Draft:Wartime Premiership of H.H. Asquith

The Right Honourable The Earl of Oxford and Asquith KG PC KC FRS
Prime Minister of the United Kingdom
In office 5 April 1908 – 5 December 1916
Monarchs	Edward VII George V
Preceded by	Sir Henry Campbell-Bannerman
Succeeded by	David Lloyd George
Chancellor of the Exchequer
In office 10 December 1905 – 12 April 1908
Prime Minister	Sir Henry Campbell-Bannerman
Preceded by	Austen Chamberlain
Succeeded by	David Lloyd George
Home Secretary
In office 18 August 1892 – 25 June 1895
Prime Minister	William Ewart Gladstone The Earl of Rosebery
Preceded by	Henry Matthews
Succeeded by	Matthew White Ridley
Secretary of State for War
In office 30 March 1914 – 5 August 1914
Preceded by	J. E. B. Seely
Succeeded by	The Earl Kitchener
Leader of the Opposition
In office 12 February 1920 – 21 November 1922
Monarch	George V
Prime Minister	David Lloyd George Bonar Law
Preceded by	Donald Maclean
Succeeded by	Ramsay MacDonald
In office 6 December 1916 – 14 December 1918
Monarch	George V
Prime Minister	David Lloyd George
Preceded by	Sir Edward Carson
Succeeded by	Donald Maclean
Leader of the Liberal Party
In office 30 April 1908 – 14 October 1926
Preceded by	Sir Henry Campbell-Bannerman
Succeeded by	David Lloyd George
Personal details
Born	Herbert Asquith (1852-09-12)12 September 1852 Morley, West Riding of Yorkshire, England
Died	15 February 1928(1928-02-15) (aged 75) Sutton Courtenay, Oxfordshire, England
Resting place	All Saints' Church, Sutton Courtenay
Political party	Liberal
Spouses	Helen Melland ​ ​ (m. 1877;  1891)​ Margot Tennant ​ ​ (m. 1894;  1928)​
Children	10, including Raymond, Herbert, Arthur, Violet, Cyril, Elizabeth, Anthony
Education	Balliol College, Oxford Inns of Court School of Law
Profession	Barrister

Herbert Henry Asquith, 1st Earl of Oxford and Asquith, KG, PC, KC, FRS (12 September 1852 – 15 February 1928), generally known as H. H. Asquith, served as the Liberal Prime Minister of the United Kingdom from 1908 until 1916, the last to lead that party in government without a coalition. Asquith took the United Kingdom into the First World War, but resigned amid political conflict in December 1916 and was succeeded by his War Secretary David Lloyd George.

Stalemate brought deepening resentment against the government, and against Asquith personally, as the population at large and the press lords in particular, blamed him for a lack of energy in the prosecution of the war. It also created divisions within the Cabinet between the "Westerners", including Asquith, who supported the generals in believing that the key to victory lay in ever greater investment of men and munitions in France and Belgium, and the "Easterners", led by Churchill and Lloyd George, who believed that the Western Front was in a state of irreversible stasis and sought victory through action in the East. Lastly, it highlighted divisions between those politicians, and newspaper owners, who thought that military strategy and actions should be determined by the generals, and those who thought politicians should make those decisions. Asquith's view was made clear in his memoirs: "Once the governing objectives have been decided by Ministers at home – the execution should always be left to the untrammeled discretion of the commanders on the spot." Lloyd George's counter view was expressed in a letter of early 1916 in which he asked "whether I have a right to express an independent view on the War or must (be) a pure advocate of opinions expressed by my military advisers?" These divergent opinions lay behind the two great crises that would, within 14 months, see the collapse of the last ever fully Liberal administration and the advent of the first coalition, the Dardanelles Campaign and the Shell Crisis.

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Outbreak of the war

Main articles: Causes of World War I and July Crisis

British attempt to broker peace

Sir Edward Grey

Unlike the apparently inexorable slide to war between March and September 1939, war in 1914 came relatively suddenly after a few weeks of crisis. The British political world was focussed on the crisis in Ulster, whilst the assassination of the Archduke Franz Ferdinand of Austria in Sarajevo on 28 June had been little noticed in Britain, and had soon been chased off the front pages by the death of Joseph Chamberlain.

Cassar considers that initially: "The country was overwhelmingly opposed to intervention." Much of Asquith's cabinet was similarly inclined, Lloyd George writing in his memoirs: "The Cabinet was hopelessly divided – fully one third, if not one half, being opposed to our entry into the War." Lloyd George himself was largely opposed, and as late as 27 July, he told a journalist; "There could be no question of our taking part in any war in the first instance. He knew of no Minister who would be in favour of it."

After nearly a month, the crisis escalated with Austria-Hungary's ultimatum to Serbia on 23 July, for which an answer was required by 25 July; it was soon clear that Serbia would accept most of the demands but that Austria-Hungary would settle for nothing less than complete capitulation. On 24 July Foreign Secretary Sir Edward Grey proposed a four-power conference of Britain, France, Italy and Germany to mediate between Austria-Hungary and Russia, Serbia's patron; Asquith reported to the King that the Austro-Hungarian ultimatum could well lead to a continental war, but that he expected the UK to stay out. On 24 July he wrote to Venetia; "We are within measurable, or imaginable, distance of a real Armageddon. Happily there seems to be no reason why we should be anything more than spectators." Grey again proposed a four-power conference on 26 July. On Sunday 26 July Asquith wrote that “The curious thing is that on many, if not most, of the points Austria has a good and Servia (sic) a very bad case. But the Austrians are quite the stupidest people (as the Italians are the most perfidious) … many people will think that it is a case of a Big Power wantonly bullying a little one.” Grey's attempt to broker peace was rejected by Germany as "not practicable".

Asquith keeps Britain's options open

On Monday 27 July Asquith was busy with Ireland. After the collapse of Grey’s plan for four-power talks on Tuesday 28 July, it was clear that hostilities on the continent were now very likely, although it was still not yet certain what form they would take or whether Britain should be involved. After dinner with Churchill and the Russian Ambassador Asquith went to the Foreign Office for late night talks with Grey and Haldane.

During the continuing escalation Asquith "used all his experience and authority to keep his options open" On Wednesday 29 July, the day after Austria-Hungary declared war on Serbia, two decisions were taken at Cabinet. Firstly, the Armed Forces were placed on alert: the “Precautionary Period” was declared and the War Book which Haldane had long prepared was opened at 2pm. Secondly, the Cabinet agreed to guarantee the neutrality of Belgium, as Gladstone's Government had done during the Franco-Prussian War, but Asquith informed the King that Britain’s response to any violation of Belgian neutrality would be decided on grounds of policy rather than strict legality. Grey was authorised to tell the German and French ambassadors that Britain had not yet made a decision as to whether or on what terms to join in or stand aside. Asquith wrote to Venetia (29 July) that he wanted Britain to keep out if possible, but that no formal announcement to that effect would be made: "The worst thing we could do would be to announce to the world at the present moment that in no circumstances would we intervene."

Asquith and Grey shared a commitment to Anglo-French unity and believed that openly backing France and Russia would make them more intransigent, without necessarily deterring Germany, but Asquith's caution was also motivated by a need to keep the Liberal Party united. Arthur Ponsonby MP presented Grey with a petition (29 July) to stay out from 22 Liberal backbenchers, and next day he told Asquith that as many as nine tenths of the Liberal Party opposed intervention. A party truce was provisionally agreed between Asquith and Bonar Law on 30 July. All the Liberal press apart from the Westminster Gazette wanted Britain to stay out; the Manchester Guardian (31 July) attacked the way in which Britain appeared to have been secretly committed to the side of France and Tsarist Russia - the latter regime was deeply unpopular with Liberal opinion.

On the night of Friday 31 July Asquith, who had cancelled his plans to get away to Anglesey for the weekend, drafted a personal appeal from the King to the Tsar to stop the Russian mobilisation against Austria-Hungary which had begun the previous day, after a hint from the embassy in Berlin that this might help to dampen German bellicosity. He took it to the Palace and had the King woken to sign it.

Saturday 1 August saw a difficult Cabinet from 11am to 1.30pm. Morley and Simon apparently wanted Britain to stay out, whilst Grey threatened to resign if the Cabinet pledged not to intervene under any circumstances. Churchill (First Lord of the Admiralty) was bellicose and (according to Asquith) talked for at least half of the meeting, whereas Lloyd George was “more sensible and statesmanlike” and favoured keeping Britain’s options open at the moment. Asquith himself still wanted to keep out but reckoned he would have to resign if Grey did. (CHECK PRIMARY SOURCE TO GET EXACTLY WHAT HE SAID)

Continental war

The German Kaiser issued an ultimatum to Russia and France late on 1 August. From this point Asquith recognised the inevitability of war and committed himself to participation, despite continuing Cabinet opposition; "There is a strong party reinforced by Ll George[,] Morley and Harcourt who are against any kind of intervention. Grey will never consent and I shall not separate myself from him." On Sunday 2 August the German Ambassador Prince Lichnowsky called on Asquith over breakfast and begged him not to intervene in the impending war; Asquith replied it was up to Germany not to invade Belgium or to attack the French coast.

The first of two Cabinets on Sunday 2 August was from 11am to 2pm. Grey informed his colleagues that the French fleet was concentrated in the Mediterranean under an Anglo-French naval agreement of 1912, and after much difficulty it was agreed that Grey should tell the French Ambassador Paul Cambon and the Germans that the Royal Navy would not allow the German navy to conduct hostile operations in the Channel. John Burns resigned, although he was persuaded to stay until the evening. Asquith secured agreement to mobilise the fleet.

Seven of the Cabinet doves met at Beauchamp’s house for lunch that day. Lloyd George now seemed to be siding with the doves, whilst Asquith's priority was to stick with Grey. Crewe, McKenna and Samuel formed a third, more moderate group. Bonar Law then sent a letter on behalf of the Conservatives offering full support if the government backed France and Russia; Asquith replied that the government was under no obligation, real or implied, to help them. A second Cabinet was held from 6.30pm to 8pm that evening. On the way back from dinner at Reginald McKenna’s house Asquith saw the crowds swarming around Buckingham Palace, and recalled Robert Walpole’s saying “Now they are ringing the bells; in a few weeks they’ll be wringing their hands”.

Britain goes to war

On the morning of Monday 3 August Asquith received letters of resignation from Morley and Simon; Beauchamp turned up to that morning's Cabinet meeting but resigned "in person". Lloyd George held back, moved by news that Belgium had rejected Germany’s ultimatum demanding passage for her army across her soil, and was going to fight. Asquith persuaded the four resignees to sit on the front bench during Grey’s hour long speech in the House of Common that afternoon. Grey spoke "with gravity and unexpected eloquence," and called for British action "against the unmeasured aggrandisement of any power". Liddell Hart considered that this speech saw the "hardening (of) British opinion to the point of intervention". Asquith received a visit from Bonar Law who was worried that the party truce might lead to “jiggery pokery” over Home Rule and Welsh Disestablishment.

Another Cabinet was held on the morning of Tuesday 4 August. News that German troops had invaded Belgium allowed Asquith to lead an almost united Liberal Party to war. Sir John Simon (to whom Asquith had written the previous evening imploring him to stay) and Lord Beauchamp agreed not to resign ("a slump in resignations" as Asquith put it). John Morley and John Burns did resign and did not attend Cabinet. Asquith visited the King and then in the afternoon the House of Commons was informed that an ultimatum had been given to Germany expiring midnight Berlin time (11pm London time). Margot Asquith described the moment of expiry: "(I joined) Henry in the Cabinet room. Lord Crewe and Sir Edward Grey were already there and we sat smoking cigarettes in silence ... The clock on the mantelpiece hammered out the hour and when the last beat of midnight (sic) struck it was as silent as dawn. We were at War."

Final months of the Liberal government: August 1914 – May 1915

Main article: History of the United Kingdom during World War I

Asquith's wartime Liberal government

With other parties promising to co-operate, Asquith's government declared war on behalf of a united nation, Asquith bringing "the country into war without civil disturbance or political schism".

The first months of the War saw a revival in Asquith's popularity. Bitterness from earlier struggles temporarily receded and the nation looked to Asquith, "steady, massive, self-reliant and unswerving", to lead them to victory. But Asquith's peacetime strengths ill-equipped him for what was to become perhaps the first total war and, before its end, he would be out of office forever and his party would never again form a majority government.

Beyond the replacement of Morley and Burns, Asquith made one other significant change to his cabinet. He relinquished the War Office and appointed the non-partisan but Tory-inclined Lord Kitchener of Khartoum. Kitchener was a figure of national renown and his participation strengthened the reputation of the government. Whether it increased its effectiveness is less certain. Overall, it was a government of considerable talent with Lloyd George remaining as chancellor, Grey as Foreign Secretary, and Churchill at the Admiralty.

The invasion of Belgium by German forces, the touch paper for British intervention, saw the Kaiser's armies attempt a lightning strike through Belgium against France, while holding Russian forces on the Eastern Front. To support the French, Asquith's cabinet authorised the despatch of the British Expeditionary Force. The ensuing Battle of the Frontiers in the late summer and early autumn of 1914 saw the final halt of the German advance at the First Battle of the Marne, which established the pattern of attritional trench warfare on the Western Front that continued until 1918.

Dardanelles Campaign

Main article: Gallipoli Campaign

Admiral "Jacky" Fisher

The Dardanelles Campaign was an attempt by those favouring an Eastern strategy to end the stalemate on the Western Front. It envisaged an Anglo-French landing on Turkey's Gallipoli Peninsula and a rapid advance to Constantinople which would see the exit of Turkey from the conflict. However, the plan never enjoyed the full support of Admiral Fisher, the First Sea Lord, or of Kitchener and, rather than providing decisive leadership, Asquith sought to arbitrate between these two and Churchill, leading to procrastination and delay. After an initial failed attempt to force the Dardanelles by naval gunfire, Allied troops established bridgeheads on the Gallipoli Peninsula, but a delay in providing sufficient reinforcements allowed the Turks to regroup, leading to a stalemate Jenkins described "as immobile as that which prevailed on the Western Front".

Shell Crisis of May 1915

Main article: Shell Crisis of 1915

The opening of 1915 saw growing division between Lloyd George and Kitchener over the supply of munitions for the army. Lloyd George considered that a munitions department, under his control, was essential to coordinate "the nation's entire engineering capacity". Kitchener favoured the continuance of the current arrangement whereby munitions were sourced through contracts between the War Office and the country's armaments manufacturers. As so often, Asquith sought compromise through committee, establishing a group to "consider the much vexed question of putting the contracts for munitions on a proper footing". This did little to dampen press criticism and, on 20 April, Asquith sought to challenge his detractors in a major speech at Newcastle; "I saw a statement the other day that the operations of our army were being crippled by our failure to provide the necessary ammunition. There is not a word of truth in that statement."

The press response was savage: 14 May 1915 saw the publication in The Times of a letter from their correspondent Charles à Court Repington which ascribed the British failure at the Battle of Aubers Ridge to a shortage of high explosive shells. Thus opened a fully-fledged crisis, the Shell Crisis. The prime minister's wife correctly identified her husband's chief opponent, the Press baron, and owner of The Times, Lord Northcliffe; "I'm quite sure Northcliffe is at the bottom of all this," but failed to recognise the clandestine involvement of Sir John French, who leaked the details of the shells shortage to Repington. Northcliffe claimed that "the whole question of the supply of the munitions of war is one on which the Cabinet cannot be arraigned too sharply." Attacks on the government and on Asquith's personal lethargy came from the left as well as the right, C. P. Scott, the editor of The Manchester Guardian writing; "The Government has failed most frightfully and discreditably in the matter of munitions."

Other events

Failures in both the East and the West began a tide of events that was to overwhelm Asquith's Liberal Government. Strategic setbacks combined with a shattering personal blow when, on 12 May 1915, Venetia Stanley announced her engagement to Edwin Montagu. Asquith's reply was immediate and brief, "As you know well, this breaks my heart. I couldn't bear to come and see you. I can only pray God to bless you – and help me." Venetia's importance to him is illustrated by a letter written in mid-1914; "Keep close to me beloved in this most critical time of my life. I know you will not fail." Her engagement; "a very treacherous return after all the joy you've given me", left him devastated. Significant though the loss was personally, its impact on Asquith politically can be overstated. The historian Stephen Koss notes that Asquith "was always able to divide his public and private lives into separate compartments (and) soon found new confidantes to whom he was writing with no less frequency, ardour and indiscretion."

This personal loss was immediately followed, on 15 May, by the resignation of Admiral Fisher after continuing disagreements with Churchill and in frustration at the disappointing developments in Gallipoli. Aged 74, Fisher's behaviour had grown increasingly erratic and, in frequent letters to Lloyd George, he gave vent to his frustrations with the First Lord of the Admiralty; "Fisher writes to me every day or two to let me know how things are going. He has a great deal of trouble with his chief, who is always wanting to do something big and striking." Adverse events, press hostility, Tory opposition and personal sorrows assailed Asquith, and his position was further weakened by his Liberal colleagues. Cassar considers that Lloyd George displayed a distinct lack of loyalty, and Koss writes of the contemporary rumours that Churchill had "been up to his old game of intriguing all round" and reports a claim that Churchill "unquestionably inspired" the Repington Letter, in collusion with Sir John French. Lacking cohesion internally, and attacked from without, Asquith determined that his government could not continue and he wrote to the King, "I have come decidedly to the conclusion that the [Government] must be reconstituted on a broad and non-party basis."

First Coalition: May 1915 – December 1916

Bonar Law

The formation of the First Coalition saw Asquith display the political acuteness that seemed to have deserted him. But it came at a cost. This involved the sacrifice of two old political comrades: Churchill, who was blamed for the Dardanelles fiasco, and Haldane, who was wrongly accused in the press of pro-German sympathies. The Tories under Bonar Law made these removals a condition of entering government and, in sacking Haldane, who "made no difficulty," Asquith, committed "the most uncharacteristic fault of (his) whole career". In a letter to Grey, Asquith wrote of Haldane; "He is the oldest personal and political friend that I have in the world and, with him, you and I have stood together for the best part of 30 years." But he was unable to express these sentiments directly to Haldane, who was greatly hurt. Asquith handled the allocation of offices more successfully, appointing Bonar Law to the relatively minor post of Colonial Secretary, taking responsibility for munitions from Kitchener and giving it, as a new ministry, to Lloyd George and placing Balfour at the Admiralty, in place of Churchill, who was demoted to the sinecure Cabinet post of Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster. Overall the Liberals held 12 Cabinet seats, including most of the important ones, while the Tories held 8. Despite this outcome, many Liberals were dismayed, the sacked Charles Hobhouse writing; "The disintegration of the Liberal Party is complete. Ll.G. and his Tory friends will soon get rid of Asquith." From a party, and a personal, perspective, the creation of the First Coalition was seen as a "notable victory for (Asquith), if not for the allied cause". But Asquith's dismissive handling of Bonar Law also contributed to his own and his party's later destruction.

War re-organisation

Having reconstructed his government, Asquith attempted a re-configuration of his war-making apparatus. The most important element of this was the establishment of the Ministry of Munitions, followed by the re-ordering of the War Council into a Dardanelles Committee, with Maurice Hankey as secretary and with a remit to consider all questions of war strategy. But criticism of Asquith's style continued. The Earl of Crawford, who had joined the Government as Minister of Agriculture, described his first Cabinet meeting; "It was a huge gathering, so big that it is hopeless for more than one or two to express opinions on each detail[...] Asquith somnolent – hands shaky and cheeks pendulous. He exercised little control over debate, seemed rather bored, but good humoured throughout." Lloyd George was less tolerant, Lord Riddell recording in his diary; "(He) says the P.M. should lead not follow and (Asquith) never moves until he is forced, and then it is usually too late." And crises, as well as criticism, continued to assail the Prime Minister, "envenomed by intra-party as well as inter-party rancour".

Conscription

Main article: Recruitment to the British Army during the First World War

Lord Kitchener's call to arms

The insatiable demand for manpower for the Western Front had been foreseen early on. A volunteer system had been introduced at the outbreak of war, and Asquith was reluctant to change it for political reasons, as many Liberals, and almost all of their Irish Nationalist and Labour allies, were strongly opposed to conscription. Volunteer numbers dropped, not meeting the demands for more troops for Gallipoli, and much more strongly, for the Western Front. This made the voluntary system increasingly untenable; Asquith's daughter Violet wrote in March 1915; "Gradually every man with the average number of limbs and faculties is being sucked out to the war." In July 1915, the National Registration Act was passed, requiring compulsory registration for all men between the ages of 18 and 65. This was seen by many as the prelude to conscription but the appointment of Lord Derby as Director-General of Recruiting instead saw an attempt to rejuvenate the voluntary system, the Derby Scheme. Asquith's slow steps towards conscription continued to infuriate his opponents, Sir Henry Wilson writing to Leo Amery; "What is going to be the result of these debates? Will 'wait and see' win, or can that part of the Cabinet that is in earnest and is honest force that damned old Squiff into action?" The Prime Minister's balancing act, within Parliament and within his own party, was not assisted by a strident campaign against conscription conducted by his wife. Describing herself as "passionately against it", Margot Asquith engaged in one of her frequent influencing drives, by letters and through conversations, which had little impact other than doing "great harm" to Asquith's reputation and position.

By the end of 1915, it was clear that conscription was essential and Asquith laid the Military Service Act in the House of Commons on 5 January 1916. The Act introduced conscription of single men, and was extended to married men later in the year. Asquith's main opposition came from within his own party, particularly from Sir John Simon, who resigned. Asquith described Simon's stance in a letter to Sylvia Henley; "I felt really like a man who had been struck publicly in the face by his son." Some years later, Simon acknowledged his error; "I have long since realised that my opposition was a mistake." Asquith's achievement in bringing the bill through without breaking up the government was considerable, his wife writing; "Henry's patience and skill in keeping Labour in this amazing change in England have stunned everyone," but the long struggle "hurt his own reputation and the unity of his party".

Ireland

Main article: Easter Rising

On Easter Monday 1916, a group of Irish Volunteers and members of the Irish Citizen Army seized a number of key buildings and locations in Dublin and elsewhere. There was heavy fighting over the next week before the Volunteers were forced to surrender. Distracted by conscription, Asquith and the Government were slow to appreciate the developing danger, which was exacerbated when, after hasty courts martial, a number of the Irish leaders were executed. On 11 May Asquith crossed to Dublin and, after a week of investigation, decided that the island's governance system was irredeemably broken, He turned to Lloyd George for a solution. With his customary energy, Lloyd George brokered a settlement which would have seen Home Rule introduced at the end of the War, with the exclusion of Ulster. However, neither he, nor Asquith, appreciated the extent of Tory opposition, the plan was strongly attacked in the House of Lords, and was abandoned thereafter. The episode damaged Lloyd George's reputation, but also that of Asquith, Walter Long speaking of the latter as; "terribly lacking in decision". It also further widened the divide between Asquith and Lloyd George, and encouraged the latter in his plans for government reconstruction; "Mr. A gets very few cheers nowadays."

Progress of the war

Asquith visits the front during the Battle of the Somme, 1916

Fall: November–December 1916

The events that led to the collapse of the First Coalition were exhaustively chronicled by almost all of the major participants, (although Asquith himself was a notable exception), and have been minutely studied by historians in the 100 years since. Although many of the accounts and studies differ in detail, and present a somewhat confusing picture overall, the outline is clear. As Adams wrote; "The Prime Minister depended upon [a] majority [in] Parliament. The faith of that majority in Asquith's leadership had been shaken and the appearance of a logical alternative destroyed him."

Nigeria debate and Lord Lansdowne's memorandum

"a man called Max Aitken"

The touch paper for the final crisis was the unlikely subject of the sale of captured German assets in Nigeria. As Colonial Secretary, the Conservative leader Bonar Law led the debate and was subject to a furious attack by Sir Edward Carson. The issue itself was trivial, but the fact that Law had been attacked by a leading member of his own party, and was not supported by Lloyd George (who absented himself from the House only to dine with Carson later in the evening), was not. Margot Asquith immediately sensed the coming danger; "From that night it was quite clear that Northcliffe, Rothermere, Bonar, Carson, Ll.G (and a man called Max Aitken) were going to run the Government. I knew it was the end." Grey was similarly prescient, writing; "Lloyd George means to break up the Government." Bonar Law saw the debate as a threat to his own political position, as well as another instance of lack of grip by the government. The situation was further inflamed by the publication of a memorandum on future prospects in the war by Lord Lansdowne. Circulated on 13 November, it considered, and did not dismiss, the possibility of a negotiated settlement with the Central Powers. Asquith's critics immediately assumed that the memorandum represented his own views and that Lansdowne was being used a stalking horse, Lord Crewe going so far as to suggest that the Lansdowne Memorandum was the "veritable causa causans of the final break-up".

Triumvirate gathers

On 20 November 1916 Lloyd George, Carson and Bonar Law met at the Hyde Park Hotel. The meeting was organised by Max Aitken who was to play central roles both in the forthcoming crisis and in its subsequent historiography. Max Aitken was a Canadian adventurer, millionaire, and close friend of Bonar Law. His book on the fall of the First Coalition, Politicians and the War 1914–1916, although always partial and sometimes inaccurate, gives a detailed insider's view of the events leading up to Asquith's political demise. The trio agreed on the necessity of overhauling the government and further agreed on the mechanism for doing so; the establishment of a small War Council, chaired by Lloyd George, with no more than five members and with full executive authority for the conduct of the war. Asquith was to be retained as prime minister, and given honorific oversight of the War Council, but day to day operations would be directed by Lloyd George. This scheme, although often reworked, remained the basis of all proposals to reform the government until Asquith's fall on 6 December. Until almost the end, both Bonar Law, and Lloyd George, wished to retain Asquith as premier. But Aitken, Carson and Lord Northcliffe emphatically did not.

Power without responsibility

Lord Northcliffe teeing up

Lord Northcliffe's role was critical, as was the use Lloyd George made of him, and of the press in general. Northcliffe's involvement also highlights the limitations of both Aitken's and Lloyd George's accounts of Asquith's fall. Both minimised Northcliffe's part in the events. In his War Memoirs, Lloyd George stated emphatically; "Lord Northcliffe was never, at any stage, brought into our consultations." Aitken supported this; "Lord Northcliffe was not in active co-operation with Lloyd George." But these claims are contradicted by others. In their biography of Northcliffe, Pound and Harmsworth record Northcliffe's brother Rothermere writing contemporaneously; "Alfred has been actively at work with Ll.G. with a view to bringing about a change." Riddell recorded is his diary for 27 May 1916; "LG never mentions directly that he sees Northcliffe but I am sure they are in daily contact." Margot Asquith was also certain of Northcliffe's role, and of Lloyd George's involvement, although she obscured both of their names when writing in her diary; "I only hope the man responsible for giving information to Lord N- will be heavily punished: God may forgive him; I never can."They are also contradicted by events; Northcliffe met with Lloyd George on each of the three days just prior to Lloyd George's resignation, on 1, 2 and 3 December, including two meetings on 1 December, both before and after Lloyd George put his revised proposals for the War Council to Asquith. It seems improbable that ongoing events were not discussed and that the two men confined their conversations to negotiating article circulation rights for Lloyd George once he had resigned, as Pound and Harmsworth weakly suggest. The attempts made by others to use Northcliffe and the wider press also merit consideration. In this regard, some senior military officers were extremely active; Robertson, for example, writing to Northcliffe in October 1916; "The Boche gives me no trouble compared with what I meet in London. So any help you can give me will be of Imperial value." Lastly, the actions of Northcliffe's newspapers must be considered – in particular The Times editorial on 4 December which led Asquith to reject Lloyd George's final War Council proposals. Thompson, Northcliffe's most recent biographer, concludes; "From the evidence, it appears that Northcliffe and his newspapers should be given more credit than they have generally received for the demise of the Asquith government in December 1916."

To-ing and fro-ing

Bonar Law met again with Carson and Lloyd George on 25 November and, with Aitken's help, drafted a memorandum for Asquith's signature. This would see a "Civilian General Staff", with Lloyd George as chairman and Asquith as president, attending irregularly but with the right of referral to Cabinet as desired. This, Bonar Law presented to Asquith, who committed to reply on Monday the following week. His reply was an outright rejection; the proposal was impossible "without fatally impairing the confidence of colleagues, and undermining my own authority." Law took Asquith's response to Carson and Lloyd George at Law's office in the Colonial Office. All were uncertain of the next steps. Bonar Law decided it would be appropriate to meet with his senior Conservative colleagues, something he had not previously done. He saw Austen Chamberlain, Lord Curzon and Lord Robert Cecil on Thursday 30 November. All were united in opposition to Lloyd George's War Council plans, Chamberlain writing; "(we) were unanimously of opinion (sic) that (the plans) were open to grave objection and made certain alternative proposals." Lloyd George had also been reflecting on the substance of the scheme and, on Friday 1 December, he met with Asquith to put forward an alternative. This would see a War Council of three, the two Service ministers and a third without portfolio. One of the three, presumably Lloyd George although this was not explicit, would be chairman. Asquith, as Prime Minister, would retain "supreme control." Asquith's reply the same day did not constitute an outright rejection, but he did demand that he retain the chairmanship of the council. As such, it was unacceptable to Lloyd George and he wrote to Bonar Law the next day (Saturday 2 December); "I enclose copy of P.M.'s letter. The life of the country depends on resolute action by you now."

Last four days: Sunday 3 December to Wednesday 6 December

Sunday 3 December

Sunday 3 December saw the Conservative leadership meet at Bonar Law's house, Pembroke Lodge. They gathered against a backdrop of ever-growing press involvement, in part fermented by Max Aitken. That morning's Reynold's News, owned and edited by Lloyd George's close associate Henry Dalziel, had published an article setting out Lloyd George's demands to Asquith and claiming that he intended to resign and take his case to the country if they were not met. At Law's house, the Conservatives present drew up a resolution which they demanded Law present to Asquith. This document, subsequently the source of much debate, stated that "the Government cannot continue as it is; the Prime Minister (should) tender the resignation of the Government" and, if Asquith was unwilling to do that, the Conservative members of the Government would "tender (their) resignations." The meaning of this resolution is unclear, and even those who contributed to it took away differing interpretations. Chamberlain felt that it left open the option of either Asquith or Lloyd George as premier, dependent on who could gain greater support. Curzon, in a letter of that day to Lansdowne, stated no one at the Pembroke Lodge meeting felt that the war could be won under Asquith's continued leadership and that the issue for the Liberal politicians to resolve was whether Asquith remained in a Lloyd George administration in a subordinate role, or left the government altogether. Max Aitken's claim that the resolution's purpose was to ensure that "Lloyd George should go" is not supported by most of the contemporary accounts, or by the assessments of most subsequent historians. As one example, Gilmour, Curzon's biographer, writes that the Unionist ministers; "did not, as Beaverbrook alleged, decide to resign themselves in order to strengthen the Prime Minister's hand against Lloyd George..(their intentions) were completely different." Similarly, Adams, Bonar Law's latest biographer, describes Aitken's interpretation of the resolution as "convincingly overturned." Ramsden is equally clear; "the Unionist ministers acted to strengthen Lloyd George's hand, from a conviction that only greater power for Lloyd George could put enough drive into the war effort."

Bonar Law then took the resolution to Asquith, who had, unusually, broken his weekend at Walmer Castle to return to Downing Street. At their meeting, Bonar Law sought to convey the content of his colleagues' earlier discussion but failed to produce the resolution itself. That it was never actually shown to Asquith is incontrovertible, and Asquith confirmed this in his writings. Bonar Law's motives in not handing it over are more controversial. Law himself maintained he simply forgot. Jenkins charges him with bad faith, or neglect of duty. Adams suggests Law's motives were more complex – the resolution also contained a clause condemning the involvement of the press – prompted by the Reynold's News story of that morning – and that, in continuing to seek an accommodation between Asquith and Lloyd George, Law felt it prudent not to share the actual text.

The outcome of the interview between Law and Asquith was clear, even if Law had not been. Asquith immediately decided that an accommodation with Lloyd George, and a substantial reconstruction to placate the Unionist ministers, were required. He summoned Lloyd George and together they agreed a compromise that was, in fact, little different to Lloyd George's 1 December proposals. The only substantial amendment was that Asquith would have daily oversight of the War Council's work and a right of veto. Grigg sees this compromise as "very favourable to Asquith." Cassar is less certain; "The new formula left him in a much weaker position[, his] authority merely on paper for he was unlikely to exercise his veto lest it bring on the collective resignation of the War Council." Nevertheless, both Asquith, Lloyd George, and Bonar Law who had rejoined them at 5.00 p.m., felt a basis for a compromise had been reached and they agreed that Asquith would issue a bulletin that evening announcing the reconstruction of the Government. Crewe, who joined Asquith at Montagu's house at 10.00 p.m. recorded; "accommodation with Mr. Lloyd George would ultimately be achieved, without sacrifice of (Asquith's) position as chief of the War Committee; a large measure of reconstruction would satisfy the Unionist Ministers."

Despite Lloyd George's denials of collaboration, the diary for 3 December by Northcliffe's factotum Tom Clarke, records that; "The Chief returned to town and at 7.00 o'clock he was at the War Office with Lloyd George." Meanwhile Duff Cooper was invited to dinner at Montagu's Queen Anne's Gate house, he afterwards played bridge with Asquith, Venetia Montagu and Churchill's sister-in-law "Goonie", recording in his diary : "..the P.M. more drunk than I have ever seen him, (..) so drunk that one felt uncomfortable ... an extraordinary scene."

Monday 4 December

The bulletin was published on the morning of Monday 4 December. It was accompanied by an avalanche of press criticism, all of it intensely hostile to Asquith. The worst was a leader in Northcliffe's Times. This had full details of the compromise reached the day before, including the names of those suggested as members of the War Council. More damagingly still, it ridiculed Asquith, claimed he had conspired in his own humiliation and would henceforth be "Prime Minister in name only." Lloyd George's involvement is uncertain; he denied any, but Asquith was certain he was the source. The author was certainly the editor, Geoffrey Dawson, with some assistance from Carson. But it seems likely that Carson's source was Lloyd George.

The leak prompted an immediate reaction from Asquith; "Unless the impression is at once corrected that I am being relegated to the position of an irresponsible spectator of the War, I cannot possibly go on." Lloyd George's reply was prompt and conciliatory; "I cannot restrain nor I fear influence Northcliffe. I fully accept in letter and in spirit your summary of the suggested arrangement – subject of course to personnel." But Asquith's mind was already turning to rejection of the Sunday compromise and outright confrontation with Lloyd George.

It is unclear exactly whom Asquith spoke with on 4 December. Beaverbrook and Crewe state he met Chamberlain, Curzon and Cecil. Cassar follows these opinions, to a degree. But Chamberlain himself was adamant that he and his colleagues met Asquith only once during the crisis and that was on the following day, Tuesday 5 December. Chamberlain wrote at the time "On Tuesday afternoon the Prime Minister sent for Curzon, Bob Cecil and myself. This is the first and only time the three of us met Asquith during those fateful days." His recollection is supported by details of their meetings with Bonar Law and other colleagues, in the afternoon, and then in the evening of the 4th, and by most modern historians, e.g. Gilmour and Adams. Crawford records how little he and his senior Unionist colleagues were involved in the key discussions, and by implication, how much better informed were the press lords, writing in his diary; "We were all in such doubt as to what had actually occurred, and we sent out for an evening paper to see if there was any news!" Asquith certainly did meet his senior Liberal colleagues on the evening of 4 December, who were unanimously opposed to compromise with Lloyd George and who supported Asquith's growing determination to fight. His way forward had been cleared by his tendering the resignation of his government to the King earlier in the day. Asquith also saw Bonar Law who confirmed that he would resign if Asquith failed to implement the War Council agreement as discussed only the day before. In the evening, and having declined two requests for meetings, Asquith threw down the gauntlet to Lloyd George by rejecting the War Council proposal.

Tuesday 5 December

Arthur Balfour

Lloyd George accepted the challenge by return of post, writing; "As all delay is fatal in war, I place my office without further parley at your disposal." Asquith had anticipated this response, but was surprised by a letter from Arthur Balfour, who until that point had been removed from the crisis by illness. On its face, this letter merely offered confirmation that Balfour believed that Lloyd George's scheme for a smaller War Council deserved a chance and that he had no wish to remain at the Admiralty if Lloyd George wished him out. Jenkins argues that Asquith should have recognised it as a shift of allegiance. Asquith discussed the crisis with Lord Crewe and they agreed an early meeting with the Unionist ministers was essential. Without their support, "it would be impossible for Asquith to continue."

Asquith's meeting with Chamberlain, Curzon and Cecil at 3.00 p.m. only highlighted the weakness of his position. They unanimously declined to serve in a Government that did not include Bonar Law and Lloyd George, as a Government so constituted offered no "prospect of stability." Their reply to Asquith's follow-up question as to whether they were serve under Lloyd George caused him even more concern. The "Three Cs" stated they would serve under Lloyd George if he could create the stable Government they considered essential for the effective prosecution of the War. The end was near and a further letter from Balfour declining to reconsider his earlier decision brought it about. The Home Secretary, Herbert Samuel, recorded in a contemporaneous note; "We were all strongly of opinion, from which [Asquith] did not dissent, that there was no alternative [to resignation]. We could not carry on without LlG and the Unionists and ought not to give the appearance of wishing to do so." At 7.00 p.m., having been Prime Minister for eight years and 241 days, Asquith went to Buckingham Palace and tendered his resignation. Describing the event to a friend sometime later, Asquith wrote; "When I fully realised what a position had been created, I saw that I could not go on without dishonour or impotence, or both." That evening, he dined at Downing Street with family and friends, his daughter-in-law Cynthia describing the scene; "I sat next to the P.M. – he was too darling – rubicund, serene, puffing a guinea cigar and talking of going to Honolulu." Cynthia believed that he would be back "in the saddle" within a fortnight with his position strengthened.

Later that evening Bonar Law, who had been to the Palace to receive the King's commission, arrived to enquire whether Asquith would serve under him. Lord Crewe described Asquith's reply as "altogether discouraging, if not definitely in the negative."

Wednesday 6 December

I am personally very sorry for poor old Squiff. He has had a hard time and even when 'exhilarated' seems to have had more capacity and brain power than any of the others. However, I expect more action and less talk is needed now

General Douglas Haig on Asquith's fall (6 December)

Wednesday saw an afternoon conference at Buckingham Palace, hosted by the King and chaired by Balfour. There is some doubt as to the originator of the idea, although Adams considers that it was Bonar Law. This is supported by a handwritten note of Aitken's, reproduced in A.J.P. Taylor's life of that politician, which reads: "6th Wed. Meeting at BL house with G. (Lloyd George) and C. (Carson) – Decide on Palace Conference." Conversely, Crewe suggests that the suggestion came jointly from Lord Derby and Edwin Montagu. However it came about, it did not bring the compromise the King sought. Within two hours of its breakup, Asquith, after consulting his Liberal colleagues, except for Lloyd George, declined to serve under Bonar Law, who accordingly declined the King's commission. At 7.00 p.m. Lloyd George was invited to form a Government. In just over twenty four hours he had done so, forming a small War Cabinet instead of the mooted War Council, and at 7.30 p.m. on Thursday 7 December he kissed hands as Prime Minister. His achievement in creating a government was considerable, given that almost all of the senior Liberals sided with Asquith. Balfour's acceptance of the Foreign Office made it possible. Others placed a greater responsibility on Asquith as the author of his own downfall, Churchill writing; "A fierce, resolute Asquith, fighting with all his powers would have conquered easily. But the whole trouble arose from the fact that there was no fierce resolute Asquith to win this war or any other."

The Asquiths finally vacated 10 Downing Street on 9 December. Asquith, not normally given to displays of emotion, confided to his wife that he felt he had been stabbed. He likened himself (10 December) to the Biblical character Job, although he also commented that Aristide Briand's government was also under strain in France. Lord Newton wrote in his diary of meeting Asquith at dinner a few days after the fall; "It became painfully evident that he was suffering from an incipient nervous breakdown and before leaving the poor man completely collapsed." Asquith was particularly appalled at Balfour's behaviour, especially as he had argued against Lloyd George to retain Balfour at the Admiralty. Writing years later, Margot's spleen was still evident; "between you and me, this is what hurt my husband more than anything else. That Lloyd George (a Welshman!) should betray him, he dimly did understand, but that Arthur should join his enemy and help to ruin him, he never understood."

Asquith's fall was met with rejoicing in much of the British and Allied press and sterling rallied against the German mark on the New York markets. Press attacks on Asquith continued and indeed increased after the publication of the Dardanelles Report.

Wartime Opposition Leader

ADD David French Strategy of the Lloyd George Coalition Grey later paid tribute to Asquith’s willingness to give credit to successful ministers and to take responsibility himself for things that went wrong. Asquith soon came to be regarded as the “Last of the Romans”.

Asquith supported the government candidate at a by-election in the spring of 1917. At his insistence, Liberal activity in the constituencies was largely at a standstill anyway. He did not protest when overseas sale of “The Nation” was banned and abstained on the Corn Production Bill. In the Commons he welcomed US entry into the war in April 1917 and endorsed female suffrage. After urging by C.P.Scott Lloyd George sought his advice about Ireland in May 1917, but thought him “perfectly sterile”. In May 1917 he was offered the post of Lord Chancellor, which carried a 10k salary and a 5k pension, but refused after consulting Crewe. Asquith was a supporter of the idea of the League of Nations and of proportional representation. Asquith toured the Western Front at Haig’s invitation in Sep 1917. In September 1917 there was initial War Cabinet disagreement at how to respond to the peace feelers from German Foreign Minister von Kuhlmann. Asquith spoke at Leeds to the National War Aims Committee, urging that Germany must return Alsace-Lorraine to France but also that the Allies must not permit Germany to make gains at the expense of the Russian Republic. Asquith had been briefed by Eric Drummond, a senior foreign office official, as Lloyd George was thought to be toying with the latter option. (but only if generals said Allies couldn’t win). He spoke at Liverpool in October 1917. Late in 1917 Lloyd George moved to set up an inter-Allied Supreme War Council to reassert political control over strategy, contrary to the wishes of the British generals, who still enjoyed a great deal of press support. After Lloyd George's Paris speech (12 November) in which he scoffed at the Allies' Western Front "victories" and said that "when he saw the appalling casualty lists he wish(ed) it had not been necessary to win so many of them," Asquith (briefed by Robertson) rose to loud cheers to debate the matter in the Commons (19 November), amid talk of Austen Chamberlain withdrawing support from the government. Lloyd George survived by claiming that the aim of the Supreme War Council was purely to "coordinate" policy. Asquith’s speech on the Supreme War Council on 19 November, at which he argued that the general’s control of strategy should not be interfered with, was lacklustre. The Northcliffe Press outside, and Carson inside the Commons, backed Lloyd George with some reluctance because of his determination to win the war. Asquith was urged by some Liberal MPs, including frontbenchers, to back Lansdowne, after his call for a negotiated peace in his Letter of 29 November. But in a speech at Birmingham on 11 December he gave only a cautious welcome to the Lansdowne Letter but urged that the war continue until Germany had been made to disgorge her conquests, although unlike Lloyd George three days later he did not advocate (REPHRASE) democracy in Germany. Lloyd George and Asquith (and Edward Grey, who had been persuaded with some reluctance to attend) breakfasted together on 5 January 1918. The meeting had been arranged by Lord Buckmaster and C.P.Scott who were keen to promote Liberal reunion. They discussed Lloyd George’s upcoming Caxton Hall speech to the TUC outlining British War Aims. Margot claimed that Asquith, along with Smuts and Lord Robert Cecil, had had far more input into them than Lloyd George was willing to admit in public. By 13 Feb 1918 Haldane recorded that Margot was actively intriguing with H A Gwynne for a political combination of Asquith and Lansdowne, a combination of which Haldane “in the main deplore(d)” Asquith was also active in Parliament when Lloyd George, keen to refocus British efforts against Turkey rather than on the Western Front, removed Robertson as CIGS early in 1918. In a House of Commons made angry by the press war between allies of Lloyd George and the generals, Asquith (12 February) was greeted with cheers for two minutes. Lloyd George ended the debate by challenging the House of Commons to bring down the government; the unappealing thought of Asquith returning as prime minister was one of the factors in his surviving the crisis. Asquith did not do much about the removal of Robertson, although he would have had the support of HA Gwynne. Asquith also played little active part in the debate on Irish Conscription in early 1918. 1 May Henry Wilson recorded that Asquith was under much pressure to attack Lloyd George. Maurice wrote to Asquith on 6 May 1918, forewarning him but saying that he had decided not to consult him. 9 May Asquith moved for a Select Committee. Trevor Wilson described his contribution to the debate as “innocuous”; Asquith denied any hostility to Lloyd George or even acceptance of Maurice’s charges. 10 May editor of Manchester Guardian wrote to a friend that Asquith was “discredited”. Koss believes that Asquith wanted to damage Lloyd George, but not to force a general election which the Liberals would very likely lose. Around this time Pemberton Billing made his scurrilous accusations (in “The Vigilante”) that the Asquiths were among the 47,000 public figures corrupted by German agents with sexual favours. Reading visited him on 28 May 1918 to offer him any post in government except Prime Minister. Asquith took the unusual step of writing a memorandum stating that he did not trust Lloyd George enough to serve under him. He spoke at Manchester in September 1918, where he spoke at a large audience with an overflow, and called for a “clean peace”. On 8 October 1918 Asquith met with Lansdowne, Grey, Reading and Gilbert Murray about the Peace Talks. In late October further overtures were made to Asquith to join the government as Lord Chancellor. Asquith apparently said that he also distrusted Balfour enough to not want to serve with him. Koss argues that now that the war was clearly almost won Asquith no longer had any reason for not criticising Lloyd George, and was passing off pique as principle.

New Material to be worked in

Course of the War

Continued Allied failure and heavy losses at the Battle of Loos between September and October 1915 ended any remaining confidence in the British commander, Sir John French and in the judgement of Lord Kitchener. Asquith resorted to a favoured stratagem and, persuading Kitchener to undertake a tour of the Gallipoli battlefield in the hope that he could be persuaded to remain in the Mediterranean as Commander-in-Chief, took temporary charge of the War Office himself. He then replaced French with Sir Douglas Haig; the latter recording in his diary for 10 December 1915; "About 7 pm I received a letter from the Prime Minister marked 'Secret' and enclosed in three envelopes. It ran 'Sir J. French has placed in my hands his resignation ... Subject to the King's approval, I have the pleasure of proposing to you that you should be his successor.'" Asquith also appointed Sir William Robertson as Chief of the Imperial General Staff with increased powers, reporting directly to the Cabinet and with the sole right to give them military advice, relegating the Secretary of State for War to the tasks of recruiting and supplying the army. Lastly, he instituted a smaller Dardanelles Committee, re-christened the War Committee, with himself, Balfour, Bonar Law, Lloyd George and Reginald McKenna as members although, as this soon increased, the Committee continued the failings of its predecessor, being "too large and lack(ing) executive authority". None of this saved the Dardanelles Campaign and the decision to evacuate was taken in December, resulting in the resignation from the Duchy of Lancaster of Churchill, who wrote, "I could not accept a position of general responsibility for war policy without any effective share in its guidance and control." Further reverses took place in the Balkans: the Central Powers overran Serbia, forcing the Allied troops which had attempted to intervene back towards Salonika.

Early 1916 saw the start of the German offensive at Verdun, the "greatest battle of attrition in history". In late May, the only significant Anglo-German naval engagement of the War took place at The Battle of Jutland. Although a strategic success, the greater loss of ships on the Allied side brought early dismay. Lord Newton, Paymaster General and Parliamentary spokesman for the War office in Kitchener's absence, recorded in his diary; "Stupefying news of naval battle off Jutland. Whilst listening to the list of ships lost, I thought it the worst disaster that we had ever suffered." This despondency was compounded, for the nation, if not for his colleagues, when Lord Kitchener was killed in the sinking of HMS Hampshire on 5 June.

Asquith first considered taking the vacant War Office himself but then offered it to Bonar Law, who declined it in favour of Lloyd George. This was an important sign of growing unity of action between the two men and it filled Margot Asquith with foreboding; "I look upon this as the greatest political blunder of Henry's lifetime, ... We are out: it can only be a question of time now when we shall have to leave Downing Street."

Raymond Asquith

Asquith followed this by agreeing to hold Commissions of Inquiry into the conduct of the Dardanelles and of the Mesopotamian campaign, where Allied forces had been forced to surrender at Kut. Sir Maurice Hankey, Secretary to the War Committee, considered that; "the Coalition never recovered. For (its) last five months, the function of the Supreme Command was carried out under the shadow of these inquests." But these mistakes were overshadowed by the limited progress and immense casualties of the Battle of the Somme, which began on 1 July 1916, and then by another devastating personal loss, the death of Asquith's son Raymond, on 15 September at the Battle of Flers–Courcelette. Asquith's relationship with his eldest son had not been easy. Raymond wrote to his wife in early 1916; "If Margot talks any more bosh to you about the inhumanity of her stepchildren you can stop her mouth by telling her that during my 10 months exile here the P.M. has never written me a line of any description." But Raymond's death was shattering, Violet writing; "...to see Father suffering so wrings one", and Asquith passed much of the following months "withdrawn and difficult to approach". The War brought no respite, Churchill writing that; "The failure to break the German line in the Somme, the recovery of the Germanic powers in the East [i.e. the defeat of the Brusilov Offensive], the ruin of Roumania and the beginnings of renewed submarine warfare strengthened and stimulated all those forces which insisted upon still greater vigour in the conduct of affairs."

Launch Pad

Bonar Law

A party truce was provisionally agreed between Asquith and Bonar Law on 30 July.

Bonar Law sent a letter to Asquith on behalf of the Conservatives on 2 August offering full support if the government backed France and Russia. Asquith replied that the government was under no obligation, real or implied, to help them.

On Monday 3 August, the day of Grey’s hour-long speech to the House of Commons, Bonar Law visited Asquith to express his concerns that the war or the party truce might be an excuse for “jiggery pokery” over Home Rule and Welsh Disestablishment.

Bonar Law’s motives were partly a sense of patriotic duty and party a sense of partisan advantage, that it was better to let an Asquith Government take the difficult decisions whilst trying to maintain the support of Labour and the Irish Nationalists. Chamberlain, Long, Lansdowne, Curzon and Derby were all unenthusiastic. Bonar Law may have accepted the Colonies rather than the Exchequer or Munitions because of the criminal prosecution pending against William Jacks & Company, in which his brother John Law was still a partner. Two other partners were eventually found guilty and imprisoned.

Long

Walter Long asked for the Home Office in May 1915 but was appointed President of the Local Government Board.

Simon

Simon declined the Woolsack in May 1915, saying that he preferred “the sack rather than the woolsack”.

Lloyd George

Roy Jenkins writes "Lloyd George was a principal participant in most quarrels at this time". Bonar Law commented that Lloyd George was both the Prime Minister's right hand man and Leader of the Opposition. On 12 October 1916 Lloyd George spoke in support of Carson's demand that more men be provided for the Army, although it was unclear where they were to come from without stripping men from industry or extending conscription to Ireland.

Venetia

Asquith was writing an average of a letter a day to Miss Stanley, 26 in August 1914, often of 500-1000 words. Between January and March 1915 he wrote her 141 letters and 4 in one day on 30 March, 3,000 words in total. Venetia was in London to train as a nurse at Whitechapel, and he often went for a drive with her on Friday afternoons.

On 22 April 1915 he wrote to Venetia “You will tell me, won’t you, the real truth at once?” He was also upset at Rupert Brooke’s death at Lemnos. Early in May 1915 he stayed with Venetia and her family, and for the first time worried that he bored her. Venetia was due to start as a nurse at Wimereux Military Hospital on 10 May but was struck down by fever. Asquith visited her for ten minutes then walked back to Downing Street with Montagu who had also been there. On Tuesday 11 May he wrote her two letters and called to see her, but was not allowed to see her. On Wednesday 12 May she wrote to tell him that she was engaged to Montagu, whose proposal she had rejected with horror two years earlier. She converted to Judaism so he could keep his fortune. Venetia married on 24 July, and any letters from Asquith to her after that were in reply to initiatives on her part. Venetia was, in Jenkins’ view, probably a bit crushed by the intensity of his feelings.

1914-15

The party truce was formally confirmed on 28 August. Liberals, Conservatives and Labour agreed not to fight one another at by-elections in Britain (Ireland was not included). Bonar Law, many of his MPs fighting in the forces, was sure that the next general election would see a Conservative majority, but wished to see the Liberals carry responsibility for the war effort until then.

5 August Kitchener War Secretary.

Asquith was impressed by Kitchener’s contempt for public opinion. As early as Cabinet on 26 August, Churchill ranted on about the need for conscription (Lord Emmott thought him “both stupid and boring” and observed that Asquith was “contemptuous”), but Asquith, who pointed out that that the Liberal Party would be divided on the issue, was able to leave Kitchener to deal with the matter on the grounds that he did not yet have enough equipment for those who had volunteered.

Much Liberal opinion saw the war as a betrayal of Liberal principles, and came increasingly to resent the greater state control made necessary by the war effort, and to advocate democracy in Germany and (Britain’s ally) Russia, as well as open diplomacy and a clampdown on armaments companies; the latter two would be important political issues in the postwar period.

Asquith privately sympathised with radical criticism of state control, but saw his juggling act between radicals and Conservatives not just as a matter of political tactics but of a duty to maintain national unity. He also took an interest in longer-term postwar plans for which the credit was taken by others. He delighted in Lady Tree’s witticism “Do you take an interest in the war?”

Tory opinion still suspicious after “Bloody Week” in Ulster. Worse after Irish Home Rule and Welsh Disestablishment (over the protests of the Archbishop of Canterbury) were put onto the statute book on 15 September, contrary to assurances which had supposedly been given during the party truce. Bonar Law accused Asquith of deception, and led his followers out of the Chamber in protest. Asquith jeered at them as “not really a very impressive spectacle, a lot of middle-aged and for the most part middle-aged gentlemen trying to look like early French revolutionaries in the Tennis Court (LINK)” He wrote to Venetia that “Bonar Law never sank so low in his gutter as today” and that McKenna had had to go upstairs and lie down lest he be tempted to attack him. Redmond scoffed at Bonar Law attacking the integrity of the government whilst saying he wanted to support it.

On 15 September 1914, with the Battle of the Aisne (believed at the time to be a major Allied victory as the Germans were being repulsed from the Marne) in progress, Bonar Law led a mass exodus of Conservative MPs from the Commons. “Bonar Law never sank so low in his gutter as today”.

In late September and early October 1914 Asquith spoke at London, Edinburgh, Cardiff and Dublin, which apart from Newcastle in April 1915 were his only public speeches in the first nine months of the war. He never visited his constituency of East Fife in this period.

Asquith wrote of Kitchener in October 1914 “K. who generally finds thing out sooner or later – as a rule rather later”.

By the end of October Kitchener had revised his earlier estimate and thought the war would end sooner through ammunition shortage.

War Council set up in late November 1914, not initially a threat to Kitchener.

A War Council was set up in November 1914. It contained Asquith, Churchill, Lloyd George, Kitchener, Grey and Balfour, the only Tory. Haldane joined in January 1915 and Hankey was secretary. By early 1915 the Cabinet was back to one meeting a week.

On 29 December 1914 Churchill wrote to Asquith recommending Fisher’s scheme for landings in the Baltic rather than leaving British armies “to chew barbed wire in Flanders”. On 31 December he proposed an attack on Gallipoli as well as the Baltic, and urged more frequent meetings of the War Council. Lloyd George, who favoured an Allied presence at Salonika and was already critical of Kitchener, also wrote to Asquith on 31 December urging more frequent War Council meetings.

Asquith (5 December 1914) professed himself “altogether opposed” to an attack on the Dardanelles. Lloyd George favoured landings in the Balkans and against the Turks in Syria. At Asquith’s behest Hankey circulated a paper (28 December) advocating an attack on the Dardanelles to seize Constantinople. “Are there not other alternatives than sending our armies to chew barbed wire in Flanders” Churchill had earlier favoured a Dardanelles attack, and wrote to Asquith on 29 December 1914 advocating an assault on Schleswig-Holstein, which would enable Britain to seize the Kiel Canal, take control of the Baltic and help land a Russian army near Berlin.

By the start of 1915 both Asquith and Lloyd George felt there was a need for some kind of victory.

After consulting Hankey, Churchill moved back in favour of an attack on the Dardanelles. The Foreign Office also favoured the scheme as likely to encourage Balkan countries to join the Allies, as did Kitchener, although he was reluctant to release troops. Greek reluctance to allow Allied troops to land at Salonika also helped Britain’s leaders move towards the Dardanelles plan, which was adopted in principle by the War Council on 13 January 1915 – Asquith kept quiet until the end before concurring, adding that it might encourage Italy to join the Allies. Asquith also had to broker an agreement between Churchill and Fisher, who was sceptical of the Dardanelles plan but agreed, to his subsequent regret, to cancel his resignation when Asquith backed Churchill.

The War Council met on 7, 8 and 13 January 1915. Asquith, Sir John French, Balfour, Kitchener, Fisher, Churchill, Sir Arthur Wilson, Crewe, Grey and Lloyd George attended, although as Asquith met Venetia Stanley shortly afterward we do not have a detailed account of what was said. The topic of the intermingling of the Kitchener armies (explain) came up. Asquith was a westerner by inclination, so did not demand any shift in resources away from the BEF and towards amphibious operations.

The original plan was for a purely naval attack on the Dardanelles. Fisher did not want to dissipate the Grand Fleet by sending modern battleships to attack Turkey, and wanted troops used as well.

Fisher was an early bird and Churchill a night owl, so in practice they operated something of a shift system. Fisher and Churchill came to Asquith on 28 January so that he could resolve their differences. They agreed to an attack on the Dardanelles provided Churchill abandoned his plan to bombard Zeebrugge.

Argument raged throughout February as to whether the 29th Division, Britain’s last fresh division of regular troops and which Kitchener was unwilling to release, should be used. Asquith thought that it should, but was unwilling to overrule Kitchener. The naval bombardment began at the end of February 1915, throwing away the advantage of surprise and alerting the Turks to reinforce their positions. Kitchener finally agreed to release the 29th Division on 10 March, but it was not yet in theatre by the time of the next major naval bombardment on 18 March.

Asquith would have preferred a greater commitment of troops, but was unwilling to overrule Kitchener.

Asquith remained “an incomparable technician” who had predicted the course of events and managed his own party beautifully. But wartime showed his placid habits and active social life in a poor light. From the start of 1915 there was criticism, even from some of his own ministers, of his frequent attendance at dinner parties at which government secrets were alleged to be discussed.

Long holidays were now impossible but he often read in the Athenaeum Library in the late afternoon. Venetia was in London to train as a nurse at Whitechapel, and he often went for a drive with her on Friday afternoons, before catching the train out of London to Walmer Castle (Lord Beauchamp was Lord Warden of the Cinque Ports at the time), which was conveniently between London and the front, for the weekend.

In January 1915 he fell to his knees and wept for Percy Illingworth. Grey had to lecture him about need to remove his children’s German governess from Number Ten. Rumours abounded that the Asquith family had German links (financial or romantic) or entertained German prisoners. Margot urged Leo Maxse not to attack Haldane for his supposed German sympathies.

Attacks on Liberal ministers (Harcourt, Haldane) were led by WAS Hewins, Sir Richard Cooper, Lord Charles Beresford, Joynson-Hicks, Ronald McNeill, Jesse Collings – but were quietly condoned by Bonar Law, Carson and Long.

On the death of Percy Ilingworth, Asquith appointed John Gulland (he rejected Donald Maclean as “quite an impossible person”) Chief Whip, announced 25 January 1915. He lacked the skill to supervise activity in the Parliamentary Party and in the constituencies. Asquith himself spent a great deal of time mediating between colleagues.{sfn|Koss|p=176-7}}

Lloyd George and Montagu came back from Paris (9 February 1915) critical of the weakness of the Coalition government (LINK UNION SACREE) there, to Asquith’s delight.

In early February 1915 Asquith was toying with the idea of appointing Churchill Viceroy of India after the war.

From early 1915, Churchill and Horatio Bottomley were already agitating for coalition. Bonar Law and Lansdowne were invited to attend the War Council on 10 February but thought it best not to attend further meetings rather than risk antagonising their own party.

In mid March 1915 Churchill was rumoured to be intriguing to make Balfour, whom he constantly invited to the Admiralty, Foreign Secretary instead of Sir Edward Grey. Asquith wrote of him “I regard his future with many misgivings … He will never get to the top in English politics, with all his wonderful gifts; to speak with the tongue of men and angels, and to spend laborious days and nights in administration, is no good if a man does not inspire trust.”

Bonar Law helped get a Welsh Church measure through on 15 March 1915, although this irritated the Conservative backbenchers even more. In March 1915 the Welsh MPs whom he likened to “moutons enrages … baa’ed and bleated and tossed their crinkled horns as if they were in a gale on one of their native mountainsides.” the Archbishop of Canterbury had stirred them up that afternoon.

On 22 March General Hamilton, newly arrived to take command, persuaded Admiral deRobeck to delay further attacks until the troops were ready, which was not expected to be until 10 April. Fisher stood firm against Churchill’s and Asquith’s urgings that the navy push on more aggressively, even at the cost of losing ships. Amphibious landings were finally launched on the Gallipoli Peninsula, which the Turks had had ample time to reinforce and fortify, on 25 April. At the end of the first week of May 1915 Admiral de Robeck, who wanted more naval attacks, was recalled to London. Churchill was not keen as he wanted to offer some of the Dardanelles fleet to Italy (for use against Austria-Hungary in the Adriatic) as a sweetener for joining the Allies. On 12 May HMS “Queen Elizabeth”, the most modern battleship in the world, was withdrawn because of the risk of U-Boat attacks, to Kitchener’s fury and a virtual admission of failure.

His Newcastle speech in April 1915 was one of his few major public speeches at this period. 20 April 1915 Asquith Newcastle speech on munitions.

On 10 May 1915 Lord Salisbury urged the appointment of a more vigorous Under-Secretary for War (in place of Asquith’s brother-in-law H.J.Tennant) to take some of the strain off Kitchener.

By 17 May 1915 Hankey wrote to Asquith that nobody had access to all the information needed to make proper war decisions.

Margot wrote of Kitchener to Lord Crewe (18 May 1910) “I know him very well (underlined). He is a natural cad, tho’ he is remarkably clever. I never have dealings with a liar however clever.”

Formation of the Coalition

As many shells were fired at Neuve Chapelle as in the whole of the Boer War (CHECK THIS). Articles appeared in the Times, the Observer and the Morning Post.

On 24 March Massingham of the "Daily News" told Asquith that Churchill was trying to replace Grey as Foreign Secretary with Balfour, to whom he was leaking Admiralty secrets. The next day Lloyd George told Asquith that the story was substantially true. Asquith thought Churchill “the greatest donkey”, recording that “I am really fond of him; but I regard his future with many misgivings; He will never get to the top in English politics, with all his wonderful gifts; to speak with the tongue of men and angels, and to spend laborious days and nights in administration, is no good if a man does not inspire trust”.

On 29 March McKenna told Asquith a further rumour, that Churchill and Northcliffe were plotting to make Lloyd George Prime Minister, but at lunch Montagu told Asquith that McKenna and Balfour were the prime plotters. That evening Lloyd George protested his innocence to Asquith, who summoned Lloyd George and McKenna to a tripartite meeting on 30 March, at which Lloyd George accused McKenna of planting stories in the Daily Chronicle accusing Lloyd George of plotting to become Prime Minister.

Lloyd George refused to be on the new munitions committee unless Kitchener was excluded, whilst Kitchener threatened to resign if actions were taken over his head, and tried to storm out of a Cabinet meeting until physically blocked by JA Pease. Asquith wrote “The man who came out of it best is Kitchener, clumsy and tactless in expression as he often is. “Lloyd George almost got down to the level of a petty police court advocate”. Asquith was also angry at McKenna (“a wrecker, pure and simple”) and Churchill.

Four days later Asquith gave his Newcastle speech, having been assured by Kitchener in writing that the Army had as much ammunition as it could use.

Sir John French’s aide Captain Freddie Guest visited Lloyd George, Bonar Law and Balfour on 12 May to complain of shortage of ammunition.

Repington’s letter appeared on Friday 14 May 1915. But at 5am Fisher had left the Admiralty to resign. Asquith sent him a sharp handwritten letter, ordering him back to duty in the King’s name. He appeared at 10 Downing Street for a discussion with Asquith, Lloyd George and McKenna. On 17 May Lloyd George and Bonar Law saw Asquith, and they appear to have discussed the Admiralty not munitions. That evening Asquith wrote to Stamfordham that a coalition was being negotiated. Bonar Law signified agreement on 19 May; Haldane and Churchill were to get the sack. The shells scandal brewed the following week when the formation of a new government had already been decided. Asquith was acting Foreign Secretary at the time and busy trying to bring Italy into the war, and could not afford a Conservative attack on the Admiralty. On 19 May Asquith received Fisher’s demand that he be given complete control over naval strategy, that he would not serve under either Churchill or Balfour as First Lord, that he wanted a nonentity civilian minister to assist him like HJ Tennant at the War Office. Fisher’s demands revealed him to be unhinged, and now that Churchill was to be dropped his presence as First Sea Lord was no longer required, and he was allowed to depart into retirement. Asquith found “To seem to welcome into the intimacy of the political household, strange alien, hitherto hostile figures … a most intolerable task”.

Some in the Tory press wanted coalition, eg. Dawson of the Times, but others, eg WH Gwynne, did not – Bonar Law had assured Gwynne, he claimed, that he had batted away overtures from Lloyd George and Churchill.

As recently as 12 May Asquith told Handel Booth, a Liberal advocate of coalition, that it was “not in contemplation”. The formation of the coalition left Liberals like Charles Masterman (not an MP at the time) mystified. Liberal opinion, eg. Massingham of “The Nation”, was dismayed at the speed with which Asquith formed his coalition. Koss points out that there may well have been deeper intrigues in this murky episode than the apparent spat between Churchill and Fisher, and that even if there weren’t, many contemporaries thought there had been.

Trevor Wilson argued that it was not so much the events as the use the Conservatives were planning to make of them. On 14 May the Shadow Cabinet rejected Lord Robert Cecil’s proposal that a confidential cross-party committee be formed to discuss the state of the war, instead agreeing to continue to give Asquith their support, especially if he moved towards bringing in conscription. WAS Hewins, chair of the Unionist Business Committee, was cross and wrote to Asquith. He got no reply and sent Asquith notice of a private question which he planned to put down in the House on Monday 17. Asquith’s secretary told him it could not be dealt with at such short notice, so he put it down for Wednesday 19. They continued to whip up the press and MPs about Repington’s letter. Bonar Law now wrote to Asquith on 17 May saying that he had learned with dismay of Fisher’s resignation and planned to raise the matter in a debate. Blake suggested that this letter was written with the connivance of Asquith and Lloyd George so that they would have something to show their colleagues, whereas Austen Chamberlain wrote that Law was summoned to Downing Street to discuss the reconstruction before he had had a chance to deliver it. Against Hewins’ advice, some of his colleagues approached Bonar Law who told them there were private reasons not to proceed. On Tuesday, according to Hewins, Bonar Law said that munitions was the main cause.

Gollin wrote of Asquith “his actions at this time were those of a strong man, and not the fumblings of a weak one” whilst Churchill later wrote in “Great Contemporaries” that he was “a stern, ambitious, intellectually proud man fighting his way with all necessary ruthlessness.”

Koss dismisses the claim that he was overly upset by the Venetia news on 12 May. He was able to separate his public and private lives and soon found other lady friends with whom to correspond.

Koss argues that Asquith conceived of the coalition to get rid of Kitchener. Asquith’s circular memo to the Cabinet on 17 May spoke equally of Fisher’s resignation and the “more than plausible parliamentary case” about shells. Bonar Law told Chamberlain after the 17 May meeting that they had agreed that it was “absolutely necessary to get rid of Kitchener” and that Asquith had agreed to appoint Lloyd George as War Secretary, a plan confirmed by Lloyd George to George Riddell two days later, while JA Pease recorded Asquith’s complaints about Kitchener’s refusal to accept civilian help. Asquith changed his mind because of Kitchener’s popularity, although it is unclear whether Margot’s lobbying to that effect helped to move him.

Asquith was still the only plausible Prime Minister, as Bonar Law would have been unacceptable to the Liberals and Grey’s deteriorating eyesight ruled him out. Lord Salisbury proposed to his younger brother Lord Robert Cecil (19 May) that a small war committee be formed, whose decisions would then be brought to Asquith and the Cabinet for approval, whilst Birrell (24 May) was also thinking along similar lines.

Hazelhurst sees the coalition as hastily improvised. Rhodes James sees it as keeping the Liberal Party ascendant. Koss argues that Asquith was very keen on balance. He blocked Bonar Law, a tariff reformer, from the Exchequer, even suggesting that he appoint himself or Balfour to the role (neither option being acceptable to the Conservatives, who thought Balfour too sympathetic to the government). Although he retained most of the Liberal ministers whom he thought most able, he admitted to Stamfordham that some ministers were appointed as “safer in than out” rather than for administrative ability. One example was Birrell, who would have been happy to retire but was retained as Irish Secretary as a sop to the Irish Nationalists.

Chamberlain’s diary for 17 May records that Asquith himself offered to drop Haldane. In fact Haldane was not popular either with Liberal backbenchers or with Cabinet colleagues. On 13 May he had let slip in a Lords debate that the government might move towards conscription at some future date. Haldane went quietly but was bitter at Asquith. Grey tried to save Haldane's job but the Tories were immovable. Asquith thought that Haldane taking the King’s Pledge in April 1915 reduced his energy. By June 1915 Haldane had begun drinking again. Asquith wrote to Grey praising Haldane, but not to Haldane himself.

Churchill was also unpopular not just with Conservatives but with many Liberals, who blamed him for causing the fall of the government, not only for his quarrel with Fisher but also for the wide rumours, put about by Hobhouse and McKenna, of his involvement with Repington’s leak of the shells story. King George wrote to the Queen (19 May) of his delight that Churchill “the real danger” was to be removed from the Admiralty. Churchill had visited Sir John French’s headquarters at the same time as Repington and was suspected of having been involved in the leak Gwynne of the Morning Post believed (17 May) that Bonar Law had refused to get involved but that Churchill and Lloyd George had intrigued with Balfour. Margot wrote to Haldane (18 May): “Our wonderful Cabinet smashed! … Practically by the man whom I always said would (italics) smash it – Winston.” Haig wrote at the time, with apparent disapproval, that he had heard of “an organised conspiracy … against Kitchener”. Fisher reported that Balfour had insisted that Asquith retain Churchill in the Cabinet, whilst Lloyd George claimed that Asquith had turned down his suggestion that Churchill be appointed Viceroy of India.

Between 17 and 21 December Churchill sent six letters to Asquith begging to be retained at the Admiralty, or failing that the Colonial Office. He tried to persuade Admiral Arthur Wilson, who had refused to serve under any First Lord than Churchill, to serve under Balfour as First Lord, but in the event the point was moot as Admiral Sir Henry Jackson was appointed.

The Cabinet consisted of 12 Liberals, 9 (or 8????) Conservatives, 1 Labour (Henderson), and Kitchener who was officially non-party (although widely thought to be a Tory sympathiser). The Irish Nationalists declined Asquith’s offer to take office. The Conservatives wanted a Lord Chancellor from their party, but after Simon had declined itAsquith gave it to Buckmaster. There were rumours that he was simply a stopgap keeping the place warm for Asquith who was to step down as Prime Minister in two months’ time. Asquith had planned to appoint Lloyd George Secretary of State for War, but he was reluctant, whilst Asquith refused to appoint Bonar Law, who wanted the job, saying that he could not have both the Admiralty and the War Office in Conservative hands. After there was a public outcry at the possibility of Kitchener being removed, Asquith kept him in place whilst giving Lloyd George a new ministry of munitions. Many Liberal ministers – Samuel, Pease, Lord Emmott, Lord Lucas, Hobhouse, Beauchamp and Montagu – were demoted from the Cabinet or dropped altogether. Montagu returned within a year.

Balfour was First Lord of the Admiralty, Curzon Lord President of the Council, and after a moment of hesitation on 17 May Kitchener was retained at the War Office. Asquith toyed with the idea of taking the Exchequer himself to keep Bonar Law out, but this did not meet with the approval of his colleagues.

Asquith despised Bonar Law and never allowed his coalition to become a Dual Monarchy. The new Cabinet met for the first time on 27 April and thereafter met more frequently than before, often two or three times per week until August. The Dardanelles Committee had 11 members, 5 of them Conservatives. Carson joined in August. Kitchener had demanded a small war council of himself, Balfour and Asquith, with Hankey as secretary, but this was not practicable.

Sir John wrote a friendly letter to Asquith on 20 May, complaining about Kitchener (Roy Jenkins sees this as hypocrisy, accepting the later claim in his notoriously unreliable memoirs 1914 that he was trying to bring down the government)

Churchill later argued that Asquith should have waited for Italy’s entry to the war on 23 May to strengthen his position.

Asquith, using Lloyd George as intermediary (25 May) persuaded Bonar Law that he couldn’t have a tariff reformer at the Exchequer (although ironically McKenna would bring in tariffs) and couldn’t have munitions as the Admiralty was already in Tory hands.

Eyewitnesses reported Asquith as tired and worried in late May whilst forming his new Cabinet. On 3 June 1915 Asquith visited GHQ and the front at France. His daughter-in-law Cynthia reported that he was his old serene self again by 8 June.

1915

6 August saw the landing at Suvla Bay, which Asquith later described as “the worst disappointment of the war”.

A Cabinet Committee on manpower was set up on 11 August 1915. Bonar Law, who was not at Cabinet that day, was excluded without consulting him. Asquith claimed he’d struck the names of Bonar Law and Simon from the list at Curzon’s request. Asquith then twice asked Bonar Law to join the committee, getting a sulky refusal each time. “Dear Mr Asquith” “My dear Bonar Law” Bonar Law was intimidated (rephrase) by Asquith and often avoided meetings with him or often felt the need to clarify his position in writing afterwards. Perhaps it was largely Bonar Law’s fault for not negotiating as an equal.

Asquith sent an inquiry (18 August 1915) to Balfour about joint action on conscription, although it is unclear what he proposed or whether Balfour even replied.

Hardline Tories were angry that their leaders had not extracted any pledges about conscription, whilst Liberals were worried that the new government might bring in such a measure. The spring and summer of 1915 saw the Northcliffe Press campaign relentlessly for conscription, a cause which Lloyd George had also adopted, along with Bonar Law, Curzon, Lansdowne, Long, Austen Chamberlain, FE Smith and Churchill. In August the Cabinet began talk of a bill requiring men to register for national service. The National Service League, led by Lord Milner, called openly for conscription on 20 August. Crewe, Simon, Henderson, Kitchener and (to some extent) Balfour were opposed. There was much opposition from Liberals in Parliament and in the country, and – Walter Runciman warned – amongst the trade unions.

On 20 August, after a four-day conference with Joffre and Sir John French, Kitchener told the Cabinet that he had agreed to a major autumn offensive on the western front, in view of the recent defeat of Russia, even though he did not think that there was much prospect of success. The Cabinet agreed to the offensive despite criticism by Churchill, Asquith and Lansdowne. Asquith went along with Loos to help the French, realising, in Jenkins' view, that it would make conscription inevitable.

By 3 September, CP Scott recorded that Asquith’s relations with Lloyd George, who was being touted as an alternative Prime Minister, had become “very strained”.

McKenna introduced protection on luxury items in September. Lloyd George later pointed out to Scott in November that Bonar Law had been kept from the Exchequer as a tariff reformer.

Loos, Vimy and Champagne began on 25 September and went on into early October 1915. Champagne went on until 8 November. By mid October 1915 Loos and Gallipoli were clearly in stalemate. Lloyd George and Carson were urging the reinforcement of the Allied presence at Salonika. Lloyd George wanted Kitchener sacked. The Dardanelles Committee was renamed the War Committee. Derby was appointed Director-General of Recruiting on 5 October, “a shrewd tactical move” by Asquith in Koss’ view. Churchill distributed a memo on 6 October claiming that the coalition had been widely expected to introduce conscription. Kitchener defended the voluntary system at Cabinet on 12 October; Carson resigned that day (finalised 19 October – check) in protest at Kitchener’s supposed incompetence, although he also cited lack of Allied support for Serbia which was overrun by the Central Powers towards the end of the year (CHECK DATES).

The Derby Scheme was proposed on 15 October. Asquith was suffering from the loss of Venetia and having four sons in the Army. On 17 October 1915 Asquith wrote an unusually (for him) emotional letter to Kitchener. “I should like you to know that what is going on is being engineered by men (Curzon and Lloyd George and some others) whose real object is to oust you … So long as you and I stand together, we carry the whole country with us” He urged Kitchener to come out in favour of a 70-division army, but to be built up slowly and with consent. Bonar Law was threatening resignation unless there was a clean break at Gallipoli.

The Asquiths were subject to press calumnies about their supposed German links and even the presence of German prisoners at their homes. Margot later wrote that “Henry is as indifferent to the Press as St Paul’s Cathedral is to midges” Lord Alfred Douglas was tried for criminal libel. He had written a poem containing the lines: “Merry Margot bound with lesbian fillets, while with front of brass, Old Squiffy hands the purse to Robert Ross”

Asquith fell seriously ill from strain and overwork on the night of 19 October and slept for 36 hours. Margot commented “I thought Henry was absolutely done. I think he thought so too”. He was not fully well until the start of November.

In Kitchener’s absence Lord Robert Cecil, who had joined the Cabinet in July, urged on 20 October that a small three-man war council be set up, hinting that the ministry might be thrown out otherwise. Lord Crewe chaired Cabinet on 21 October, and Grey was criticised for offering Cyprus to Greece (as an incentive for her to enter the war; Greece was not yet in the war, despite the Allied military presence at Salonika) having only consulted Asquith and Kitchener. The meeting then moved on (Koss argues that Asquith would never have permitted a meeting to stray from the agenda in this way) to a general discussion of the excessive size of the present war council, which the Cabinet agreed should be reduced.

Churchill resigned on 30 October although this was not made final until 11 November. On 31 October 1915 Lloyd George threatened to resign if Kitchener not replaced as War Secretary. Asquith told Hankey on 1 November “that the Cabinet were unanimous that Lord K ought to leave the War Office, principal reason being that he will not tell them the whole truth”. Kitchener agreed to go on a fact-finding mission to Mediterranean, although he refused to accept appointment as CinC there. Asquith also made the bland but significant announcement in a public speech on 2 November that “other measures” might soon have to be taken to make up the shortfall in voluntary recruiting. Bonar Law had suggested to Lloyd George that he might resign if Kitchener continued in office, but Asquith wrote to Lloyd George (who privately, at this time, regarded him as “a soft-nosed torpedo”) on 3 Nov that sending him to the Mediterranean had the same effect. Asquith took over as acting War Secretary, and was able to read confidential information at the War Office, which Kitchener had been keeping from his colleagues. Asquith contemplated taking on the job himself but changed his mind after an appeal from Bonar Law. Cabinet met on 4 November, then Kitchener left for the Mediterranean that evening, taking his seals of office with him. On 5 November Bonar Law wrote to Asquith hinting that he would resign if Gallipoli was not immediately evacuated. Asquith called a special cabinet on Saturday 6 November at which Bonar Law was isolated.

The Derby Scheme was already almost dead in the water. On 7 November Asquith expressed his approval for drafting of a bill based on Curzon and Amery’s scheme for compulsory service. Asquith then (11 November) formed a new War committee (Koss writes War Council) of himself, Lloyd George, McKenna, Bonar Law and Balfour – but not Kitchener. Churchill's resignation became final, as the winding-up of the Dardanelles Committee left him without a meaningful role. Asquith sorted several matters of dispute between the War Office and the Ministry of Munitions.

On 22 November Kitchener recommended the evacuation of the indefensible northern Gallipoli bridgeheads (Suvla and ANZAC) but that the bridgehead at Cape Helles should be kept for its strategic potential. Next day the War Committee recommended evacuation of Helles as well.

Haig came to lunch at 10 Downing Street on 23 November, to discuss his potential appointment as Commander-in-Chief of the BEF.

At full Cabinet on 24 November Curzon demanded the retention of Cape Helles and produced what Hankey called “one of the most able papers I have ever read” Crewe and Lansdowne asked for a delay in the decision. Kitchener returned to London on 30 November, anxious to resign. Asquith told him that Haig was to replace Sir John French, that some War Office functions were to be transferred to the Ministry of Munitions, that Robertson was to be appointed CIGS with enhanced powers, but that it was Kitchener’s duty to remain in office.

Cabinet met again on 3 December. Further papers opposed to the abandonment of Cape Helles had been circulated by Hankey and Curzon.

Liberals in Parliament and in the press were horrified by the idea of conscription but felt it better to keep Asquith in power rather than risk a Lloyd George-Carson administration, which might then win a landslide at a “khaki” election like that of 1900. W. Llewellyn Williams (MP for Camarthen, and an opponent of conscription) wrote to the Manchester Guardian (4 December 1916) describing Asquith as “That brave, patient man, the greatest Englishman of all time”.

Haig was formerly offered the job of CinC BEF on 8 December, after Sir John French had been persuaded to "resign". Haig took over as CinC BEF on 18 December.

The Cabinet finally decided to evacuate Helles on 27 December.

Conscription of Single Men

On 28 December 1915 the War Committee (Koss writes Council) approved a major spring offensive (which would eventually become the Battle of the Somme), and on the same day the Cabinet faced up to the failure of the Derby Scheme. “The Prime Minister never hesitated” wrote Austen Chamberlain to his stepmother. Asquith called on Lady Scott that evening (he had called twice during the afternoon while she had been out) to unburden himself about conscription.

On 29 December senior Liberal ministers Reginald McKenna, Sir John Simon (who thought the bill was aimed at “industrial coercion” in the long run), Walter Runciman and Sir Edward Grey handed in their resignations. Birrell thought conscription “a disagreeable necessity” but thought he might also have to go if the others did. Grey thought he should have resigned with Haldane in May and had tried to resign at least twice since then, so that on one occasion Asquith had to remind him that the two of them had to see the war through as they had taken Britain into it. He was opposed to conscription for economic and financial reasons, but was willing to go along with the wishes of the Cabinet majority. McKenna, who blamed physical allocation of resources rather than lack of finance, and Runciman also thought that recruiting 30,000 men per week to build up a BEF of 70 divisions would harm Britain’s ability to be the arsenal of the Allies.

Early in the New Year Haldane dined with Asquith and observed that he seemed tired and under strain. Asquith set up a committee, dubbed the “Military and Finance Committee” by Hankey, consisting of himself, McKenna and Austen Chamberlain, to investigate the economic arguments. Briand (PM of France) and Gallieni (French War Minister) were to be asked if they preferred Britain to send more troops or more aid of other kinds.

The Labour MPs had to turn against conscription after the Labour NEC voted against it. Henderson resigned from the Cabinet, as did Roberts and Brace, the two junior Labour ministers. Asquith met with the Labour MPs on 11 January, and persuaded them that Henderson should stay in the government. Asquith wrote to Lady Scott that he was “practically out of the wood”.

By the evening of 13 January McKenna was again threatening to resign, not on financial grounds but on Runciman’s grounds that it would “deplete” industry of key men. Asquith wrote to Lady Scott that “the Dickens is that I so agree with him”. Differences were ironed out in lengthy inter-departmental negotiations.

Many observers, including C.P.Scott of the "Manchester Guardian", were perfectly aware that Asquith was trying to play all sides, telling the conscriptionists (the Conservatives and Lloyd George) that it was a step towards full conscription and telling Liberals that it would make such a move unnecessary. Hobhouse wrote to McKenna that Asquith’s successive statements were not to be reconciled with actual events, and that the administration would be seen as the worst since Lord North’s, although without “final disaster”. In the short run Asquith's maneouvres were successful. “Asquith is stronger than ever” Churchill moaned to Lloyd George on 25 January 1916.

Simon attended his last Cabinet on 28 January, but the other rebels rescinded their resignations. Asquith presented the Military Service Bill (the "Bachelors' Bill") to the Commons on 5 February 1916. Many MPs who were serving in the Army attended in khaki. Labour split equally, with the Labour rebels joining with 34 Radical Liberals and some Irish MPs to oppose the first reading; the Irish MPs abstained thereafter on the grounds that it was a purely British matter.

On 13 February Lady Scott wrote “the man who had disappointed him most for many a long year was McKenna. Said he proved himself unstable both mentally and morally – moreover he hadn’t the excuse of a stupid man, nor the excuse of artistic temperament or any such thing”. Jenkins suggests that Asquith’s private sympathy with McKenna’s views may have made his irritation with his constant empty threats to resign.

Jenkins believes he displayed “consummate skill” in avoiding too many Liberal and Labour resignations and passing conscription without becoming dependent on Conservative votes.

Easter Rising and Conscription of Married Men

Asquith was away for ten days, the longest foreign trip of his premiership, between 25 March and 7 April. Asquith, warned that plots involving Churchill and Carson might be afoot, insisted that Lloyd George accompany them as far as Paris. The Paris talks with French ministers, where he made speeches in French, finished on 28 March, and Montagu wired them that the conscriptionists were plotting in London; Hankey was instructed to reply that “if we don’t have a costly offensive this spring” the extra men would not be needed. He then visited the Marne battlefield, then went on to Rome with Hankey, where he may have influenced Italy, already at war with Austria-Hungary, to declare war on Germany later in the year. He had an audience with the Pope and impressed with his knowledge of classical and Italian history. Asquith returned in the early hours of 7 April to find the political atmosphere febrile. “There is a cabal every afternoon and a crisis every second day” wrote HE Duke.

Further pressure for general conscription came from peers, Conservative backbenchers (led by Carson) and Lloyd George, and from the Military-Finance Committee to which Lansdowne had been added. Half the Cabinet were opposed. The Cabinet was completely split and met on 14 April. Lloyd George who had missed several meetings of the War Committee claiming illness, turned up angry. He refused to accept the report of the military-finance coordination committee, which had recommended conscription subject to the fiction that it must first be recommended by the Army Council (EXPL), which was bound to be in favour. Asquith was reported to be happy and cheerful at dinner that night and the following morning before departing for the weekend at the Wharf, where that night he received the Army Council’s predictable decision.

By 17 and 18 April it was widely rumoured that Asquith himself was about to resign. He was angry that the conscriptionists had not waited until the Somme Offensive had begun. “The argument has become purely academic” he wrote to Lady Scott on 18 April, adding that “Of course Lloyd George is the villain of the piece, you know what I think of him”. He was also angry at Grey who was reconsidering his position. On the morning of 19 April Asquith had his frock coat laid out in case he had to call on the King and resign that afternoon. After a three-hour Cabinet, it was agreed that Asquith should speak to a two-day secret session of the House of Commons. That afternoon he confirmed to the Commons that the Cabinet was split and likely to fall. That evening 100 Liberal MPs, including Simon, unanimously passed a resolution that his continuance as Prime Minister was “a national necessity”. On Thursday 20 April Henderson proposed a compromise based on the defunct Derby scheme, whereby married men be invited to “attest” their willingness to serve.

Asquith spent the Easter weekend at the Wharf, with the decision as to when he should return to London for the session delegated to Hankey, who likened himself to a trainer responsible for bringing “the bantam” into the ring “in the pink of condition”. Knowing that Asquith was not an early riser, he decided to return on the night of Easter Monday; they reached Downing Street at 12.30am on 25 April where Asquith was told of the Easter Rising in Dublin. He replied “Well that’s really something” and went to bed. Asquith delivered his speech “very flushed” and “a trifle hesitating” on Tuesday 25 April. The secret session was not a success and it was decided that married men should be given a further chance to “attest” their willingness to serve. On Thursday 27 April Walter Long introduced the bill, (“very badly” Asquith thought) and Carson shredded it. Asquith, who had been working on Irish affairs, was summoned to the Chamber, where he withdrew the bill. On 28 April Lord Robert Cecil sent Asquith a memo that day urging that the government be reconstructed, or else resign en masse so that Asquith could return strengthened after Carson had failed to form a government but yielded to Asquith’s pleas not to resign given the situation in Ireland and Mesopotamia. Instead a further Cabinet was held on the morning of Saturday 30 April; Asquith told them that given the mood in the House of Commons there was no alternative to general conscription. The Cabinet agreed although Henderson warned of possible trouble in South Wales, and Runciman warned that there might be trouble from railway workers. Hankey helped Asquith draft his speech and wrote: “He did not much like the job and was not at his best. The House was astonishingly cold. The fact was that the people who wanted compulsory service did not want Asquith, and those who wanted Asquith did not want compulsory service.”

Asquith would have preferred to send more reinforcements to Ireland after the Rising. Birrell sent a series of letters from Dublin (28, 29 and 30 April) insisting on resigning. Asquith accepted “with infinite regret” on 1 May; they had a meeting on 2 May at which, according to Birrell’s recollection, Asquith looked out of the window weeping and juggling coins in his pocket. Sir Matthew Nathan, Permanent Under-Secretary, resigned reluctantly on 3 May. Asquith wanted a complete reform of the system of government in Dublin, but was unable to remove Lord Wimbourne as Lord Lieutenant.

On 6 May 1916 the Cabinet agreed to give discretion to Maxwell provided only “ringleaders and proved murderers”, and no women, were shot. Asquith sent Sir Robert Chalmers, Permanent Under-Secretary at the Treasury, to reform the Dublin civil service. Asquith staved off Conservative demands that Walter Long be appointed Chief Secretary, and wished Simon were available. He offered the Irish Secretaryship to Montagu, who said he would accept only if Asquith absolutely insisted. He then took the job temporarily himself. He travelled to Dublin on the night of 11 May. He spent long hours in Dublin Castle, the seat of administration. Maxwell reassured him that no more executions were needed, causing Asquith to wrote that “on the whole – except for the Skeffington Case – there have been fewer bad blunders than one might have expected for a few weeks with the soldiery in exclusive charge”. He visited Richmond Barracks where prisoners were being held, and was rumoured to have worn a green tie and “shaken hands with murderers”; he insisted on a thorough “comb-out” so that only the most guilty or dangerous men were transferred to Britain. He also visited Cork and Belfast for the first time, remaining in Ireland until 19 May.

By May 1916 Lloyd George was rumoured to be part of a “Monday night cabal” including Tories Waldorf Astor, Milner, Carson and Robinson of “The Times”. Asquith and Bonar Law wanted Lloyd George to be Chief Secretary for Ireland. Lloyd George agreed to carry out the job on a temporary basis, which meant that he saved his own life by not going to Russia with Kitchener as he had planned.

27 Liberals opposed the Third Reading of the Conscription Bill, Labour split 10 in favour and 14 against, whilst the Irish Nationalists abstained as the measure did not apply to Ireland. The Bill had passed all its stages by 22 May. Koss believes that the news from Ireland helped the bill to pass, and it received Royal Assent on 25 May. Roskill, Hankey’s biographer, criticised Asquith for lack of moral courage. Koss wrote that Asquith survived “on mortgaged principles … it was not a reprieve, only a stay of execution” “Asquith’s wartime coalition reached its climax in May 1916 … with the legislation of general compulsion; all that followed was the denouement … the halting steps by which he had proceeded only served to intensify (discontent) … without conciliating his enemies he had progressively forfeited the sympathy of many of his friends”

Although Asquith later claimed in his memoirs that Kitchener going to Russia might have changed the course of history, at the time Hankey wrote that Asquith had been “rather amused” at the prospect, with the truth perhaps being somewhere in between in Jenkins’ view. Asquith wrote to Lady Scott on 30 May that Kitchener was going to Russia “to occupy his leisure, incidentally to talk about munitions, finance, etc” “He’s abdicated” “I suppose I must defend him … but upon my word I don’t know what to say, he’s such a liar!” “In South Africa they thought they’d got a plain bluff soldier in Kitchener and a subtle diplomat in Milner. They were wonderfully wrong … & then he repeats himself so horribly”

Lytton Strachey wrote on 31 May 1916 after meeting him at a party at Garsington: “really he’s a corker. He seemed much larger than he did when I last saw him (just two years ago) – a fleshy, sanguine, wine-bibbing medieaval Abbott of a personage – a gluttonous, lecherous, cynical old fellow … I’ve rarely seen anyone so obviously enjoying life … one looks of him and thinks of the war … On the whole one wants to stick a dagger in his ribs … and then, as well, one can’t help liking him”

The first communique of Jutland made it seem like a defeat.

Kitchener left London on the night of 4 June, and drowned the following evening when his ship was sunk off the Orkneys. The news became public on 6 June. Asquith had been covering the War Office himself, as he often had done during Kitchener’s absences, and held it for thirty days. He wrote to the King on 8 June to say that no decision about the succession to the War Office had yet been made; he may well have hoped to ease in Derby or Harcourt or some other placeman, rather than a political heavyweight like Lloyd George or Bonar Law. The generals and the King wanted him to take on the War Office himself. Viscount French begged him to take it, and the Army Council wanted him to.

A tentative offer of the War Office was made to Bonar Law on Sunday 11 June. Bonar Law and Lloyd George met at Aitken’s house on 11 June to agree that Lloyd George should have the job. On Whit Monday 12 June Bonar Law visited Asquith (allegedly finding him playing bridge with three ladies). By the middle of June Lloyd George had obtained a provisional agreement for immediate Irish Home Rule. Asquith made a firm offer of the War Office to Lloyd George on 12 June. On the evening of 15 June Asquith wrote to Lady Scott, with apparent surprise, that Lloyd George was demanding greater powers even than Kitchener had had, and hinting at resignation. On 16 June Lloyd George wrote an obscure letter declining the War Office and wanting to free himself to campaign for the enfranchisement of soldiers. He also wrote a longer letter to Asquith that day, with no mention of the soldiers’ franchise, but highly critical of the generals, who were “definitely losing” the war, and claiming that only the importance of his munitions task had prevented him from resigning and joining Carson on the backbenches. Reading, Law and Carson talked him out of sending it.

Asquith agreed to Commissions of Inquiry into the Dardanelles and Kut. Hankey later thought this the biggest blunder of the war. On 14 June Bonar Law agreed to lay the Gallipoli papers before the House. After vehement departmental protests, Asquith rescinded the promise on 18 June, and on 20 June the Cabinet had to offer a secret commission of inquiry.

Asquith also discovered on 20 June 1916 that it was an unwritten law that no more than four Secretaries of State could sit in the Commons – Grey, Herbert Samuel, Austen Chamberlain and Bonar Law. Asquith offered Grey an Earldom, but the descendants of Earl Grey objected. Sir Edward replied that he was more worried about keeping his name than about his rank, so agreed to become “Viscount Grey of Fallodon”.

Asquith planned to move Bonar Law to a sinecure job. Derby wrote to his brother-in-law on 23 June that he wanted the job, although there is no evidence that Asquith ever offered it to him.

Lloyd George exchanged letters with Robertson about his powers. Margot wrote (WHEN???) “We are out. It can only be a question of time now when we shall have to leave Downing Street”.

Lloyd George's Irish proposal was that until the matter was discussed by an Imperial Conference after the war all 80 Irish MPs were to remain at Westminster and the Six Counties were to have an opt-out. The deal was scuppered not by Ulster but by peers with southern Irish connections. There were two Cabinets on 28 June (11am-2pm, 7pm-9pm, after which Asquith had to write the longest report he ever wrote to the King). Lord Selbourne had already resigned, Lansdowne and Long were firmly opposed and Lord Robert Cecil somewhat so. Bonar Law said that he would put the matter to the Conservative MPs and abide by their decision, whilst Curzon was sceptical that the proposals would pass the House of Lords. Balfour sided with Carson and Law, not Long and Lansdowne. Grey supported the deal thinking it would play well with American opinion. Lloyd George suggested that a small committee be set up to address naval and military matters, a suggestion which met with the approval of Curzon, Austen Chamberlain and Lansdowne. Asquith then intervened to say that on the eve of the Somme offensive resignations and the possible fall of the government would be “not only a national calamity but a national crime”. He proposed a committee of himself, Lloyd George, Cecil and FE Smith to consider any necessary amendments to the scheme, which would, he claimed, have been accepted either before or after the war. All the Cabinet agreed except Long.

Bonar Law, FE Smith, Carson and Balfour, the hard-liners of 1912-14, were all moderates this time – it was the old Tories and southern Unionists who caused the trouble. The Committee reported to Cabinet on 5 July (after they had listened to a briefing by Robertson “of a most reassuring character” on the Somme Offensive). There was to be a special provision guaranteeing imperial and military rights in Ireland for the duration of the war.

Lloyd George’s move to the War Office was announced on 7 July. Asquith had been technically responsible for overseeing the final preparations for the Somme Offensive, and was criticised in the House by Churchill – then out of office and angling for a return - on 24 July for having taken on too much work instead of instituting vigorous management of the war.

On 11 July Lord Lansdowne, a major Kerry landlord, insisted in the House of Lords that Ulster had to be permanently excluded, and southern Ireland governed by DORA with the Dublin Parliament having little power. This strengthened the position of Dillon relative to Redmond and Devlin (EXPLAIN). Bonar Law insisted that the Irish MPs at Westminster be reduced in number or else lose their right to vote on matters not affecting Ireland. Asquith wrote to Lady Scott on 24 July that Redmond was “trying to kill the whole thing”. The Irish Home Rule plan was finally abandoned on 27 July; Lord Wimbourne was sent back as Lord Lieutenant with HE Duke as Chief Secretary.

Roger Casement had been convicted on 29 June 1916, with FE Smith prosecuting. His appeal was rejected on 17 and 18 July, with FE Smith refusing leave for a further appeal to the Lords. The Home Secretary Herbert Samuel outsourced his decision (EXPLAIN) to the Cabinet. The matter was discussed at no less than four Cabinet meetings (5, 12, 19 and 27 July) before unanimously deciding to have him hanged on 19 July (Grey and Lansdowne wanted him imprisoned as a criminal lunatic on account of his homosexuality, as revealed by his confiscated diaries) and Asquith would have preferred a reprieve based on medical evidence, but the medical report found him “abnormal but not certifiably insane”. He was hanged on 3 August.

The Irish crisis made Asquith look both weak (for not having seen it coming) and brutal for the suppression, and for the execution of Roger Casement.

Plans for a Speakers Conference on electoral reform were put in place in August 1916. On 23 August Asquith paid a hurried visit to Calais to discuss finance with the French. Sixth (?) Isonzo, Romania and the counterattack at Verdun were in progress.

He visited France again at the start of September, seeing the prototype tanks. Haig recorded (7 September) that after drinking several large glasses of brandy, although he was little unsteady on his feet he was still capable of reading a map and discussing the military situation. Asquith went to Fricourt to visit his eldest son Raymond. Hankey noticed that the Prime Minister’s hand was shaking after a shell burst 50 yards away.

Hankey had to spend 174 hours of free time between 24 July and 27 September on the report into the Dardanelles and Kut, including giving up his first planned August holiday since 1913. Up until this point Hankey had thought the War Committee was working fine and better than the German system, but he thought that the Dardanelles and Mesopotamian Commissions poisoned the political system.

Raymond Asquith was killed on 15 September. News reached Asquith two days later. Asquith's son later wrote that it was “a maiming blow”: he remained withdrawn and hard to approach, missed several Cabinet meetings and did not speak in the House again until 11 October.

Fall from Power

Lloyd George was openly critical of the conduct of the war in his public speeches. He wanted industrial conscription and conscription in Ireland, neither of them feasible. Bonar Law observed that he was both the Prime Minister’s right hand man and the Leader of the Opposition. Grey rebuked Lloyd George for his “knockout blow” interview in September 1916. Lloyd George brushed the criticism aside, telling him that it was intended to warm President Wilson off a peace initiative. Lloyd George and Robertson quarrelled about Salonika. Lloyd George agreed with him. Bonar Law commented that Lloyd George was the right hand man both to the Prime Minister and the de facto Leader of the Opposition. But men could not be obtained from munitions production or by extending conscription to Ireland.

The Somme ended, Romania was almost entirely conquered, and U-Boat activity increased. There were more and more War Committee meetings; it now had 9 members (Asquith, McKenna, Lloyd George, Bonar Law, Balfour, Grey, Curzon, Crewe, Chamberlain with Runciman and Montagu, not to mention Robertson, Henry Jackson and Hankey often in attendance. Agreement was impossible and there were many threats of resignation, despite Asquith’s excellent chairing. “These have been really dreadful war committees” Hankey wrote. There were five meetings of the War Committee in the first week of November, in large part to discuss the disappointing results of the Somme Offensive then winding down

On 6 November the Cabinet voted (Asquith dissenting) to give unnaturalised aliens (mainly Russian Jews) the choice of enlisting or emigrating.

Carson led 64 (or 65?????) Tories into the opposition lobby in the Nigeria Debate on 8 November. They included all the officers of the Unionist War Committee (Conservative backbenchers), a dozen Liberals (including Churchill and four officers of the Liberal War Committee) and 41 Irish Nationalists. 73 Conservatives voted with the government, while 148 were absent or abstained. Lloyd George himself abstained. Bonar Law sought Aitken’s advice.

Asquith’s speech at the Guildhall (9 November) warned that Britain must fight on for a long war.

Lansdowne’s memo (13 November) was in response to a request from Asquith. It stressed the loss of finance, and that the “knockout blow” was simply not going to happen. Lansdowne was widely thought to be a stalking horse for Asquith and Grey. Asquith thought Lansdowne right to discuss the question.

On 14 November Asquith crossed over for a conference in France, accompanied by Lloyd George, Hankey and Bonham Carter. Lloyd George prepared a draft of Asquith’s opening statement, which Asquith toned down as it was too critical of the generals, who were demanding another Anglo-French offensive on the scale of the Somme. Briand was under attack by Clemenceau. Lloyd George and Hankey went for a walk, on which Hankey dissuaded Lloyd George from resigning. Hankey urged a small war committee, although he probably did not place the idea in Lloyd George’s mind. Asquith was recognised and cheered by soldiers at Boulogne on the way back. In fact Lloyd George had asked Aitken to persuade Bonar Law of the merits of such a scheme, which he did in the evening of 14 November. He found him reluctant (“sticky”) and suspicious of Lloyd George. However, Law was concerned at a possible alliance between Lloyd George and Carson. Lloyd George wired Aitken to fix a meeting with Bonar Law. Aitken telegraphed Lloyd George to come and see him.

On Lloyd George’s return to London (17 November) Law asked him to join him and Henry Wilson for dinner. He refused on Aitken’s advice. On Saturday 18 November Bonar Law informed Asquith of the Lloyd-George – Carson plot. Asquith replied that he had no confidence in Carson’s “constructive abilities”.

Many other accounts copy Aitken’s and reproduce mistakes which he made.

Bonar Law was initially hostile both to Carson’s involvement and to the intention to put Asquith out and Lloyd George in (evening of Monday 20 November).

Bonar Law was not happy at the thought of replacing Asquith with Lloyd George. On Tuesday 21 November Bonar Law met with Carson at the House of Commons, first alone and then with Lloyd George. That evening Bonar Law met with Lloyd George at Hyde Park Hotel. On Wednesday 22 November Lloyd George told Hankey over lunch that the small committee was to be himself, Carson and Bonar Law. On Thursday 23 November there was a further meeting of the triumvirate – Bonar Law had apparently not realised that Lloyd George and Carson wanted Asquith excluded from the committee altogether, but now accepted it.

On the morning of 23 November the “Morning Post” – whose editor HA Gwynne had complained about Lloyd George’s intrigues with Churchill, French and FE Smith as recently as October 1916 - came out openly for a Lloyd George premiership.

The “Express” – influenced but not as yet owned by Beaverbrook – and the “Chronicle” were writing in favour of Lloyd George by the end of the week. The Daily Mail attacked the Cabinet (Saturday 25 Nov or 2 Dec) as “The Limpets: A National Danger” (Northcliffe was dissuaded at the last moment from running the headline “Asquith: A National Danger”). The “Morning Post” was still attacking Bonar Law for supporting Asquith.

Saturday 25 November saw a further meeting at Pembroke House. Bonar Law accepted a written plan, drafted by Aitken, to be given to Asquith for him to issue in his own name. The committee was to be Lloyd George, Carson and Bonar Law, with Henderson now finally dropped. During the past week Asquith had been busy with the search for a new Food Controller (Speaker Lowther had declined on 23 November, the third man to do so), the composition of the next mission to Russia, trouble in the South Wales coalfields, an alliance of Henderson and Lord Robert Cecil wanting votes for women and for soldiers, and the exhaustion of British credits in the USA.

Bonar Law took the document to Asquith on the afternoon of Saturday 25 November. Asquith told Bonar Law he was not entirely against the plan but was suspicious of Lloyd George and had a low opinion of Carson. Jenkins thinks Bonar Law probably didn’t understand the true importance of the document.

Asquith’s reply was but reached Bonar Law on 27 November. Asquith – despite believing that it was proposed that he himself be a member of the war council - wrote a refusal on Sunday 26 November (dated the previous day), given to Bonar Law on the morning of Monday 27 November. He wrote that the Secretary of State for War and the First Lord had to be on the war council, that Carson, of whose abilities he had a low opinion, must not be favoured over Balfour, Lansdowne or McKenna, and that Lloyd George “does not inspire trust”. He attacked the plan as a “construction engineered by [Lloyd George] with the purpose, not perhaps at the moment, but as soon as a fitting pretext could be found, of his replacing me” and that this would undermine Asquith’s authority. Koss believes Asquith was deliberately trying to split the conspirators. Bonar Law read this reply out to the Triumvirate at the Colonial Office and over the following week they seem to have acted far more independently of one another.

On Tuesday 28 November Asquith had lunch with Hankey, and said he was willing to support Bonar Law’s scheme, subject to personnel issues. Jenkins suggests that he may still have wanted to chair the War Committee himself. On the morning of Wednesday 29 November – as it happened, the last Cabinet Asquith would ever chair – Lord Robert Cecil proposed and obtained provisional approval for two small committees, one for home and one for foreign and war affairs. Hankey thought that Lloyd George was to be chair of the Home Committee.

On Wednesday 29 November the “Daily Chronicle”, a Liberal newspaper whose editor Sir Robert Donald had been in close touch with Aitken and Bonar law, attacked the conduct of the war. He later claimed his stance had been intended to help the government, which was in Jenkins’ view either very naiive or very disingenuous.

Asquith offered Milner the job of Food Dictator. Hankey, implored by Margot to “shake Henry up”, urged the merits of the Lloyd George scheme on him. Asquith was moving towards a compromise. 30 November saw what Hankey called “an epoch-making” meeting of the War Committee, at which several members urged Asquith to take a tighter grip on the committee, and Runciman insisted on having his non-attendance and dissent with the decision on industrial conscription or compulsory service. Hankey later claimed that, although denied by Asquith, this letter of Runciman's was what "exasperated Lloyd George into taking action".

Bonar Law assembled the Conservative ministers on the afternoon of Thursday 30 November. Lansdowne, Curzon, Chamberlain, Long, Cecil and FE Smith were present, as, according to his own account, was Balfour (Aitken says that Balfour was already ill, which is probably an error). Aitken’s account is broadly corroborated by a letter written by Chamberlain to the Viceroy of India, Lord Chelmsford, on 8 December. Chamberlain thought Bonar Law gave the impression of wanting to keep Asquith in office. The Conservative ministers were angry that they had not yet been consulted, but agreed on the need for change in the government machine, but not complete power for Lloyd George. Cecil accused Bonar Law of “dragging the Conservative Party at the coat-tails of Lloyd George”. Chamberlain wrote that the ministers made “certain alternative proposals” to Bonar Law. These were similar to the proposal for two committees put to the Cabinet by Lord Robert Cecil on the morning of Wednesday 29 November. But Bonar Law not rejected this proposal, and the meeting broke up in disagreement.

Lloyd George delivered his ultimatum at noon on Friday 1 December, along with a brief memorandum. His demands were that the War Council was to include the Secretary of State for War and the First Lord of the Admiralty (probably Carson rather than Balfour), each of whom was to have a deputy capable of handling and deciding (italics) all departmental business (i.e. so that the senior minister could concentrate on war strategy). The third member of the War Council was to be without any portfolio. The Prime Minister was not to be chairman. The War Council was to have full powers, although the Prime Minister was to have the right to direct the War Council to address any issue or to refer its decisions to full Cabinet. This was the first proposal put to Asquith to exclude him, but in other respects was nearer his own views than Bonar Law’s proposal the previous weekend.

At the War Committee at 12.45pm on Friday 1 December, Hankey recorded that Asquith was “rather piano” and thought it “all an intolerable nuisance” that Lloyd George had apparently “practically threatened to resign” before the meeting.

Asquith wrote a conciliatory reply to Lloyd George, milder than his reply to Bonar Law, on the afternoon of 1 December. “I do not altogether share your dark estimate and forecast of the situation” He agreed that the current War Committee was too big and that departments withheld information and dragged their feet in implementing decisions. He insisted that as Prime Minister he must be chairman, although he accepted that another member could be vice-chair, and otherwise wanted to avoid “difficult and delicate questions of personnel” for the time being. Asquith still wanted a Committee of National Organisation, the plan proposed by Lord Robert Cecil to the Cabinet on 29 November.

Lloyd George found Asquith’s reply “entirely unsatisfactory”. Aitken later wrote that Bonar Law had decided to back Lloyd George unequivocally by the end of 1 December. Bonar Law had bad memories of the meeting on 29 November, and had received a letter from Lansdowne complaining that these events left “a nasty taste” in his mouth. At the end of the morning Lloyd George had a meeting with Bonar Law, who was dismayed at the planned exclusion of Asquith and Balfour from the War Council. That evening Aitken and Bonar Law dined at Hyde Park Hotel, before taking a taxi to drag Lloyd George out of a dinner with Cunliffe (Governor of the Bank of England), Edward and Venetia Montagu. Lord Reading joined Law and Lloyd George later.

Montagu, who was an admirer of both men and along with Reading was the only Liberal to have a foot in both camps, wrote of the tragedy of the “two great men of England … being slowly but surely pushed apart” by the intrigues of Carson, Northcliffe and (Asquith’s supporter) McKenna. Lloyd George had “fertile, ever-working imagination and constructive power” whilst Asquith had “incomparable capacity for mastering a particular case at once, detecting the vital considerations, discarding the bad arguments, and giving clear and right decisions.” Lloyd George – who had already received Asquith’s reply but did not show it to the others that evening – returned to Hyde Park Hotel with Law and Aitken, who wrote that he “exercised consummate tact”.

The morning of 2 December saw lots of criticism in the papers, presumably inspired by Lloyd George. Hankey proposed a compromise in which Asquith should be President and Lloyd George chairman of the war committee. Asquith refused and went to Walmer for the weekend, which Hankey thought “Typical both of his qualities and of his defects: of his extraordinary composure and of his easy-going habits”. Margot sent Hankey to talk to Bonar Law, who had talked to Lloyd George the previous evening, and he learned Unionist meeting had been called for Sunday 3 Dec, which Bonar Law agreed to postpone if Lloyd George agreed to hold back his resignation. Reading saw Lloyd George and persuaded him to delay for 24 hours, not enough. Bonham Carter sent to fetch Asquith back from Walmer. Hankey and reading thought it intolerable, everyone agreed Asquith had best judgement, Lloyd George’s press behaviour was awful and if there was a split he would “stump the country with hysterical speeches”.

The next morning (Saturday 2 December) Lloyd George sent a copy of Asquith’s letter to Bonar Law, adding “The life of the country depends on resolute action by you now.”

Asquith had already made plans to go to Walmer for Saturday evening, under the false impression that Carson, with whom he wanted to discuss recent events, was nearby. Hankey had lunch with him and noted that he displayed his usual composure. After lunch Hankey met Bonar Law and learned that there was to be a meeting of the Conservative ministers next morning, after which Bonar Law might resign rather than be seen to be entirely under Lloyd George’s thumb. Hankey then sent Reading to see Lloyd George to dissuade him from resigning, in the hope that this might dissuade Bonar Law from resigning, but Lloyd George only agreed to postpone his resignation. Bonham Carter was sent to Walmer to bring Asquith back to London.

Hankey thought that the obvious compromise would be for Asquith to be President and Lloyd George chairman of the War Committee. “There is really very little between them … everyone agrees that the Prime Minister possesses the best judgement.”

Montagu and Reading also met with Lloyd George on the afternoon of 2 December. Lloyd George insisted that he be chairman and that Balfour leave the Admiralty. Montagu sent a letter to Walmer by hand of Bonham Carter, saying that Margot was wrong to blame the press too much. “No conceivable Prime Minister but you” “Lloyd George is an invaluable asset to any war government” “the vital mistake Lloyd George is making is plunging the country into this condition”. Carson had in fact never left London.

On Sunday morning 3 December, the Tory ministers passed motion of no confidence n Asquith. Hankey regarded it as a bluff to force Asquith to give Lloyd George the chairmanship of the war committee, and Asquith seems to have thought the same. Asquith called it “a Crisis – this time with a very big C italics”. It was agreed that the Cabinet should resign so that Asquith might reconstruct the ministry. “”Crisis” shows every sign of following its many predecessors to an early & unhonoured grave”

Asquith returned to 10 Downing Street at 2pm on Sunday 3 December, where he was greeted by Montagu. Crewe joined them at the end of a long luncheon.

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On the morning of Monday 4 December the "Times" leader said the new body was to be “fully charged with the supreme direction of the war” and that Asquith was excluded “on the ground of temperament”. Hankey and Asquith both assumed Lloyd George had leaked it to Northcliffe, whom he was known to have met the previous evening. In fact it was probably Carson who leaked it. Asquith complained that he could not be “relegated to the position of an irresponsible spectator of the War”.

Hankey came to lunch at No 10, where he noticed that Asquith’s hand was trembling a bit, and he talked only partly in jest about where he should go for his holiday if out of office on Wednesday. Hankey called on Lord Stamfordham who like the King was angry with Lloyd George and thought Asquith should resign to come back stronger once Bonar Law and Lloyd George had failed to form a government. Asquith took advice from Grey, McKenna and Runciman and decided to demand Lloyd George’s resignation or else resign himself. He assumed the Tories apart from Bonar Law would back him. Henderson, who arrived late, tried to disabuse him of this but failed. Asquith may have been misled by Bonar Law not handing him the resolution, or by Curzon’s disingenuousness, or perhaps he was egged on by McKenna, or Koss suggests he was just too arrogant and thought himself indispensible.

On 5 December Asquith received two letters from Balfour and had a chilly interview with the 3 Cs. Arthur Lee and Beaverbrook believed Asquith resigned as a tactical move. Trevor Wilson and Koss reject this.

Cameron Hazelhurst argues that Asquith could have clung to the premiership and reasserted his influence. Koss does not agree with the second part of that proposition. Asquith had also told the House of Commons as recently as 17 August that a general election would be unwise in wartime, and may have been misled by Herbert Samuel speculating that Lloyd George would not take office without the promise of an election.

Bonar Law was asked that evening to form a government. He saw Lloyd George, than called on Asquith, offering him a position. Asquith refused both this and the suggestion that everybody serve in a Balfour administration. Next afternoon Buckingham Palace conference. Lloyd George later claimed that everyone was willing to serve under Balfour except Asquith. “What is the proposal? That I who have held first place for eight years should be asked to take a secondary position?” This is not corroborated by Stamfordham’s contemporary account, which states that Asquith was “thankful to feel he was a free man” Balfour summed up – Asquith could not form a government without the support of Lloyd George and Bonar Law; Bonar Law, whose Conservative party had just over half the seats in the Commons, would not form a government without Asquith’s support, and Lloyd George could try (Italics) to form a government. Asquith delayed a final decision until he had consulted his colleagues, who apart from Henderson and Montagu told him he was under no obligation to join anybody else’s government. Curzon collected Asquith’s letter at 6pm and took it to Bonar Law, who immediately called at the Palace to decline the King’s Commission, at which point the King sent for Lloyd George.

Churchill later likened Balfour “a powerful graceful cat walking delicately and unsoiled across a rather muddy street”.

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On the morning of 3 December an interview with Lloyd George appeared in “Reynolds News”, which as Aitken later wrote read “like an interview with Lloyd George in the third person”. That morning the Conservative ministers, except for Balfour who was ill and Lansdowne who was unable to get back to London in time, met at Bonar Law’s house at Kensington. The government could not continue as it was. The publicity given to Lloyd George’s intentions meant that the government could not be reconstructed from within. The Prime Minister was urged to tender the resignation of the government, and the meeting authorised Bonar Law to submit the collective resignation of the Conservative ministers if he did not do so. The Conservatives were angry at having been kept in the dark yet again. Aitken later wrote that their mood had changed from “passive hostility” on 30 November to “an active determination to force an issue and compel Lloyd George to accept the domination of the Prime Minister or retire from the Government”. Aitken believed that they wanted Lloyd George to fail to form a government so that Asquith could be restored in a stronger position.

Jenkins thinks it unlikely that the Conservatives were trying to “help Asquith [by] demand[ing] his resignation.” The resolution was one of no confidence in Asquith, if anything hostile in tone, and was sent to him by hand of Bonar Law, who was allied to Lloyd George. Furthermore, at the time there was no precedent for a Prime Minister strengthening his hand by a tactical resignation – Gladstone had failed both in 1873 when Disraeli had refused to form a government and in 1885 when Sailsbury had improved his (italics) position by a brief minority government. MacDonald resigned and was reappointed as Prime Minister in 1931, a recent precedent when Beaverbrook was writing but in the future in 1916, and on that occasion he had not left the Palace until he had a commission to form a new government.

Curzon wrote to Lansdowne straight after the 3 December meeting. He was strongly critical of Lloyd George. He assumed Lloyd George would become Prime Minister but “His Government will be dictated to him by others, not shaped exclusively by himself. Reconstruction under the present Prime Minister was not possible. “A nominal premiership being a protean compromise which, in our view, could have no endurance” Asquith could stay on as Chancellor of the Exchequer or Lord Chancellor under Lloyd George.

And yet the next day (4 December) Curzon wrote to Asquith “my resignation yesterday was far from having the sinister purpose which I believe you were inclined to attribute to it” It is possible that he may have given Asquith a verbal assurance he’d never serve under Lloyd George.

Austen Chamberlain commented in a letter to the Viceroy of India that the press was full of “partial and inaccurate revelation” Asquith, Grey and Balfour were being openly denounced amidst calls for their resignations. The Prime Minister had “failed to assert his authority and to reorganise his administration in time”. “If Lloyd George could form a government, well and good. If not, he must take his place again as a member of an Asquith administration, having learned the limits of his power and deprived henceforth of the opportunity for intrigue” “The man who is Prime Minister in name must also be Prime Minister in fact” “the only hope of a stable government still lay in combining somehow or another in one administration the separate forces represented by both Lloyd George and Asquith. It was not for us to say which if the rival Liberals could secure the greatest amount of support in the Liberal Party and the Parties which habitually voted with it” [i.e. Labour and the Irish Nats]

Jenkins thinks that the 3Cs were silly, if they wanted Asquith and Lloyd George to work together, to leave the matter in the hands of Bonar law, who was pro-Lloyd George. Jenkins believed that they exercised little influence as they didn’t know what they wanted. Aitken spent Sunday lunch trying to get Bonar Law to delete the clause rebuking Lloyd George for his press releases, even following him upstairs when Boar Law fled from the table. FE Smith, when asked for his opinion, advised keeping the clause as it was the intention of the Liberal ministers.

Bonar Law drove to 10 Downing Street to see Asquith. The resolution stayed in his pocket throughout, Asquith later recorded. Bonar law said that he had verbally conveyed the contents of the resolution. Asquith got the impression that the Tory ministers were now united against him, although Aitken wrote that he picked up on the word “resignation” and got the wrong end of the stick. Aitken and Blake argued that Law did not act dishonestly, but Jenkins argues that and given that there had been a three-hour dispute about whether or not to annoy Asquith by including the stuff about the press it is hardly likely that he “forgot” to hand it over. Also Bonar Law was notoriously inarticulate especially when face-to-face with Asquith and nobody actually knew what the resolution meant.

Bonar Law clearly neglected his duty to show Asquith the document. Aitken argues that Asquith underestimated and alienated his Tory support, and that Asquith “must have” lost his head, which Jenkins argues “is not good enough”. Blake argues that the Conservatives were happy to serve under Lloyd George. But Jenkins argues that if Asquith had seen the resolution and asked Bonar Law for clarification and demanded to see the Conservative ministers things might have turned out differently. An interview with the 3C’s, if he’d demanded one at this point, might have strengthened his position as he would have realised that they were split. Instead Bonar Law left Asquith with the impression that the Tories were united against him.

Lloyd George was summoned to see Asquith again. Montagu, who was present in an adjoining room, recorded that the meeting was “long and very friendly”. They agreed that there should be a small War council under Lloyd George’s chairmanship, that it was to report to the Prime Minister daily, that he was to have the right to place items on the agenda, attend if he wished, and veto decisions of which he did not approve. A vague discussion then ensued about the relative personal merits of Balfour and Carson as First Lord. Asquith still wanted the committee to have 4 members, including Henderson, although Lloyd George preferred Montagu. Bonar Law then joined them for another half hour. It was agreed that all ministers should resign so that Asquith could reconstruct the government. Bonar Law then left for another meeting of Tory ministers at FE Smith’s house. On the way out of Number 10 Lloyd George told Hankey that the Conservatives had wanted him to become Prime Minister, but that he had refused and had insisted on serving under Asquith. Montagu (who wrote down his account on 9 December) then followed Lloyd George to the War Office. Lloyd George seemed happy to be working with Asquith, although he wanted the agreement confirmed in writing. As he came away Montagu saw Northcliffe waiting in the Private Secretary’s room. Asquith and Montau dined together at Queen Anne’s Gate.

Asquith did not write a late night letter to Lloyd George, despite Montagu’s urging. Instead he issued a press release at 11.45pm about the impending reconstruction of the government. Aitken argued that this angered both the bulk of the Liberal ministers and the bulk of the Conservative ministers who had not yet been informed about negotiations. Jenkins disagrees, pointing out that whilst most of the Liberal ministers were still in the dark, Asquith’s press release was in response to a request sent by Bonar Law (from FE Smith’s house and written on the latter’s notepaper), asking that it be announced that there was to be a full reconstruction of the government, lest the resignation of the Conservative ministers otherwise be understood.

“for my sins (or other people’s) I had to drive back soon after 11 this morning … to grapple with a “Crisis” – this time with a very big C … The “Crisis” shows every sign of following its many predecessors to an early and unhonoured grave. But there were many wigs very nearly on the green.”

"The Times" leader on 4 December wrote of Asquith that even “his closest supporters” thought him ineffective as a war leader. Asquith didn’t know Lloyd George had visited the War Office the previous day. Tom Clarke of the Daily Mail wrote that Northcliffe wrote the editorial himself after coming to town and visiting Lloyd George. However, Jenkins thinks that Geoffrey Dawson, the editor of the Times, wrote the editorial, at Cliveden on Saturday, at his own volition, and was leaked further information by Carson on Sunday.

Northcliffe was at the War Office on the morning of Friday 1 December, the morning of Saturday 2 December, and the evening of Sunday 3 December. Jenkins points out that Carson must have learned from Lloyd George.

Beaverbrook wrote that the Liberal ministers McKenna, Harcourt, Runciman and Grey visited Asquith on the morning of 4 December to protest at the Lloyd George scheme. There is no corroboration for this claim in the near contemporary accounts of Montagu and Crewe, although Montagu wrote of a different meeting on Monday afternoon. Furthermore, Grey was himself keen to resign and thought that the popular mood favoured Lloyd George replacing Asquith as Prime Minister. It is, therefore, thought unlikely that Asquith rejected the scheme in response to such a meeting.

Lloyd George replied within an hour or so, claiming that he had not seen “The Times” article (a claim which, even if strictly true is in Koss’ view disingenuous, as he had breakfasted with Carson that morning) and that “Northcliffe frankly wants a smash. Derby (his junior minister at the War Office) and I do not … I cannot restrain nor I fear influence Northcliffe. I fully accept in letter and spirit your summary of the suggested arrangement – subject of course to personnel”

Montagu visited Asquith, who was furious both at the editorial and at the leak to the press of Henderson’s possible membership of the War Council, known only to Lloyd George and himself. Montagu reminded him that Bonar Law also knew of it and assured him that Lloyd George intended to honour the spirit of the agreement.

Asquith saw the King at 12.30pm on Monday 4 December. He submitted the resignations of all ministers apart from himself, and was given the King’s commission to form a new administration. After lunch Bonar Law, according to Aitken’s account, saw Asquith at the House of Commons and asked him if he was keen on the War Council scheme. Asquith replied that he was not, as nobody else was and that Lloyd George was leaking to the press, but was called to the Chamber to answer questions. Afterwards Asquith avoided Bonar Law, who had to follow him to 10 Downing Street. There he found Asquith in a meeting with McKenna, with Grey, Harcourt and Runciman waiting outside. Bonar Law gave Asquith an ultimatum that he would “break with him” unless he accepted the War Council scheme.

Asquith then wrote to Lloyd George, declining his request for an interview and informing him of his instructions to reconstruct the government. He insisted that as Prime Minister he must be in charge of the War Council, even if he delegated his duties from time to time, and that Balfour must remain as First Lord and be a member of the council, not Carson.

Beaverbrook believed that Asquith sent this letter as a vindication of his own power. Jenkins thinks not, as he knew that Bonar Law and Carson were also against him.

On the evening of 4 December Asquith dined, as on the previous night, with Montagu and declined to discuss the matter at all, which Jenkins sees as evidence that he was already on the verge of resigning.

Lloyd George received Asquith’s letter on the morning of Tuesday 5 December. He replied that “as all delay is fatal in war, I place my office without further parly (?CHECK) at your disposal” he stressed his friendly relations with Asquith despite differences in opinion but added that “unity without action is nothing but futile carnage”. Asquith also received a letter from Balfour, stating that the “new system should have a trial” and that Lloyd George did not want him to stay on as First Lord. Jenkins sees this as the start of a change in allegiance.

Asquith wrote a short reply urging Bonar Law to reconsider. At 12.30pm Lord Crewe arrived at 10, Downing Street, having just been to the Palace. He told Asquith that the King still wanted a solution which did not involve a change of Prime Minister. At 1pm all the Liberal ministers assembled, except Lloyd George who was cross not to have been invited. Apart from Montagu, who proposed a conference of Asquith, Lloyd George, Bonar Law and Henderson, all the ministers agreed that Asquith should resign.

The 3 Cs had met at 11am at the Lloyd George’s office at the War Office. At 3pm they visited 10 Downing Street. In response to Asquith’s questions, they replied firstly that they would not serve if Lloyd George and Bonar Law were not in the government (“this was evidently a great blow to him” as he had clearly been willing to try to form a government without them), and secondly that they would serve under Lloyd George, if it looked as though he would succeed in forming a government. Cecil urged Asquith to serve under Lloyd George, a suggestion which he rejected with scorn. They stressed the need for a stable government. They then met with Bonar Law, then sent Curzon back with a resolution to Asquith, urging him to resign and urging him to publish their views. By then Asquith had received Balfour’s second letter. Asquith then reassembled the Liberal ministers at 10 Downing Street, where it was agreed that he should resign. Montagu testified that they never seriously doubted that Lloyd George could form a government. Asquith visited the Palace at 7pm to resign.

The King had asked Haldane for legal advice as to whether he should grant any new Prime Minister an election. Bonar Law saw Lloyd George before his visit to the Palace. The King and Bonar Law argued about the course of the war, the new Prime Minister’s right to an election, and civil-military relations. Bonar Law also consulted Lloyd George either before or after his visit to the Palace. Bonar Law then visited Asquith, who was still living at 10, Downing Street, and asked him to serve under him (probably not, but not a final refusal). Bonar Law then saw Lloyd George again, at Carson’s house.

On Wednesday 6 December Bonar Law and Lloyd George visited Balfour, who was ill. Montagu believed that by this stage Bonar Law was completely opposed to Asquith remaining as Prime Minister, whatever the outcome. The sources differ as to who proposed the Buckingham Palace Conference. Beaverbrook says Henderson, Balfour thought Bonar Law, Law’s biographer thought Balfour, whilst Lord Crewe thought Montagu and Derby.

Balfour saw the King for half an hour and told him that the jobs of Prime Minister, Leader of the House and chairman of the War Committee needed to be split. Beaverbrook recorded Asquith as having been “like that of a schoolboy who has got an unexpected half-holiday. He was jocular with everybody” Lloyd George later claimed that everybody had agreed in principle to serve in a Balfour administration, except Asquith who exclaimed: “What is the proposal? That I who have held first place for eight years should be asked to take a secondary position?” This is not corroborated in the contemporary accounts of Balfour or of Stamfordham. Stamfordham wrote that the Prime Minister must chair the War Committee and urged a clampdown on the “daily, vindictive, merciless attacks” of the press, and added that he was “thankful to feel he was a free man” Balfour’s account is broadly similar. Balfour summed up by pointing out that as Asquith could not form another government (as Lloyd George would no longer serve under him) and that Bonar Law would not (as Asquith would not serve under him) then Lloyd George had to be asked. Asquith was asked once again to consider serving under Bonar Law. Balfour’s account claims that Asquith said that he would not finally make up his mind until he had consulted “his friends”, i.e. leading Liberals. The meeting broke up at 4pm.

There was then a meeting of Liberal ministers (except Lloyd George) and Labour’s Henderson at 10 Downing Street. It was agreed that Asquith should not attempt to form a government without the support of Lloyd George and the Conservatives. Montagu and Henderson dissented, urging that Asquith serve under another Prime Minister and that other Liberals be free to do so. Crewe later recorded that Asquith had argued that as he was not to be member of the War Committee he would soon have to quit anyway and cause a fresh crisis, and also that if he joined the government an irresponsible opposition might grow up outside it. Asquith also believed, although Crewe does not mention this, that by staying out he would give the new government a fairer start by drawing the sting of press attacks. Asquith wrote to Bonar Law at 6pm, finally declining to serve under him. Bonar Law called at the Palace at 7pm to decline the King’s Commission, and at 7.30pm the King asked Lloyd George to form a government.

On Wednesday 6 December, Asquith wrote “In the end there was nothing else to be done, though it is hateful to give even the semblance of a score to the blackguardly press.” His resignation was not a tactical move. Asquith was not particularly bitter at Lloyd George or at Bonar Law, but rather at the willingness of others, especially Curzon and Balfour whom he had regarded as the “real Conservative leader and a man after his own heart, to serve under them.

Balfour’s switch of allegiance was, in Jenkins’ view, “the decisive single event of the crisis”. A full party meeting at the National Liberal Club on 8 December passed an overwhelming vote of confidence in Asquith’s leadership.

Ottoline & Old Stuff

Miranda Seymour – Ottoline Morrell p35 in the mid 1880s she saw him as a father figure. p40-1 Asquith became infatuated with OM. She was left profoundly distressed by a clumsy pass which he made at her late in 1899. The facts remain obscure, as many of the letters were destroyed, but it appears she had a breakdown and had to go to Switzerland in 1900. p294 Asquith’s anecdotes “so boring, so lazy-minded” p259 Lytton Strachey “You should have seen him making off towards Carrington – cutting her off at an angle as she crossed the lawn … One looks at him and thinks of the War” early 1916.

By 1915 Lady Ottoline Morrell, at whose home Garsington Manor the Asquiths had become regular visitors, described him as “a genial self-indulgent old man” who had lost the habit of austerity which had made him so effective earlier in his career.[17] – de courcy 2014 289 Lady Diana Cooper wrote of how he loved to "hold one's hand" at dinner parties at Number 10, and at how at his 67th birthday party at Venice in 1919, dressed as a Venetian Doge, he "delighted in the young and young people's conversation".[18] bates 2006 138-9

At the Calais Conference in July 1915 Asquith caused some dismay by protesting at a meeting being scheduled for 8am, as he usually got up at 8.30am.[81] De Courcy 289 In November 1915 an Anglo-French "Standing Committee of an advisory character" (prime ministers and such other politicians and generals as were required, with Hankey and a French counterpart taking minutes) was set up, but the French Prime Minister Briand rejected Asquith's proposal of a permanent secretariat.[82] jeffry 2006 180-1

diarrhaeoa, haig conscription golf, three ladies The following afternoon (6 December) Asquith attended a conference at Buckingham Palace in front of the King. Also present were Balfour, Lloyd George and Bonar Law (the three of whom had met privately that morning) and the Labour leader Arthur Henderson. The others were agreed that a small War Committee was necessary but that Asquith should also serve in any new government, but he declined to serve under any other prime minister. Bonar Law again declined to form a government, citing as reasons Asquith's refusal to serve under him and the King’s reluctance to permit a General Election in wartime.

Thorpe - Selwyn Lloyd

p28 In March 1925 he entertained Asquith at Magdalene after a Liberal Party meeting at the Guildhall. “had half a tumbler full of whisky neat. “Margot” was with him, he showed a great mastery of diction and expression in his speech, and considerable charm of manner when talking to me, but he seemed very old and finished”

p25 Lloyd went up to Magdalene College, Cambridge, as a scholar, in October 1923. He was a friend of the future Archbishop Michael Ramsey. p26 He played rugby and was disappointed not to get a Blue. AC Benson was Master. He lost his scholarship in June 1925. He studied for a number of Triposes, obtaining seconds in Classics and History before finally switching to Law. p27 His contemporaries at the Cambridge Union included Rab Butler, Patrick Devlin (“a brilliant debater who never gave a point away, a keen politician, ambitious and one would have guessed then a natural selection for an outstanding Parliamentary career”), Hugh Foot, Gilbert Hardy, Alan King-Hamilton and Geoffrey Lloyd. p30 he acquired the nickname “Peter” at this time p31 In October 1924 his sister Eileen sailed to India to marry and work as a doctor. She died there in January, aged 25. p33 At the end of Michaelmas 1925 Devlin was elected Secretary for Lent (spring) Term 1926, on course to be President in Michaelmas 1926. p35 During the General Strike Lloyd, who by then had begun eating dinners at Grays Inn with a view to qualifying as a barrister, volunteered as a Special Constable. He later became critical of the Conservative Government’s clampdown on trade unions, e.g. the Trades Disputes Act of 1927. The university authorities encouraged students who had worked for the government so close to their exams to extend their studies for an extra year – a fifth in Lloyd’s case p38-40 Lloyd George had become Liberal leader and was injecting money and ideas into the Liberal Party, and was keen to attract promising young candidates. Selwyn Lloyd was a frequent speaker for the Liberal Party from 1926 onwards. p36-7 In Michaelmas 1926 Lloyd and Devlin (then President) persuaded Walter Citrine to speak “Power of trade unions has increased, is increasing and ought to be diminished”. They had invited the miners; leader AJ Cook, to the consternation of the City authorities, but in the event he was unable to attend. Lloyd won the debate by 378-237 and was elected Secretary for Lent (spring) Term 1927, in due course becoming Vice-President for Easter (summer) Term 1927, and President for Michaelmas Term 1927. p36 Lloyd took office as President in June 1927. At his retiring debate in November 1927 Samuel Hoare and Rab Butler (then being selected as Tory candidate for Saffron Walden) spoke. p26 He finally graduated with a third in Law in June 1928.

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• Viscount Samuel (1945). Memoirs by the Rt. Hon. Viscount Samuel P.C., G.C.B., G.B.E. London: The Cresset Press. OCLC 575921.
• Scott, C.P. (1970). Wilson, Trevor (ed.). The Political Diaries of C. P. Scott 1911–1928. London: Collins. ISBN 978-0-8014-0569-3.
• Simon, John (1952). Retrospect: The Memoirs of the Rt. Hon. Viscount Simon. London: Hutchinson. OCLC 652361601.
• Spender, J.A; Asquith, Cyril (1932). Life of Herbert Henry Asquith, Lord Oxford and Asquith. London: Hutchinson. OCLC 767392.
• Taylor, A.J.P. (1972). Beaverbrook. London: Hamish Hamilton. ISBN 9789070006525. OCLC 607732694.
• Terrill, Richard (2013). World Criminal Justice Systems: A Comparative Survey. Waltham, US: Anderson. ISBN 978-1-4557-2589-2.
• Thompson, J. Lee (2000). Northcliffe – Press Baron in Politics, 1865–1922. London: John Murray. ISBN 0-7195-5725-9.
• Toye, Richard (2007). Lloyd George and Churchill – Rivals for Greatness. London: Macmillan. ISBN 978-1-4050-4896-5.
• Trevelyan, G.M. (1940). Grey of Fallodon. London: Longmans, Green and Co. OCLC 669134853.
• Tyack, Geoffrey; Bradley, Simon; Pevsner, Nikolaus (2010). Berkshire. The Buildings Of England. Yale University Press. ISBN 978-0-300-12662-4.
• Weston, Corinne Comstock (1968). "The Liberal Leadership and the Lords' Veto, 1907–1910". The Historical Journal. 11 (3): 508–537. doi:10.1017/S0018246X00001679. JSTOR 2638166. S2CID 159632264.
• Whitfield, Bob (2001). The Extension of the Franchise, 1832–1931. Oxford: Heinemann. ISBN 978-0-435-32717-0.
• Wilson, John (1973). CB: A Life of Sir Henry Campbell-Bannerman. London: Constable and Company. ISBN 978-0-09-458950-6.
• Woodward, David R. (1998). Field Marshal Sir William Robertson: Chief of the Imperial General Staff in the Great War. Westport: Praeger. ISBN 0-275-95422-6.
• Young, Kenneth (1963). Arthur James Balfour. London: G. Bell & Sons. OCLC 1627683.

Further reading

• Asquith, H.H. (1918). Occasional Addresses 1893–1916. London: Macmillan and Co. OCLC 4086237.
• Asquith, H.H. (1926). Fifty Years of Parliament Volume 1. London: Cassell & Co. OCLC 15982.
• Asquith, H.H. (1926). Fifty Years of Parliament Volume 2. London: Cassell & Co. OCLC 15982.
• Jeffery, Keith (2006). Field Marshal Sir Henry Wilson: A Political Soldier. Oxford University Press. ISBN 978-0-19-820358-2.
• Jenkins, Roy (1998). The Chancellors. London: Macmillan. ISBN 978-0-333-73057-7.

External links

• Hansard 1803–2005: contributions in Parliament by the Earl of Oxford
• Bodleian Library catalogue record (finding aid) of H.H. Asquith's private papers
• Bodleian Library catalogue record (finding aid) of Margot Asquith's private papers
• Bodleian Library catalogue record (finding aid) of Lady Violet Bonham Carter's private papers
• Catalogue record of items related to Asquith and Women's Suffrage held at The Women's Library at the Library of the London School of Economics
• Extended entry in the 1937 Dictionary of National Biography (Lundy, Darryl. "Asquith, Herbert Henry, first Earl of Oxford and Asquith 1852–1928". The Peerage.)
• Asquith biography from BBC History
• Asquith entry in Encyclopædia Britannica
• Blue plaque to Asquith on his house in Sutton Courtenay, Oxfordshire Blue Plaques Scheme
• Portraits of Herbert Henry Asquith, 1st Earl of Oxford and Asquith at the National Portrait Gallery, London
• Error in Template:Internet Archive author: Wartime Premiership of H.H. Asquith doesn't exist.
• Works by Wartime Premiership of H.H. Asquith at LibriVox (public domain audiobooks)

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