The Failure of Lloyd George

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The Failure of Lloyd George "I am just a beetle in a glass case". This was Lloyd George speaking during the peacetime coalition and basically refers to the amount of problems he was faced with. We know he had many problems, and we know that he dealt with the important ones badly but why did he eventually resign? Was it the fact that he was a prisoner of the Conservatives? Was it because of his part in the decline of the Liberal party? Or was it just Lloyd George himself? For me, it would have to be his own actions. Martin Pugh would argue that it was being a prisoner of the Conservatives that led to his downfall the most. He would argue that they knew Lloyd George was going to have problems but as they were just coming back from the political wilderness, they needed someone to 'tide them over' and maybe get some 'Conservative' reforms through. Once they were stronger, they ditched him as they had gained more influence from the Irish problem. He said, "Politicians need a common basis of sentiment or objective", and was referring to the fact that according to him, Lloyd George had to forget his ideals and do what the Conservatives told him to. Trevor Wilson has argued that it was his part in the decline of the Liberal party, which contributed to his downfall. He argues that Asquith can't play any real part in the failure of the Liberals as he stuck with them during the war and blames it all on Lloyd George. From his attempts to overthrow Asquith during the war, by working with the Conservatives and his Coupon Election, people are always going to remember this. As he said, "It was Lloyd George's Coupon which fractured the Liberal party and greatly diminished its political influence". AJP Taylor believes that it was his own fault and his own failures. He has argued that Lloyd George was foolhardy in getting involved in some of the affairs in the way that he did - for example Ireland - as some

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