In 1888 Mr. Lloyd George was chosen Liberal candidate for the Carnaroon Burghs, and was returned at a bye-election in 1890 by a narrow majority on a platform the chief plank in which was Welsh Nationalism. He did not at first take much part in the debates; but in 1894 led a revolt against the Rosebery ministry because Welsh Disestablishment was not given a place in the government's legislative program for the session. His rise into prominence dates from the South African War, He was travel ing in Canada when in September 1899 the crisis approached in the relations between the British and the Transvaal governments. He hur ried home, and on the outbreak of war at once took up a position of strong antagonism to the government's war policy, and became the real leader of what was termed the sec tion of the Liberal party. It required courage to face the hostility of popular audiences when the war spirit was running high; and at a meeting in Birmingham — the stronghold of the Colonial Secretary, Mr. Chamberlain —his plat form was stormed, and he was compelled to make his exit. He specially singled out Cham berlain for attack, and was by no means scrupu lous in the line he took, as when he charged that the Colonial Secretary had brought on the war in order to fill the pockets of his relations; but his boldness and pertinacity began to tell, and from that time he was a force to be reck oned with. He took a prominent part in the opposition to Balfour's Education Act of 1902 and strongly opposed Chamberlain in his tariff reform campaign. On the accession of the Lib erals to power in 1905 he was invited to become president of the Board of Trade (11 December). To this time he had been known chiefly as a platform speaker with a gift for repartee and as an adroit and effective debater. As President of the Board of Trade he applied him self assiduously to the duties of his office, spoke hale, and presently began to manifest qualities hitherto held in the background— skill in con structive legislation, open-mindedness and tact in the handling of men. The Patents Bill of 1907 and the Port of London Bill, and his adroit handling of the railway strike and the cotton trade dispute, were proofs that a new Ll yd George had arisen. On the death of Sir H nry Campbell-Bannerman and the accessiornt to power of Mr. Asquith, Mr. Lloyd George suc ceeded the latter as Chancellor of the Ex chequer (12 April 1908). In the following month he passed the Old Age Pensions Bill, which had been framed by his predecessor. His first budget, introduced 29 April 1909, gave rise to a prolonged and bitter controversy. It pro vided, among other things, for heavy increases "the income tax, and — an entirely novel pro vision— for a tax of 20 per cent on the un, earned increment in land values— the moneys thus provided to be devoted to social legisla tion. The budget was received with enthusiasm by advanced Liberals; but it was strenuously opposed by powerful interests. The Chancellor conducted a vigorous campaign on behalf of his budget, in which he gave full rein to his wit and homely eloquence; but he did nothing to reconcile his opponents beyond hitting them on the head, a notable example of his method be ing furnished in the famous Limehouse oration. So strong was the opposition that the House of Lords was emboldened to take the danger ous and unconstitutional course of rejecting the Finance Bill introduced to give effect to the resolutions of the budget. There is no reason to suppose that the Chancellor was anything else than completely satisfied with the action of the House of Lords; for in the result it had signed its own death warrant. The Prime Minister promptly accepted the challenge, Parliament was dissolved, and— with the assistance of Na tionalists and Laborists — the government was again returned to power and the disputed budget put through. Meantime the Parliament Bill had been introduced providing for the effective cur tailment of the powers of the Upper Chamber —a measure which was passed only after the verdict of the country had again been taken and after a political deadlock which ended when the assent of the Crown was announced to the crea tion of a sufficient number of peers to force the measure through the House of Lords in the event of that assembly proving obdurate. In 1911 the Chancellor passed the National Insur ance Act — a far-reaching but somewhat hastily constructed and insufficiently deliberated meas ure making provision for wage-earners. In 1913 a foolish investment of his in the shares of the American Marconi Company, with the • parent company of which the British postoffice had contracts, laid him open to personal, attack and was the subject of parliamentary inquiry. Dur ing the Home Rule controversy in the years immediately preceding the Great War, Mr. Lloyd George's influence was cast on the side of moderating counsels.
When Great Britain, following on the viola tion of Belgian territory, declared war on Ger many on 4 Aug. 1914, eyes were naturally turned
to Lloyd George, and there were not a few who expected him, owing to what were regarded as his pacifist tendencies, to resign from • the Cabi net; but his speech in the Queen's Hall on 19 September showed that he was wholeheartedly in favor of its prosecution. As Chancellor of the Exchequer he took prompt and wise meas ures to maintain financial stability. Right from the outset of the war he appeared to realize, better than others in the Cabinet, the magnitude of the task that confronted the Allied nations, and early began to manifest some impatience with the slowness with which munitions were being supplied — especially high-explosive shells. Partly as a result of this — combined with the attacks of the Northcliffe press on Lord Kitch ener's administration of the war office — he was, on the formation of the Coalition Ministry in May 1915, appointed Minister of Munitions. This task called for a combination of qualities; and under his direction a network of arsenals soon covered the land, new workmen were trained, and women enlisted into the service. Not the least difficult of his tasks was in inducing the trade unions to forego — for the duration of the war at least — the exclusive and “ca' canny" policy dear to the heart of the British workman, in order that by dilution of labor the claimant needs of the nation might be met; and where his stirring appeals had no re sult, he succeeded in shaming them into ac quiescence. Realizing the need of men, he sup ported from the outset, and forced to a head, the movement for compulsory national service. On the death of Lord Kitchener (June 1916) he became Secretary for War.
A crisis in his relations with the head of the government in December 1916 resulted in the accession to power of Mr. Lloyd George as Prime Minister. On land the war was not going well with the Allied nations; Rumania was being overrun and Bucharest had fallen; and there was a strong feeling in England— fanned into flame by the Northcliffe press— that Mr. Asquith was too inert, and that the method of conduct of the war on the civilian side would require to be drastically overhauled if satis factory results were to be obtained. On 1 De cember Mr. Lloyd George, under threat of resignation, urged' on his chief the necessity of placing the direction of the war in the absolute control of a war committee of four members, of which he (the Prime Minister) should not be one. After some negotiation and a modifi cation of the original proposal, Mr. Asquith declined to accede, and the Chancellor resigned. As the Unionist members of the Cabinet sup ported Lloyd George, and his administration was therefore doomed, the Prime Minister placed his resignation in the hands of the king; and after the Unionist leader, Mr. Bonar Law, had declined to form a government, Mr. Lloyd George was on 6 December entrusted with the task of forming an administration. He began by a revolution. Instead of following the tra ditional British custom of forming his govern ment exclusively from men holding seats in i Parliament, he gave some of the most important portfolios to recognized experts who had had no political or parliamentary experience and had seats in Parliament provided for them. He found places in his inner war cabinet for Mr. Arthur Henderson, one of the labor leaders, and for two of his strongest opponents of other days — Lord Curzon and Lord Milner. Indeed it may with truth be said that since his acces sion to power his foes have been chiefly those of his own household. His government has been called to face an extraordinary series of crises, in the surmounting of which he has phown great resourcefulness and audacity; and he had the misfortune to assume control just before the defection of Russia. He is regarded in Great 'Britain and the Dominions as the in carnation of the democratic spirit; and despite certain readily understandable limitations, such as lack of broad culture and occasional inac curacy of statement, his flaming oratory, quick ness in seizing the salient points of any situa tion, driving force, enthusiasm and dauntless courage, which mounts the higher when the tide of disappointment or misfortune rises, have braced the British people to dare all and to surrender all that victory may be won, and have proved an asset of incalculable value to all the Allied nations. And not the least of his services has been in securing unified com mand of the Entente armies, the fruits of which began to be gathered in the series of military successes that crowned the autumn of 1918.
Consult Dilnot, George: the Man and his Story' (1917) ; by Du Parcq (4 vols., 1912) ; Evans and Hughes, 'From Village Green to . Downing Street); B. G. Evans, 'The Life Romance of Lloyd George' (1916).; and George and the Wir,' by an Independent Liberal (1917). His earlier war speeches have been published under the title 'From Terror to Triumph' (1915).