Editing H. H. Asquith (section)

===Triumvirate gathers===

On 20 November 1916 Lloyd George, Carson and Law met at the [[Hyde Park Hotel]].{{sfn|Cassar|p=212}} The meeting was organised by [[Max Aitken]], who was to play central roles both in the forthcoming crisis and in its subsequent historiography.{{sfn|Riddell|p=181}} Max Aitken was a Canadian adventurer, millionaire, and close friend of Law.{{sfn|Adams|p=224}} His book on the fall of the First Coalition, ''Politicians and the War 1914–1916'', although always partial and sometimes inaccurate, gives a detailed insider's view of the events leading up to Asquith's political demise.{{sfn|Taylor|p=121}} The trio agreed on the necessity of overhauling the government and further agreed on the mechanism for doing so; the establishment of a small War Council, chaired by Lloyd George, with no more than five members and with full executive authority for the conduct of the war.{{sfn|Scott|p=243}}

Asquith was to be retained as prime minister, and given honorific oversight of the War Council, but day to day operations would be directed by Lloyd George.{{sfn|Cassar|p=212}} This scheme, although often reworked, remained the basis of all proposals to reform the government until Asquith's fall on 6 December. Until almost the end, both Law{{sfn|Adams|p=226}} and Lloyd George{{sfn|Grigg 1985|p=444}} wished to retain Asquith as premier, but Aitken,{{sfn|Taylor|p=121}} Carson{{sfn|Taylor|p=110}} and Lord Northcliffe emphatically did not.{{sfn|Grigg 1985|p=441}}