National Liberal Party (UK, 1922)

The overdue 1918 general election took place in the heady atmosphere of victory following the First World War and the desire for revenge against Germany and its allies.

The letters were all dated 20 November 1918 and were signed by Prime Minister David Lloyd George for the Coalition Liberals and Bonar Law, the Leader of the Conservative Party.

Yours truly, D. Lloyd George A. Bonar Law Some coalition candidates included the wording of the letter in their election addresses.

Lloyd George and the Conservative leader Bonar Law decided to continue the coalition after the end of the war.

The political landscape was changed once more when in late 1923 the new prime minister and Conservative Party leader Stanley Baldwin decided to call a general election to seek a mandate to abandon free trade and introduce tariffs.

However, the money that the Coalition Liberal/National Liberals had accumulated from the sale of honours and other donations to finance the party were retained by Lloyd George as a separate political fund.

Churchill would return to the House of Commons as a "Constitutionalist" at the 1924 general election and rejoined the Conservative Party the following year.

As Margaret Cole's memoir of the time makes clear, many competent and patriotic candidates who did not receive the 'coupon', including sitting Liberal and Labour MPs, found themselves categorised as somehow anti-war or pacifist as a result.

[7] Sir Percy Harris, who had been MP for Harborough since 1916 recorded that once the 'coupon' had been allocated to his Conservative opponent it was interpreted as a personal reflection upon him by his constituents who assumed he must have done something wrong for the Liberal prime minister to be seen offering his open support to a rival.

[8] Most historians have since agreed that the coupon essentially sealed the fate of those Liberals who were not fortunate enough to receive the Coalition's backing.

Those Liberals that Lloyd George chose to abandon were left defenceless against Coalition candidates, who had a full claim on the spirit of national unity and patriotism that characterised Britain's war weary mood following the end of hostilities.