ABSTRACT
The Government was compelled to conduct its major operations in the constricting atmosphere created by the Conservative threat from the Lords, and by growing industrial unrest. From the political point of view, the Conservatives' agitation against the Budget and their rejection of it in the Lords were a denial of the true principles of their party. Indeed, there are grounds for saying that, on the basis of the previous histories of the two major parties, the 1909 Budget was based on Conservative principles. Asquith then asked for a dissolution, appealing to the country on the combined issues of the Budget and the reduction of the power of the Lords. In great secrecy, various consultations took place between Asquith and the political opponents who so loudly abused him in public. Asquith's dilatoriness between 1912 and 1914 was certainly complacent; but it was also calculated.
