Sir William Sutherland, KCB, PC (4 March 1880 – 19 September 1949) was a Scottish civil servant, Liberal Party politician and colliery owner.

[10] From his administrative and then Parliamentary association with Lloyd George, Sutherland developed an increasingly close political connection to the Prime Minister.

Martin Pugh has called Sutherland "an unsavoury character" who, together with Maundy Gregory, Lloyd George used to raise money by lavishly dispensing honours at inflated prices [12] and he had a reputation for indulging in the good life by hawking baronetcies at London Clubs.

He understood that the old Liberal themes of education, Free trade and temperance had lost their resonance with the electorate.

Sutherland also participated in the building up of the Coalition Liberal organisation in the constituencies, particularly in Scotland [16] and took charge of the publicity programme.

[17] His warnings on the need to have good constituency organisation if the Lloyd George National Liberals were going to possess effective local influence went largely unheeded however.

[19] He built up useful relations with newspaper editors in order to promote Lloyd George's achievements and the record of the Coalition.

[20] In his role as go-between with Lloyd George and the journalists in the Lobby he acquired the nickname ‘Bronco Bill’ Sutherland (the media circus ringmaster in the age of the press lords) [21] and would allegedly invent damaging stories about Lloyd George's political opponents, which were then published in the press as genuine – although he was never named as the source.

[24] When Lloyd George became Prime Minister in December 1916, Sutherland accompanied him to 10 Downing Street in the role of private and press secretary.

It can have come as no surprise when, in 1918, Sutherland secured the nomination to fight the general election as Coalition Liberal candidate for Argyllshire.

[30] On appointment as a Lord of the Treasury (an office of profit under the Crown) in 1920, Sutherland was obliged under the constitutional requirements of the day to fight a by-election in Argyllshire.

He faced no opposition from his party's Unionist allies in the Coalition Government and the decision of the Independent Asquithian Liberals not to oppose him [31] enabled him to retain the seat in a straight fight with Labour, albeit with a reduced majority.