The Lloyd George coalition: policies, problems and the fall of Lloyd George

Question 1

What difficulties did Lloyd George’s government have to deal with? (5)

Answer 1

-competition from the rising economic power of Germany and America
-worries about the growth of the trade union movement
-Home rule for Ireland
-Government debt
-the dislocation of trade and industry
the demobilisation of 5 million men

Question 2

When was the post-war peace settlement?

Answer 2

1919-1920

Question 3

When was the Education Act and what did it do? (3)

Answer 3

1918

• raised the school-leaving age to 14
• gave larger grants to local authorities to improve teacher’s salaries
• The government increased the number of scholarships available to those attending secondary schools

Question 4

When was Addison’s Housing Act? (2)

Answer 4

1919

• obliged local authorities to ensure that people had decent housing
• 170,000 subsidised houses were built

Question 5

When was the Agricultural Act and what did it do? (2)

Answer 5

1920

• supported agriculture by maintaining the wartime guarantee of prices for wheat and oats
• guaranteed minimum wages for farm labourers

Question 6

What were the problems that the coalition government were facing by 1922?

Answer 6

• economic depression, which meant cuts to government spending which limited reconstruction plans
• March 1921, Addison left the Ministry of Health when subsidies for housing were ended
• Increased trade union activity and industrial disruption; in 1921 there were 86 million working days lost
• trouble in Ireland
• May 1921 Bonar Law resigned due to ill health and was replaced by Austen Chamberlain

Question 7

When and what was the ‘Honours Scandal’?

Answer 7

1922

Lloyd George was accused of selling peerages and knighthood to finance his political party

Question 8

When and what was the ‘Chanak Affair’?

Answer 8

1922
Lloyd George was accused of sending British soldiers into action, to stop Turkish troops from capturing Chanak without consulting his coalition partners

Question 9

When and what convinced the Conservative party to break away from Lloyd George’s coalition?

Answer 9

October 1922

A win in a by-election in Newport

Question 10

Where was a meeting of Conservative MPs held and who gave speeches?

Answer 10

• Carlton club

- Baldwin and Bonar Law