ABSTRACT
The crisis which developed out of the Lloyd George Budget of 1909 seems absurdly disproportionate to its immediate cause. The tax proposals embodied in the Budget were modest in the extreme standards; even the much-abused provisions for the taxation of land values seem very small beer. Behind the struggle over the Budget there were other issues—notably the violent dislike of Irish Home Rule among both Tory landlords and Chamberlainite imperialists. For, any Liberal Government would have to depend for its majority on Labour and Irish Nationalist votes. The Labour Party came back in January, 1910, stronger than it had been in 1906—with 40 Members as against 30. But this apparent gain was entirely due to the transfer of the Miners’ Federation M.P.s from the Liberal to the Labour ranks. In 1906 the Labour Party had put up in all 56 candidates, and there had been 13 other Socialist and Labour men in the field.
