542. Starmer Loses His Defence Secretary: What Next?
11 June 2026
Wonder what Lloyd George would have made of today’s Libs
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17 April 2011
Am in Belgium, and have just learned that Lloyd George used to stay in the very house where we are. Now there was a Liberal to be reckoned with.
I see some of the commentators are beginning to compare semi-detached Vince Cable with Clare Short in the Labour government. Anyone who has read my diaries will know this is not a comparison to be relished, either by former Saint Vince, or Messrs Clegg and Cameron. Could it even be the beginning of the end?
Meanwhile, we see Cameron planning to 'give' Clegg PR for the House of Lords if the AV campaign is defeated.
Nice to see all these issues being decided on principle and on the merits of the argument eh? Wonder what Lloyd George would have made of it. Can't see him taking to Clegg or Cable to be frank. I shall go and sit in the sunshine and see if his spirit lingers, and offers up any understanding of what the Liberals have become.
Maybe you need to do your research better. He has much in common with Clegg as both were willing to do deals with conservatives for power and the demise of their parties. Look who was in the Coalition cabinet with LG. A right lot of Tory upper class toffs such Birkenhead.
Dai Lloyd-George was a fascinating character, was Winny Churchills mentor, totally.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=K-tMu0gENvY
Dai, speeching,
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=p6k8-GV69no
Blimey, Belgium! Video alert!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IUNpvcfB0IQ
According to a newspaper report Mr Clegg is about to rebrand the Lib Dems. Even new name and logo could be on the cards. Why not the Conservatives and a tree?
Politician’s like Lloyd George conducted themselves in fashion that the public did not like.You seem to forget that during the period he was a post-war Prime Minister,he was not liked for making a peace in Ireland with people such as Michael Collins,the most wanted man in the empire.Many also thought if Ireland went the Empire would fall.The most important fact you forget is who he was in coalition with,the tories.Campell has to get to grip’s with a fact,if the lib dems had supported labour it would not have been democracy .Also the tories would have formed a minority government ,which would have been the right thing to do.Campell need’s to build a bridge a get over it
Somebody’s not going to like you whatever you do. It’s not enough to say Lloyd George wasn’t liked for making a peace in Ireland with people like Michael Collins. Michael Collins was and is a hero to a lot of people. You have to say who doesn’t like Lloyd George and why they don’t like him. You can’t say ‘the public’, since a sizeable proportion of ‘the public’ might have liked Lloyd George. Ditto Michael Collins – who wanted him for what? Also there is a degree of argument about the merits or otherwise of the British Empire, has been for decades, especially in Ireland.
If the Tories had formed a minority government last May they would not have had an overall majority in the Commons and so would have been unable to govern. Democracy isn’t just about mathematics.
Cable could simply be positioning himself for leadership of Lib Dems when Clegg eventually walks the floor to join the Tories.
You’re in Belgium? There’s a beer going if you want it. peteracbeckett@hotmail.com
Generations of us have sung “Lloyd George knew my father, father knew Lloyd George”.
Cleggover?
No comparison.
Like all politicians he would have said/done anything to gain/hold/hang on to the one thing that all you guys prize above all else: POWER. We, the electorate, should never be misled by their talk of public service, wanting to make a difference etc.
I come for an Irish Republican background.My grandfather hated Collins who he saw as a traitor for signing the treaty .Collins was anything but a hero, this is a man who saw fit during the civil war during the occupation of the four courts,to shell it , with many of those whom it fought alongside,Collins formed ‘The Squad’ an assassination squad ,whose most famously killed member’s of ‘The Cairo Gang’ who were British intelligence officers,this was done in retaliation over Bloody Sunday,when British soldiers a G.A.A. game .Sir Henry Wilson was sent to Dublin to deal with Collin’s.This all happened during ‘The War Of Independence’ .The fact is and he knew it he had a price on his head.Collins is not a hero he betrayed his own.Collins has been elevated far beyond what he should of been by that awful and inaccurate film.The tories could have formed an minority goverment.We here in Ireland have had a change of goverment after over ten year’s,during one of the count’s I was talking to a Fianna Fail tallyman he saud that the votes were just borrowed and they come back.I think that many Labour people can’t understand the fact that they were not wanted anymore.
They got rid of Menzies Campbell because they thought he was too old, so it’s unlikely that they’ll entertain Vince.
I think Chris Mullins’ diaries are something of an antidote to this kind of cynicism. There are and have been politicians and politicians and I don’t think it’s fair to brand them all as power-seekers and not much else. Nevertheless I certainly agree with your last sentence. Is this a first? I agree with something Richard said!
A sweetheart deal for Clegg. A bit of warm comfort from the ermine wrapped round him will do him fine.
I am not saying that,I am using it as an example.In Ireland ,I am Irish there was always an pro-treaty anti-treaty split .My family were anti-treaty my grandfather till the day he passed saw Collins as a traitor.He is no hero,this is a man who during’The Civil War’ when anti-treaty forces were occupying The Four Courts he feared Churchill so killed ex-comrades.Collins established ‘The Squad’ designed to assassinate, British agent’s in Dublin.The most famous being ‘The Cairo Gang’,14were killed six wounded in one night in revenge for Bloody Sunday.This was were the British army stormed a G.A.A. match.Collin’s and Richard Mulchay were the two main forces behind the I.R.A ‘.Collin’s is credited for the originator of guerrilla warfare.In 1920 the British had a bounty on his head of £10,000.When the treaty was signed Lloyd George said ,’that he had signed his own death warrant’,Collins replied,’I know I have signed mine’.It was the approaching end of Empire.The could have formed a minority government,though but could of happened.Politic’s is all about maths, more people voted for the tories than labour.It’s a fact.
You had to born in Wales to be accepted to the eisterddfodai, but Dai could not, since he was born in Manchester, unlike his wife, a true redded blood welsman, to her core, back into distant times of inner feeling,
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=z_BSfkTFQ4M
I think Lloyd George would ask Cleggy to pass the Wensleydale – get rid of that strong whiff of Tory Blue.