David Lloyd George

David Lloyd George, 1st Earl Lloyd-George of Dwyfor, OM, PC (January 17, 1863 – March 26, 1945) is a British statesman who serves as Prime Minister of the United Kingdom from 1916 to 1922.

He is the final Liberal to hold the post.

Lloyd George was born in Chorlton-on-Medlock, England to Welsh parents.

His father—a schoolmaster—died in 1864 and he was raised in Wales by his mother and her shoemaker brother, whose Liberal politics and Baptist faith strongly influenced Lloyd George; the same uncle helped the boy embark on a career as a solicitor after leaving school.

Lloyd George becomes active in local politics, gaining a reputation as an orator and a proponent of a Welsh blend of radical Liberalism that champions nonconformism and the disestablishment of the Anglican church in Wales, equality for laborers and tenant farmers, and reform of landownership.

In 1890 he narrowly wins a by-election to become the Member of Parliament for Caernarvon Boroughs, in which seat he remains for fifty-five years

Lloyd George serves in Henry Campbell-Bannerman's cabinet from 1905.

After H. H. Asquith succeeds to the premiership in 1908, Lloyd George replaces him as Chancellor of the Exchequer.

To fund extensive welfare reforms he proposes taxes on land ownership and high incomes in the "People's Budget" (1909), which the Conservative-dominated House of Lords rejects.

The resulting constitutional crisis is only resolved after two elections in 1910 and the passage of the Parliament Act 1911.

His budget is now enacted alongside the National Insurance Act 1911 which helps to establish the modern welfare state.

In 1913 he is embroiled in the Marconi scandal, but he remains in office and promotes the disestablishment of the Church in Wales, until the outbreak of the First World War in 1914 suspends its implementation.

As wartime Chancellor Lloyd George strengthens the country's finances and forges agreements with trade unions to maintain production.

In 1915 Asquith forms a Liberal-led wartime coalition with the Conservatives and Labour.

Lloyd George becomes Minister of Munitions and rapidly expands production.

In 1916 he is appointed Secretary of State for War but is frustrated by his limited power and clashes with the military establishment over strategy.

Amid stalemate on the Western Front, confidence in Asquith's leadership wanes.

He is forced to resign in December 1916; Lloyd George succeeds him as Prime Minister, supported by the Conservatives and some Liberals.

He centralizes authority through a smaller war cabinet, a new Cabinet Office and his "Garden Suburb" of advisers.

To combat food shortages he implements the convoy system, establishes rationing, and stimulates farming.

After supporting the disastrous French Nivelle Offensive in 1917, he has to reluctantly approve Field Marshal Haig's plans for the Battle of Passchendaele, which results in huge casualties with little strategic benefit.

Against the views of his commanders, he is finally able to see the Allies brought under one command in March 1918.

The war effort turns to their favor in August and is won in November.

In the aftermath he and the Conservatives maintain their coalition with popular support following the December 1918 "Coupon" election.

His government had extended the franchise to all men and some women earlier in the year.

Lloyd George is a major player in Paris Peace Conference of 1919 but the situation in Ireland worsens this year, erupting into the Irish War of Independence, which lasts until Lloyd George negotiates independence for the Irish Free State in 1921.

At home he initiates reforms to education and housing but trade union militancy enters record levels, the economy becomes depressed in 1920 and unemployment rises; spending cuts follow  (1921–22) and he is embroiled in a scandal over the sale of honors and the Chanak Crisis in 1922.

Bonar Law wins backbench support for the Conservatives to contend the next election alone.

Lloyd George resigns; with his party split between his and Asquith's supporters, his faction wins just over fifty seats in the 1922 election, Asquith's just over sixty.

The next year the pair reunites to oppose Stanley Baldwin's tariff proposal, which he has put to the country.

The Liberals make gains in 1923 but remains third after the Conservatives and Labour, propping up a Labour minority government; they never regain their status as second party and, when the Labour government falls, goes down to just over forty seats in 1924 under Asquith.

Lloyd George leads the Liberals from 1926 to 1931, putting forward innovative proposals for public works; this fails to convert into seats in 1929 and from 1931 he is a marginalized and mistrusted figure heading a small rump of breakaway Liberals opposed to the National Government.

He declines an offer to serve in Winston Churchill's War Cabinet in 1940 and is raised to the peerage in 1945, shortly before his death.

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