Editing David Lloyd George (section)

=== Opposition to the Boer War ===
Lloyd George had been impressed by his journey to Canada in 1899. Although sometimes wrongly supposed—both at the time and subsequently—to be a [[Little Englander]], he was not an opponent of the British Empire ''per se'', but in a speech at Birkenhead (21 November 1901) he stressed that it needed to be based on freedom, including for India, not "racial arrogance".<ref name="GriggCrisisAtSea">{{harvnb|Grigg|2003|loc=ch. "Crisis at Sea and Revolution in Russia"}}</ref>{{rp|61}} Consequently, he gained national fame by displaying vehement opposition to the [[Second Boer War]].{{sfn|Hattersley|2010|loc=ch. "Go for Joe", pp. [https://archive.org/details/isbn_9781408700976/page/119 119]–144}}

Following Rosebery's lead, he based his attack firstly on what were supposed to be Britain's war aims—remedying the grievances of the {{lang|af|italic=no|[[Uitlander]]s}} and in particular the claim that they were wrongly denied the right to vote, saying "I do not believe the war has any connection with the franchise. It is a question of 45% dividends" and that England (which did not then have universal male suffrage) was more in need of franchise reform than the Boer republics. A second attack came on the cost of the war, which, he argued, prevented overdue social reform in England, such as old-age pensions and workmen's cottages. As the fighting continued his attacks moved to its conduct by the generals, who, he said (basing his words on reports by [[William Burdett-Coutts]] in ''[[The Times]]''), were not providing for the sick or wounded soldiers and were starving Boer women and children in concentration camps. But his major thrusts were reserved for the Chamberlains, accusing them of [[war profiteering]] through the family company [[Kynoch]] Ltd, of which Chamberlain's brother was chairman. The firm had won tenders to the [[War Office]], though its prices were higher than some of its competitors. After speaking at a meeting in Birmingham Lloyd George had to be smuggled out disguised as a policeman, as his life was in danger from the mob. At this time the Liberal Party was badly split as [[H. H. Asquith]], [[R. B. Haldane]] and others were supporters of the war and formed the [[Liberal Imperialists|Liberal Imperial League]].{{sfn|Gilbert|1987|loc=ch. The Free Lancer: The South African War, 1895–1902, pp. 178–214}}