Welsh Journals

THE AGE OF LLOYD GEORGE. By Kenneth O. Morgan. Historical Problems: Studies and Documents. George Allen and Unwin, 1971. Pp. 233. £ 3.25 cloth; £ 1.95 paperback. In the early 1890s it began to look as though Liberalism, as a vital force which could sustain strong reforming governments, would not long outlive its great apostle Gladstone. By the late 1920s it seemed that such forebodings had been vindicated by events. The intervening years, justifiably described as the Age of Lloyd George, are of intrinsic impor- tance in the history of the Liberal party, and developments within them cannot be understood merely by extrapolation of tendencies forward and back. Yet this is exactly how the most influential books on the period, notably George Dangerfield's tour de force positing The Strange Death of Liberal England, 1910-1914, have approached their subject. Dr. Kenneth Morgan has now provided a concise and persuasive alternative account. Lloyd George is the central figure here and the book profits greatly from the author's work on his private papers. Half the book examines the Liberal revival in the period before the first World War. The New Liberalism, of which Lloyd George became champion, is given serious attention and its achievements in the field of social reform are sympathetically examined. The second half of the book charts Lloyd George's rise to supreme power, studies his career as a coalitionist, and surveys his later attempts to reunite and revitalize his old party. Lloyd George's failings are not glossed over-but neither are his incomparable gifts for constructive statesmanship. In the process, a number of hoary myths receive their deserts. The 'Dangerfield thesis'- the view that the apparent health of the Liberal Government was fragile and illusory-is directly combated, though it is a pity that even Dr. Morgan subscribes to the view that the electorate was apathetic in 1910. Campbell-Bannerman's claims as a successful radical premier are shown to have little foundation. The notion that the Government crises of May 1915 and December 1916 were the result of conspiracies organized by Lloyd George is also deprecated. Many points made here have struck historians in this field who have become aware that something is seriously wrong in the accepted inter- pretation of the period. Dr. Morgan's achievement is to provide a new general approach which is grounded in a thorough knowledge of the sources. The documents printed at the back are well integrated with the text and support it at certain important points. This is a book which can be recommended with confidence, not only to undergraduates, who will find it indispensable, but to everyone with a serious interest in the problems facing the Liberal party at this time. P.F.CLARKE University College, London.