ABSTRACT
The politics of the immediate post-war period were dominated by the Lloyd George Coalition and speculation about its future. Could the Coalition provide a permanent alternative to the ‘normal’ workings of the party system, or would it prove to be no more than a temporary interlude before the re-emergence of party politics in some more conventional form? If party politics did again become the norm, how would they differ from their pre-war pattern, and what, in particular, would be the ‘impact of Labour’ on the party system?1 The answers to these questions were bound up with specific issues and problems in post-war political debate, and not least with the personality and politics of the prime minister, David Lloyd George. To understand the eventual fate of Lloyd George and the part played by the government he led in reshaping the party system it is necessary to examine in more detail the political context of these years and the reasons why Lloyd George’s attempt to perpetuate the politics of coalitionism and national unity was ultimately doomed by developments external to the Coalition and by its disintegration from within.
