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Home , Bonar Law, Herbert Asquith (poet), John Major, Margot Asquith, War Cabinet

Asquith and the Liberal Legacy

A hundred years ago, in April 1908, Herbert Henry Asquith became Prime Minister. In this lecture, given in the Convocation House, Oxford, on 15 May 2008 to mark the centenary of the formation of Asquith’s administration, Lawrence Goldman assesses Asquith’s record. If we admire Asquith’s constitutional and reforming legacies from the Edwardian years, we must likewise recognise the role that he played in a third and less benign bequest to the future, which was to have an enduring impact on the politics of the century to come: the decline of Asquith as Prime the Liberal Party. Minister, 1911

4 Journal of Liberal History 61 Winter 2008–09 Asquith and the Liberal Legacy

ne hundred years well as some politicians, had Edwardian progressivism that he ago, on 8 April already recognised the need to tried to perpetuate throughout 1908, Herber t support the aged poor. But, in his own political career. Jenkins’ Henr y Asquith the spring of 1908, the introduc- discretion was so complete that, kissed hands in tion of a new type of ‘outdoor at the end of his account, he could theO King’s hotel room in Biar- relief’, a national benefit paid not bring himself to sum up and ritz where Edward VII was then without contribution, broke all pass judgement on Asquith’s life holidaying. Asquith had trav- precedent. No single measure as whole. Jenkins gave Asquith elled across France alone and better exemplifies the Edward- the benefit of the doubt at every incognito to meet the King and ian Liberal legacy to us today; in turn; and did not discuss, least of receive his commission to form the spring of 1908 we may, with- all question, the motives under- a government.1 That the King out exaggeration, note the ori- lying Asquith’s choices.2 required this of his next Prime gins of what came to be called The entry on Asquith in the Minister, and had not thought it the welfare state, and Asquith’s third of the twentieth-century necessary to return to to role in that beginning. Asquith’s Asquith has supplements of the Dictionary assist in the creation of the new promotion from 11 to 10 Down- of National Biography was writ- ministr y, was to become the sub- ing Street likewise had political been well ten by another of his admirers, ject of adverse comment. On his and personal consequences: it in this case his personal friend J. return to London, on 29 April, was left to the new Chancellor, served by his A. Spender, the notable Liberal the parliamentary Liberal Party , to intro- major biog- journalist and editor of the West- endorsed Asquith’s leadership. duce and administer old-age minster Gazette, among other This was the first time in British pensions, and thus to reap the raphers who papers.3 Prior to the publication political history that a political social and electoral kudos that of this entry, Spender had col- party had ratified the monarch’s naturally followed. The old-age have all, in laborated with Asquith’s young- choice in this manner. He went pension rapidly became known est son, Cyril, in a generous on to hold the office of Prime as ‘the Lloyd George’, not ‘the their ways, biographical tribute to Asquith.4 Minister for nearly nine years, Asquith’. This was a foretaste of appreciated The author, whose life also fig- the longest continuous tenure the later confusion and rivalry ures in the Oxford Dictionary of since Lord Liverpool at the end between the two men that was his political National Biography, is described of the Napoleonic Wars. to compromise them both and as having been ‘an ever depend- On 7 May 1908, Asquith came to imprison British Liber- style and able ministerial loyalist’ when introduced the budget he had alism, at its moment of crisis, in Asquith was in power, and been preparing that spring as a cage of their joint making. admired had, like Asquith, been a Lib- Chancellor of the Exchequer. Asquith has been well served his achieve- eral Imperialist in the 1890s. 5 It was in fact his third and most by his major biographers who Later, Spender’s position at the momentous budget, including have all, in their ways, appre- ments, while Westminster Gazette was under- provision for old-age pensions ciated his political style and mined by an attempt, traceable – non-contributory weekly pay- admired his achievements, while passing over to Lloyd George, to have him ments, financed by general taxa- passing over his weaknesses and removed from the editor’s chair. tion, for those over seventy years failings. In , Asquith his weak- The plot failed, only reinforcing of age. The idea was hardly new had a biographer who shared his nesses and Spender’s complete suspicion of – a whole generation of social temperament and outlook, one Lloyd George. Fastidious and investigators and reformers, as who revelled in the world of failings. fair-minded though he was, the

Journal of Liberal History 61 Winter 2008–09 5 asquith and the liberal legacy effects of this are clearly read in the deliberate expansion of the a solution to a problem that has Spender’s memoir of Asquith, social and welfare services of the not been answered by any gov- which praised his friend above nation, than to the other twen- ernment since that time, includ- all for the virtues of a Liberal tieth-century war leaders, Lloyd ing the present government of attitude – for his ‘dignity, for- George and Churchill. Indeed, which Adonis is a member. titude and charity’; ‘his sense of it was Churchill who in 1937 left Asquith and his government decorum in public affairs, his us one of the best portraits of the were also at fault, according to dislike of mob-oratory and self- Asquith modus operandi: Adonis, in their handling of the advertisement, his high sense Irish question, although he does of honour’. Spender’s praise In Cabinet he was markedly not clarify how a Liberal gov- for Asquith’s personal quali- silent. Indeed he never spoke a ernment in London could have ties chime with Asquith’s own word in Council if he could get prevented the mass resistance of assessment of political require- his way without it. He sat, like to the Bill of ments: as he told his second wife, the great judge he was, hearing 1912. Adonis also fails to specify Margot, in 1914: ‘In public poli- with trained patience the case how the Asquith government tics as in private life, character is deployed on every side, now might have dealt with home rule better than brains, and loyalty and then interjecting a ques- differently once the First World more valuable than either’.6 Nei- tion or brief comment, search- War had begun, and therefore ther Spender nor Asquith had ing or pregnant, which gave how it could have prevented the much stomach for what they matters a turn towards the goal incipient civil war that followed perceived as Lloyd George’s he wished to reach.8 and which ended in the parti- recurrent disloyalties to his col- The same tion of Ireland in 1921–22. He leagues and party. These were the techniques of qualities of recognises that it ‘took nearly The same qualities of quiet peacetime – they did not, how- a century to overcome the bit- dignity and character appealed ever, translate easily to world quiet dignity ter legacy’ of events in Ireland, to Colin Matthew whose mem- war. Vaughan Nash, the public in tacit admission of the intrac- oir on Asquith in the Oxford servant and Asquith’s wartime and charac- table nature of the situation, but DNB is surely one of the best and assistant, later recalled that ‘Mr does not acknowledge that the most judicious pieces among the Asquith saw everything down ter appealed problem was bitten deep into many that he wrote in the last to petty points of routine and to Colin Mat- the history of Ireland, rather years of his life as the first edi- detail’.9 He meant it as a com- than having been created by the tor of the dictionary.7 According pliment. Lloyd George was less thew whose Asquithian Liberals. Subsequent to Matthew, who particularly charitable about the same trait: British administrations, includ- admired Asquith’s stoicism in in a letter of 1915 he complained memoir on ing the Lloyd George coalitions taking Britain into war in 1914, that ‘Asquith worries too much between 1916 and 1922, found the leader remained a demo- about small points. If you were Asquith in no easy solutions to Ireland’s cratic statesman, determined buying a large mansion he would the Oxford religious, economic and national that the normal rituals and proc- come to you and say, “Have you divisions. esses of democratic government thought there is no accommoda- DNB is surely Adonis is even more critical should go on and that a liberal tion for the cat?”’ of Asquith’s failures of states- nation should continue to think More recently, Andrew one of the manship in the days before the and act in the same measured Adonis (Lord Adonis, Minis- outbreak of the Great War, and calculated manner of peace- ter of Schools, now Transport) best and impugning him for neglect- time. Matthew recognised that has challenged the essentially most judi- ing the crisis in favour of trivial the very attempt to continue respectful consensus among personal pleasures, for failing with business as usual brought historians and biographers who cious pieces to understand its gravity, and Asquith down; but with the have assessed Asquith’s career for failing to deliver a clear and rest of Europe falling victim and legacy.10 Adonis blames among the decisive warning to Germany to hysteria and jingoism, he Asquith for not reforming the concerning the consequences of paid tribute to Asquith’s early composition of the House of many that its aggression. If it is generally control of the war effort. Mat- Lords after having led the great he wrote in agreed that the signals sent to the thew’s portrait of Asquith is of constitutional struggle to limit German government in the days an effective chairman and facili- its powers between 1909 and the last years before the conflict began lacked tator, a man who encouraged 1911. Where others have praised the severity required by the situ- his subordinates and gave them Asquith’s commitment to ending of his life ation (a criticism which encom- their heads, rather than lead- the Lords’ veto of bills sent up passed Asquith’s meeting with ing from the front. According from the Commons, over which as the first the German ambassador, Prince to this biography, Asquith was he was prepared to fight two editor of the Lichnowsky, on 1 August 1914 at closer in style to Attlee, the next general elections in 1910, Adonis which the issues of Belgian neu- Prime Minister to preside over convicts him of failing to find dictionary. trality and German naval actions

6 Journal of Liberal History 61 Winter 2008–09 asquith and the liberal legacy in the Channel were discussed), If Asquith’s Minister, later in 1908, he came that some of those new plans it is also generally agreed that to Oxford, and to his old col- were transformed into practical most governments across Europe leadership lege, Balliol, to attend a din- policies and politics. were taken by surprise in July is to be ner in his honour. It was here, Despite all his brilliance and and August 1914 – Asquith and in his after-dinner speech, promise whilst at Oxford, on his cabinet were not alone.11 It is criticised, we that he pronounced that state- leaving the university Asquith also very widely understood that ment about Balliol men that has struggled for a decade as a brief- there was little the British could must focus dogged them, and other Oxford less barrister and occasional have done to prevent a conti- men and women trailing in Liberal journalist, chafing at his nental war on two fronts, once instead on their wake, ever since: ‘effort- relative poverty and obscurity, mobilisation had begun on the the period less superiority’. But Asquith’s though gradually coming to the Russian front, for this was the career had not been effortless, attention of the leaders in his essence of Germany’s strategy, after the and though his in profession and in his party. He planned long in advance of the the House of Commons in 1887 was first elected to the Com- 1914 conflict. Meanwhile, the First World on the subject of an Irish crimes mons for East Fife in 1886, and old lament that Britain would bill had impressed everyone who continued to represent the con- have done better to stay out of War had heard it, Mr Gladstone included, stituency until the coupon elec- the war, usually the card played begun, on his Asquith had experienced pro- tion of 1918 at the end of the by nostalgic imperialists and fessional struggles and personal Great War. In 1891 the sudden worse, neglects Britain’s his- handling of sadness in his formative years.12 death of his first wife, Helen, toric commitment to a balance Born into a relatively hum- left him chiefly responsible for of power on the continent, her the conflict ble family in Yorkshire in 1852, five young children. Though longstanding guaranty of Bel- his father, who was a minor Asquith’s talents brought him to gian neutrality, her alliances itself and on employer in the local wool the for the three with France and Russia and his unwill- trade, died when he was eight, years of Liberal government the ideological animus of some and his mother was an invalid. between 1892 and 1895, this was British liberals to an aggressive, ingness to His stroke of luck arrived when not an easy passage in the history authoritarian and expansionist he was sent to London to live of the Liberal Party, and the era German state. Among British cede power with relatives and to attend the as a whole is more notable for progressives in 1914 were those City of London School, where Liberal divisions and the absence who believed that the war had in a dignified he won a classical scholarship to of direction than for the pur- to be fought and that the fate of manner, in Balliol in 1870. A double first and poseful preparation for future Liberalism depended on it: that a clutch of university prizes then power. in fighting they were defending the interest followed; he was also President When, on the occasion of the liberal values rather than bury- of the Union. But perhaps the election of 1906, after a genera- ing them, as Adonis implies. of his party. greatest prize of all, and the most tion of Conservative dominance, With the benefit of hindsight, influential of Oxford’s legacies the Liberals’ opportunity came Adonis convicts Asquith’s lead- on Asquith, was to have been at again, it was more the conse- ership of various sins of omission, Balliol during the opening years quence of Tory mistakes and just as the subsequent carnage of of Jowett’s Mastership of the unpopularity than the positive the Western Front has led us to college, when T. H. Green, the endorsement of Liberal values. underestimate the rational com- great liberal moral philosopher, If the electorate was moved at mitment of many Britons who was at the height of his powers. all by a commitment to Liber- went to war in 1914. But this Asquith was never, by his own alism, it was of an older variety, was not how it appeared to con- admission, a devotee of Green, a recrudescence of the princi- temporaries, nor did solutions but the ethos of social and politi- ples of Gladstonian come freely to hand in any of cal service that Green preached and religious equality, rather these situations, whether matters at Balliol, which was supported than an endorsement of New of parliamentary reform, self- by Jowett, rubbed off. Other Liberalism. determination in Ireland, or the Oxford men were more directly Thus Asquith’s first legacy fate of Europe. If Asquith’s lead- affected by their teachings, and as Prime Minister was one he ership is to be criticised, we must argued more vigorously and had himself inherited from the focus instead on the period after publicly for a rebalancing of the past rather than one that he and the First World War had begun, state’s relationship to the citi- his generation had fashioned for on his handling of the conflict zen in the late-Victorian period themselves and subsequently itself and on his unwillingness to – a phenomenon which would handed down: it was the finish- cede power in a dignified man- become known as the ‘New Lib- ing of constitutional business ner, in the interest of his party. eralism’ of the Edwardian era. concerning the After Asquith had settled But it was under Asquith’s lead- and Ireland, begun earlier in the into his new position as Prime ership, between 1908 and 1911, nineteenth century. It is doubtful

Journal of Liberal History 61 Winter 2008–09 7 asquith and the liberal legacy that Lloyd George’s People’s many lives, and that the outcome ideas from T. H. Green’s Balliol Budget of 1909 was deliberately in 1922 was not what any of the was slow and complex, without aimed at the Lords – first and parties in London, and doubt, but nonetheless reached foremost it was a genuine and Belfast had desired, was not the Asquith’s cabinet. As Chancel- necessary measure of revenue- responsibility of the Liberal Party lor, Asquith had the energy and raising in order to pay for the that framed and passed the leg- initiative to devise social policy unexpected costs of welfare and islation in 1912. In the long his- and as Prime Minister he had the national defence. However, when tory of Liberal attempts to pacify requisite sympathy and vision the Lords rejected the budget, the Ireland and to bring justice to its to encourage other ministers in Chancellor and Prime Minister people, Asquith’s government social innovation. were ready to use the oppor- deserves the highest credit for But the price exacted on tunity to settle the outstanding the lengths to which it went to Asquith’s personal life over these question of the powers of the fulfil an inherited commitment years – surely among the most upper house. In the first two to Irish self-determination. intense and also the most excit- years of the Liberal administra- Asquith’s second great legacy ing in modern British political tion under Sir Henry Campbell- was his government’s commit- history – was high indeed. His Bannerman, from 1906 to 1908, ment to the legislative foun- colleagues noted his growing the Lords had vetoed or heavily dations of the welfare state. fondness for alcohol from about amended a clutch of lesser Liberal Old-age pensions were only 1910. According to Church- welfare measures. If the Liber- a part of this; there were also ill in April 1911, Asquith was als were to fulfil their historic trade boards to regulate mini- perfectly competent until din- responsibility to Ireland they mum wages and conditions in ner – ‘serene, efficient, undis- would first have to deal with the the so-called ‘sweated’ trades, turbed’ – but after that he was Lords veto, for Gladstone’s two labour exchanges to help the forced to entrust proceedings previous home rule bills in 1886 unemployed find jobs and con- to his younger colleague. As and 1893 had been defeated in the tributory National Insurance to Churchill wrote to his wife, upper house. The protect the unemployed when ‘only the persistent freemasonry The epic struggles between they fell sick or were laid off. of the House of Commons pre- 1909 and 1911, the matter of ‘the Asquithian Likewise, the People’s Budget vents a scandal’.13 We can sense peers versus the people’, brought Liberals of 1909, when eventually agreed the pressure Asquith was under out the best in Asquith and by both houses of Parliament, from the teasing letters he wrote should be regarded as his most achieved not only confirmed the pre- to Venetia Stanley in the years notable achievement. In the eminence of the Commons in all leading up to the war, which public defence of historic Liberal what their financial matters, but also estab- have now been brought together principles he had no match. In lished the principle that pro- and edited in a single volume by complex parliamentary nego- Gladstonian gressive taxation would be used Michael and Eleanor Brock.14 In tiations with the Liberal Party’s fathers had thereafter to fund redistributive their very playfulness and some- allies, the Party and social programmes. times even in their triviality, the Irish Nationalists, in consul- not: an end The ideas underpinning this these letters tell us how desper- tations with the court over what historic series of changes in the ately Asquith needed a release two different kings, Edward VII to the con- role of the state and the respon- from the concerns of office. The and , would and would sibilities of the individual had, problems only intensified after not support, and in calculations flict of pow- in fact, been developing and August 1914, when Asquith’s of electoral mood and advantage ers between maturing since the 1870s and quest for such release not only which these struggles required 1880s. Stimulated by the social conflicted with the pressing – there were, after all, two gen- Commons investigation into poverty of the needs of government but also eral elections in 1910 to be con- late-Victorian era, and debated with the public’s perception of ducted and won – Asquith was and Lords and disseminated by the organs how a leader during a world war in his element. of Liberal opinion and by Liberal should behave. As , The Asquithian Liberals under the intellectuals outside of the gov- the leader of the Conservative achieved what their Gladsto- Parliament ernment, they were fashioned Party in the wartime coalition, nian fathers had not: an end to into workable policies by New had warned him in a letter of the conflict of powers between Act of 1911, Liberals in parliament and the February 1916, ‘In war it is nec- Commons and Lords under the cabinet, such as Lloyd George essary not only to be active but Parliament Act of 1911, and the and the pas- and Churchill. Key civil serv- to seem active’.15 passage of home rule for Ireland ants inside government depart- We know from Colin Mat- in 1912. That the realisation of sage of home ments, like the Board of Trade thew’s memoir that Asquith Irish independence took longer rule for Ire- and Board of Education, also enjoyed playing bridge in the than planned owing to the First played an important role in their evenings but that he never World War, that it also took very land in 1912. dissemination. The filtration of played cards after lunch or

8 Journal of Liberal History 61 Winter 2008–09 asquith and the liberal legacy before dinner. Matthew said had written, ‘is A’s laziness & It may be party’s historic attempt to unite nothing about cards in the morn- lack of ideas’.17 By the autumn the workers and the bourgeoisie ing, however. There is a fateful of 1916 Lloyd George and many argued that in a political coalition began to story of Asquith’s premiership others had come to believe that by making a break down. The middle classes in June 1916 in which bridge the organisation of the govern- moved towards ; before lunch features, though ment and its consequent policy bad ending, the workers felt ignored and the story is disputed and the could not win the war, and that unprotected and their trade events may never have occurred Asquith should stand aside. As Asquith’s unions provided the basis for the in this manner. Following the Kenneth Morgan has suggested, new . Others have death at sea of the War Minis- the problem with Asquith by this third legacy pointed to the decay of local ter, Lord Kitchener, Bonar Law stage was ‘not so much political was his con- Liberal organisations across the apparently went in search of the as psychological. Lloyd George country, often as a result of the Prime Minister to discuss the simply looked like the vigor- tribution to defection of richer local Liber- ministerial succession. Told that ous, dynamic leader who could als to the right, who took their Asquith was still at his home in win the war, while the faltering the division money and flair for local politics on a Monday Asquith, so dominant in peace- with them.20 Prior to the Sec- morning three weeks before the time, did not.’18 Lloyd George’s of the Liberal ond World War, the American Somme offensive, he was forced plan for a new , Party that historian to motor down to talk with him. excluding Asquith, precipitated saw the ‘death of Liberal Eng- ‘He found the Prime Minister the crisis and Asquith’s fall. destroyed it land’ prefigured in the indus- engaged in a rubber of bridge According to , trial and social conflicts of the with three ladies. Asquith gen- ‘All political lives, unless they are as the major years immediately preceding ially requested him to wait till cut off in midstream at a happy the First World War: Liberal the game was finished. Bonar juncture, end in failure, because party of the rationalism was unable to man- Law, by now considerably that is the nature of politics and British left. age the violence and emotional- annoyed, declined to wait.’ human affairs’.19 No one knew ism of nationalists, feminists and ‘Asquith immediately offered this better than Powell himself. syndicalists.21 the War Office to Bonar Law’, That he should have written it in Asquith, indeed, was a nota- but the latter explained that his biography of Joseph Cham- ble opponent of women’s suf- he had already bowed to Lloyd berlain is, in the present context, frage until 1918, speaking as George’s determination to fol- not without interest. Though well as voting against it on many low Kitchener. ‘So Asquith Chamberlain’s career was cut occasions. Nor was his handling agreed to offer the post to Lloyd short by a sudden stroke rather of industrial disputes sure or George’. Little wonder that ‘the than a happy juncture, no one instinctive. His use of the Met- episode left a lasting impression did more in 1903 to worst Cham- ropolitan Police to control dis- upon Bonar Law’.16 Little won- berlain and his campaign for order among locked-out miners der also that in the second half reform than Asquith him- at Featherstone in 1893, result- of 1916, as the shocking news self, whose speeches across the ing in two deaths, haunted him from the Somme registered in nation at that time in defence of for the rest of his career; just as the national mind and in its soul, free trade were among his most Churchill was always reminded the Conservative press should notable contributions to the re- of the deaths at Tonypandy in have begun a campaign against emergence of his party and to 1911, the cry of ‘Remember Asquith’s handling of the war the history of British Liberalism. Featherstone!’ was often heard at that assisted in his replacement as But Powell’s dictum points us an Asquith rally. At the very end Prime Minister by Lloyd George towards one of the great prob- of his life he took a public stance in the first week of December. lems of political life in any age against the General Strike, We must note here that Bonar or any type of political system: though Lloyd George, whose Law’s passenger as he motored how to make a good ending. For condemnation was reserved for to Oxfordshire on that Mon- it may be argued that by making Baldwin’s government, contra- day in June was none other than a bad ending, Asquith’s third leg- dicted him once more.22 Con- Max Aitken, later Lord Beaver- acy was his contribution to the cerning important issues of the brook, the owner of the Daily division of the Liberal Party that present and future – the rights Express, who was to play a large destroyed it as the major party of of workers and women in these public and also a private role in the British left. cases – Asquith provides some Asquith’s demise. Historians have long debated evidence in support of the so- As early as the spring of 1915 the reasons for the decline of called ‘Dangerfield thesis’. even the loyal Spender had pri- the Liberal Party during this For Colin Matthew and Ross vately criticised Asquith’s war period. For some, the origins McKibbin, meanwhile, the cru- leadership: the reason for much of the problem can be found in cial development came later in of the hostility of the press, he the 1880s and 1890s when the the mass enfranchisement at

Journal of Liberal History 61 Winter 2008–09 9 asquith and the liberal legacy the end of the First World War. could have followed the public Asquith’s have taken From this point of view, it was mood more sensitively and made with him to Maastricht in 1992? inevitable that the millions of way for Lloyd George at almost decision Merely to think of these alterna- working-class men and women any stage in 1916. In Septem- to move a tive scenarios from our own age now voting for the first time ber of that year, his brilliant and is to recognise the impossibility would automatically align with charismatic son Raymond was motion of of Asquith’s position. Instead of values of the Labour Party. It is killed on the Somme. A month statesmanship on a global scale undeniable that in the years fol- later when he became seriously censure on Lloyd George gave Asquith a lowing 1918, a crucial stage at ill as a consequence of this news, little piece of local parish-pump which the electorate was chang- coupled with the general strain the govern- politics as a sort of consola- ing and when many of its new of wartime leadership, Margot ment in May tion: chairmanship of the Royal members were forming political thought him ‘absolutely done’, Commission on Oxford and allegiances for the first time, the and he might have bowed to the 1918 over Cambridge in 1919–22. He per- division of Liberalism between evidence of growing fatigue.24 formed his duties well, though in supporters of Asquith and of After his fall from power he the ques- a conservative fashion, sticking Lloyd George fatally com- could have retired with dignity closely to the patterns that had promised Liberal identity and to the backbenches and worked tion of troop been laid down by the preceding encouraged the anti-Tory vote to minimise Liberal divisions. numbers on Victorian Royal Commissions to drift towards Labour.23 But Asquith’s decision to move on the two ancient universi- That the major cause for this a motion of censure on the gov- the Western ties. As the Oxford historian Sir division was Lloyd George’s ernment in May 1918 over the Charles Firth wrote at the time, decision to prolong the war- question of troop numbers on Front – which ‘My impression is that Asquith’s time coalition and to campaign the Western Front – which failed views on higher education are against those Liberals who were when Lloyd George mounted a failed when those prevalent at Balliol in 1870 not granted the ‘coupon’ (the bravura defence of his conduct in Lloyd George and that he has learnt nothing joint letter of endorsement that the subsequent Commons debate about it since.’26 he and Bonar Law had signed) – irreparably divided the party. mounted As his committee collected is not in doubt. But it may be True, he had performed evidence on the state of the two argued as well that Asquith could wonders behind the scenes as a a bravura institutions, an exchange took have chosen to try to concili- wartime Prime Minister hold- place that illustrates the impres- ate. Beyond the enmity caused ing together the cabinet and the defence of sion made by Asquith on the by the manner of his removal wider administration (despite his conduct younger generation – those who from office, there is no doubt its often fissiparous tendencies). had fought in the war and were that Asquith was also taking a Asquith no doubt imagined that in the subse- hoping to set about social recon- principled stance against Lloyd these skills were still required struction in the following years. George’s ambition and van- and at a premium. However, in quent Com- This was, in fact, an exchange ity, and in favour of traditional light of the numerous oppor- between two Balliol men, with Liberal principles and codes of tunities which had presented mons debate Asquith in the chair and the political behaviour. But for the themselves – and which Asquith – irreparably economic historian and socialist rest of his life he would remain had failed to take – that would thinker, R. H. Tawney, twenty- locked in a fatal embrace with his have enabled him to finish on a divided the eight years his junior, giving evi- former ally – a dance of political more positive note and to reduce dence on how to make Oxford death, in fact – which under- the divisions in his party, it is party. more open and accessible to the mined his party as it was being difficult to sympathise with his children of the working class. squeezed away from both the left case. His incapacity to bow out Plus ça change, plus c’est la même and the right. This essentially gracefully at an appropriate time chose, we might say. But the resulted in both Asquith and essentially contributed to the tone of the exchange and Taw- Lloyd George being deprived of undermining of Liberal identity ney’s evident frustration with his high office. and the party’s political authority interlocutors on the committee, Asquith could have bowed out which has endured to this day. Asquith included, suggests that with dignity in the early months There is no better example of more than university politics of the war at a stage when he had Asquith’s lack of self-awareness were at issue.27 For Tawney had successfully overseen mobilisa- at the end of his career than his come within an inch of his life, tion and the transition to a war request, put to Lloyd George in quite literally, on the first day of footing in government. He might person, that he should be made a the Somme, taking two bullets have resigned when the coalition member of the British delegation in his chest. When he had recov- was formed in May 1915, even if at the Paris peace conference in ered, convalescing in Oxford in it had been interpreted as accept- 1919.25 Would the Examination Schools, which ing some of the blame for the take with him to the had become one vast military ‘shell shortage’ of that spring. He next summit? Could hospital for the duration of the

10 Journal of Liberal History 61 Winter 2008–09 asquith and the liberal legacy conflict, he dedicated himself had shown more self-awareness Churchill, 22 April 1911, in Ran- to a democratisation of the war, and self-possession. But if we dolph S. Churchill, Winston S. which, he argued, had been admire Asquith’s constitutional Churchill, vol. II (1901–1914) (Lon- fought by a traditional class in and reforming legacies from the don: Heinemann, 1967), p. 344. a traditional manner and to the Edwardian years, we must like- 14 M. Brock and E. Brock (eds.), H. detriment of the nation.28 wise recognise the role that he H. Asquith: Letters to Venetia Stanley We might hypothesise that played in a third and less benign (Oxford: , when Tawney confronted bequest to the future , which 1982). Asquith in 1921 he saw before was to have an enduring impact 15 Spender and Asquith, Life of Herbert him a prime specimen of ‘the on the politics of the century to Henry Asquith, II, p. 230. old gang’ whom he held respon- come: the decline of the Liberal 16 Robert Blake, The Unknown Prime sible for multiple national fail- Party. Minister (London: Eyre and Spot- ings after 1914, and even perhaps tiswoode,1955), pp. 289–90 There before. Asquith, the Edward- If we admire Dr Lawrence Goldman is Fellow is an unresolved dispute about the ian progressive, now seemed and Tutor in Modern History, St. details of this incident and about to personify the weakness of a Asquith’s Peter’s College, Oxford and has Bonar Law’s recollections of it. See played-out ruling elite to a new been Editor of the Oxford Dic- Jenkins, Asquith, pp. 321n–322n and generation of more radical and constitu- tionary of National Biography p. 457n. impatient reformers. Tawney since its publication in 2004. 17 E. T. Cook’s , 1 and 3 April was perhaps the pre-eminent tional and 1915, cited in Stephen Koss, The Rise intellectual guide and inspira- reforming 1 J. A. Spender and Cyril Asquith, and Fall of the Political Press in Britain tion of the inter-war left in Brit- Life of Herbert Henry Asquith, Lord (London: Hamish Hamilton, 2 vols, ain, arguing, in this case, for the legacies from Oxford and Asquith (2 vols., London, 1981 and 1984), II, p. 272. accessibility and therefore the Hutchinson, 1932), I, pp. 196–97. 18 K. O. Morgan, ‘Lloyd George, reduction in cost of a univer- the Edward- 2 Roy Jenkins, Asquith (London, David’, Oxford Dictionary of National sity education and the opening Collins, 1964) Biography (Oxford: Oxford Univer- up of Oxford and Cambridge ian years, 3 J. A. Spender, ‘Asquith, Herbert sity Press, 2004), vol. 21, 890–912, to the sons and daughters of the we must Henry, first Earl of Oxford and quotation at 899. middle and working classes. For Asquith’, Dictionary of National Biog- 19 J. Enoch Powell, Joseph Chamber- him, Asquith was a figuration likewise raphy, Supplement 1922–1930, pp. lain (London: Thames and Hudson, of the politics and social values 29–40. 1977), p. 151. of the past. Later, in 1925, when recognise 4 Spender and Asquith, Life of Herbert 20 Paul Thompson, Socialists, Liberals Asquith was a candidate for the Henry Asquith. and Labour: The Struggle for London Chancellorship of Oxford, he the role that 5 A. J. A. Morris, ‘Spender, John 1885–1914 (London: Routledge & was beaten soundly, by more he played in Alfred’, Oxford Dictionary of National Kegan Paul,1967). than two to one, by the candi- Biography (Oxford: Oxford Univer- 21 George Dangerfield, The Strange date of the right, Lord Cave, the a third and sity Press, 2004) vol. 51, 899–902. Death of Liberal England (London: then Conservative Lord Chan- 6 , The Autobiography Constable,1936). cellor. The centre did not hold; less benign of Margot Asquith (London: Thorn- 22 Spender and Asquith, Life of Herbert at the end of his career Asquith ton Butterworth, 2 vols, 1920–22), Henry Asquith, II, pp. 361–62. was assailed from right and from bequest to II, p. 202. 23 H. C. G. Matthew, R. I. McKibbin left, as well as from sections of the future , 7 H. C. G. Matthew, ‘Asquith, Her- and John Kay, ‘The Franchise Fac- his own party who had remained bert Henry, first earl of Oxford tor in the Rise of the Labour Party’, loyal to Lloyd George. which was and Asquith’, Oxford Dictionary of English Historical Review, 91, 1976, At this stage Asquith was National Biography (Oxford: Oxford pp. 723–52. referred to as the ‘last of the to have an University Press, 2004), vol. 2, 24 Jenkins, Asquith, pp. 465–66. Romans’; this was meant as 735–54. 25 Ibid., pp. 538–9, 546. a compliment.29 However, enduring 8 Winston S. Churchill, Great 26 Koss, Asquith, p. 244. whereas the Romans knew impact on Contemporaries (London: Butter- 27 Royal Commission on Oxford and when to fall on their swords, worth,1937), p. 140. Cambridge Universities, oral evi- Asquith may simply have stayed the politics 9 Spender and Asquith, Life of Henry dence, Bodleian Library, MS Top too long. Given the nature and , II, pp. 376–77. Oxon b 109, fos. 524–42, Evidence strength of the historical forces of the cen- 10 Andrew Adonis, ‘A Liberal Trag- of R. H. Tawney, 21 September that were challenging Liberal- edy’, Prospect, April 2008, pp. 14–15. 1921. ism after 1911, the last year of tury to come: 11 Stephen Koss, Asquith (London: 28 Lawrence Goldman, Dons and the heroic phase of Asquith’s the decline Allen Lane,1976), p. 158. Workers: Oxford and Adult Education career, it would be impossible 12 Spender and Asquith, Life of Her- Since 1850 (Oxford: Oxford Univer- to argue with any certainty or of the Liberal bert Henry Asquith, I, p. 56; Jenkins, sity Press, 1995), pp. 198–200. conviction that the outcome Asquith, pp. 44–45. 29 See Jenkins, Asquith, ch. xxviii, would have been different if he Party. 13 W. S. Churchill to Clementine ‘The Last of the Romans’.

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