ABSTRACT
The 'official' Liberal Party of 33 MPs under the leadership of Herbert Samuel remained committed to free trade and ultimately left the National government in the wake of the Ottawa Agreement, as did Snowden. Once in Ottawa, although the Canadians were interested in discussing trade and monetary issues, British negotiators were successful in stifling the discussion of monetary issues at the Conference and kept the focus of the agenda on trade concessions. The Ottawa Conference had substantial political consequences at both the domestic and international level. Politically, divisions over implementing the Ottawa Agreements led to a decisive split in the Liberal Party, leading to its complete political marginalization. Internationally, the Ottawa Agreements had a mixed effect on British trading relations as they accelerated the international movement away from open markets and the consolidation of the world into separate trading blocs.
