Why Asquith Was Replaced as British Prime Minister by Lloyd George
by Herbert Henry Asquith had become Britain’s Prime Minister in 1908 after the death of Henry Campbell Bannerman and was eventually replaced by David Lloyd George. Asquith had previously been the Chancellor of the Exchequer, and had started the process of increasing welfare provision. Asquith was an effective political campaigner as well as a capable administrator. e was not the type of man easily panicked although he seemed to lack the dynamism of Lloyd George or Winston Churchill. Of course he had also been help to promote both men before the First World War started.
Stevenson hints that Lloyd George had been unhappy with Asquith for not stepping down as Prime Minister voluntarily. Lloyd George would have preferred to have being what actually happened so that Liberal party unity that would have remained intact and therefore not damaged the party’s electoral fortunes after the First World War had finished. Lloyd George was very close to Stevenson so the latter would have known Lloyd George’s attitude towards Asquith. Stevenson gave the interview after the damaging consequences of the rift between Asquith and Lloyd George was apparent to the electoral fortunes of the Liberal party after 1918. Lloyd George primarily blamed those dire electoral and political consequences for the Liberal party upon Asquith’s refusal to stand down. Another possible slant on the reason for Lloyd George taking over from Asquith, as Prime Minister was that Carson persuaded him that to do so was a good idea for Britain’s future (Taylor, p. 128). However it could be countered that Carson’s schemes would have come to nothing if Lloyd George’s ambitions had stretched to the desire to become Prime Minister (Stevenson, 2004 p. 174). For Lloyd George personal ambition was combined with a strong sense of his own destiny, he was the great leader that would be his country’s saviour by ending the war as soon as possible at the lowest possible financial and human costs (Holmes, 1999 p. 144).
Asquith reacted badly to his removal from office, although it was not surprising that he became bitter towards Lloyd George and the Conservatives as they gave him little option to stay in power. Gardiner and Wenborn were certainly not alone amongst historians in arguing that Asquith’s removal from office was down to his own apparent lethargy in conducting the war effort. Asquith lacked the dynamism and determination to lead his country through a war of unequalled cost and brutality. Any of the improvements in Britain’s fighting performance were not down to Asquith but down to Lloyd George improving the overall supply and quality of the munitions that were supplied to the army. Lack of supplies and munitions could no longer be used as an excuse for military failures. Its generals eventually adopting more effective tactics and strategy helped Britain’s bloody path to victory (Gardiner & Wenborn, 1995 p. 48).
Bibliography
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Stevenson D, (2004) 1914 – 1918 A history of the First World War, Penguin, London
Paterson M, (2005) Winston Churchill – Personal Accounts of the Great Leader at War 1895 – 1945, David & Charles, Newton Abbott
Hobsbawm E, (1994) Age of Extremes, the Short Twentieth Century 1914-1991, Michael Joseph, London
Holmes R, The Western Front, BBC, London
James H, (2003) Europe Reborn – A History, 1914 – 2000, Pearson Longman, Harlow
Jenkins R, (2001) Churchill, Macmillan Press, Basingstoke
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