Fourth Asquith ministry
The fourth Asquith ministry, a wartime coalition government, was formed by H. H. Asquith on 25 May 1915. The change of government resulted from attacks on the Asquith administration, and particularly on Winston Churchill, by the Conservatives in the aftermath of the Gallipoli disaster, and in the context of the Shell Crisis.[1] The new cabinet included nine Conservatives and one Labour member, but the Liberals continued to hold most of the important posts.[2] The Conservatives were not pleased with the offices they received and Tory leader Bonar Law became dissatisfied with Asquith and the Liberals' conduct of affairs. The government collapsed in December 1916 as a result of the resignation of the Conservatives, who refused to serve any longer under Asquith. Asquith and most of the Liberals then moved into opposition, while the Conservatives formed a new coalition with a minority of the Liberals, under the leadership of Liberal David Lloyd George on 6 December 1916.
List of Ministers
Members of the Cabinet are listed in bold.
References
- ↑ Rubinstein, William D. (2003). Twentieth-Century Britain: A Political History. Palgrave Macmillan. p. 78. ISBN 023062913X. Retrieved 7 March 2016.
- ↑ Rubinstein (2003), p. 79
Further reading
- Adams, Ralph J.Q. "Asquith's Choice: The May Coalition and the Coming of Conscription, 1915–1916." Journal of British Studies 25#3 (1986): 243–263.
- Butler, David and Gareth Butler. Twentieth Century British Political Facts, 1900–2000. (St. Martin's, 2000)
- Cawood, Ian, (10 May 2013), 'Liberal-Conservative Coalitions – ‘a farce and a fraud’?' History & Policy. online
- Gollin, Alfred, et al. "Freedom or Control in the First World War:(The Great Crisis of May 1915)." Historical Reflections/Réflexions Historiques (1976): 135–155. in JSTOR
- Grieves, Keith. The politics of manpower, 1914–18 (Manchester UP, 1988).
- McEwen, John M. "The Struggle for Mastery in Britain: Lloyd George versus Asquith, December 1916." Journal of British Studies 18#1 (1978): 131–156.
- McGill, Barry. "Asquith's Predicament, 1914–1918." Journal of Modern History 39.3 (1967): 283–303. in JSTOR
- Martin, Ged. "Asquith, the Maurice Debate and the Historians." Australian Journal of Politics & History 31.3 (1985): 435–444.
- Pugh, Martin D. "Asquith, Bonar Law and the First Coalition." Historical Journal 17#4 (1974): 813–836. in JSTOR
- Rothwell, Victor. British war aims and peace diplomacy, 1914-191 (Oxford UP, 1971).
- Searle, G. R. "Liberalism and the Great War." in Searle, The Liberal Party (Macmillan Education UK, 1992). 121–140.
| Preceded by Third Asquith ministry |
Government of the United Kingdom 1915–1916 |
Succeeded by First Lloyd George ministry |
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