Abstract
At the beginning of the New Year the British political scene was thrown into confusion. In November 1923 Baldwin dropped his protectionist bombshell and scheduled an election for 6 December. The results of the poll left the Conservatives without an overall majority, while the Labour Party gained the second largest number of seats (Conservatives 259; Labour 191; Liberals 159). The situation was volatile, and much depended on the attitude of the Liberal Party. On 18 December Asquith declared that his party would not keep the Conservatives in power and would not combine against a Labour government. It seems that Asquith hoped to discredit the Labour Party by allowing it to assume office in circumstances where it had little real power or room for manoeuvre. At the same time, the Liberal ploy provided Labour with a golden opportunity, and the party’s leader seized it.
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