Lloyd George 1918-22

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Successes

- praised for his solution of partitioning of Ireland which satisfied all sides and brought 50 years of peace

- praised for avoiding a national strike and confrontation through his tactical negotiating skills and his setting up of the Sankey Commission in the Clyeside strike 1918

- stimulated further development of the welfare state through his social reforms e.g.

Addison Housing Act 1919 provided for the local authorities to build houses for the working classes and by end of 1922 there were more than 213,000 new houses,

Sex Disqualification Act 1919

Old age pension scheme was increased from 7 shillings a week to 10

Unemployment Insurance Act 1920 to include workers with incomes less than £250 a year however ran into debt after slump in 1921

* However Lloyd George lacked a supportive party behind him therefore he couldn't go far enough with his aims considering he had no party base and was viewed increasingly with distrust

Failures

- his limited power and the statement that he was a 'prisoner of the conservatives' can be verified through the Geddes Axe 1922 (cut £64 from social reforms) - however could also argue that this would have been inevitable for any government due to the severity of the slump and increasing unemployment

- although he had found a solution to Ireland he had made enemies through doing so e.g. the Cons were furious at the way in which the union between Britain and Ireland had been broken

- Scandals e.g. Chanak Incident, Honors Scandal

Conservatives only kept Lloyd George for as long as they needed him

Agree

- his fate was sealed from the start and no matter what he did whether good or bad the conservative plan was always to get rid of him

- they needed him to restore their power again in government as he was seen as the 'man who won the war' therefore he was what essentially allowed the coalition to win in 1918

- afraid that he would split the party like he did with the Liberals

- meeting at the Carlton Club 29 Oct 185 to 85 voted in favour of ending support for Lloyd George and so Lloyd George immediately resigned and Bonar Law became PM

Disagree

- Bonar law was a great and genuine admirer of Lloyd George and he acknowledged that the Cons owed their successes to Lloyd George popularity therefore Bonar Law did want to try and make the coalition work with no intention of throwing L.G out

- They had legitimate reasons for abandoning him e.g. they resented the Irish solution and his handling of the Chank incident, and they criticised him because because he allowed the sale of knighthoods to unsuitable candidates