This shift was best exemplified by the Liberal government of Herbert Henry Asquith and his Chancellor David Lloyd George, whose Liberal reforms in the early 1900s created a basic welfare state.

Although he presided over a large majority, Sir Henry Campbell-Bannerman was overshadowed by his ministers, most notably Herbert Henry Asquith at the Exchequer, Edward Grey at the Foreign Office, Richard Burdon Haldane at the War Office and David Lloyd George at the Board of Trade.

He was succeeded by Asquith, who stepped up the government's radicalism.

Lloyd George succeeded Asquith at the Exchequer, and was in turn succeeded at the Board of Trade by Winston Churchill, a recent defector from the Conservatives.

As a result Asquith was forced to introduce a new third Home Rule bill in 1912.

Asquith and his followers moved to the opposition benches in Parliament and the Liberal Party was split once again.

Lloyd George and the Conservative leader Andrew Bonar Law wrote a joint letter of support to candidates to indicate they were considered the official Coalition candidates – this " coupon " as it became known was issued against many sitting Liberal MPs, often to devastating effect, though not against Asquith himself.

The Third Home Rule Bill was introduced by British Prime Minister H. H. Asquith in 1912.

As a result, Herbert was offered the crown of Albania, but was dissuaded by the British Prime Minister, H. H. Asquith, from accepting.

In his first major speech after he had lost his seat in the 1918 general election, Asquith said: " That is the purpose and the spirit of Liberalism, as I learned it as a student in my young days, as I was taught it both by the precept and the example of the great Liberal statesman Mr Gladstone ... that remains the same today.

The King was displeased at Liberal attacks on the peers, including Lloyd George's Limehouse speech and Churchill's public demand for a general election ( for which Asquith apologised to the King's adviser Lord Knollys and rebuked Churchill at a Cabinet meeting ).

He was so depressed at the tone of class warfare – although Asquith told him that party rancour had been just as bad over the First Home Rule Bill in 1886 – that he introduced the Prince of Wales to War Minister Haldane as " the last King of England ".

At this time the Liberal Party was badly split as Herbert Henry Asquith, Richard Burdon Haldane and others were supporters of the war and formed the Liberal Imperial League.

Although old-age pensions had already been introduced by Asquith as Chancellor, Lloyd George was largely responsible for the introduction of state financial support for the sick and infirm ( known colloquially as " going on the Lloyd George " for decades afterwards ) — legislation often referred to as the Liberal reforms.

The weakness of Asquith as a planner and organiser was increasingly apparent to senior officials.

Asquith was forced out in December 1916, with the war still raging and almost two years from its end, and Lloyd George became Prime Minister, with the nation demanding he take charge of the war in vigorous fashion.

( The independent Liberal parliamentary leadership was briefly taken over by the unknown Donald Maclean until Asquith, who had lost his seat like other leading Liberals, returned to the House at a by-election ).

Before the 1923 election, he resolved his dispute with Asquith, allowing the Liberals to run a united ticket against Stanley Baldwin's policy of tariffs ( although there was speculation that Baldwin had adopted such a policy in order to forestall Lloyd George from doing so ).

) The Prime Minister, Herbert Henry Asquith, was sympathetic to Kitchener but was unwilling to overrule Morley, who threatened resignation, so Kitchener was finally turned down for the post of Viceroy of India in 1911.

At the outset of World War I, the Prime Minister, Asquith, quickly had Lord Kitchener appointed Secretary of State for War ; Asquith had been filling the job himself as a stopgap following the resignation of Colonel Seeley over the Curragh Incident earlier in 1914, and Kitchener was by chance briefly in Britain on leave when war was declared.

This coalition fell apart at the end of 1916, when the Conservatives withdrew their support from Asquith and gave it to Lloyd George instead, who became Prime Minister at the head of a coalition government largely made up of Conservatives.

Almost one hundred years later, Prime Minister Herbert Asquith made the same point in his memoirs:

Asquith replied to this speech at the National Liberal Club: "... keep faithful to your old traditions ... Think, in a situation such as this, and with appeals such as those which have been made to our fellow Liberals outside, what would have been the attitude of Mr Gladstone.

The King's Speech from the Throne ( 21 February 1910 ) made reference to introducing measures restricting the Lords ' power of veto to one of delay, but Asquith inserted a phrase " in the opinion of my advisers " so the King could be seen to be distancing himself from the planned legislation.

Asquith at first accepted, on condition that the committee reported to him daily and that he was allowed to attend if he chose, but then – furious at a Times editorial that made it clear that he was being sidelined – withdrew his consent unless he were allowed to chair the committee personally.

Two attempts were made by the Prime Minister H. H. Asquith during World War I to implement the Third Home Rule Act, first in May 1916 which failed on reaching agreement with Unionist Ulster, then again in 1917 with the calling of the Irish Convention chaired by Horace Plunkett.

Law made it clear to Asquith that the first two options were unacceptable, but the third may be accepted in some circles.

Carson always referred to the nine counties of Ulster, but Law told Asquith that if an appropriate settlement could be made with a smaller number Carson " would see his people and probably, though I could not give any promise to that effect, try to induce them to accept it ".

The third meeting was on 10 December and Law, angry that Asquith had not yet presented a concrete way to exclude Ulster, made little progress.

On 4 August both Asquith and Law made speeches together at the Middlesex Guildhall, and uncomfortably socialised with each other's parties.

Law eventually accepted the post of Colonial Secretary, an unimportant post in wartime ; Asquith had made it clear that he would not allow a Conservative minister to head the Exchequer, and that with Kitchener ( whom he considered a Conservative ) in the War Office, he would not allow another Conservative to hold a similarly important position.

When she was just fourteen years old, The Times ( reporting on her recovery from pneumonia ) stated that " many members of the House have made the acquaintance of Miss Asquith and in expressing their concern for her health, have referred to her charm of manner and to the interest which she has begun already to show in political matters.

Two attempts were made by the H. H. Asquith to implement the Third Home Rule Act during the war, first in May 1916 which failed on reaching agreement with Unionist Ulster, then again in 1917 with the calling of the Irish Convention chaired by Horace Plunkett.

While Lloyd-George also waited a similar period, most offers have been made and accepted shortly after retirement such as the Earls of Oxford and Asquith, Baldwin, Attlee and Avon.

The play was later made into a famous 1948 film directed by Anthony Asquith, starring Robert Donat as Sir Robert Morton KC, Sir Cedric Hardwicke as Arthur Winslow, and Margaret Leighton as Catherine Winslow.

His practice grew from about 1900 and made a favourable impression when appearing before future Prime Minister of the United Kingdom H. H. Asquith who was sitting as an arbitrator.

A film adaptation of the play, with the same title, was made in 1958, directed by Anthony Asquith, starring Leslie Caron and Dirk Bogarde.

It was made into a film in 1940, directed by Anthony Asquith and starring Ray Milland.

In 1925 he was raised to the peerage as Viscount Asquith of Morley in the West Riding of the County of York and Earl of Oxford and Asquith.

## Viscount Asquith, eldest son of the Earl of Oxford

## Viscount Asquith, eldest son of the Earl of Oxford

The heir apparent is the present holder's only son, Mark Julian Asquith, Viscount Asquith ( b. 1979 ).

The latter year he was raised to the peerage as Viscount Wolverhampton, of Wolverhampton in the County of Stafford, and served under Asquith as Lord President of the Council until 1910.

* Mark Julian Asquith, the present Viscount Asquith

Haldane ( 1892 – 1964 ), but in her youth her paternal uncle Richard Burdon Haldane, 1st Viscount Haldane, twice Lord Chancellor ( from 1912-1915 under Herbert Henry Asquith, and in 1924 during the first Labour government of Ramsay Macdonald ), was better known.

Ennobled as Viscount Althorp in 1905, he was Lord Chamberlain from 1905 to 1912 in the Liberal administrations headed by Sir Henry Campbell-Bannerman and H. H. Asquith.

* Viscount Herbert Henry Asquith, former Prime Minister