Essay
How far did American society boom in the 1920s?
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What is the most important factor leading to Lloyd George and the Liberal’s downfall?David Lloyd George once stated that ‘a politcian is a person with whose politcs you don't agree,’
and he certainly remained true to his word. Many Conservatves turned against Lloyd George as his
temperamental character could have afected the party reputaton. When this factor is combined
with the split of the Liberal party and loss of working class support, then it becomes apparent that
Lloyd George’s downfall was inevitable. Whilst some hail him as Britain’s best politcian, he certainly
fell from power with a thud and this can all be linked back to his unlikable character.
Whilst Labour was supported fnancially by trade unions and the Conservatve party were supported
by donatons from members, the Liberal party had a lack of funding. Consequently Lloyd George
engaged in some disreputable actvites in order to boost his party’s fnancial status. The ‘Cash for
Honours’ scandal was common knowledge and run from a private ofce in Whitehall. During his 6
years as Prime Minister, Lloyd George sold 1500 knighthoods and nearly 100 peerages. Most
controversially, John Robinson, a convicted South African fraudster was going to be given a peerage,
which angered both the King and Parliament. This highlighted Lloyd George’s electoral liability. The
‘Marconi Scandal’ in 1913 provided the Conservatves with another example of Lloyd George’s ever-
increasing politcal incompetence. The Conservatves were worried that Lloyd George’s iniquitous
actons would tarnish the Conservatve reputaton as being a trustworthy party.
Lloyd George was seen by many Conservatve MPs as arrogant. His ‘Garden Suburb’ style of
leadership infuriated the elected MPs. Instead of consultng the party, he would simply discuss
problems with a group of fve close friends. Infrequent visits to Parliament led to a deterioratng
relatonship between Lloyd George and the Conservatve majority in the Coaliton, as many of his
decisions went against the views of the party. For example, the ‘Chanak Afair’ caused politcal
fricton and all fricton results in heat. The Conservatves were angered by Lloyd George’s pro-Greek
Liberal stance, especially when Britain was always allies with Turkey. The Conservatves were very
weary of Britain going to war, especially considering her fragile state. The army negotated a peace
pact with the Turks, so Lloyd George lost support and his politcal ability was sullied. If he had been
of a diferent character, then the Conservatves may have been able to reason with him, this
highlights that his personality ultmately led to his downfall.
Being nicknamed the ‘Welsh goat’ has few positve connotatons. The name represents his
stubbornness, ability to climb over rocky ground and most famously, his love of women. Lloyd
George was described as being as ‘trusted as a Bengal tger with a gazelle’ when with atractve
women. This is seen as even more of an insult considering it was said by Lloyd George’s son, Dick.
Lloyd George’s personality did cause issues. On one occasion, he took a holiday to Scotland and
made the cabinet travel to him for meetng. This did not improve inter-party relatons. With this
mass of party oppositon to him, many Conservatve members met at the Charlton Club in 1922.
They voted 185 to 88 to throw out the ‘Liberal cuckoo,’ and replace him with Baldwin. The
Conservatve party decided the Lloyd George had nothing left to ofer them and that they would be
able to win electons by themselves. The coaliton was over, as a result of Lloyd George’s personality
and warped decision making.
The loss of support from the working classes also played an important factor in the demise of the
Welsh wizard. There were many post-war problems that Lloyd George needed to resolve in order to
maintain working class support. One of Lloyd George’s unkept promises to the working classes was
the ‘Homes for Heroes’ scheme. Lloyd George promised to house every soldier returning from the
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