could not overcome French resentment of Germany or the Isolation of the US in world affairs. Perhaps Lloyd-George’s greatest error in foreign policy came with the Chanak incident of 1922, which did much to determine the timing of his fall. He had helped to negotiate the Treaty of Sevres with the Turks – as a result most of the Ottoman Empire had been dealt out between European countries such as France, Italy and Britain. Turkey wanted the area of Smyrna back from the Greeks. Britain, France and Italy backed Greece in its stand, but backed a loser – the Turks massacred 100,000 Greeks in Smyrna. The Turks pushed on to Chanak (which was under British control) – and guarded by French and British troops. The Conservatives were angered by Lloyd-Georges pro-Greek policy as they were traditionally pro-Turkish. Lloyd-George seemed to be risking was at a time of war-weariness in Britain. The Daily Mail’s headline read “Get Out of Chanak” – addressed to Lloyd-George, however he was determined to stay. The cabinet commanded General Harrington to present the Turks with an ultimatum to withdraw their forces; instead Harrington negotiated and signed a pact with the Turks, avoiding another war. Chanak did Lloyd-George and the coalition much harm, public opinion was summed up in a letter Andrew Bonar-Law wrote to The Times “We cannot act alone as policemen of the world”.
The Conservatives played an important part in the downfall of Lloyd-George. It is important to remember the Lloyd-George was a Liberal MP in a mainly Conservative coalition (335 Conservatives and only 133 Liberals). He was a “Prime Minister without a party.” Lloyd-George often had to adopt and please the Conservatives because they were his main support in government. The failure of fusion played a part in Lloyd-George’s downfall. He attempted to create a “fusion” of Left and Centre Conservatives and Liberals to create a centre party in British politics. The Conservatives and the Liberals had worked together for 5 years, and the Conservatives wanted to stay in the coalition because they felt they couldn’t act as a single party – they had lost confidence in themselves having not won an election since 1902. In March 1920, 95 Conservative MP’s petitioned for development of the Coalition into a single political party; what Lloyd-George wanted. However he couldn’t persuade his own party – the coalition Liberals that they should join the “fusion”. There was little support among rank and file party members in the constituency for this. With the failure of fusion, Lloyd-George was dependant on support from the Conservatives for the coalition to continue. Andrew Bonar-Law was the Conservative leader, and Bonar-Law and Lloyd-George worked together well and meant that the relations with the Conservatives were fairly good. However in 1921, Bonar-Law resigned as Conservative leader, but remained as an MP. Austin Chamberlin was the next Conservative leader, and was a very different leader to Bonar-Law. He was critical of Lloyd-George, and was only happy to support him until the next election as it was essential to keep labour out of office, and the Conservatives in power. The Carlton Club meeting of 1922 was the final for Lloyd-George. It was called by Austin Chamberlin in October 1922, as a meeting of Conservative MP’s. The meeting was called to discuss the Conservatives would remain in Government as part of the Coalition under Lloyd-George, or carry on as a separate party. They planned to drop Lloyd-George as Prime Minister if they were re-elected. Key speeches were given by Stanley Baldwin and Lloyd-George’s former partner Andrew Bonar-Law. The Conservatives finally voted to fight the next election alone. Within a few hours of their vote, Lloyd-George resigned and the coalition ended.
Lloyd-George’s actions and attitudes did play an important role in his downfall as it lost him many supporters and gained him reputations as not being completely orthodox and honest – nicknamed “The Goat”. However arguably the domestic issues were the most important reason for his fall as they influenced voters and angered MP’s. The Irish issue angered both the public and left Lloyd-George feeling a failure; it split the Conservatives and Liberals on his action surrounding the Irish Question. The failure of reconstruction, unemployment and economic despair left many voters feeling let down by the coalition and Lloyd-George after his promise for a “Land fit for heroes”. The “Geddes Axe” left many cuts in the public sector – especially education and public health – things directly affecting voters. This made the public angry, and lost Lloyd-George many supporters. Lloyd-George was well respected and known as the “man who won the war”, however once the war was over he found it harder and harder to govern with public support. In the end Lloyd-George fell because of broken promises to the public and lack of support.