But nobody could have foreseen Mr. Lloyd George, and although
the victory of 1906 was not due to his leadership, no one can doubt that
it is his vigorous initiative in the direction of Socialism which
secured for his party the renewed confidence of the country.
* * * * *
Twelve years later another attempt to get administrative reform from the
Liberal Party was made on somewhat similar lines. The party had taken
office in December, 1905, and in the interval before the General
Election of 1906 gave them their unprecedented majority, "An Intercepted
Letter," adopted at a members' meeting in December, was published in the
"National Review" for January. It purported to be a circular letter
addressed by the Prime Minister to his newly appointed colleagues,
giving each of them in turn advice how to run his department. In this
case there was no necessity to suggest administrative reforms only. The
Liberals were certain of a majority, and they had no programme: they
were bound to win, not on their merits, but on the defects of their
opponents. The Letter, written by Webb in a rollicking style, to which
he rarely condescends, touched on each of the great departments of
Government, and advocated both the old policy of Trade Union hours and
wages, for which the new Prime Minister had made himself in 1893
personally responsible, but also all sorts of progressive measures,
graduated and differentiated income-tax for the Treasury, Compulsory
Arbitration in Labour Disputes for the Home Office--we discovered the
flaw in that project later--reform of Grants in Aid for the Local
Government Board, Wages Boards for Agriculture, and so on.
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