ABSTRACT
Karl Marx argued that universal suffrage would ensure the political supremacy of the working class in England in 1852. The franchise reforms of 1867 and 1884 appear, in retrospect, to be steps along the road to this goal, even if that was not the intention of their authors. The two coalition governments, formed with scarcely a reference to Parliament or people, were to destroy the pre-war structure of British politics, though that was not their intention. In theory, when peace returned, the followers of Asquith and Lloyd George would fight as one. When Bonar Law declined the royal invitation, Lloyd George was the man of the hour. He formed an administration with all-party support and set up a five-man War Cabinet of himself, Curzon, Bonar Law, Henderson and Milner. Having come to that conclusion, he added, the only thing to do 'as the leader of a democratic party' was to tell the people and invite their endorsement.
