Lloyd George: The People's Champion: 1902-1911 - Softcover

Grigg, John

Softcover

ISBN 10: 0140284257 ISBN 13: 9780140284256

Publisher: Penguin, 2002

Synopsis

In this second volume of John Grigg's great biography, Lloyd George moves from being the liveliest opposition back bencher to the most dynamic and controversial member of a grand Liberal government. The central drama is the constitutional conflict surrounding Lloyd George's 1909 budget, but there are many fascinating subplots including his difficulties with the suffragettes and with several individual women.

About this title

Review:

‘John Grigg is a biographer who loves his subject and captures him with artistry – a pleasure to read. He has given us the most intimate and subtly drawn portrait we have ever had of this remarkable man’
Paul Addison, New Statesman

From the Back Cover:

The third volume in John Grigg’s highly praised biography, opens with Lloyd George at the pinnacle of success and achievement. Yet, the following two years brought turmoil in both his personal and political life. His career was threatened by financial scandal, he entered a liaison with a woman half his age, and he was faced with fresh and demanding issues regarding Liberal social reform and the question of Irish settlement.

The outbreak of European war altered the whole course of his life and, as Minister of Munitions, he carried through what was almost another Industrial Revolution – and a social one as well. However, his imaginative views on strategy brought him into conflict with the professional warlords, and his advocacy of conscription outraged many of his Liberal colleagues. Eventually, his dissatisfaction with the higher direction of the war led to an act of revolt which brought down the Asquith government and resulted in his own appointment as Prime Minister. Grigg describes this momentous phase of his life with great drama and candour. He brings vividly to life a landmark era of British political and constitutional history and the man who shaped it.

“The forcefulness of Grigg’s writing makes this biography one of the very few books that are worth reading from cover to cover.”
NORMAN STONE, 'Sunday Times'

“This is the biography. The research is thorough, the writing is lively, and, above all, the stance is right.”
ASA BRIGGS,'Guardian'

“Lloyd George is extraordinarily lucky in his latest biographer. It is the measure of his rehabilitation that he can be weighed in the balance by such an exacting critic, found wanting in several important respects, and yet emerge with his human and political stature only enhanced.’
JOHN CAMPBELL,'The Times'

About this edition

• Publisher: Penguin
• Publication date: 2002
• ISBN 10: 0140284257
• ISBN 13: 9780140284256
• Binding: Paperback
• Number of pages: 400