ABSTRACT
The Conservative Party had been the largest in the House since the spring of 1911; and its electoral chances would perhaps have been no more impaired by a break with Lloyd George in 1918 than were Labour's by its break with Churchill in 1945. Three days after the armistice of 11 November 1918 the Government announced that a General Election would take place on 14 December. It is usual to regard the decision of the Government to appeal to the country as a Coalition on the basis of its ultimately successful war record as peculiarly Lloyd George's. Conservative and Liberal candidates acceptable to Bonar Law and Lloyd George received an official letter signed by both leaders, as a means of ensuring that Conservatives would not vote against approved Coalition Liberal candidates and that Lloyd George-Liberal electors would vote for approved Conservatives.
