[3] The Prime Minister David Lloyd George appointed Geddes as head of a committee in August 1921 to find where cuts could be found in various government departments for 1922–23.
[4] The committee's terms of reference were: To make recommendations to the Chancellor of the Exchequer for effecting forthwith all possible reductions in the National Expenditure on Supply Services, having regard especially to the present and prospective position of the Revenue.
It was used in The Times in March 1923 in an article concerning the limit of safety of army cuts: "No fewer than 1,500 officers had fallen before the Geddes axe.
"[10] For a time the Geddes Axe became a metaphor for any change that improved efficiency or increased simplicity.
For instance, Rupert Gould in The Marine Chronometer (1923) wrote, The necessity for its maker, if he wishes to remain in business, to produce an efficient machine which shall at the same time be cheap, and therefore must be as simple as possible, has acted as a kind of "Geddes' Axe," sweeping away a number of inessential contrivances...