The Constitutional Crisis, 1909–11

The Liberal government’s attempt to find a solution to the problem of poverty through fiscal reform brought to a head a long-maturing conflict between the Liberal party and the House of Lords. When the Lords rejected Lloyd George’s ‘People’s Budget’ in November 1909, they ushered in a period of fierce political controversy which included two hard-fought general elections in 1910 and culminated in the struggle over the terms of the Parliament Act of 1911. In the course of this controversy, the futures of the government, the House of Lords, and even of the monarchy, were all, at various times, placed in jeopardy. Even the resolution of the crisis by the passage of the Parliament Act did not end altogether the political and constitutional turmoil, which continued to influence public affairs until the outbreak of war in 1914. This chapter will examine the origins of the constitutional crisis, describe the course which it took and discuss its outcome. In assessing its significance, an attempt will be made to decide whether, as Dangerfield believed, the crisis was symptomatic of growing extremism and loss of control in public life, or whether, for all its undoubted ferocity, it represented an ultimate victory for the parliamentary system of government and the values of democratic debate.