86 Report Cloke Liberal Tory Coalition 1915

establishing the Welsh Liberal Party in Wales – something we are still proud of today. He was REPORT a steadfast Liberal who cared for the people of Montgomeryshire and Wales. Emlyn was also a fer- vent advocate of Welsh culture The Liberal–Tory Coalition of 1915 and music having been President of both the national and interna- Evening meeting, 26 January 2015, with Ian Packer and tional Eisteddfod.17 Nigel Keohane; chair: Raymond Asquith (Earl of Oxford and Asquith and great-grandson of Herbert Asquith) Dr J. Graham Jones is Senior Archivist Report by David Cloke and Head of the Welsh Political Archive at the National Library of Wales, n May 1915, following political minority governments, as had been Aberystwyth and military setbacks, Liberal the case from 1910. Hence, Packer IPrime Minister H. H. Asquith suggested, there was not necessar- 1 See J. Graham Jones, ‘Emlyn Hoo- brought senior figures from the ily an aversion to coalitions. When son’s parliamentary debut: the Mont- opposition parties into his govern- the war began there was a possibil- gomeryshire by-election of March ment – thus marking the end of ity that a coalition could be formed 1962’, Montgomeryshire Collections, 81 the last solely Liberal government immediately, as the Liberal Party (1993), pp. 121–29. of Britain. Dr Ian Packer, Acting was not wholly united over fight- 2 Norman Cook in his final article in Head of the School of History and ing the war. Packer argued that if the tour of the Welsh constituencies Heritage at Lincoln University a whole raft of cabinet ministers published in the Liverpool Daily Post, and author of a number of books had resigned, the Prime Minister 15 April 1967. on Edwardian and Liberal politics, and the pro-intervention ministers 3 NLW, Lord Hooson Papers, box 42, outlined the events that led to the might have entered into a coalition press cutting entitled ‘The Assize of In May 1915, formation of the Coalition, and with the Conservatives then. How- Youth’. went on to describe the difficulties ever, Asquith’s customary tact held 4 See the obituary in The Guardian, 26 following that it faced and what eventually his colleagues together. February 2012. brought it down. He did this very Once through this difficulty 5 See the reports in The Times, 18 and political and much from the Liberal perspec- things seemed brighter for the gov- 19 January 1967; The Guardian, 19 tive. He was followed by Dr Nigel ernment. Despite having 25 fewer January 1967; and Peter Barberis, military set- Keohane from the Social Market MPs than the Conservatives, the Liberal Lion Jo Grimond: a Political Life backs, Lib- Foundation, author of The Conser- Liberals enjoyed a secure Com- (I. B. Tauris, 2005), p. 139. vative Party and the First World War, mons majority through the sup- 6 Cited in Hooson’s obituary in the eral Prime who provided further narrative as port of the Irish Nationalists and Daily Telegraph, 22 February 2012. well as a commentary on the events the Labour Party. Although both 7 See the penetrating analysis in Ken- Minister H. described by Packer from a Con- parties included opponents of the neth O. Morgan, ‘Montgomery- servative perspective. decision to enter the war, both offi- shire’s Liberal century: Rendel to H. Asquith Packer began by noting that the cially supported it. In Packer’s view Hooson, 1880–1979’, Welsh History first wartime coalition formed in this bound them closer to the Lib- Review, vol. 16, no. 1 (June 1992), pp. brought May 1915 had not received a very erals and made them fear a possible 106–7. good press. Liberals disliked it as Liberal-Conservative coalition: the 8 The Guardian, 4 May 1978. senior fig- representing the end of the last Labour Party because of the threat 9 NLW, Lord Hooson Papers, box 45, Liberal government, and it was it might pose to trade union privi- PLP press release dated 15 April 1978, ures from the generally judged a failure for not leges, and the Irish Nationalists for Emlyn Hooson’s speech to the annual securing military victory and the fear it would block home rule. The conference of the Welsh Liberal Party opposition end of the First World War. How- Conservatives also had to be care- at the Commodore Conference Cen- ever, he argued that it was not a ful not to be seen to be criticising tre, Aberystwyth. parties into particularly incompetent govern- the government excessively, for 10 Daily Telegraph, 22 February 2012. ment and neither did it demonstrate fear of being seen as unpatriotic – 11 Daily Telegraph, 3 March 1979. his govern- that the Liberals were unable to a concern reinforced by Asquith’s 12 Election address of Emlyn Hooson, adapt their ideology to fighting a masterstroke of appointing Field May 1979. ment – thus modern war. Its problem was that Marshal Kitchener as Secretary of 13 See Morgan, ‘Montgomeryshire’s marking the it was in power during some of the State for War. The Liberals, there- Liberal century’, pp. 107–8. most desperate times of the war. fore, seemed safe. 14 House of Lords Debates, vol. 430, c. 838 end of the The possibility of coalition had Packer noted that the discus- (20 May 1982). hung over British politics since the sions within the cabinet regard- 15 See the obituary in The Guardian, 26 last solely start of the war in August 1914. The ing the conduct of the war did not February 2012. period up until then has been seen appear to affect the cohesion devel- 16 See the funeral report in the Cam- Liberal as a classic period of two-party pol- oped over the course of the Liberal brian News, 7 March 2012. itics, but in fact most of the govern- Party’s nine years in government. 17 Wales Online website, consulted 16 government ments of the preceding thirty years The crucial conflict came over how May 2013. had either been coalitions (Con- much of the country’s economic of Britain. servative and Liberal Unionist) or and manpower resources should Journal of Liberal History 86 Spring 2015 37 REPORT: THE LIBERAL–TORY COAliTION OF 1915 be devoted to the war. A group of Then, in the In these circumstances Asquith sense was not one of a man being ministers around McKenna, Run- had to accept that the war was out of control but of one seizing the ciman and Harcourt took a cautious course of a unlikely to be over quickly. The moment. approach, fearing that massively preceding events had damaged the In Keohane’s view Asquith disrupting the economy would lead meeting that government’s credibility and it came away with the spoils. Asquith to financial collapse. Against them, became harder for the Conserva- remained Prime Minister and in Lloyd George associated himself apparently tive leader Bonar Law to restrain a cabinet of 22 members, 12 were with the policy of ‘total war’, call- the attacks of his backbenchers. Liberal and only 8 Conservatives, ing for massive increases in muni- only lasted The government’s reputation was the remaining places being taken tions production and increased also being battered by the Con- by the Labour leader Arthur Hen- government intervention. Packer fifteen min- servative press which hounded it as derson and by Lord Kitchener. In argued that these were not dis- being insufficiently patriotic over addition, the positions taken by the putes between an approach that utes, a coa- the treatment of enemy aliens and Conservatives were relatively mar- was ‘liberal’ and one that was not; hinted that those Liberal ministers ginal ones: Bonar Law himself was the party had already accommo- lition was which had previously had close Colonial Secretary. No Conserva- dated itself to a significant degree links with Germany were secretly tive had a central role in the con- of state intervention, especially in agreed and traitors. duct of the war other than Balfour welfare. He argued that the differ- the last Lib- Asquith then took advantage at the Admiralty, who, as the previ- ences were partly temperamental, of one of what he described as ‘the ous Tory leader, Packer suggested, while also reflecting pre-war atti- eral govern- sudden curves in politics’, which might have been placed there to tudes to social reform. However, Packer noted that he believed he provide a counterweight to Bonar the divisions did lay the basis for the ment was had a special talent for spotting. Law. It was, thus, still very much acrimonious debates in the 1915–16 On 17 May, Bonar Law visited Asquith’s government. Reflect- coalition and caused lasting enmity terminated. Lloyd George at the Treasury to ing on a later question, Packer sug- between McKenna and Lloyd find out whether Fisher had indeed gested that Asquith had perhaps George. resigned. Although there were no been even too successful in mar- Gradually during 1914–15 the contemporary records of the dis- ginalising the Conservatives and cautious approach of McKenna cussions held during the day, events that this had contributed to his later was superseded, not least because seemed to develop as follows. Dur- difficulties. of Kitchener’s decision to recruit a ing the discussions between Lloyd Many Liberals outside govern- volunteer army of a million men. George and Bonar Law the idea ment, however, were dismayed: This rapidly started to distort the of an all-party coalition emerged. a Liberal government had been economy, with an accompany- Lloyd George then went to Down- dismantled without consultation. ing expansion in munitions pro- ing Street to report this to the Many still saw the Conservatives as duction and a contraction in other Prime Minister.

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