1918–1922

Abstract

In 1918 the Conservative party was the major party in the Coalition Government — the Liberals being split — but the state was controlled by the Prime Minister, David Lloyd George, who held a position in British public life more powerful, possibly, than anyone since Oliver Cromwell. His prestige was unique. In the public mind he was ‘the man who won the war’, and to a large extent the public was right. It was Lloyd George who had mobilised British industry and labour for total war to an extent that had been unimaginable in 1914. It was he, too, who had beaten the U-boat menace in 1917, in the nick of time, by imposing the convoy system on a reluctant naval staff. He undeniably deserved his renown, and he was determined to make the most of it.