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99-574: The Liberal Party in Wales survived this crisis and at the 1906 General Election won almost every Welsh constituency. The First World War was a turning point, however. The post-war Coalition government's failure, under the leadership of David Lloyd George , to implement the recommendations of the Sankey Commission to nationalise the coal industry led to a collapse of support for the Liberals in

198-480: A 20% tax on the unearned increase in the value of land , payable at the death of the owner or sale of the land, and 1 ⁄ 2  d. on undeveloped land and minerals, increased death duties, a rise in income tax, and the introduction of Supertax on income over £3,000. There were taxes also on luxuries, alcohol and tobacco, so that money could be made available for the new welfare programmes as well as new battleships. The nation's landowners (well represented in

297-526: A Caernarfon friend in 1888 that he was a "Welsh Nationalist of the Ellis type". One of Lloyd George's first acts as an MP was to organise an informal grouping of Welsh Liberal members with a programme that included; disestablishing and disendowing the Church of England in Wales, temperance reform, and establishing Welsh home rule . He was keen on decentralisation and thus Welsh devolution , starting with

396-474: A Welsh assembly in the 1979 Welsh devolution referendum . Lloyd George felt that disestablishment, land reform and other forms of Welsh devolution could only be achieved if Wales formed its own government within a federal imperial system. In 1895, in a failed Church in Wales Bill, Lloyd George added an amendment in a discreet attempt at forming a sort of Welsh home rule, a national council for appointment of

495-534: A Women's National Liberal Council for Wales was created. At the 1945 General Election the Liberal Party was reduced to a small group of twelve MPs, of whom seven represented Welsh constituencies. This group of seven has been described by a prominent historian of Welsh Liberalism, J. Graham Jones, as "a disparate team. lacking in cohesion and a common political philosophy". Emrys Roberts and Megan Lloyd George were increasingly close to Labour on issues such as

594-607: A consortium that bid for the Wales and West television franchise, and became a member of the ITV Advisory Council. In 1985, Emlyn Hooson became a non-executive director of Laura Ashley , and was later made chairman in 1995. He was already Chairman of the Trustees of the Laura Ashley Foundation, a post he filled from 1986 to 1997. From 1991 to 2000, he was Chairman of Severn River Crossing PLC,

693-457: A cottage known as Highgate with her brother Richard, a shoemaker, lay minister and a strong Liberal. Richard Lloyd was a towering influence on his nephew and David adopted his uncle's surname to become "Lloyd George". Lloyd George was educated at the local Anglican school, Llanystumdwy National School , and later under tutors. He was brought up with Welsh as his first language; Roy Jenkins , another Welsh politician, notes that, "Lloyd George

792-482: A fanatical Welsh Nonconformity " for a quarter of a century. Lloyd George qualified as a solicitor in 1884 after being articled to a firm in Porthmadog and taking Honours in his final law examination. He set up his own practice in the back parlour of his uncle's house in 1885. Although many prime ministers have been barristers , Lloyd George is, as of 2024, the only solicitor to have held that office. As

891-460: A few exceptions replaced their veto power over most bills with a power to delay them for up to two years. Although old-age pensions had already been introduced by Asquith as Chancellor, Lloyd George was largely responsible for the introduction of state financial support for the sick and infirm (known colloquially as "going on the Lloyd George" for decades afterwards)—legislation referred to as

990-412: A humiliation intolerable for a great country like ours to endure. National honour is no party question. The security of our great international trade is no party question. He was warning both France and Germany, but the public response cheered solidarity with France and hostility toward Germany. Berlin was outraged, blaming Lloyd George for doing "untold harm both with regard to German public opinion and

1089-699: A liberal extension of the principle of Decentralization." During the next decade, Lloyd George campaigned in Parliament largely on Welsh issues, in particular for disestablishment and disendowment of the Church of England. When Gladstone retired in 1894 after the defeat of the second Home Rule Bill , the Welsh Liberal members chose him to serve on a deputation to William Harcourt to press for specific assurances on Welsh issues. When those assurances were not provided, they resolved to take independent action if

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1188-577: A likely future cabinet member. The Act served to reunify the Liberals after their divisions over the Boer War and to increase Nonconformist influence in the party, which then included educational reform as policy in the 1906 election , which resulted in a Liberal landslide. All 34 Welsh seats returned a Liberal, except for one Labour seat in Merthyr Tydfil. Lloyd George also supported the romantic nationalist idea of Pan-Celtic unity and gave

1287-734: A loose umbrella organisation covering the two federations, but with very little power. In time, it became known as the Liberal Party of Wales. Lloyd George had a connection to or promoted the establishment of the National Library of Wales , the National Museum of Wales and the Welsh Department of the Board of Education . He also showed considerable support for the University of Wales , that its establishment raised

1386-615: A national government. The Welsh National Liberal Council remained loyal to him, but a substantial majority wished to stand independent Liberal Party candidates, and formed the rival Welsh Liberal Federation, with Henry Gladstone as their president. In 1924, the Welsh Liberal Federation rejoined the National Council, against the lone objection of Rhys Hopkin Morris . However, this apparent coming together of

1485-477: A number of resolutions by acclamation: county council control of schools, withholding money from schools or even withholding rates from unsupportive county councils. The Liberals soon gained control of all thirteen Welsh County Councils. Lloyd George continued to speak in England against the bill, but the campaign there was less aggressively led, taking the form of passive resistance to rate paying. In August 1904

1584-703: A policeman, as his life was in danger from the mob. At this time the Liberal Party was badly split as H. H. Asquith , R. B. Haldane and others were supporters of the war and formed the Liberal Imperial League . On 24 March Arthur Balfour , just about to take office as Prime Minister, introduced a bill which was to become the Education Act 1902 . Lloyd George supported the bill's proposals to bring voluntary schools (i.e. religious schools—mainly Church of England, and some Roman Catholic schools in certain inner city areas) in England and Wales under

1683-565: A poor state), and should also demand control of school governing bodies and a ban on religious tests for teachers; "no control, no cash" was Lloyd George's slogan. Lloyd George negotiated with A. G. Edwards , Anglican Bishop of St Asaph , and was prepared to settle on an "agreed religious syllabus" or even to allow Anglican teaching in schools, provided the county councils retained control of teacher appointments, but this compromise failed after opposition from other Anglican Welsh bishops. A well-attended meeting at Park Hall Cardiff (3 June 1903) passed

1782-472: A powerful parliament for the Welsh people". Lloyd George himself stated in 1880 "Is it not high time that Wales should the powers to manage its own affairs" and in 1890, "Parliament is so overweighted that it cannot possibly devote the time and trouble necessary to legislate for the peculiar and domestic retirement of each and every separate province of Britain". These statements would later be used to advocate for

1881-488: A quarter of the votes in the first ballot. Initially being Eurosceptic, Hooson was the only Liberal MP to vote against entry into the Common Market in a 'free vote' division on 28 October 1971, although he campaigned for a 'Yes' (Remain) vote in the 1975 referendum . He later became solidly more pro-European telling an audience at a Welsh Political Archive lecture in the 1990s: "Whereas almost without exception

1980-672: A rare case of him doing so), ostensibly from Alfred Thomas , chairman of the Welsh Parliamentary Liberal Party, but in reality instigated by Lloyd George, transferring control of Welsh schools from appointed boards to the elected county councils. The Education Act became law on 20 December 1902. Lloyd George now announced the real purpose of the amendment, described as a "booby trap" by his biographer John Grigg. The Welsh National Liberal Council soon adopted his proposal that county councils should refuse funding unless repairs were carried out to schools (many were in

2079-488: A resolution in support of Chamberlain at a local Liberal club and travelled to Birmingham to attend the first meeting of Chamberlain's new National Radical Union, but arrived a week too early. In 1907 Lloyd George would tell Herbert Lewis that he had thought Chamberlain's plan for a federal solution to the Home Rule Question correct in 1886 and still thought so, and that "If Henry Richmond, Osborne Morgan and

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2178-574: A return to the hated church rates (which had been compulsory until 1868), and inspired a large grassroots campaign against the bill. Within days of the bill's unveiling (27 March), Lloyd George denounced "priestcraft" in a speech to his constituents, and he began an active campaign of speaking against the bill, both in public in Wales (with a few speeches in England) and in the House of Commons. On 12 November, Balfour accepted an amendment (willingly, but

2277-470: A smaller war cabinet . To combat food shortages caused by u-boats , he implemented the convoy system, established rationing, and stimulated farming. After supporting the disastrous French Nivelle Offensive in 1917, he had to reluctantly approve Field Marshal Haig 's plans for the Battle of Passchendaele , which resulted in huge casualties with little strategic benefit. Against British military commanders, he

2376-479: A solicitor, Lloyd George was politically active from the start, campaigning for his uncle's Liberal Party in the 1885 election . He was attracted by Joseph Chamberlain 's "unauthorised programme" of Radical reform. After the election, Chamberlain split with Gladstone in opposition to Irish Home Rule , and Lloyd George moved to join the Liberal Unionists . Uncertain of which wing to follow, he moved

2475-571: A speech at the 1904 Pan-Celtic Congress in Caernarfon . During his second-ever speech in the House of Commons, Lloyd George criticised the grandeur of the monarchy. Lloyd George wrote extensively for Liberal-supporting papers such as the Manchester Guardian and spoke on Liberal issues (particularly temperance—the " local option "—and national as opposed to denominational education) throughout England and Wales. He served as

2574-521: A stirring and patriotic speech at Mansion House on 21 July 1911. He stated: But if a situation were to be forced upon us in which peace could only be preserved by the surrender of the great and beneficent position Britain has won by centuries of heroism and achievement, by allowing Britain to be treated where her interests were vitally affected as if she were of no account in the Cabinet of nations, then I say emphatically that peace at that price would be

2673-608: A tax increase of £63 million in a full year. His last budget, on 4 May 1915, showed a growing concern for the effects of alcohol on the war effort, with large increases in duties, and a scheme of state control of alcohol sales in specified areas. The excise proposals were opposed by the Irish Nationalists and the Conservatives, and were abandoned. Lloyd George gained a heroic reputation with his energetic work as Minister of Munitions in 1915 and 1916, setting

2772-409: A triumph. He had won the case of social reform without losing the debate on Free Trade. Arthur Balfour denounced the budget as "vindictive, inequitable, based on no principles, and injurious to the productive capacity of the country." Roy Jenkins described it as the most reverberating since Gladstone's in 1860. In the House of Commons, Lloyd George gave a brilliant account of the budget, which

2871-493: The Manchester Guardian that Britain would keep out of the impending war. With the Cabinet divided, and most ministers reluctant for Britain to get involved, he struck Asquith as "statesmanlike" at the Cabinet meeting on 1 August, favouring keeping Britain's options open. The next day he seemed likely to resign if Britain intervened, but he held back at Cabinet on Monday 3 August, moved by the news that Belgium would resist Germany's demand of passage for her army across her soil. He

2970-672: The 1950 general election and again in 1951 . As Chairman of the Liberal Party of Wales, he led its merger with the North and South Wales Liberal Federations, thereby uniting liberalism in Wales in the Welsh Liberal Party . He became MP for Montgomeryshire at a 1962 by-election following the death of Clement Davies , as a member of the Liberal Party. He contested the Liberal Party leadership election of 1967 , but withdrew in favour of Jeremy Thorpe after gaining only

3069-574: The Burial Laws Amendment Act 1880 but theretofore ignored by the Anglican clergy. On Lloyd George's advice, a Baptist burial party broke open a gate to a cemetery that had been locked against them by the vicar. The vicar sued them for trespass and although the jury returned a verdict for the party, the local judge misrecorded the jury's verdict and found in the vicar's favour. Suspecting bias, Lloyd George's clients won on appeal to

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3168-626: The Church of England in Wales , equality for labourers and tenant farmers, and reform of land ownership. In 1890 he won a by-election to become the Member of Parliament for Caernarvon Boroughs , in which seat he remained for 55 years. He served in Henry Campbell-Bannerman 's cabinet from 1905. After H. H. Asquith succeeded to the premiership in 1908, Lloyd George replaced him as Chancellor . To fund extensive welfare reforms he proposed taxes on land ownership and high incomes in

3267-545: The Irish Free State in 1921. At home, he initiated education and housing reforms, but trade-union militancy rose to record levels, the economy became depressed in 1920 and unemployment rose; spending cuts followed in 1921–22, and in 1922 he became embroiled in a scandal over the sale of honours and the Chanak Crisis . The Carlton Club meeting decided the Conservatives should end the coalition and contest

3366-624: The Irish National Party . He abandoned this idea after being criticised in Welsh newspapers for bringing about the defeat of the Liberal Party in the 1895 election . In an AGM meeting in Newport on 16 January 1896 of the South Wales Liberal Federation, led by D. A. Thomas , a proposal was made to unite the North and South Liberal Federations with Cymru Fydd to form The Welsh National Federation. This

3465-543: The Liberal Reforms . Lloyd George also succeeded in putting through Parliament his National Insurance Act 1911 , making provision for sickness and invalidism, and a system of unemployment insurance. He was helped in his endeavours by forty or so backbenchers who regularly pushed for new social measures, often voted with Labour MPs. These social reforms in Britain were the beginnings of a welfare state and fulfilled

3564-536: The Local Government Act 1888 ) and would remain so for the rest of his life. Lloyd George would also serve the county as a Justice of the Peace (1910), chairman of Quarter Sessions (1929–38), and Deputy Lieutenant in 1921. Lloyd George married Margaret Owen , the daughter of a well-to-do local farming family, on 24 January 1888. Lloyd George's career as a member of parliament began when he

3663-803: The National Government . In 1940, he refused to serve in Churchill's War Cabinet . He was elevated to the peerage in 1945, very shortly before his death. David George was born on 17 January 1863 in Chorlton-on-Medlock , Manchester, to Welsh parents William George and Elizabeth Lloyd George. William died in June 1864 of pneumonia, aged 44. David was just over one year old. Elizabeth George moved with her children to her native Llanystumdwy in Caernarfonshire, where she lived in

3762-541: The Second Boer War . Following Rosebery's lead, he based his attack firstly on what were supposed to be Britain's war aims—remedying the grievances of the [italicno] Error: {{Lang}}: invalid parameter: |3= ( help ) and in particular the claim that they were wrongly denied the right to vote, saying "I do not believe the war has any connection with the franchise. It is a question of 45% dividends" and that England (which did not then have universal male suffrage)

3861-668: The Second World War , on a corvette in the north Atlantic. He became a barrister, called to the bar by Gray's Inn in 1949, and in 1960 became one of the youngest ever Queen's Counsel , aged 35. He was chairman of the Flint Quarter Sessions from 1960 and Merioneth Quarter Sessions from 1962, until he became Recorder of Merthyr Tydfil and Swansea in 1971. He was a member of the Bar Council from 1965. As QC, Hooson represented Ian Brady , one of

3960-590: The " Moors Murderers " along with Myra Hindley , when Brady was tried and convicted of three murder charges at Chester Assizes in spring 1966. He described some of the evidence against Brady as "flimsy". In 1970 he appeared for the Ministry of Defence at a public inquiry over plans to move its experimental range from Shoeburyness in Essex to Pembrey , near Carmarthen. He went on to become Recorder of both Merthyr Tydfil and Swansea in 1971, Elected Leader of

4059-690: The " People's Budget " (1909), which the Conservative -dominated House of Lords rejected. The resulting constitutional crisis was only resolved after elections in 1910 and passage of the Parliament Act 1911 . His budget was enacted in 1910, and the National Insurance Act 1911 and other measures helped to establish the modern welfare state . In 1913, he was embroiled in the Marconi scandal , but remained in office and secured

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4158-566: The Admiralty, of "the emphatic pledges given by all of us at the last general election to reduce the gigantic expenditure on armaments built up by the recklessness of our predecessors." He then proposed the programme be reduced from six to four dreadnoughts . This was adopted by the government, but there was a public storm when the Conservatives, with covert support from the First Sea Lord, Admiral Jackie Fisher , campaigned for more with

4257-683: The Divisional Court of Queen's Bench in London, where Lord Chief Justice Coleridge found in their favour. The case was hailed as a great victory throughout Wales and led to Lloyd George's adoption as the Liberal candidate for Carnarvon Boroughs on 27 December 1888. The same year, he and other young Welsh Liberals founded a monthly paper, Udgorn Rhyddid (Bugle of Freedom). In 1889, Lloyd George became an alderman on Carnarvonshire County Council (a new body which had been created by

4356-658: The Exchequer from 1908 to 1915. While he continued some work from the Board of Trade—for example, legislation to establish the Port of London Authority and to pursue traditional Liberal programmes such as licensing law reforms—his first major trial in this role was over the 1909–1910 Naval Estimates. The Liberal manifesto at the 1906 general election included a commitment to reduce military expenditure. Lloyd George strongly supported this, writing to Reginald McKenna , First Lord of

4455-599: The Government of Wales Bill on St David's Day 1967, taking one of the first steps to the formation of the Welsh Assembly . At the 1979 general election , Hooson lost his seat to the Conservatives and was then appointed a life peer as Baron Hooson , of Montgomery in the County of Powys and of Colomendy in the County of Clwyd . Montgomeryshire was regained by the Liberal Party at the next general election ; it

4554-470: The House of Commons greatly amended but was completely mangled by the House of Lords. For the rest of the year Lloyd George made numerous public speeches attacking the House of Lords for mutilating the bill with wrecking amendments, in defiance of the Liberals' electoral mandate to reform the 1902 Act. Lloyd George was rebuked by King Edward VII for these speeches: the Prime Minister defended him to

4653-550: The House of Commons that he had not speculated in the shares of "that company". He had in fact bought shares in the American Marconi Company. Lloyd George was instrumental in fulfilling a long-standing aspiration to disestablish the Anglican Church of Wales. As with Irish Home Rule , previous attempts to enact this had failed in the 1892–1895 Governments, and were now made possible by the removal of

4752-466: The House of Commons were not paid at that time, so Lloyd George supported himself and his growing family by continuing to practise as a solicitor. He opened an office in London under the name of "Lloyd George and Co." and continued in partnership with William George in Criccieth . In 1897, he merged his growing London practice with that of Arthur Rhys Roberts (who was to become Official Solicitor ) under

4851-648: The House of Lords and removed (disendowed) certain pre-1662 property rights. Lloyd George was as surprised as almost everyone else by the outbreak of the First World War . On 23 July 1914, almost a month after the assassination of Archduke Franz Ferdinand of Austria and on the eve of the Austro-Hungarian ultimatum to Serbia, he made a speech advocating "economy" in the House of Commons, saying that Britain's relations with Germany were better than for many years. On 27 July he told C. P. Scott of

4950-465: The House of Lords) were intensely angry at the new taxes, mostly at the proposed very high tax on land values, but also because the instrumental redistribution of wealth could be used to detract from an argument for protective tariffs. The immediate consequences included the end of the Liberal League , and Rosebery breaking friendship with the Liberal Party, which in itself was for Lloyd George

5049-504: The King's secretary Francis Knollys , stating that his behaviour in Parliament was more constructive but that in speeches to the public "the combative spirit seems to get the better of him". No compromise was possible and the bill was abandoned, allowing the 1902 Act to continue in effect. As a result of Lloyd George's lobbying, a separate department for Wales was created within the Board of Education. Nonconformists were bitterly upset by

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5148-424: The Liberals of Wales were for it, I had developed doubts about that particular route to a United Europe and voted against entry. In retrospect I think I should have voted for it, although I believe my reasons for delaying our entry, as I explained them then, largely proved to be correct." Hooson also wrote in a draft of his unfinished and unpublished autobiography: "I believe we need a federal Europe" He introduced

5247-514: The Lords' veto in 1911, and as with Home Rule the initial bill (1912) was delayed for two years by the Lords, becoming law in 1914 , only to be suspended for the duration of the war . After the Welsh Church (Temporalities) Act 1919 was passed, Welsh Disestablishment finally came into force in 1920. This Act also removed the right of the six Welsh Bishops in the new Church in Wales to sit in

5346-720: The South East and thus, difficulty in gaining support for Home Rule for Wales, Lloyd George shifted his focus to improving the socio-economic environment of Wales as part of the United Kingdom and the British Empire . Although Lloyd George considered himself a "Welshman first", he saw the opportunities for Wales within the UK. In 1898, Lloyd George created the Welsh National Liberal Council,

5445-460: The South Wales coalfield. At the same time the acrimonious split between Lloyd George and Asquith in 1916 had a permanent legacy in rural Wales and led to the party's fortunes declining to such an extent that it remained a force in only a small number of rural constituencies. A revival in the party's fortunes in the 1960s and 1970s was limited in Wales by the emergence of a rival 'third-force' in

5544-655: The Wales and Chester Circuit 1971 to 1974, he was a Recorder of the Crown Court from 1972 until 1991, as well as a Deputy High Court Judge . He was President of the Cambrian Law Review and was the Hon. Professional Fellow of the University of Wales, Aberystwyth. Hooson became chairman of the Liberal Party of Wales in 1955 and was elected to the Liberal Party executive in 1965. He contested Conway at

5643-408: The Welsh Church commissioners. Although not condemned by Tom Ellis MP, this was to the annoyance of J. Bryn Roberts MP and the Home Secretary H. H. Asquith MP. He was also a co-leader of Cymru Fydd , a national Welsh party with liberal values with the goals of promoting a "stronger Welsh identity" and establishing a Welsh government. He hoped that Cymru Fydd would become a force like

5742-507: The Welsh members had stood by Chamberlain on an agreement as regards the [Welsh] disestablishment, they would have carried Wales with them" His legal practice quickly flourished; he established branch offices in surrounding towns and took his brother William into partnership in 1887. Lloyd George's legal and political triumph came in the Llanfrothen burial case, which established the right of Nonconformists to be buried according to denominational rites in parish burial grounds, as given by

5841-446: The aim of dampening down the demands of the growing working class for rather more radical solutions to their impoverishment. Under his leadership, after 1909 the Liberals extended minimum wages to farmworkers. Lloyd George was an opponent of warfare but he paid little attention to foreign affairs until the Agadir Crisis of 1911. After consulting Edward Grey (the foreign minister) and H.   H. Asquith (the prime minister) he gave

5940-472: The company operating both the Severn Bridge and the Second Severn Crossing . He became President of the National Eisteddfod of Wales at Newtown in 1966 and the following year, he was made Honorary White Bard of the National Gorsedd of Bards . Between 1987 and 1993, Hooson was the President of the International Eisteddfod , held annually at Llangollen . He was a Member of the Aberystwyth Old Students' Association and served as President (1991–92) between

6039-422: The control of local school boards, who would conduct inspections and appoint two out of each school's six managers. However, other measures were more contentious: the majority-religious school managers would retain the power to employ or sack teachers on religious grounds and would receive money from the rates (local property taxes). This offended nonconformist opinion, then in a period of revival, as it seemed like

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6138-435: The devolution of the Church in Wales saying in 1890: "I am deeply impressed with the fact that Wales has wants and inspirations of her own which have too long been ignored, but which must no longer be neglected. First and foremost amongst these stands the cause of Religious Liberty and Equality in Wales. If returned to Parliament by you, it shall be my earnest endeavour to labour for the triumph of this great cause. I believe in

6237-442: The disestablishment of the Church of England in Wales. In 1915, Lloyd George became Minister of Munitions and expanded artillery shell production for the war. In 1916, he was appointed Secretary of State for War but was frustrated by his limited power and clashes with Army commanders over strategy. Asquith proved ineffective as prime minister and was replaced by Lloyd George in December 1916. He centralised authority by creating

6336-424: The early reports recommending détente with eastern Europe. In 1950, Hooson married Shirley Hamer, daughter of Sir George Hamer, Lord Lieutenant of Montgomeryshire . They had two daughters, Sioned and Lowri. He sent his daughters to London's only Welsh-speaking school, and chaired its governors. The family home was in Llanidloes , where Lord Hooson's funeral was held in the China Street Chapel. In 1980 he chaired

6435-420: The faction led by Sir John Simon which made them indistinguishable from the Conservatives, another four supported the party leader, Herbert Samuel , while the remaining four formed a 'Lloyd George family group', including Lloyd George himself, his children Gwilym and Megan and Goronwy Owen , who was related to the family by marriage. This group opposed the National Government throughout the 1930s. In 1926,

6534-403: The failure of the Liberal Party to reform the 1902 Education Act, its most important promise to them, and over time their support for the Liberal Party slowly fell away. At the Board of Trade Lloyd George introduced legislation on many topics, from merchant shipping and the Port of London to companies and railway regulation. His main achievement was in stopping a proposed national strike of

6633-417: The first year of the Great War. The budget of 17 November 1914 had to allow for lower taxation receipts because of the reduction in world trade. The Crimean and Boer Wars had largely been paid for out of taxation, but Lloyd George raised debt financing of £321 million. Large (but deferred) increases in Supertax and income tax rates were accompanied by increases in excise duties, and the budget produced

6732-484: The form of Plaid Cymru . From the late nineteenth century, Liberal Party activists in Wales were organised in two separate federations, one for the north and one for the south. In 1898, David Lloyd George created the Welsh National Liberal Council , a loose umbrella organisation covering the two federations, but with very little power. In time, it became known as the Liberal Party of Wales . After World War I , David Lloyd George remained Prime Minister and leader of

6831-487: The formation of the National Health Service. In contrast, Lady Megan's brother Gwilym , who represented Pembrokeshire, drifted towards the Conservatives and had the Liberal whip withdrawn in 1946. Clement Davies, who became party leader in 1945, and had represented Montgomeryshire since 1929, had been a member of the Liberal faction led by Sir John Simon in the 1930s but had subsequently become more radical in his views. Rhys Hopkin Morris , who won Carmarthen from Labour against

6930-541: The government brought in the Education (Local Authority Default) Act giving the Board of Education power to take charge of schools, which Lloyd George immediately nicknamed the "Coercion of Wales Act". He addressed another convention in Cardiff on 6 October 1904, during which he proclaimed that the Welsh flag was "a dragon rampant, not a sheep recumbent". Under his leadership, the convention pledged not to maintain elementary schools, or to withdraw children from elementary schools altogether so that they could be taught privately by

7029-466: The government did not bring a bill for disestablishment. When a bill was not forthcoming, he and three other Welsh Liberals ( D. A. Thomas , Herbert Lewis and Frank Edwards ) refused the whip on 14 April 1894, but accepted Lord Rosebery 's assurance and rejoined the official Liberals on 29 May. Historian Emyr Price referred to Lloyd George as "the first architect of Welsh devolution and its most famous advocate" as well as "the pioneering advocate of

7128-586: The group, the fact remained that the rural west and north Wales was now one of the party's last remaining sources of significant support. To some extent this reflected the continuing correlation between Liberalism and nonconformity, although it has been suggested that the connection was sustained more by habit than conviction. During the 1945-50 Parliament the Liberal MPs for Wales often disagreed amongst themselves on their attitudes towards Labour policies and often voted in different ways. The 1951 General Election

7227-552: The industry which makes the wealth of the country?". In a break with convention , the budget was defeated by the Conservative majority in the House of Lords. The elections of 1910 narrowly upheld the Liberal government. The 1909 budget was passed on 28 April 1910 by the Lords and received the Royal Assent on the 29th. Subsequently, the Parliament Act 1911 removed the House of Lords' power to block money bills, and with

7326-636: The legal adviser of Theodor Herzl in his negotiations with the British government regarding the Uganda Scheme , proposed as an alternative homeland for the Jews due to Turkish refusal to grant a charter for Jewish settlement in Palestine. In 1905, Lloyd George entered the new Liberal Cabinet of Sir Henry Campbell-Bannerman as President of the Board of Trade . The first priority on taking office

7425-427: The name of "Lloyd George, Roberts and Co." Kenneth O. Morgan describes Lloyd George as a "lifelong Welsh nationalist" and suggests that between 1880 and 1914 he was "the symbol and tribune of the national reawakening of Wales ", although he is also clear that from the early 1900s his main focus gradually shifted to UK-wide issues. He also became an associate of Tom Ellis , MP for Meirionydd, having previously told

7524-562: The negotiations." Count Metternich , Germany's ambassador in London, said, "Mr Lloyd George's speech came upon us like a thunderbolt". In 1913, Lloyd George, along with Rufus Isaacs , the Attorney General, was involved in the Marconi scandal . Accused of speculating in Marconi shares on the inside information that they were about to be awarded a key government contract (which would have caused them to increase in value), he told

7623-442: The next election alone. Lloyd George resigned as prime minister, but continued as the leader of a Liberal faction. After an awkward reunion with Asquith's faction in 1923, Lloyd George led the weak Liberal Party from 1926 to 1931. He proposed innovative schemes for public works and other reforms, but made only modest gains in the 1929 election . After 1931, he was a mistrusted figure heading a small rump of breakaway Liberals opposed to

7722-465: The nonconformist churches. In Travis Crosbie's words, public resistance to the Education Act had caused a "perfect impasse". There was no progress between Welsh counties and Westminster until 1905. Having already gained national recognition for his anti-Boer War campaigns, Lloyd George's leadership of the attacks on the Education Act gave him a strong parliamentary reputation and marked him as

7821-472: The organisation, which became known as the Welsh Liberal Party . The new party had far more authority, and gradually centralised the finances and policy of the party in Wales. David Lloyd George David Lloyd George, 1st Earl Lloyd-George of Dwyfor , (17 January 1863 – 26 March 1945) was Prime Minister of the United Kingdom from 1916 to 1922. A Liberal Party politician from Wales, he

7920-508: The railway unions by brokering an agreement between the unions and the railway companies. While almost all the companies refused to recognise the unions, Lloyd George persuaded the companies to recognise elected representatives of the workers who sat with the company representatives on conciliation boards—one for each company. If those boards failed to agree then an arbitrator would be called upon. On Campbell-Bannerman's death, he succeeded Asquith, who had become prime minister, as Chancellor of

8019-666: The sick or wounded soldiers and were starving Boer women and children in concentration camps. But his major thrusts were reserved for the Chamberlains, accusing them of war profiteering through the family company Kynoch Ltd, of which Chamberlain's brother was chairman. The firm had won tenders to the War Office , though its prices were higher than some of its competitors. After speaking at a meeting in Birmingham Lloyd George had to be smuggled out disguised as

8118-447: The slogan "We want eight and we won't wait". This resulted in Lloyd George's defeat in Cabinet and the adoption of estimates including provision for eight dreadnoughts. During this period he was also a target of protest by the women's suffrage movement, for he professed personal support for extension of the suffrage but did not move for changes within the Parliament process. In 1909, Lloyd George introduced his People's Budget , imposing

8217-558: The stage for his move up to the height of power. After a long struggle with the War Office, he wrested responsibility for arms production away from the generals, making it a purely industrial department, with considerable expert assistance from Walter Runciman . The two men gained the respect of Liberal cabinet colleagues for improving administrative capabilities, and increasing outputs. Emlyn Hooson Hugh Emlyn Hooson, Baron Hooson , QC (26 March 1925 – 21 February 2012)

8316-605: The status of Welsh people and that the university deserved greater funding by the UK government. Lloyd George had been impressed by his journey to Canada in 1899. Although sometimes wrongly supposed—both at the time and subsequently—to be a Little Englander , he was not an opponent of the British Empire per se , but in a speech at Birkenhead (21 November 1901) he stressed that it needed to be based on freedom, including for India, not "racial arrogance". Consequently, he gained national fame by displaying vehement opposition to

8415-485: The tide in 1945, was fiercely independent in his views, while Roderic Bowen , elected for the first time in Cardiganshire in 1945, was at the time an unknown quantity. Finally, the University of Wales seat (abolished in 1950) as held by the academic Professor W. J. Gruffydd , who had defeated former Plaid Cymru president Saunders Lewis in a fiercely contested by-election in 1943. Despite these differences within

8514-453: The two presidencies of Sir David Nicholas . A farmer, Hooson was a member of an old North Wales agricultural family. He was a cousin (and political opponent) of Tom Hooson , a Conservative MP who died in 1985. Lord and Lady Hooson also held the position of President of Llidiartywaen Young Farmers Club for many years. Until his ill health, an annual occurrence was the young farmers being invited in every Christmas Eve to sing carols around

8613-560: The two wings of the Liberal Party camouflaged some deep divisions. In addition to the failure of the Coalition Government to implement the Sankey recommendations on the coal industry, the party was regarded as maintaining a focus on pre-war issues and controversies, and being an essentially rural movement. The 1931 General Election saw the return of twelve Liberal MPs in Wales, although they were hopelessly divided. Four supported

8712-429: Was Welsh, that his whole culture, his whole outlook, his language was Welsh." Though brought up a devout evangelical, Lloyd George privately lost his religious faith as a young man. Biographer Don Cregier says he became "a Deist and perhaps an agnostic, though he remained a chapel-goer and connoisseur of good preaching all his life." He was nevertheless, according to Frank Owen , "one of the foremost fighting leaders of

8811-619: Was a Welsh Liberal and then Liberal Democrat politician. He was the Member of Parliament (MP) for Montgomeryshire from 1962 until 1979. Hooson was born at Colomendy in Denbighshire on 26 March 1925, the middle child of three sons to Hugh and Elsie Hooson. He was educated at Denbigh Grammar School and read law at the University College of Wales, Aberystwyth . He joined the Royal Navy in 1943 and served during

8910-570: Was a proposal which the North Wales Liberal Federation had already agreed to. However, the South Wales Liberal Federation rejected this. According to Lloyd George, he was shouted down by "Newport Englishmen" in the meeting, although the South Wales Argus suggested the poor crowd behaviour came from Lloyd George's supporters. Following difficulty in uniting the Liberal federations along with Cymru Fydd in

9009-429: Was attacked by the Conservatives. On the stump, notably at his Limehouse speech in 1909, he denounced the Conservatives and the wealthy classes with all his very considerable oratorical power. Excoriating the House of Lords in another speech, Lloyd George said, "should 500 men, ordinary men, chosen accidentally from among the unemployed, override the judgement—the deliberate judgement—of millions of people who are engaged in

9108-943: Was finally able to see the Allies brought under one command in March 1918. The war effort turned in Allied favour and was won in November. Following the December 1918 "Coupon" election , he and the Conservatives maintained their coalition with popular support. Lloyd George was a leading proponent at the Paris Peace Conference of 1919, but the situation in Ireland worsened, erupting into the Irish War of Independence , which lasted until Lloyd George negotiated independence for

9207-564: Was known for leading the United Kingdom during the First World War , for social-reform policies, for his role in the Paris Peace Conference , and for negotiating the establishment of the Irish Free State . He was the last Liberal prime minister; the party fell into third-party status towards the end of his premiership. Lloyd George gained a reputation as an orator and proponent of a Welsh blend of radical Liberal ideas, which included support for Welsh devolution , disestablishment of

9306-511: Was more in need of franchise reform than the Boer republics. A second attack came on the cost of the war, which, he argued, prevented overdue social reform in England, such as old-age pensions and workmen's cottages. As the fighting continued his attacks moved to its conduct by the generals, who, he said (basing his words on reports by William Burdett-Coutts in The Times ), were not providing for

9405-480: Was returned as a Liberal MP for Caernarfon Boroughs (now Caernarfon ), narrowly winning the by-election on 10 April 1890 , following the death of the Conservative member Edmund Swetenham . He would remain an MP for the same constituency until 1945, 55 years later. Lloyd George's early beginnings in Westminster may have proven difficult for him as a radical liberal and "a great outsider". Backbench members of

9504-401: Was seen as a key figure whose stance helped to persuade almost the entire Cabinet to support British intervention. He was able to give the more pacifist members of the cabinet and the Liberal Party a principle—the rights of small nations—which meant they could support the war and maintain united political and popular support. Lloyd George remained in office as Chancellor of the Exchequer for

9603-507: Was the end of an era for Welsh radical Liberalism as both Lady Megan Lloyd George and Emrys Roberts lost their seats in Anglesey and Merioneth respectively. The three remaining Welsh Liberal MPs were on the right of the party and, for several elections, did not face Conservative opposition in their constituencies. By 1966, the Liberal Party was struggling in Wales. Emlyn Hooson convinced a majority of delegates to merge both federations into

9702-566: Was the repeal of the 1902 Education Act. Lloyd George took the lead along with Augustine Birrell , President of the Board of Education. Lloyd George appears to have been the dominant figure on the committee drawing up the bill in its later stages and insisted that the bill create a separate education committee for Wales. Birrell complained privately that the bill, introduced in the Commons on 9 April 1906, owed more to Lloyd George and that he himself had had little say in its contents. The bill passed

9801-708: Was then held by the Liberal Party and its successor party, the Liberal Democrats, until the 2010 general election . Hooson sat for the Liberal Democrats in the House of Lords , where he was active in improving the Mental Health Act , urged police reforms and spoke on law reform and drug trafficking. Hooson was vice-chairman of the North Atlantic Assembly 's political committee, where he worked with Congressman John Lindsay on one of

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