LIBERALS IN COALITION, 1916 – 1922

The decline of the old Liberal Party was fundamentally affected by three crucial coalitions with the Conservatives, in 1895, 1916 and 1931. All three were thought to be unsuccessful: that of 1895 plunged Britain into the South African War; that of 1916 presided over economic recession; that of 1931 made the social impact of the recession on working- class communities even worse. All three were damaging for the Liberal Party; those of 1916 and 1931 catastrophically so. Of these coalitions, it is t was a prolonged partner- 2010. It came into being from the ship which lasted, in peace and backstairs manoeuvres of December the 1916 one, led by the in war, for almost six years 1916 which saw the replacement of and which, from the outset Asquith by Lloyd George as war- wartime premier, David involved a substantial part of time premier. It was reinforced Lloyd George, that is Ithe Liberal Party. It thus enables by the equally clandestine nego- one to analyse in most depth the tiations between the Unionist and the most important. problems and pitfalls confronting Liberal whips in July 1918 which led Liberals when in coalition with the to the notorious ‘coupon’, the pact Kenneth O. Morgan Conservative enemy.1 to distribute support variously to analyses the history Lloyd George’s coalition was coalition Unionists and coalition coloured throughout its six years by Liberals at the next general election, of the last Liberal– two basic facts. First, it was always assumed then to be a wartime elec- tarnished by its origins as a secret tion. Its dubious, even sinister, ori- Conservative coalition. deal, more secret even than the gins deeply coloured views of the post-election discussions of May coalition from the very start, and

32 Journal of Liberal History 72 Autumn 2011 LIBERALS IN COALITION, 1916 – 1922

gave it a reputation of being undem- in 1918 and giving false informa- (a precise total is impossible since ocratic and even illegitimate. It led tion about their numbers. In a very there was so much uncertainty as to divisions within the Liberal Party rough and ready way, this began a to which Liberals were government becoming all the more deep-rooted. process of greater clarification, of supporters, and those who were, Secondly, the coalition was cre- determining which Liberals were in the popular term, ‘Wee Frees’). ated artificially at the centre, in supportive of the government coali- They had a mandate, and also a smoke-filled rooms in Westminster tion and which opposed.4 There was manifesto. That document, writ- and London’s clubland. There was also a pro-government whips’ office ten in suitably classical prose by the no grass-roots or popular involve- set up with Captain Freddie Guest as historian, H. A. L. Fisher, Minister ment, especially on the Liberal chief whip. He it was who negotiated for Education, had an impressively side. The government emerged the fateful ‘coupon’ with Sir George Liberal ring to it, including support during a wartime political crisis, Younger, the Unionist party chair- for free trade, home rule for Ireland, when there was no clear alignment man, to give the seal of approval to disestablishment of the Church in of parties. A decisive event in early recognised pro-coalition candidates Wales, progress towards self-gov- December 1916, when negotia- at the next election. The coalition ernment in India, and enlightened tions between Asquith and Lloyd Liberals did remarkably well out of sentiment in foreign policy includ- George were at their most fraught, this arrangement, getting 150 ‘cou- ing support for a League of Nations. was the preparation of a list, appar- pons’, distributed on a very imprecise The general tenor of the manifesto ently on their own initiative, by basis, as against over 300 couponed was that of reconstruction, of a land three of Lloyd George’s supporters, Unionists. Guest wrote to Lloyd fit for heroes. It could be argued Dr Christopher Addison, David George, in suitably Napoleonic that these coalition Liberals were Davies and F. G. Kellaway, of about terms, of the 150 couponed Liberals, far from prisoners of the Tories, let a hundred backbench Liberals ‘100 of whom are our Old Guard’.5 In alone the Diehards. Their manifesto who, in a supreme crisis, would what turned out to be a post-armi- was an open and not ignoble docu- support Lloyd George rather stice election in December 1918, of ment, publicly known and popu- than the Liberal leader, Asquith.2 the coalition Liberals’ 150 candidates, larly approved. It followed a similar initiative 129 were elected. But it was a purely In the Cabinet, the coalition undertaken by Addison eight or artificial creation with no popular Liberals were clearly the weaker so months earlier during the par- foundations in the country. It had partner. They had seven Cabinet liamentary struggles over a mili- only one clear purpose: the retention ministries under the dominant tary conscription bill.3 In the tense of Lloyd George as prime minister. leadership of the great Liberal in 10 manoeuvres of 1–7 December, It was argued that, just as ‘unity of Downing Street. Of these seven, after which Lloyd George sup- command’ under Marshal Foch had several were manifestly weak planted Asquith in Downing brought victory during the war, so ministers and at least one (Hamar Street, it was decisive because it that transcendent principle should Greenwood, a disastrous Secretary gave the new premier the backing apply also in confronting the perils for Ireland), catastrophic. The of all major parties, or significant of peace, with Lloyd George as the most important Liberal minister parts of them, to go alongside the unifying commander in chief, ‘the was clearly Winston Churchill, a endorsement of the Unionists and man who won the war’. Liberal still, with a strong commit- (by one vote) the Labour Party. But There was, however, one clear ment to the grand old cause of free there was no nationwide attempt difference between the coali- trade. This was the rationale for his to organise Lloyd George’s Liberal tion of December 1918 and that of original defection to the Liberal supporters in 1917–18 and the party May 2010. Its existence was clearly Party back in 1904 and he fought organisation remained solidly in known to the electorate before hard against the extension of the Asquithian hands. they voted, since Lloyd George and Safeguarding of Industry Act. He Some clarity emerged after the Bonar Law had publicly proclaimed also sought (in vain) a more enlight- famous ‘Maurice debate’ of 9 May the existence of a post-war coali- ened financial policy from Unionist 1918, when Lloyd George repelled tion. In an unsavoury election, with Left: David Lloyd Chancellors. They should ‘budget an attack, led by Asquith, censuring much popular chauvinism, they George, Liberal for hope and not for despair’.6 But the government for holding back had a clear mandate, the coalition Prime Minister the advent of the Russian revolution reinforcements on the western front Liberals winning around 1,400,000 1916–1922 drew him into what Lloyd George

Journal of Liberal History 72 Autumn 2011 33 liberals in coalition, 1916–1922 called an ‘obsession’ with the men- coalitionist to Austen Chamberlain Lloyd George Guardian’s correspondent com- ace of Bolshevism.7 It unhinged his and Lord Birkenhead, lending his mented on the ‘curious languor’ judgement on international issues support to ideas of an anti-Labour veered of the proceedings.13 There was and saw him move rapidly to the far front, and the old Gladstonian to but one coalition Liberal newspa- right. Lloyd George told C. P. Scott, C. P. Scott. There were also many between per, the Daily Chronicle, acquired editor of the Manchester Guardian, in Liberal elements within the prime in a dubious Lloyd Georgian coup January 1922 that ‘Winston is not minister’s personal entourage, nota- insisting that in 1918 which saw the dismissal of a Liberal. His sympathies were all bly special advisers like Edward its famous editor, Robert Donald. with the Imperialists.’8 Grigg, and the private secretariat he remained There was also a weekly, The Another important Liberal in in the ‘Garden Suburb’. The main Outlook, purchased by Lord Lee of 1919, perhaps surprisingly, was the voice of the latter was Philip Kerr, a staunch Fareham in 1919. Most of the party eminent historian, H. A. L. Fisher, a powerful advocate of appeasement Liberal on all literature was Asquithian; so was the minister in charge of Education, towards Germany and conciliation the official publication, the Liberal and author of a widely applauded towards Russia in foreign affairs. issues from Magazine (a distinctly tepid Lloyd Education Act in 1918. Lloyd When Kerr switched to managing George Liberal Magazine was set up as George, at least at first, saw him as the pro-government Daily Chronicle disestab- a rival in October 1920).14 The party an important intellectual link with in 1921, Scott concluded that Kerr funds were in opposition Liberal the classic liberalism of pre-1914, was ‘a stronger Liberal than one lishing the hands – hence the creation of the ‘another Morley’ (a compliment, had supposed and that George & his Lloyd George Fund with which, apparently), a rare contact with the encourage are moving decidedly in Welsh Church through the sale of titles and other Liberal intelligentsia.9 He was much the same direction.’11 Even so, the unsavoury practices, to provide the used during the early stages of the prime minister, an old champion of to support- prime minister with the gunpowder Paris peace conference and with coalitions, was a volatile source and to bombard his enemies. negotiations with the new Russian an untrustworthy basis for Liberal ing Greek The coalition Liberals were also regime in 1919.10 More impor- policies and values. very vulnerable in by-elections. tant still, he chaired the Cabinet’s Whatever their strength at ambitions in There was virtually no coopera- Home Affairs Committee, where government level, elsewhere the tion with local Unionist parties, a stream of broadly liberal policies Liberals in the coalition were a rela- Asia Minor, most of which soon became disil- were processed. By 1922, however, tively frail reed. First, they had no lusioned with the coalition’s per- Fisher was a somewhat beleaguered clear membership, and their links to declar- formance. There were several figure, fighting to resist the educa- with their departed brethren who damaging contests in by-elections tional impact of the Geddes Axe followed Asquith remained impor- ing that the between rival Liberals, notably – admittedly with some success. tant. The ‘coupon’ in the 1918 gen- old pre-war in Spen Valley in December 1919, In a different category was the eral election had been a very rough where Sir John Simon ran against most socially radical member of and ready basis for sorting out issues had the government and where the seat the Cabinet, Christopher Addison. supporters and opponents of the was lost to Labour. Another, par- Created the first Minister of Health coalition. Most coalition Liberals vanished in ticularly wounding, contest was in in 1919, after serving as Minister felt a profound attachment to their Cardiganshire in February, in the of Reconstruction in the latter pre-war Liberalism. Many of them the brave very Welsh-speaking heartland of months of the war, he was the one yearned for Liberal reunion. It the prime minister’s own fiefdom, link with the social reform policies was somehow symptomatic that new world of where pro-government and anti- of pre-1914. He had worked closely the elected chairman of the pro- government Welsh Liberals fought with Lloyd George during the pas- coalition Liberals in the Commons 1919. it out, and where the shrewd cam- sage of the 1911 National Insurance was George Lambert, who had not paigning of Mrs Lloyd George Act. His Housing Act of 1919 first received the ‘coupon’ at all in 1918. helped the government candidate, launched a programme of pub- Similarly, there was no effective Ernest Evans, one of her husband’s licly subsidised housing. ‘Addison’ grass-roots organisation. Coalition secretaries, to prevail.15 A particular became the byword for the coalition Liberalism was very weak at the problem was that coalition Liberal government’s reforming commit- local level, with some strength seats often tended to be located in ment. When he left in 1921, with only in the prime minister’s own industrial or working-class areas his inflationary housing policies in Wales. Several local parties were such as mining constituencies, ruins, followed by the fierce cut- in Asquithian hands. Seats which which made them sitting targets backs of the Geddes Axe. It was a had returned coalition Liberals in for a rejuvenated Labour Party. As sign that the government’s social the 1918 general election selected a result, of nineteen seats defended liberalism was cast aside. known Asquithians as their candi- by coalition Liberals between 1919 The other major Liberal was, of date next time. Indeed, no formal and 1922, ten were lost. In addition, course, Lloyd George. His politi- pro-coalition Liberal party actu- by February 1920 five pro-govern- cal positioning was most erratic ally existed: the idea was in limbo ment Liberals had crossed the floor, in these years. He veered between after several Liberal ministers were including the former Air Minister, insisting that he remained a staunch expelled from an angry meeting General Seely (he later defected Liberal on all issues from disestab- of the National Liberal Federation back to the government benches). lishing the Welsh Church to sup- at Leamington Spa in May 1920.12 Long before the government fell, it porting Greek ambitions in Asia Only as late as January 1922 was a was clear that the Liberals were the Minor, to declaring that the old pre- somewhat unreal ‘National Liberal coalition’s weakest link. war issues had vanished in the brave Party’ founded at Westminster Liberal-inspired policies cer- new world of 1919. He played the Central Hall: the Manchester tainly made an impact early on,

34 Journal of Liberal History 72 Autumn 2011 liberals in coalition, 1916–1922 and claims of Liberal inspiration catastrophic.20 When the Irish The Montagu–Chelmsford behind the government appeared to Republican Army, led by Michael reforms, extending the principle of have some clear validity. This was Collins, rose up against the ‘dyarchy’, did mark some advance almost entirely due to the work of Government of Ireland Act of 1920 towards local self-government. Christopher Addison. His Housing which formally partitioned the Chelmsford was succeeded as Act of 1919 began with a flurry of island, the coalition government viceroy in 1921 by a clear Liberal, activity and visible programme of retaliated with ferocity. Something Lord Reading, Lloyd George’s old publicly subsidised housing.16 There akin to martial law was imposed. Liberal colleague Rufus Isaacs. But was also his work at Health, some The overwhelmingly Protestant the British army was soon busy energy in following up Fisher’s Royal Irish Constabulary was combating Gandhi’s campaign Education Act, and extended poli- reinforced with non-Irish auxil- of non-cooperative disobedience cies regarding unemployment iaries, many of them unemployed throughout the sub-continent, insurance. Here, perhaps, was the ex-servicemen. These were the and the temper of Indian nation- last hurrah of the pre-1914 New notorious Black and Tans; with alism, focused on Congress, rose Liberalism for which the prime their violent assistance, a policy of sharply. The departure from office minister had then been such a cen- retaliation was now pursued, which of the Secretary for India, Edwin tral and inspirational force. But all turned the resistance movement Montagu, already a target for this began to change in the summer into a national struggle fought by crude-anti-Semitism,23 in March of 1920, as the economy plunged rural and urban guerrilla warfare. 1922 was another nail in the coffin into post-war recession. Thereafter, One horror followed another – of the coalition’s Liberalism. He was there was Liberal disaffection, the death after a hunger strike by eventually replaced by an undis- amongst coalitionists and anti-coa- Terence McSwiney, the Mayor of tinguished Tory, Lord Peel, after litionists alike, on issue after issue. Cork; the murder of Kevin Barry three other Unionist peers (Derby, First, there were clear failures by British troops; worst of all, the Devonshire and Crawford) had of social policy, of which the loss machine-gunning of innocent spec- turned the job down, testimony to of the radical Addison in July 1921, tators by the ‘auxis’ at a Gaelic foot- Lloyd George’s waning powers of after a furious public exchange with ball match at Croke Park, Dublin, patronage. Lloyd George, was symbolic.17 The in November 1920, the first of the In foreign policy, Liberal aspi- right-wing Anti-Waste campaign, Irish ‘bloody Sundays’. This all hor- rations for a brave new world, obsessed by the post-war dimensions rified many Liberals. It was a Liberal resulting from the peace treaties at of the national debt, led to a power- minister, Hamar Greenwood, a Paris and subsequently, were soon ful crusade, in the press and in by- Canadian imperialist who took disabused. By 1920 there was wide- elections, against ‘waste’ in policies the place of the more moderate Ian spread dismay at the perceived injus- on housing, schools and hospitals. Macpherson, who directed affairs tices of Versailles, the reparations The undoubted financial misman- in Ireland: his considered view imposed unilaterally on Germany, agement of the Addison Housing was that ‘the Black and Tans had the national imbalances of fron- Act added fuel to the flames. really behaved extraordinarily tier arrangements, and the secret Chamberlain told the Cabinet’s well’.21 Lloyd George, in his most wartime treaties which carved out Finance Committee that every reactionary Chamberlainite vein, imperial domains for Britain and house built under the scheme cost declared that ‘we have murder by France in the Middle East. Keynes’s the taxpayer £50–75, and would do the throat’.22 Soon he was to reverse one-sided onslaughts on the peace so for the next sixty years.18 Those policy, as the British were later to treaties in The Economic Consequences with an animus against the trade In foreign do so often in India, Cyprus, Kenya of the Peace had immense polemical unions attacked the obstructive and elsewhere, to embark on a far effect. This dismay was, indeed, practices they detected within the policy, Lib- more congenial policy of negotia- shared by one of the peace settle- building trade unions. The Geddes tion with de Valera and Sinn Fein, ment’s great architects, the prime Axe, unavailingly resisted by Fisher eral aspira- and eventually to grant southern minister, but his attempts single- and Churchill, indicated a mania for Ireland a fuller degree of independ- handedly to revise and reverse the cutbacks in social spending, with tions for a ence than Parnell had ever asked peace treaties, cheered on by Keynes proposed cuts of £76m in public for. But by then the bloody horror by this time, collapsed at Genoa in expenditure, the bulk of it admit- brave new of ‘the troubles’ had had their effect. April 1922. tedly in the armed services.19 This Liberals turned against the govern- Finally, for doctrinal Liberals, coincided with a new bitterness in world, result- ment in their droves. Many, such there was the great totem of free the labour world after the govern- as Ponsonby, Trevelyan and others trade, their guiding principle since ment had turned down a majority ing from the prominent in the wartime Union the days of Cobden and Bright. It report from the Sankey Commission peace trea- of Democratic Control, moved was the Holy Grail for the Liberals to nationalise the coal mines and had over to the Labour Party. No aspect of the time, just as a referendum on used political manoeuvres to beat ties at Paris of policy did more damage to the electoral reform is today. There was down the Triple Alliance amongst humane, reformist credentials of immense dismay at the steady ero- the unions. The coalition, formed and sub- the coalition. sion of free trade in its purest form amidst some post-war idealism, had India was less damaging. General since 1919. It was an issue on which become a right-wing anti-Labour sequently, Dyer, responsible for the blood- Lloyd George himself seemed cas- front, bent on creating a world fit for bath of the Amritsar massacre, was ual to the point of irresponsibility, Diehards to live in. were soon duly sacked amidst Diehard oppo- ever since his quasi-protectionist Secondly, the government’s sition in 1920, though not court-­ measures at the Board of Trade policy in Ireland proved to be disabused. martialled or otherwise disciplined. in 1905–8. The coalition Liberals

Journal of Liberal History 72 Autumn 2011 35 liberals in coalition, 1916–1922 resisted, unavailingly in the end, power all on their own. They, unable to dissolve parliament and the anti-dumping proposals of the by contrast, felt that the govern- seek a new mandate from the peo- Imports and Exports Regulation ment was too Liberal in its policies, ple, the government simply drifted. Bill in late 1919. The Safeguarding driven by the whims of a presiden- Anger focused on Lloyd George’s of Industries Bill raised a far wider tial prime minister. They objected personal and irregular methods of 1 threat. It would impose a 33 /3 per in particular to two distinctively government which were leading cent duty on certain key imports Liberal policies. First they remained good Unionists down strange paths. with an additional duty on goods emotionally opposed to home rule His mass creation of peerages, and dumped below the cost of produc- for Ireland and objected strongly to the way in which they had a price tion or given a competitive advan- the self-government accorded the tag, was a powerful sign of this. The tage by depreciation of foreign new Irish Free State. Secondly, they government was now tainted not currency.24 Liberals voted against objected to the formal recognition just with unconstitutionality but or abstained in some numbers, but of Bolshevik Russia and success- with corruption, the worst since in vain. A motion by Wedgwood fully frustrated Lloyd George on Walpole. Benn (father of Tony Benn) in this point in early 1922. On these It was Lloyd George’s highly per- February 1922 to repeal the Act points, allied to the anti-waste sonal conduct of foreign policy in astonishingly saw only eighteen campaign, Unionist opposition to relation to Turkey, bringing a clear ‘Coaly Libs’, all ministers, vote with the government steadily built up. threat of war, which led directly to the government, while nineteen There was much opposition voiced his downfall at the famous Carlton voted against, and a further eighty- at the Unionist annual party con- Club meeting on 19 October 1922. seven were absent or abstained. ference in November 1921, held, as The coalition Liberals were now These last included four ministers, ill-luck would have it in Liverpool, lost souls, orphans of the storm. Shortt, Munro, McCurdy and, sig- the very stronghold of anti-Irish They were coalitionists in a post- nificantly, Churchill. Baldwin’s Protestant Tory Democracy of coalition world. After a half- proposal to extend the Act to cover which Alderman Salvidge was the hearted campaign, they ended the import of fabric gloves, one prototype. A motion of censure by up with just fifty-four MPs after which infuriated Lancashire textile the ultra-right-wing John Gretton the 1922 general election (down interests, brought a further huge was debated and defeated. A dis- from 122 before the election). The revolt in July 1922. All this brought tinct weakness came when Bonar Asquithians ended up with perhaps dismay and despondence to coali- Law had to leave the government All these sixty-two (the identification now tion Liberal ranks; they felt they through ill health, and was fol- became very difficult). After the were nominally supporting a gov- lowed by Austen Chamberlain. disappoint- forced shotgun marriage with the ernment in which the leader was no Although he performed strongly Asquithians in the 1923 general elec- true believer in the grand old cause. at the Liverpool conference,25 ments meant tion, following Baldwin’s conver- At least, however, they could claim Chamberlain overall lacked Bonar that, long sion to protectionism, the ‘Coaly that, despite the Safeguarding of Law’s authority and political judge- Lib’ presence in politics petered out. Industries Act, Britain was still a ment. As the popular phrase went, before 1922, Twenty-one of their MPs eventu- free trade country. Austen always played the game and ally joined the Conservatives and All these disappointments meant always lost it. being a Lib- many of their leading figures moved that, long before 1922, being a The key figure here was the to the right – Alfred Mond, Hamar Liberal in this coalition seemed a party chairman, Sir George eral in this Greenwood, the two whips Freddie meaningless exercise. What was the Younger. In the wake of this nation- Guest and Hilton Young, Edward point of them? Were they partners wide mood of party rebellion, he coalition Grigg and, of course, Winston to the Unionists or rivals in contests became a powerful voice of dissent. Churchill whose last appearance to come? In 1920 they rejected Lloyd In January 1922 he openly defied seemed a at the polls as a Liberal was as the George’s proposals that they should Lloyd George, who wanted an unsuccessful candidate for Leicester ‘fuse’ with the Unionists (somewhat early general election after the Irish meaningless in 1923. There was one rare excep- on the lines of Nick Boles MP’s call treaty, the Washington naval treaty, tion – Christopher Addison who for an electoral pact in 2009). They and the Cannes conference with exercise. joined Labour in the mid-twenties did not believe there was ideological the French, on a platform of peace and became an important minister convergence. They were Liberals and recovery. Lloyd George fumed What was during the second MacDonald min- still, as Fisher, Montagu, Shortt, at Younger’s disaffection; Lord istry in 1930–1 and throughout the Addison and even Churchill vari- Birkenhead dismissed the chair- the point six years of the Attlee government ously told Lloyd George. It was all man as merely a ‘cabin boy’.26 But in 1945–51. He thus served in both very honourable, no doubt, but it the cabin boys had taken over the of them? the major post-war governments. left them with nowhere to go. They ship of state. Lloyd George found Were they But his was the last echo of the were supporting a coalition that was that Younger was too important a brave-new-world idealism which disintegrating from within, prop- figure to brush aside. This suggests partners to had led Liberals like the young ping up a prime minister in whom that Vernon Bogdanor’s view of would-be journalist Colin Coote to few Liberals now believed. the fall of the coalition as a revolt the Unionists rush to endorse the coalition gov- More important politically of the party in the country against ernment in December 1918. than Liberal disaffection was overt the leadership in Westminster is or rivals in What of its overall record? The discontent within the majority too superficial.27 Younger’s role coalition had perhaps more to its Unionist party. They dominated indicates the organic link between contests to credit than later commentators, the government and parliament, protest in the country and disaf- many of them Asquithians (includ- and could probably have won fection at the centre. Since it was come? ing Roy Jenkins, the biographer

36 Journal of Liberal History 72 Autumn 2011 liberals in coalition, 1916–1922

the Prinkipo talks with the Russian of Asquith) have allowed. There The Liberals in 1918, now fractured into three. Bolshevik leaders. were long-term legacies in Fisher’s Discredited as a party of govern- 11 C. P. Scott’s diary, 17–20 Jan. 1922, Education Act, the granting of in govern- ment in 1922, they were discred- British Library, Add. MSS. 50906, f. votes to women during wartime, ited as a party of opposition in 1931. 133. and in the long-term implications ment in There was a fatal ‘agreement to 12 Manchester Guardian, 8 May 1920; of Addison’s programmes for hous- differ’ over free trade in 1931, com- Addison to Lloyd George, Parliamen- ing and health. The peace settle- 1918–22, like parable to the similar agreement tary Archives, Lloyd George Papers, F/1/6/8. ments of 1919 and subsequently those in gov- to differ on voting reform in 2010. 13 Manchester Guardian, 21 Jan. 1922; have found much scholarly sup- The mass resignation of ministers C. A. McCurdy to Lloyd George, 5 and port from Margaret Macmillan in the autumn of 1932 was a further 6 Jan. 1922, Parliamentary Archives, and other historians.28 But, other- ernment in sign of collapse. The Liberal Party Lloyd George Papers, F/35/1/3–5. wise, the Liberals in government in 2010, had to embarked upon a rough, stony road 14 It was launched by the Lloyd George 1918–22, like those in government between the secret ‘coupon’ pact secretariat; 30,000 copies were printed. 15 See ‘Cardiganshire Politics, the Liberal in 2010, had to argue, rather tortu- argue, rather of July 1918 and the equally secret Ascendancy 1885–1923’, in Kenneth O. ously, that they had been effective Coalition Agreement of May 2010. Morgan, Modern Wales: Politics, Places in making a reactionary govern- tortuously, Its ultimate destination has yet to be and People (University of Wales Press, ment less reactionary than it would determined. 1995), especially pp. 242–7. Two Liber- otherwise have been. It did have that they als fought each other again in the gen- one notable personal achievement, Kenneth O. Morgan is Fellow of the eral elections of 1922 and 1923; in 1923, the old Asquithian Rhys Hopkin Mor- little regarded at the time. The had been British Academy, honorary fellow of The ris, heavily defeated Ernest Evans. defeat of ‘fusion’ in 1920 not only Queen’s and Oriel Colleges, Oxford, a 16 See Kenneth and Jane Morgan, Por- saved their party, it also saved Lloyd effective in former Vice-Chancellor, an eisteddfo- trait of a Progressive: the Political Career of George. It meant that, in spite of his dic druid, and a Labour peer. He is the Christopher, Viscount Addison (Claren- instincts at the time, Lloyd George making a author of thirty-two books, including don Press, 1980), pp. 90–102. remained a Liberal down to the end. Wales in British Politics 1868–1922 17 Addison to his wife, 15, 21, 23 June, He avoided the sad fate of Joseph reactionary 7, 12 July 1921, Bodleian Library, (University of Wales Press, 1963), Oxford, Addison Papers, Box 135. Chamberlain, still more that of Consensus and Disunity: The Lloyd 18 Cabinet Finance Committee, 29 Nov. Ramsay MacDonald. He lived and government George Coalition Government 1920, National Archives, CAB 27/71. died as a man of left. 1918–1922 (Clarendon Press, 1979), 19 Report of the Committee on Economies in Otherwise, the coalition’s record less reaction- Rebirth of a Nation: Wales Public Expenditure, 1922 (Cmd.1581). was a poor one. It turned out to be a 1880–1980 (Clarendon Press, 1981), The eventual total of cuts amounted class-war government which alien- ary than it David Lloyd George (University to £64m. Fisher successfully chal- lenged most of the £18m proposed for ated the unions and paved the way would oth- of Wales Press, 1981), Labour in education. towards a general strike. Force was Power 1945–51 (Clarendon Press, 20 See especially Charles Townshend, given to Bernard Shaw’s advice to erwise have 1984), Callaghan: a Life (Oxford The British Campaign in Ireland 1919– the Labour Party in 1918 ‘Go back University Press, 1997), Michael Foot: 1921 (Oxford University Press, 1975). to Lloyd George and say “Nothing been. a Life (HarperPress, 2007) and Ages of 21 Lord d’Abernon diary, 21 Aug. 1922, doing”.’ The government waged Reform (I. B. Tauris, January 2011). British Library, d’Abernon Papers, Add. MSS. 48954B, f. 45. actual war in Ireland, it savagely 22 The Times, 11 Oct. 1920. cut back social spending, while 1 I discuss this government in detail in 23 Memorandum by Sir William Suther- deflationary Treasury policies, Consensus and Disunity: the Lloyd George land to Lloyd George, July 1920, Par- designed to further a return to the Coalition Government of 1918–1922 liamentary Archives, Lloyd George (Oxford University Press, 1979, paper- Papers, F/22/2/5. Sutherland wrote, gold standard, made the impact of back edn., 1986). Also see my ‘Lloyd depression worse. The government ‘A strong anti-Jewish sentiment was George’s Stage Army: the Coalition shown by shouts and excitement left behind it the divided country Liberals 1918–1922 in A. J. P. Taylor among normally placid Tories of the and divided society of the inter-war (ed.), Lloyd George: Twelve Essays (Ham- backbench category’. He added that years. Its foreign policy was scarred ish Hamilton, 1971). Montagu ‘became more racial and by failure, and in the thirties it was 2 Christopher Addison, Politics from more Yiddish in screaming tone and Within, 1914–1919 (Herbert Jenkins, derided, somewhat unfairly, as cre- gesture’. This anti-Semitism was 1924), vol. i, pp. 270–2. reflected in The Times, 9 July 1920 – ating the background to another 3 Christopher Addison, Four and Half world war. For the Liberals it made ‘Montagu is a Jew and in excitement Years 1914–1919 (Hutchinson, 1934), has the mental idiom of the East.’ their party impotent for the next vol. i, pp. 202–3. 24 Liberal Magazine, July 1921, p. 348; eighty years and discredited the 4 Freddie Guest to Lloyd George, 17 William Edge to Lloyd George, 28 July whole idea of coalition for genera- May 1918, Parliamentary Archives, 1922, Parliamentary Archives, Lloyd Lloyd George of Dwyfor Papers, tions to come. George papers, F/35/1/48. F/21/1/22. 25 Letters from Magnus, Lane Mitchell, The Liberals split into two fac- 5 Guest to Lloyd George, 29 Oct. 1918, tions in 1918–22; and the existence Astor and Goulding, amongst oth- ibid., F/21/2/46. ers, in Austen Chamberlain papers, of Lloyd George’s troublesome, 6 Winston Churchill to Lloyd George, University of Birmingham library, if beguiling, Fund kept the mem- 12 April 1922, ibid., F/10/2/63. AC/32/12ff. ory of incipient civil war alive in 7 Lloyd George to Churchill, 22 Sept. 26 Morgan, Consensus and Disunity, pp. the minds of such men as Simon, 1919, ibid., F/9/1/20. 274–9. 8 C. P. Scott’s diary, 17–20 Jan. 1922, 27 Vernon Bogdanor, The Coalition and the Runciman and Hore-Belisha there- British Library, Add. MSS. 50906, f. after. Surely things could not get Constitution (Hart, 2011), chapter 3. 133. 28 Margaret Macmillan, Peacemakers any worse? Indeed, they could. In 9 Ibid., 30 Nov.–1 Dec. 1919, British (John Murray, 2001). 1931, as another article in this issue Library, Add. MSS. 50905, f. 211. will show, the party, split into two 10 Fisher was much used in preparing for

Journal of Liberal History 72 Autumn 2011 37