LLOYD GEORGE’S BIOGRAPHY

Press, Volume LXXXV, Issue 25714, 28 January 1949, Page 2

LLOYD GEORGE’S BIOGRAPHY

ABDICATION OPPOSED IN 1936 (From a Reuter Correspondent.) LONDON, January 10. If the events which, in 1936, led to the abdication of King Edward VIII from the British Throne had moved less swiftly, two of England’s greatest statesmen might have, thrown their joint influence into the scales in favour of a morganatic marriage with Mrs Wallis Simpson. One of these men was David Lloyd George, Prime Minister in the First World War. The other was Winston Churchill, Prime Minister for the greater part of the last war. These statements are made m Mr Malcolm Thomson’s official biography of David Lloyd George, written m collaboration with the former Prime Minister’s widow. , , At the time when . the abdication was imminent, following a denunciation by the Bishop of Bradford, Lloyd George, then an “elder statesman” out of office, was on holiday in Jamaica. According to Mr Thomson, while Mr Stanley Baldwin, the then Prime Minister, was pressing for the King s abdication, Mr Churchill did his best to obtain a postponement of the decision in the hope that some other solution might be found. “Away in Jamacia, Lloyd George was profoundly distressed as news of the swiftly unfolding tragedy came through to him,” writes Mr Thomson. “He agreed that Mrs Simpson could not become Queen, but he did not want to lose the King for whom he felt so affectionate a loyalty, and would have been willing to allow a morganatic marriage, by which she would be the King’s wife but not his Queen. From his temporary exile, he sent messages asserting the King’s right to choose his wife, and made preparations to dash back to England to join Churchill in trying to avert any irrevocable step. But Baldwin struck swiftly. He did not allow any debate in the House (of Commons). Taking the matter into his own hands, he compelled the King, on December 10, to sign an Act of Abdication naming his brother, George, Duke of York, as his successor.” Because of the attitude he had taken, Lloyd George was dubious as to what his reception at Court would be when he attended the Coronation celebrations, but he was received most cordially by Their Majesties and was “instantly and completely captivated by the charm of the Queen.” This was not the only occasion on which the “Welsh Wizard”—as Lloyd George became known to his admirers—proved unorthodox in his attitude to Royalty. “Disliked Court Functions”

His widow, in her introduction to the book, discloses that he disliked Court functions. “King George V, after L.G. (as Prime Minister) had avoided several invitations, including one to Windsor, mildly rebuked him for what he considered to be bordering on a discourtesy.” she writes.

Mr Thomson recalls an occasion when King Edward VII administered “a firm and dignified reprimand” to Lloyd George. As Chancellor of the Exchequer, Lloyd George made what aristocratic circles regarded as an inflammatory speech in London’s East End in 1908. King Edward VII sent for Mr H. H. Asquith, the then Prime Minister, and asked him to restrain his colleague. When Lloyd George heard of the interview, he at once wrote to the King, explaining his position. Replying in his own hand, King Edward VII told the Chancellor that he had used language “calculated to set class against class and to inflame the passions of the working and lower orders against people who happen Ijto be owners of property.” The King, Mr Thomson adds, then summoned Lloyd George, and told him that his friends would be hard hit by the new land taxes Lloyd George was proposing. “I am an old man. and I am giving you advice,” the King explained. "Why not tax sugar instead?” Lloyd George replied that his party was pledged not to tax sugar. “Well, what about tea?” asked the King. Lloyd George explained that old people depended on tea as their beverage. "Yes. yes. that is so,” the King renlied. “We will not tax their tea.” “So,” Mr Thomson adds, “Lloyd George left, after promising to bear in mind what the King had put to him, but thinking it over did not lead him to any change of attitude.” Friendship With Churchill The story of Lloyd George’s, rise to fame is well known. Born the son of a schoolmaster brought up in a cottage in a North Wales village, he became a solicitor, a member of Parliament in 1890, a Cabinet Minister in 1905, and Prime Minister in 1916. After the Armistice, he was hailed as

“the man who won the war,” as was Mr Winston Churchill in the last war, but, also like his famous successor, he was later turned out of office—-in 1922. The two men had much in common: colourful personalities, restless energy, and the highest oratorical gifts. Lloyd George’s widow emphasised that her husband’s only real friendship after he came to high office was that with Mr Churchill. “I think Mr Churchill was the only one of L.G.’s friends who called him ‘David,’” she states. “From the earliest political days these two were strangely and prophetically drawn together. Each divined in the other the quality of, genius which separated them from the ordinary run of men and drew them together—the village boy and the Duke’s grandson.” When the first world war began, Mr Churchill wrote to Lloyd George urging him not to align himself with those who opposed Birtain’s entry into the war. “All the rest of our lives we shall be opposed,” Mr Churchill wrote. “I am deeply attached to you, and have followed your instinct and guidance for nearly 10 years.” Twentysix years later, when Winston Churchill himself headed a Coalition Government. his thoughts 4 again turned to the role of his friend, now aged 77, silverhaired and tired, but with vast experience and widely respected. “Churchill very much wanted to bring his old friend Lloyd George into his Administration, and both he and Lord Beaverbrook brought great pressure to bear to persuade him to join the Cabinet in some capacity which would not put too great strain upon his physique,” Mr Thomson states. “In view of his special interest in agricultural development, the idea was mooted of his taking a supervisory charge of the national effort for food production.” But Lloyd George felt that he was past giving his best in Cabinet office, and declined. For four more years he appeared in Parliament, until in 1944 he retired to his Welsh home in the mountains. He died the following year, soon after the King had made him a peer.