Another reason to why Lloyd George can be blamed is the Irish Free State, this was a disaster. Many Liberals were offended by the brutality and force used to suppress the nationalists for example the black and tans and dividing Ireland only caused more problems. He was not consistent with Ireland. His actions led to “endless bloodshed.” He lost a lot of support due to this partition and settlement. The Unionists resented this and so had lost support. As you can see again Lloyd George loses more support by making decisions that affects his support and does not think of them.
The honour scandal allowed people who made considerable donations to party funds were included in the honours list. Lloyd George thought that this was to raise as much cash needed, for such things as social reform. This was looked upon as a disgraceful way of trying to increase Liberal funds. It was also frowned upon by all the members of society. This was so scandalous and shocking the conservatives were disgraced by this action losing him even more support. Another reason why he lost support from the public was Geddes Axe. This overshadowed all of his achievements in social reform. He reduced expenditure in the army, navy, education, health services and council housing. He had promised “homes fit for heroes” and was now back firing on his promises. This was all to keep the conservatives happy as he knew that he would be losing support from the public. From this we can see that he does not have much care or respect for his public he just wants to keep the conservatives happy he seems a “prisoner of the conservatives.”
This links to him being a leader without a party. He was more of an individual and did not care less about whom he upset this carelessness lead him to lose support for the coalition. If he was not upsetting the coalition then he was doing something to lose support from the public and was not able to come with a comprise making both happy. He was only efficient during the war years after his decisions were not thought through properly for example the Middle-Eastern crisis here he had promise two countries the same piece of land. Also it was in his position that he sustains control as he was leader of a divided party, and was responsible for that division. You can see that all these reasons causes him to lose all his support due to his “silly” decisions and not making both the public and his own party happy he worked on his own not caring about the their opinion by this he was losing all his support and can be said to be the most important reason for the collapse of the coalition government.
Above, are the reason to why I agree with this statement but there are more reasons to why I disagree with this statement. One of the reasons why I disagree with this statement is because the coalition’s failings were so large that they wouldn’t have been able to stay in power and all the failings were not only the fault of Lloyd George, the whole party were involved also the party was only formed during the war and was intended only for the duration of the war it was not designed to be a peacetime government. As it did not have any policies or agendas for this type of government so it would be difficult for them to handle domestic issues so for them to get as far as they did is an achievement made by Lloyd George.
Another reason why I disagree with this statement is because it was said that Lloyd George lost support because of the Irish Free State but this is a political achievement as this requires negotiation skills and also contained the problem to a certain degree. The situation was difficult to appease both parties so he did the best he could to compromise between them, so this is the best possible decision he could make. So this can not be said as his fault as he did his best to compromise and there was always going to an upsetting of one side. This can not be said as a reason for him being the most important reason for the collapse of the coalition government.
Also many of the coalition’s failings overshadowed all of Lloyd George’s achievements these include his numerous social reforms, support for the suffragettes and his leadership during the war. In fact one of the main reasons that the coalition government swept the boards in the general election was due to the public’s confidence in Lloyd George personally. He gained public support a lot in the beginning and without this they would not have been in power. So he actually helped the public and with out making these improvements they would not have been such a thing a Geddes axe as they would have been much expenditures to be cut as he created them. Also one man cannot be blamed for the collapse of the whole coalition he may have been part of it but he is not the main reason as he did help the country but was not able to satisfy everyone.
One of the main reasons that Lloyd George cannot be blamed as Lloyd george was a Liberal and had to constantly try to please the Conservative, the coalition “was doomed from the start.” Whatever decision Lloyd George made he had to please the conservative as they won the most votes so this always had an affect on his decisions and so he cannot be blamed for his decisions that led into failings as a compromise had to be made pleasing both the public and the conservatives as it is a difficult choice choosing between your own party and your voters. Also there was always backbench pressure from the Conservatives and some were always against Lloyd George.
Altogether I do not agree with the question as Lloyd George tried his hardest to compromise between everyone and he was not the main reason he is responsible for some of the reasons but he cannot be categorised as the most important reason he helped the government and the public but had to disappoint them in some cases he did make some silly mistake like the middle-eastern crisis but that did not affect his country so this is not a reason for the collapse of the coalition government. Also when some of the coalition government never wanted Lloyd George to be in power there was always going to be a failure. Most the reasons for the collapse of the coalition government are their decisions and there affect on Lloyd George’s decision so finally I can say that Lloyd George is not the most important reason for the collapse of the coalition government in 1922
