Editing David Lloyd George (section)

====Forming a government====
The fall of Asquith as prime minister split the Liberal Party into two factions: those who supported him and those who supported the coalition government. In his ''War Memoirs'', Lloyd George compared himself with Asquith:<ref>{{cite book|last=Lloyd George|first=David|title=War Memoirs of David Lloyd George|edition=New|volume=1 of 2|year=1938|publisher=Odhams Press|location=London|page=602|chapter=XXXVI Some Personal Sketches}}</ref>
<blockquote>There are certain indispensable qualities essential to the Chief Minister of the Crown in a great war.&nbsp;... Such a minister must have courage, composure, and judgment. All this Mr. Asquith possessed in a superlative degree.&nbsp;... But a war minister must also have vision, imagination and initiative—he must show untiring assiduity, must exercise constant oversight and supervision of every sphere of war activity, must possess driving force to energize this activity, must be in continuous consultation with experts, official and unofficial, as to the best means of using the resources of the country in conjunction with the Allies for the achievement of victory. If to this can be added a flair for conducting a great fight, then you have an ideal War Minister.</blockquote>

After December 1916 Lloyd George relied on the support of Conservatives and of the press baron [[Lord Northcliffe]] (who owned both ''[[The Times]]'' and the ''[[Daily Mail]]''). Besides the Prime Minister, the five-member [[War Cabinet]] contained three Conservatives (Lord President of the Council and Leader of the House of Lords [[Lord Curzon]], Chancellor of the Exchequer and Leader of the House of Commons [[Bonar Law]], and [[Minister without portfolio (United Kingdom)|Minister without Portfolio]] [[Lord Milner]]) and [[Arthur Henderson]], unofficially representing [[Labour Party (UK)|Labour]]. [[Edward Carson]] was appointed [[First Lord of the Admiralty]], as had been widely touted during the intrigues of the previous month, but excluded from the War Cabinet. Amongst the few Liberal frontbenchers to support Lloyd George were [[Christopher Addison]] (who had played an important role in drumming up some backbench Liberal support for Lloyd George), [[H. A. L. Fisher]], [[Lord Rhondda]] and [[Albert Stanley, 1st Baron Ashfield|Sir Albert Stanley]]. [[Edwin Montagu]] and Churchill joined the government in the summer of 1917.{{sfn|Koss|1985|p=224}}

Lloyd George's Secretariat, popularly known as Downing Street's "[[The Garden Suburb|Garden Suburb]]", assisted him in discharging his responsibilities within the constraints of the war cabinet system. Its function was to maintain contact with the numerous departments of government, to collect information, and to report on matters of special concern. Its leading members were [[William George Stewart Adams|George Adams]] and [[Philip Kerr, 11th Marquess of Lothian|Philip Kerr]], and the other secretaries included [[David Davies, 1st Baron Davies|David Davies]], [[Joseph Davies (British politician)|Joseph Davies]], [[Waldorf Astor]] and, later, [[Cecil Harmsworth]].<ref>Andrew Blick and George Jones, ''A Century of Policy Advice at No.10'', Part I. [https://history.blog.gov.uk/2017/01/05/a-century-of-policy-advice-at-no-10-part-one/ Official UK government history of policy advice] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20191013191732/https://history.blog.gov.uk/2017/01/05/a-century-of-policy-advice-at-no-10-part-one/ |date=13 October 2019 }}. See also John Turner, ''Lloyd George's Secretariat'' (Cambridge University Press, 1980).</ref>

Lloyd George wanted to make the destruction of the [[Ottoman Empire]] a major British war aim, and two days after taking office told Robertson that he wanted a major victory, preferably the capture of [[Jerusalem]], to impress British public opinion.{{sfn|Woodward|1998|pp=119–120}}

At the Rome Conference (5–6 January 1917) Lloyd George was discreetly quiet about plans to take Jerusalem, an object which advanced British interests rather than doing much to win the war. Lloyd George proposed sending heavy guns to Italy with a view to defeating Austria-Hungary, possibly to be balanced by a transfer of Italian troops to Salonika but was unable to obtain the support of the French or Italians, and Robertson talked of resigning.{{sfn|Woodward|1998|pp=83–85}}