The Age of Lloyd George

Kenneth O. Morgan is one of Britain’s leading modern historians. He was Fellow of The Queen’s College, Oxford, from 1966 to 1989, and Vice-Chancellor of the University of Wales from 1989 to 1995. He was elected Fellow of the British Academy in 1983 and Honorary Fellow of The Queen’s College in 1992. His books include Keir Hardie, (1975, Arts Council book prize); Rebirth of a Nation: Wales, 1880–1980 (1981, Arts Council book prize); and The Oxford Illustrated History of Britain (1984) which has sold over 600,000 copies.

Part 1: The Age of Lloyd George 1. Introduction: The Old Liberalism and the New 2. The Liberals in Power, 1905-15 3. The Crisis of War, 1915-18 4. The Lloyd George Coalition, 1918-22 5. The Liberal Decline, 1923-29 Part 2: Selected Documents A: The Old Liberalism and the New (1890-1905) a) The Old Liberalism 1. The Newcastle Programme, October 1891 2. Gladstone on the Newcastle Programme, October 1891 3. W. Jenkyn Thomas on Welsh Nationalism, 1895 4. Beatrice Webb on John Morley’s Liberalism, October 1897 5. Campbell-Bannerman on ‘methods of barbarism’ in South Africa, June 1901 6. Lord Rosebery’s Chesterfield speech on the ‘clean slate’ and Campbell-Bannerman’s reactions, December 1901 7. J. A. Hobson on the Liberal Party and Imperialism, 1902 8. Lloyd George on the Education Bill, May 1902 9. Joseph Chamberlain’s speech on tariff reform, Birmingham, May 1903 b) The New Liberalism 10. Sidney Webb on ‘Lord Rosebery’s escape from Houndsditch’, September 1901 11. Herbert Samuel on the New Liberalism, 1902 12. Leo Chiozza Money on ‘Riches and Poverty’, 1905 13. R. J. Campbell on the ‘New Technology’ 1907 14. The Gladstone-MacDonald ‘entente’, March 1903 15. F. A. Channing on Relations between Liberals and Labour, September 1905 16. Haldane on the ‘Relugas Compact’, September 1905 17. Rosebery’s speech at Bodmin, November 1905 18. Asquith and the new Liberal government, December 1905 B: The Liberals in Power (1905-15) a) Welfare State and Political Crisis 19. Lloyd George at Caernarvon, January 1906 20. Churchill on the ‘untrodden field of politics’ March 1908 21. Beatrice Webb and Ramsay MacDonald on the Liberal Government, 1910, and on the National Insurance Bill, 1911 22. Asquith’s Albert Hall speech on the House of Lords, December 1909 23. Lloyd George’s memorandum on a National Government, August 1910 24. The National Review on national ‘anarchy’, January 1912 25. The Cabinet and Labour Unrest, 1912 b) The Coming of War 26. J. Allen Baker on the Naval Estimates, 1910 27. Lloyd George’s Mansion House Speech 29. Lloyd George on the Government’s conduct of foreign policy before 1914 30. Bonar Law and the downfall of the Liberal administration, May 1915 C: The Crisis of War (1915-18) a) The Liberal Party and the War, 1915-16 31. Liberal ‘ginger group’ and the need for conscription, July 1915 32. Lloyd George and his Liberal colleagues, November 1915 33. Simon and Conscription, January 1916 34. Lloyd George’s Dissatisfaction with the Asquith Government, April 1916 35. Lloyd George’s backbench Liberal Support, May 1916 36. Spender and the Political Situation, September 1916 37. Sir William Robertson, Bonar Law and the maladministration of the war, November 1916 b) The Downfall of Asquith 38. Memorandum presented to Asquith by Lloyd George, Bonar Law, Carson and Beaverbrook, 1 December 1916 39. Asquith’s reply to the memorandum and Lloyd George’s response, 1 December 1916 40. Edwin Montagu writes to Asquith, 2 December 1916 41. Bonar Law and the Resolution of the Unionist ministers, 3 December 1916 42. Asquith and Lloyd George Exchange Letters on The Times leading article, 4 December 1916 43. Edwin Montagu and the Liberal Ministers, 5 December 1916 44. Bonar Law and Asquith, 5 December 1916 45. Addison on Lloyd George’s Liberal backbench supporters 46. Asquith on his own downfall, 7 December 1916 c) Lloyd George as Prime Minister 47. Lloyd George and his relationship to the Liberal Party, January 1917 48. The Remodelling of Lloyd George’s government, July 1917 49. The Soldiers and the politicians, November 1917 50. Lloyd George on the future of the Liberal Party 1918 51. Captain Guest on the government and the press lords, February 1918 52. Arthur Henderson on Lloyd George premiership, April 1918 53. Lloyd George on his political creed, April 1918 54. General Maurice’s letter in The Times May 1918 55. The Origin of the ‘coupon’ July 1918 56. Lloyd George secures Liberal support for a post-war Coalition November 1918 57. The Coalition’s election manifesto, November 1918 58. J. M. Keynes’s verdict on the ‘coupon election’ 59. Edwin Montagu’s verdict on the ‘coupon election’ D: The Lloyd George Coalition (1918-22) a) The Coalition and Party Politics 60. Edwin Montagu on the new parliament, 1919 61. H. A. L. Fisher on the moves towards a ‘centre party’ January – February 1920 62. Lord Birkenhead on the need for a ‘National Party’ February 1920 63. Bonar Law on the failure of ‘fusion’ March 1920 64. Lloyd George’s swing to the right, March 1920 65. Walter Long on the Lloyd George government, May 1920 66. Sir William Sutherland on the need for a ‘New Liberalism’ January 1922 67. Fisher on the need for the Liberal Ministers to Resign, March 1922 68. Hilton Young on the need for Lloyd George to Resign March 1922 b) The Decline and Fall of Lloyd George 69. The Appointment of the Geddes Committee, August 1921 70. The Report of the Geddes Committee, February 1922 71. Lloyd George and the ‘honours scandal’, 1922 72. Montagu on the political situation, November 1921 73. Austen Chamberlain opposes a dissolution, January 1922 74. Lord Salisbury ‘on Lloyd George’s unfitness for his task’ March 1922 75. Grigg on Lloyd George’s political decline, March 1922 76. Bonar Law’s letter to The Times on the Chanak crisis, October 1922 77. Baldwin’s speech at the Carlton Club, 19 October 1922 78. Masterman on Lloyd George’s ‘betrayal’ of Liberalism 79. Lloyd George’s defence of his government’s Liberal record, December 1922 E: The Liberal Decline (1923-29) a) Liberal Reunion 80. Baldwin’s Plymouth speech advocating protection of the home market, October 1923 81. The reunion of Asquith and Lloyd George, November 1923 82. The Liberal Election Manifesto, November 1923 b) The Failure of the Last Crusade 83. Herbert Gladstone and the Liberal finances, August 1924 84. The Nation on the Liberals’ plight, December 1924 85. Lloyd George’s ‘green book’ on agriculture, 1925 86. Keynes on the ‘new Liberalism’ 1927 87. ‘We Can Conquer Unemployment’ 1929 88. Donald Maclean on the parliamentary Liberal party, July and December 1929 89. Lloyd George’s retrospect on the inter-war years March 1940