ABSTRACT
Asquith spent his spare time arguing the orthodox advanced Liberal case before the Oxford Union of which he ultimately became president. It has been suggested that if the war had ended in 1915 Asquith would have been hailed as a national saviour. After some attempts at accommodation, Asquith resigned, possibly with the intention of seeking a fresh mandate from the King, or more probably because he realized that his position was no longer tenable. He had put Charles Hobhouse at the Treasury in 1908, partly as a safe pair of hands but partly to report back to him behind Lloyd George's back, and there is no doubt that the coalition chancellor, McKenna, did his best to turn Asquith against Lloyd George. A.G. Gardiner’s verdict that Asquith was a consummate political engineer, rather than a seer, is only partially justified. Like the generals, his reputation perished, though less deservedly so, on the battlefields of the First World War.
