The Right Honourable The Earl Lloyd-George of Dwyfor OM PC |
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Prime Minister of the United Kingdom | |
In office 6 December 1916 – 19 October 1922 |
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Monarch | George V |
Preceded by | H. H. Asquith |
Succeeded by | Andrew Bonar Law |
Leader of the Liberal Party | |
In office 14 October 1926 – 4 November 1931 |
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Preceded by | H. H. Asquith |
Succeeded by | Herbert Samuel |
Secretary of State for War | |
In office 6 June 1916 – 5 December 1916 |
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Prime Minister | H. H. Asquith |
Preceded by | The Earl Kitchener |
Succeeded by | The Earl of Derby |
Minister of Munitions | |
In office 25 May 1915 – 9 July 1916 |
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Prime Minister | H. H. Asquith |
Preceded by | Office created |
Succeeded by | Edwin Samuel Montagu |
Chancellor of the Exchequer | |
In office 12 April 1908 – 25 May 1915 |
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Prime Minister | H. H. Asquith |
Preceded by | H. H. Asquith |
Succeeded by | Reginald McKenna |
President of the Board of Trade | |
In office 10 December 1905 – 12 April 1908 |
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Prime Minister |
Henry Campbell-Bannerman H. H. Asquith |
Preceded by | The Marquess of Salisbury |
Succeeded by | Winston Churchill |
Father of the House | |
In office 31 May 1929 – 13 February 1945 |
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Preceded by | T. P. O'Connor |
Succeeded by | The Earl Winterton |
Member of Parliament for Carnarvon Boroughs |
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In office 10 April 1890 – 13 February 1945 |
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Preceded by | Edmund Swetenham |
Succeeded by | Seaborne Davies |
Personal details | |
Born |
Chorlton-on-Medlock, Manchester, Lancashire, England |
17 January 1863
Died | 26 March 1945 Tŷ Newydd, Caernarfonshire, Wales |
(aged 82)
Citizenship | British |
Nationality | Welsh |
Political party |
Liberal (1890–1916 & 1924–45) National Liberal (1922–23) |
Spouse(s) |
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Children |
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Profession | solicitor, politician |
Religion | Nonconformist |
Signature |
David Lloyd George, 1st Earl Lloyd-George of Dwyfor, OM, PC (17 January 1863 – 26 March 1945) was a British Liberal politician and statesman.
As Chancellor of the Exchequer (1908–1915), Lloyd George was a key figure in the introduction of many reforms which laid the foundations of the modern welfare state. His most important role came as the highly energetic Prime Minister of the Wartime Coalition Government (1916–22), during and immediately after the First World War. He was a major player at the Paris Peace Conference of 1919 that reordered Europe after the defeat of the Central Powers.
He made a greater impact on British public life than any other 20th-century leader, thanks to his pre-war introduction of Britain's social welfare system (especially medical insurance, unemployment insurance, and old-age pensions, largely paid for by taxes on high incomes and on the land). Furthermore in foreign affairs he played a dominant role in winning the First World War, redrawing the map of Europe at the peace conference, and partitioning Ireland.
His main political problem was that he was not loyal to his Liberal party—he was always a political maverick. While he was Prime Minister he favoured the Conservatives in his coalition in the 1918 elections, leaving the Liberal party as a hopeless minority. He became leader of the Liberal Party in the late 1920s, but it grew even smaller and more divided. By the 1930s he was a marginalised and widely mistrusted figure. He gave weak support to the Second World War amidst fears that he was favourable toward Germany.
He was voted the third greatest British prime minister of the 20th century in a poll of 139 academics organised by MORI, and in 2002 he was named among the 100 Greatest Britons following a UK-wide vote.