The Lloyd George War Government, 1917-18

Abstract

This article seeks to demonstrate how the Lloyd George war government anticipated fascism. At its root, the Lloyd George government represented a social-political realignment within British national life, driven by wartime polarity, and productive of a style of government and of policies which were very like those found in clerical fascist states in the inter-war period. Those who were opposed to the war or to aspects of wartime administration divided against those who wanted victory at any price. This second group, critical to the support of the government, looked to produce a profound reordering of British society sufficient to win the war and correct what they considered to be its trademark weaknesses. While the policies introduced in the latter war years quickly disappeared with peace - along with the coalition of forces which had supported the government - this was plainly not the intention of Lloyd George and his closest collaborators, who hoped to produce a permanent political grouping from their wartime supporters and to maintain much of their wartime practice into the post-war period.