Huge election boost for Lloyd George as Liberals crumble
London, 30 December 1918 - Across Great Britain, the election results have delivered an overwhelming vote of confidence in Prime Minister Lloyd George’s leadership and ensured a comfortable majority for him in the incoming Westminster parliament.
The emphatic nature of the coalition government’s victory has vindicated the Prime Minister's decision to call an election so promptly following the end of the war.
It seems likely that Lloyd George will be able to command the votes of 500 of the 707 members of the new House of Commons.
His support is drawn from 334 coalition Conservatives, 133 coalition Liberals and 10 coalition Labour members. Among the 50 unionists returned who are not labelled as ‘coalition’ are the 23 unionists from north-east Ulster who might be safely regarded as coalitionists for the purposes of vital votes.
Perhaps the most surprising British result came in East Fife where former Prime Minister and Liberal party leader Herbert Asquith was ousted by a candidate he previously defeated twice.
The toppling of Asquith capped a dreadful day for the Liberal Party, whose dismal performance is, quite possibly, the standout story of the election in Britain. There was also disappointment for James Ramsay MacDonald, Philip Snowden, William Pringle, Charles Trevelyan and a number of ex-ministers such as Sir John Simon, Reginald McKenna, Herbert Samuel and Arthur Henderson who all failed to retain their seats.
[Editor's note: This is an article from Century Ireland, a fortnightly online newspaper, written from the perspective of a journalist 100 years ago, based on news reports of the time.]
