Editing David Lloyd George (section)

== Later political career (1922–1945) ==
=== Liberal reunion ===
[[File:David Lloyd George - Project Gutenberg eText 15306.jpg|thumb|left|upright|David Lloyd George]]
Throughout the 1920s Lloyd George remained highly visible in politics; predictions that he would return to power were common, but it never happened.<ref>{{cite book|last=Campbell|first=John|author-link=John Campbell (biographer)|title=Lloyd George: The Goat in the Wilderness 1922–1931|year=1977|publisher=Jonathan Cape|location=London|isbn=0-224-01296-7|pages=3–11|chapter=Introduction}}</ref> He still controlled a large fund, thought to have been between £1m ({{Inflation|index=UK|value=1000000|start_year=1920|r=-5|fmt=eq|cursign=£}}) and £3m ({{Inflation|index=UK|value=3000000|start_year=1920|r=-5|fmt=eq|cursign=£}}), from his investments in newspaper ownership and from his sale of titles.{{sfn|Koss|1985|pp=259–261}}<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.measuringworth.com/ukcompare/result.php|title=Measuring Worth – Measures of worth, inflation rates, saving calculator, relative value, worth of a dollar, worth of a pound, purchasing power, gold prices, GDP, history of wages, average wage|website=measuringworth.com|access-date=30 October 2016|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160331194822/https://measuringworth.com/ukcompare/result.php|archive-date=31 March 2016}}</ref>

Before the [[1923 United Kingdom general election|1923 election]], he resolved his dispute with Asquith, allowing the Liberals to run a united ticket against [[Stanley Baldwin]]'s policy of protective tariffs. Baldwin both feared and despised Lloyd George, and one of his aims was to keep him out of power. He later claimed that he had adopted tariffs, which cost the Conservatives their majority, out of concern that Lloyd George was about to do so on his return from a tour of North America. Although there was press speculation at the time that Lloyd George would do so (or adopt [[US-style Prohibition]] to appeal to [[Representation of the People Act 1918|newly enfranchised]] women voters), there is no evidence that this was his intent.<ref>{{cite book|last=Campbell|first=John|author-link=John Campbell (biographer)|title=Lloyd George: The Goat in the Wilderness 1922–1931|year=1977|publisher=Jonathan Cape|location=London|isbn=0-224-01296-7|pages=47–48|chapter=The Aftermath of Coalition 1922–3}}</ref> Asquith and Lloyd George reached agreement on 13 November 1923 and issued a joint Free Trade manifesto, followed by a more general one. Lloyd George agreed to contribute £100,000 (in the event he claimed to have contributed £160,000 including help given to individual candidates; Liberal HQ put the figure at £90,000).{{sfn|Koss|1985|pp=261–263}}

In 1924, Lloyd George, realising that Liberal defeat was inevitable and keen to take control of the party himself, spent only £60,000.<ref name=RowlandGenuinely>{{cite book|last=Rowland|first=Peter|title=Lloyd George|year=1975|publisher=Barrie & Jenkins|location=London|isbn=0-214-20049-3|chapter=Genuinely Seeking Work, 1922–1929}}</ref>{{rp|631}} At the [[1924 United Kingdom general election|1924 general election]], Baldwin won a clear victory. Despite having a large majority, he appointed the leading coalitionists such as Austen Chamberlain and Lord Birkenhead (and former Liberal [[Winston Churchill]]) to senior cabinet places, to discourage any restoration of the 1916–1922 coalition.{{sfn|Charmley|1995|p=201}}

=== Liberal leader ===
The disastrous election result in 1924 left the Liberals as a weak third party in British politics behind the ascendant [[Labour Party (UK)|Labour Party]], with just over 40 MPs. Although Asquith, who had again lost his seat and was created an [[Earl of Oxford and Asquith|Earl]], remained Liberal leader, Lloyd George was elected chairman of the Liberal MPs by 26 votes to 7. [[Sir John Simon]] and his followers were still loyal to Asquith (after 1931 Simon would lead a breakaway [[National Liberal Party (UK, 1931)|National Liberal Party]], which eventually merged with the Conservatives) whilst [[Walter Runciman, 1st Viscount Runciman of Doxford|Walter Runciman]] led a separate radical group within the Parliamentary Party.{{sfn|Koss|1985|p=272}}

Lloyd George was now mainly interested in the reform of land ownership, but had only been permitted to put a brief paragraph about it in the hastily drafted 1924 Liberal manifesto. In the autumn of 1925, despite the hostility of [[Charles Hobhouse]], Runciman and [[Alfred Mond]], he began an independent campaign, soon to become "The Land and the Nation" (the ''Green Book'', first of a series of policy papers produced by Lloyd George in the late 1920s). Asquith rebuked him, but was ignored; they reached an agreement in principle on 2 December, then together they presented Lloyd George's plans to the [[National Liberal Federation]] on 26 February 1926.{{sfn|Koss|1985|pp=267, 272–274}}{{sfn|Jenkins|1964|pp=513–514}}

The Liberal Shadow Cabinet, including Lloyd George, unequivocally backed Baldwin's handling of the [[1926 United Kingdom general strike|General Strike]] on 3 May 1926, but Lloyd George then wrote an article for the American press more sympathetic to the strikers, and did not attend the Shadow Cabinet on 10 May, sending his apologies on "policy grounds". Asquith sent him a public letter (20 May) rebuking him for not attending the meeting to discuss his opinions with colleagues in private. Lloyd George's letter of 10 May had not been published, making it appear that Asquith had fired the first shot, and Lloyd George sent a public reply, moderate in tone (the journalist [[C. P. Scott]] helped him draft it), on 25 May. In late May, the executive of the National Liberal Federation convened to plan the agenda for the following month's conference. 16 were pro-Asquith and 8 pro-Lloyd George; they planned a motion expressing confidence in Asquith, but another option was also proposed to seek Asquith's opinion first, and also general feeling of regret at having been forced to choose between Asquith and Lloyd George. Asquith then wrote another public letter (1 June) stating that he regarded Lloyd George's behaviour as tantamount to resignation, the same as if a Cabinet Minister had refused to abide by the principle of collective responsibility. Twelve leading Liberals wrote in Asquith's support to ''The Times'' (1 June); however, Lloyd George had more support in the wider party than among the grandees: the London Liberal Candidates' Association (3 June) defied its officers and expressed its dismay at the split, effectively supporting Lloyd George, and on 8 June the Liberal MPs voted 20:10 urging a reconciliation. Asquith had planned to launch a fightback at the National Liberal Federation in [[Weston-super-Mare]], but on 12 June, five days before the conference was due to start, he suffered a stroke which put him out of action for three months. Lloyd George was given a rapturous welcome. Asquith resigned as party leader in October 1926, dying in 1928.{{sfn|Koss|1985|pp=276–280}}{{sfn|Jenkins|1964|pp=514–516}}

[[File:Say what they will He got things done in time of need.png|thumb|left|upright|Liberal Party poster from their [[1929 United Kingdom general election|1929 general election]] campaign]]
As Liberal leader at last, Lloyd George used his fund to finance candidates and put forward innovative ideas for public works to reduce unemployment, detailed in works such as ''[[Britain's Industrial Future]]'' (known as the ''Yellow Book''), and ''We Can Conquer Unemployment'' (known as the ''Orange Book''). [[Charles Masterman]], a member of the commission which prepared ''Britain's Industrial Future'', wrote: "When Lloyd George came back to the party, ideas came back to the party".<ref name="MastermanLabour">{{cite book |last=Masterman |first=Lucy |author-link=Lucy Masterman |chapter=13: 1924. Labour Government |title=C. F. G. Masterman: A Biography |publisher=Frank Cass and Co Ltd |location=London |year=1968}}</ref>{{rp|345–346}} Lloyd George was helped by [[John Maynard Keynes]] to write ''We Can Conquer Unemployment'', setting out economic policies to solve unemployment. In 1927, Lloyd George gave £300,000 and an annual grant of between £30,000 and £40,000 for the operations of the Liberal headquarters. He also gave £2,000 per annum to the parliamentary party until 1931.<ref name="JonesInOppo">{{cite book |last=Jones |first=Thomas |chapter=VII: In Opposition 1923–45 |title=Lloyd George |publisher=Oxford University Press |location=London |year=1951}}</ref>{{rp|223–224}}<ref name=RowlandGenuinely/>{{rp|630}} Even with the money, the results at the [[1929 United Kingdom general election|1929 general election]] were disappointing. The Liberals increased their support only to 59 seats, while Labour became the largest party for the first time. Once again, the Liberals ended up supporting a minority Labour government. In 1929, Lloyd George became [[Father of the House (United Kingdom)|Father of the House]] (longest-serving member of the Commons), an honorific position without power.

=== Marginalised ===
[[File:Vera & Chaim Weizmann, Herbert Samuel, Lloyd George, Ethel Snowden, Philip Snowden.jpeg|thumb|230px|[[Vera Weizmann]], [[Chaim Weizmann]], [[Herbert Samuel]], Lloyd George, [[Ethel Snowden]], and [[Philip Snowden]]]]
In 1931, an illness prevented Lloyd George's joining the [[UK National Government|National Government]] when it was formed. When the National Government later called a general election he tried to pull the Liberal Party out of it, but succeeded in taking only a few followers, most of whom were related to him; the main Liberal Party remained in the coalition for a year longer, under the leadership of Sir [[Herbert Samuel]]. By the 1930s Lloyd George was on the margins of British politics, although still intermittently in the public eye and publishing his ''War Memoirs''.<ref name=":2">{{cite web |title=Our Former Presidents: London Welsh Centre |url=http://www.londonwelsh.org/archives/1796 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110720025944/http://www.londonwelsh.org/archives/1796 |archive-date=20 July 2011 |access-date=4 February 2011 |work=[[London Welsh Centre]] website |publisher=[[London Welsh Centre]]}}</ref>

=== Lloyd George's "New Deal" ===
[[File:LloydGeorgeEn1932.jpeg|thumb|Lloyd George in 1932]]
In January 1935 Lloyd George announced a programme of economic reform, called "Lloyd George's New Deal" after the American [[New Deal]]. This [[John Maynard Keynes|Keynesian]] economic programme was essentially the same as that of 1929. MacDonald requested that he put his case before the Cabinet. In March, Lloyd George submitted a 100-page memorandum (published as ''Organizing Prosperity: A Scheme of National Reconstruction'')<ref>{{cite book|last=Lloyd George|first=David|title=Organizing Prosperity: A Scheme of National Reconstruction|year=1935|publisher=Ivor Nicholson and Watson|location=London}}</ref> that was cross-examined between April and June in ten meetings of the Cabinet's sub-committee; however, the programme did not find favour; two-thirds of Conservative MPs were against Lloyd George joining the National government, and some Cabinet members would have resigned if he had joined.<ref name="JonesInOppo"/>{{rp|238–239}}

=== Support for Nazi Germany ===
Lloyd George was consistently pro-German after 1923,<ref>{{cite journal|last=Morgan|first=Kenneth O.|author-link = Kenneth O. Morgan|date=September 1996|title=Lloyd George and Germany|journal=[[The Historical Journal]]|publisher=Cambridge University Press|volume=39|issue=3|pages=755–766|jstor=2639970|doi=10.1017/S0018246X00024547|s2cid=154758074}}</ref> in part due to his growing conviction that Germany had been treated unfairly at Versailles. He supported German demands for territorial concessions and recognition of its "great power" status; he paid much less attention to the security concerns of [[Interwar France|France]], [[Second Polish Republic|Poland]], [[First Czechoslovak Republic|Czechoslovakia]], and Belgium.{{sfn|Rudman|2011|loc=ch. 5–8}}

In a speech in 1933, he warned that if [[Adolf Hitler]] were overthrown, communism would replace him in Germany.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://lloydgeorgesociety.org.uk/en/article/2008/0130361/lloyd-george-and-hitler|title=Lloyd George and Hitler|date=17 April 2008|publisher=Cymdeithas Lloyd George – [[Lloyd George Society]]|access-date=10 August 2018|archive-date=30 July 2018|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180730170853/https://lloydgeorgesociety.org.uk/en/article/2008/0130361/lloyd-george-and-hitler|url-status=live}}</ref> In August 1934, he insisted Germany could not wage war and assured European nations that there would be no risk of war during the next ten years.<ref>[https://kranten.archiefalkmaar.nl/issue/ACO/1934-08-09/edition/null/page/6 "Eerste tien jaar geen oorlog. Verklaringen van Lloyd George"]. (In Dutch)] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160601050516/https://kranten.archiefalkmaar.nl/issue/ACO/1934-08-09/edition/null/page/6 |date=1 June 2016 }}, ''{{ill|Alkmaarsche Courant|nl}}'', 9 August 1934, p. 6</ref> In September 1936, he visited Germany to talk with Hitler. Hitler said he was pleased to have met "the man who won the war"; Lloyd George was moved, and called Hitler "the greatest living German".<ref name="JonesInOppo" />{{rp|247}}

Lloyd George also visited Germany's public works programmes and was impressed. On his return to Britain, he wrote an article for the ''[[Daily Express]]'' praising Hitler and stating: "The Germans have definitely made up their minds never to quarrel with us again."<ref name="JonesInOppo" />{{rp|248}} He believed Hitler was "the [[George Washington]] of Germany"; that he was rearming Germany for defence and not for offensive war; that a war between Germany and the [[Soviet Union]] would not happen for at least ten years; that Hitler admired the British and wanted their friendship but that there was no British leadership to exploit this. However, by 1937, Lloyd George's distaste for [[Neville Chamberlain]] led him to disavow Chamberlain's appeasement policies.<ref name="JonesInOppo" />{{rp|248}}<ref>{{cite book|author=Stella Rudman|title=Lloyd George and the Appeasement of Germany, 1919–1945|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=SpgnBwAAQBAJ&pg=PA233|year=2011|publisher=Cambridge Scholars Publishing|pages=233–235|isbn=978-1-4438-2750-8|access-date=22 January 2018|archive-date=31 July 2020|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200731133841/https://books.google.com/books?id=SpgnBwAAQBAJ&pg=PA233|url-status=live}}</ref>

=== Final years ===
In the last important parliamentary intervention of his career, which occurred during the crucial [[Norway Debate]] of May 1940, Lloyd George made a powerful speech that helped to undermine Chamberlain as prime minister and to pave the way for the ascendancy of Churchill.{{sfn|Jenkins|2001|p=580}} Churchill offered Lloyd George the agriculture portfolio in his Cabinet, initially subject to Chamberlain's approval, but this condition and, once Chamberlain had withdrawn his opposition, Lloyd George's unwillingness to sit alongside Chamberlain, led him to refuse.<ref name="JonesInOppo"/>{{rp|255}}<ref>{{cite book|last=Rowland|first=Peter|title=Lloyd George|year=1975|publisher=Barrie & Jenkins|location=London|isbn=0-214-20049-3|quotation = As we approached No 10 LG said 'I won't go in with Neville'|pages=773–776|chapter=16: The Realist, 1939–1945}}</ref> Lloyd George also thought that Britain's chances in the war were dim, and he remarked to his secretary: "I shall wait until Winston is bust."{{sfn|Sylvester|1975|p=281}}

[[File:Grave of David Lloyd George, Llanystumdwy, Gwynedd (geograph 6447819).jpg|right|thumb|200px|[[Grave of David Lloyd George]], Llanystumdwy]]

A pessimistic speech by Lloyd George on 7 May 1941 led Churchill to compare him with [[Philippe Pétain]] who had become a Nazi puppet. He cast his last vote in the Commons on 18 February 1943 as one of the 121 MPs (97 Labour) condemning the Government for its failure to back the [[Beveridge Report]].{{sfn|Addison|1994|pp=224–225}}

He continued to attend [[Welsh Church of Central London|Castle Street Baptist Chapel]] in London, but by 1944 he was weakening rapidly and his voice failing. He was still an MP but, concerned about his health (he felt physically unable to campaign) and the wartime social changes in the constituency, he feared Carnarvon Boroughs might go Conservative at the next election.<ref name="Rintala1985">{{cite journal |last=Rintala |first=Marvin |title=Renamed Roses: Lloyd George, Churchill, and the House of Lords |journal=[[Biography (journal)|Biography]] |publisher=University of Hawaiʻi Press |volume=8 |issue=3 |pages=248–264 |date=Summer 1985 |jstor=23539091 |s2cid=159908334 |doi=10.1353/bio.2010.0448}}</ref>

It was announced in the [[1945 New Year Honours]] that Lloyd George would be made an earl, which he was as [[Earl Lloyd-George of Dwyfor]], and Viscount Gwynedd, of Dwyfor in the [[Historic counties of Wales|County]] of [[Caernarvonshire]] on 12 February 1945; however, he did not live long enough to take his seat in the [[House of Lords]].<ref name="Wrigley1992">{{cite book|last=Wrigley|first=Chris|title=Lloyd George|series=Historical Association Studies|year=1992|publisher=Blackwell Publishers|location=Oxford|isbn=0-631-16608-4|page=146|chapter=Lloyd George and the Liberal Party}}</ref>

=== Death ===
Lloyd George died of cancer at the age of 82 on 26 March 1945, with his wife Frances and his daughter Megan at his bedside. Four days later, on [[Good Friday]], he was buried beside the [[river Dwyfor]] in [[Llanystumdwy]].<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.bbc.co.uk/blogs/wales/entries/961784fa-ec00-368b-ae06-e84a76c88803|title=David Lloyd George remembered|date=17 January 2013|website=Wales|language=en-GB|access-date=11 February 2018|archive-date=26 October 2018|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20181026160840/http://www.bbc.co.uk/blogs/wales/entries/961784fa-ec00-368b-ae06-e84a76c88803|url-status=live}}</ref> A boulder marks the grave; there is no inscription; however, a [[Grave of David Lloyd George|monument]] designed by the architect Sir [[Clough Williams-Ellis]] was subsequently erected around the grave,<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/p00qvnkz|title=Clough Williams-Ellis on Lloyd-George's memorial|date=5 April 2012|publisher=BBC Two|access-date=10 September 2019|archive-date=11 August 2019|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190811172927/https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/p00qvnkz|url-status=live}}</ref> bearing an [[englyn]] (strict-metre stanza) engraved on slate in his memory composed by his nephew [[W. R. P. George]]. Nearby stands the [[Lloyd George Museum]], also designed by Williams-Ellis and opened in 1963.