Account For The Fall Of Lloyd George In 1922 Essay, Research Paper

Unfortunately for Lloyd George his achievements, such as The Sex Disqualification Removal Act (1919), The Addison Housing Act (1919) and the Rent Act (1920) were not enough to save the coalition. He had been losing working-class support steadily and it was `significant that Labour won 13 by-elections between 1918 and 1922. Much depended on whether the Conservative MPs would continue to support him at the next general election which he intended to hold fairly soon. A full meeting of Conservative MPs was arranged at the Carlton Club on October 19. This meeting debated a proposal that the party should fight an election on an independent basis. Most of the rank and file were ready to continue the coalition after the election provided the party’s independence had been reasserted. However, instead of accepting this, Chamberlain adopted an uncompromising line, thus forcing the moderates to vote against him. The motion was carried by 187 to 87. Although Baldwin derived much of the credit for this by his bold denunciation of Lloyd George as a ‘dynamic force’ who would soon shatter the party, the key speech was that of Bonar Law, now clearly available as leader once again. `After the Carlton Club vote Chamberlain went straight to Number 10 Downing Street. ‘We must resign LG’, he said, ‘Baldwin has carried the meeting.’ But Lloyd George already knew and lost no time in resigning his office. However, he acted as Prime Minister for four more days because Bonar Law refused to take office until he had been elected leader by the Conservatives. They had outwitted Lloyd George completely. Having capitalised upon his prestige in 1918, they had now ditched him before his failings could drag them down. `The Conservatives decided to abandon him because he had outlived his usefulness. They resented his solution of the Irish problem, where trouble flared up immediately after the election when the 73 Sinn Fein MPs set up their own parliament in Dublin and pro `claimed the Republic of Ireland. The IRA began a campaign of terrorism against the police and the government retaliated by using the Black and Tans. Although Lloyd George found a temporary settlement by partitioning Ireland, he had made enemies in doing so: many Liberals resented his use of the Black and Tans, whereas the Conservatives were furious at the way in which the union between Britain and Ireland had been destroyed. `Conservatives criticised him because he allowed the sale of knighthoods and other honours to unsuitable candidates in order to raise extra money, but the episode which brought about his downfall was the Chanak Incident (1922). The Turks were threatening to break the Versailles settlement by moving troops into a neutral zone, thereby clashing with the British occupying force based at Chanak on the Dardanelles. Lloyd George took a strong line, warning the Turks that if the neutral zone was violated, they would face war with the British Empire. Eventually a compromise was reached by the Treaty of Lausanne (1923), allowing Turkey to keep Eastern Thrace and Smyrna. The crisis passed, war was averted and it seemed that Lloyd George had triumphed. Unfortunately he had made the mistake of not consulting the Commonwealth Prime Ministers before committing them to action against the Turks. Many of his Conservative supporters were outraged at what they saw as his unforgivable rashness, and his days in power from that point on were numbered. `However, perhaps more than anything else the Conservatives were afraid that if the coaltion continued much longer, Lloyd George would split the Conservative Party (between coalition supporters and anti-coalitionists) as he had split the Liberal Party. ` `Bibliography: ` ` `<:#284,9360>Martin Pugh – Lloyd George `<:#284,9360>AJP Taylor – English History 1914-45 `<:#284,9360>Paul Adelman – The Decline of the Liberal Party `<:#284,9360>LCB Seaman – Post-Victorian Britain 1902-51 `<:#284,9360>Norman Lowe – Mastering Modern British History