title: H. H. Asquith

text: The outcome of the interview between Law and Asquith was clear, even if Law had not been. Asquith immediately decided that an accommodation with Lloyd George, and a substantial reconstruction to placate the Unionist ministers, were required. He summoned Lloyd George and together they agreed a compromise that was, in fact, little different from Lloyd George's 1 December proposals. The only substantial amendment was that Asquith would have daily oversight of the War Council's work and a right of veto. John Grigg saw this compromise as "very favourable to Asquith". Cassar is less certain: "The new formula left him in a much weaker position[, his] authority merely on paper for he was unlikely to exercise his veto lest it bring on the collective resignation of the War Council." Nevertheless, Asquith, Lloyd George, and Law who had rejoined them at 5.00 pm, all felt a basis for a compromise had been reached, and they agreed that Asquith would issue a bulletin that evening announcing the reconstruction of the Government. Crewe, who joined Asquith at Montagu's house at 10.00 p.m., recorded: "accommodation with Mr. Lloyd George would ultimately be achieved, without sacrifice of (Asquith's) position as chief of the War Committee; a large measure of reconstruction would satisfy the Unionist Ministers."


title: H. H. Asquith

text: Despite Lloyd George's denials of collaboration, the diary for 3 December by Northcliffe's factotum Tom Clarke, records that: "The Chief returned to town and at 7.00 o'clock he was at the War Office with Lloyd George." Meanwhile, Duff Cooper was invited to dinner at Montagu's Queen Anne's Gate house, he afterwards played bridge with Asquith, Venetia Montagu and Churchill's sister-in-law "Goonie", recording in his diary : "..the P.M. more drunk than I have ever seen him, (..) so drunk that one felt uncomfortable … an extraordinary scene."


title: H. H. Asquith

text: The bulletin was published on the morning of Monday 4 December. It was accompanied by an avalanche of press criticism, all of it intensely hostile to Asquith. The worst was a leader in Northcliffe's "Times". This had full details of the compromise reached the day before, including the names of those suggested as members of the War Council. More damagingly still, it ridiculed Asquith, claiming he had conspired in his own humiliation and would henceforth be "Prime Minister in name only." Lloyd George's involvement is uncertain; he denied any, but Asquith was certain he was the source. The author was certainly the editor, Geoffrey Dawson, with some assistance from Carson. But it seems likely that Carson's source was Lloyd George.


title: H. H. Asquith

text: The leak prompted an immediate reaction from Asquith: "Unless the impression is at once corrected that I am being relegated to the position of an irresponsible spectator of the War, I cannot possibly go on." Lloyd George's reply was prompt and conciliatory: "I cannot restrain nor I fear influence Northcliffe. I fully accept in letter and in spirit your summary of the suggested arrangement—subject of course to personnel." But Asquith's mind was already turning to rejection of the Sunday compromise and outright confrontation with Lloyd George.


title: H. H. Asquith

text: It is unclear exactly whom Asquith spoke with on 4 December. Beaverbrook and Crewe state he met Chamberlain, Curzon and Cecil. Cassar follows these opinions, to a degree. But Chamberlain himself was adamant that he and his colleagues met Asquith only once during the crisis and that was on the following day, Tuesday 5 December. Chamberlain wrote at the time, "On Tuesday afternoon the Prime Minister sent for Curzon, Bob Cecil and myself. This is the first and only time the three of us met Asquith during those fateful days." His recollection is supported by details of their meetings with Law and other colleagues, in the afternoon, and then in the evening of the 4th, and by most modern historians, e.g. Gilmour and Adams. Crawford records how little he and his senior Unionist colleagues were involved in the key discussions, and by implication, how much better informed were the press lords, writing in his diary: "We were all in such doubt as to what had actually occurred, and we sent out for an evening paper to see if there was any news!" Asquith certainly did meet his senior Liberal colleagues on the evening of 4 December; they were unanimously opposed to compromise with Lloyd George and supported Asquith's growing determination to fight. His way forward had been cleared by his tendering the resignation of his government to the King earlier in the day. Asquith also saw Law, who confirmed that he would resign if Asquith failed to implement the War Council agreement as discussed only the day before. In the evening, and having declined two requests for meetings, Asquith threw down the gauntlet to Lloyd George by rejecting the War Council proposal.


title: H. H. Asquith

text: Lloyd George accepted the challenge by return of post, writing: "As all delay is fatal in war, I place my office without further parley at your disposal." Asquith had anticipated this response, but was surprised by a letter from Arthur Balfour, who until that point had been removed from the crisis by illness. On its face, this letter merely offered confirmation that Balfour believed that Lloyd George's scheme for a smaller War Council deserved a chance and that he had no wish to remain at the Admiralty if Lloyd George wished him out. Jenkins argues that Asquith should have recognised it as a shift of allegiance. Asquith discussed the crisis with Lord Crewe and they agreed an early meeting with the Unionist ministers was essential. Without their support, "it would be impossible for Asquith to continue."


title: H. H. Asquith

text: Asquith's meeting with Chamberlain, Curzon and Cecil at 3.00 p.m. only highlighted the weakness of his position. They unanimously declined to serve in a Government that did not include Law and Lloyd George, as a Government so constituted offered no "prospect of stability". Their reply to Asquith's follow-up question as to whether they would serve under Lloyd George caused him even more concern. The "Three Cs" stated they would serve under Lloyd George if he could create the stable Government they considered essential for the effective prosecution of the war. The end was near, and a further letter from Balfour declining to reconsider his earlier decision brought it about. The Home Secretary, Herbert Samuel, recorded in a contemporaneous note: "We were all strongly of opinion, from which [Asquith] did not dissent, that there was no alternative [to resignation]. We could not carry on without LlG and the Unionists and ought not to give the appearance of wishing to do so." At 7.00 pm, having been Prime Minister for eight years and 241 days, Asquith went to Buckingham Palace and tendered his resignation. Describing the event to a friend sometime later, Asquith wrote, "When I fully realised what a position had been created, I saw that I could not go on without dishonour or impotence, or both." That evening, he dined at Downing Street with family and friends, his daughter-in-law Cynthia describing the scene: "I sat next to the P.M.—he was too darling—rubicund, serene, puffing a guinea cigar and talking of going to Honolulu." Cynthia believed that he would be back "in the saddle" within a fortnight with his position strengthened.


title: H. H. Asquith

text: Later that evening Law, who had been to the Palace to receive the King's commission, arrived to enquire whether Asquith would serve under him. Lord Crewe described Asquith's reply as "altogether discouraging, if not definitely in the negative."


title: H. H. Asquith

text: Wednesday saw an afternoon conference at Buckingham Palace, hosted by the King and chaired by Balfour. There is some doubt as to the originator of the idea, although Adams considers that it was Law. This is supported by a handwritten note of Aitken's, reproduced in A.J.P. Taylor's life of that politician, which reads: "6th Wed. Meeting at BL house with G. (Lloyd George) and C. (Carson)—Decide on Palace Conference." Conversely, Crewe suggests that the suggestion came jointly from Lord Derby and Edwin Montagu. However it came about, it did not bring the compromise the King sought. Within two hours of its break-up, Asquith, after consulting his Liberal colleagues, except for Lloyd George, declined to serve under Law, who accordingly declined the King's commission. At 7.00 pm. Lloyd George was invited to form a Government. In just over twenty four hours he had done so, forming a small War Cabinet instead of the mooted War Council, and at 7.30 p.m. on Thursday 7 December he kissed hands as Prime Minister. His achievement in creating a government was considerable, given that almost all of the senior Liberals sided with Asquith. Balfour's acceptance of the Foreign Office made it possible. Others placed a greater responsibility on Asquith as the author of his own downfall, for example Churchill: "A fierce, resolute Asquith, fighting with all his powers would have conquered easily. But the whole trouble arose from the fact that there was no fierce resolute Asquith to win this war or any other."


title: H. H. Asquith

text: The Asquiths finally vacated 10 Downing Street on 9 December. Asquith, not normally given to displays of emotion, confided to his wife that he felt he had been stabbed. He likened himself (10 December) to the Biblical character Job, although he also commented that Aristide Briand's government was also under strain in France. Lord Newton wrote in his diary of meeting Asquith at dinner a few days after the fall, "It became painfully evident that he was suffering from an incipient nervous breakdown and before leaving the poor man completely collapsed." Asquith was particularly appalled at Balfour's behaviour, especially as he had argued against Lloyd George to retain Balfour at the Admiralty. Writing years later, Margot's spleen was still evident: "between you and me, this is what hurt my husband more than anything else. That Lloyd George (a Welshman!) should betray him, he dimly did understand, but that Arthur should join his enemy and help to ruin him, he never understood."


title: H. H. Asquith

text: Asquith's fall was met with rejoicing in much of the British and Allied press and sterling rallied against the German mark on the New York markets. Press attacks on Asquith continued and indeed increased after the publication of the Dardanelles Report.


title: H. H. Asquith

text: Like Sir Robert Peel after 1846, Asquith after 1916 still controlled the party machinery and resented those who had ousted him, but showed no real interest in reuniting his party. Asquith did not put any pressure on Liberals to eschew joining the coalition government; in fact, though, few Liberals did join it. Most Liberal parliamentarians remained intensely loyal to him, and felt that he alone should not be left to face the criticism. On 8 December a gathering of Liberal MPs gave Asquith a vote of confidence as Leader of the Liberal Party, followed unanimously a few days later by the executive of the National Liberal Federation. There was much hostility to Lloyd George at these gatherings.


title: H. H. Asquith

text: Within Parliament, Asquith pursued a course of quiet support, retaining a "heavy, continuing responsibility for the decision of August 4, 1914." A. G. Gardiner in "The Daily News" (9 December) stated explicitly that Lloyd George's government should not have to live under the constant barrage of criticism that Asquith's coalition had endured. In a "gracious" reply to Lloyd George's first speech in the House of Commons as Prime Minister on 19 December 1916, Asquith made clear that he did not see his role "in any sense to be the leader of what is called an opposition". From around the spring of 1917 Asquith's reluctance to criticise the government at all began to exasperate some of his press supporters.


title: H. H. Asquith

text: Outside of the Commons, Margot and he returned to 20 Cavendish Square and he divided his life between there, The Wharf and visiting. Money, in the absence of his premier's salary, became more of a concern. In March 1917 he was informally offered the Lord Chancellorship, with the highest salary in government, but he declined. Personal sadness continued in December 1917 when Asquith's third son Arthur, known in the family as "Oc", was badly wounded fighting in France; his leg was amputated in January 1918. Asquith's daughter-in-law recorded in her diary, "The Old Boy (Asquith) sent me fifteen pounds and also, in a letter, told me the sad news of poor, dear Oc having been badly wounded again."


title: H. H. Asquith

text: On 7 May 1918 a letter from a serving officer, Major-General Sir Frederick Maurice appeared in four London newspapers, accusing Lloyd George and Law of having misled the House of Commons in debates the previous month as to the manpower strength of the army in France. Asquith, who received a letter from Maurice on 6 May, and had also been in contact with the sacked Robertson, with whom Maurice discussed the letter, called for a Select Committee of the House to investigate the charges. In response to a private notice question, Law had offered a judicial inquiry, with Asquith free to choose the judges, but Asquith declined this offer on the evening of 7 May, thinking it contrary to the dignity of Parliament. Prior to the debate, he received a surprising communication (8 May) from H. A. Gwynne, the editor of "The Morning Post", and previously a fervent opponent. "The effect of the Maurice letter, and your motion, must be the dissolution of the present government (and) your accession to power." At this point "Asquith hated Lloyd George with a passion" but he did not want the premiership for himself. Asquith's opening speech on the Select Committee motion was lengthy and lacked punch. Bridgeman recorded, "He did not make much of a case, and did not even condemn Maurice's breach of the King's Regulations, for which he got a very heavy blow from L.G.". Lloyd George's one and a quarter-hour long reply was "a stunning solo display by the greatest rhetorician of his age" in which he threatened the House with the inevitable political consequence of a vote for Asquith's motion. "... if this motion is carried, he [Asquith] will again be responsible for the conduct of the War. Make no mistake!" John Ramsden summed up the opinion in the House of Commons: "Lloyd George's lies were (preferred to) Asquith's half-measures." The motion was defeated by 293 votes to 106, more an "utter rejection of Asquith, than (a) wholehearted endorsement of Lloyd George", and the latter's position in Parliament was not seriously threatened for the remainder of the War.


title: H. H. Asquith

text: Asquith was left politically discredited by the Maurice Debate and by the clear turn of the war in the Allies' favour from the summer of 1918. He devoted far more effort to his Romanes Lecture "Some Aspects of the Victorian Age" at Oxford in June 1918 than to any political speech. However, Lady Ottoline Morrell thought it "a dull address". A letter of July 1918 describes a typical couple of days. "Nothing much is happening here. I dined with the usual crowd at Mrs. Astor's last night. The Duke of Connaught lunches here on Friday: don't you wish you were coming!"


title: H. H. Asquith

text: The beginning of the end of the war began where it had begun, with the last German offensive on the Western Front, the Second Battle of the Marne. "The tide of German success was stemmed and the ebb began under pressure of the great Allied counter-stroke." In response to the Allied offensives, "the governments of the Central Powers were everywhere in collapse".


title: H. H. Asquith

text: Even before the Armistice, Lloyd George had been considering the political landscape and, on 2 November 1918, wrote to Law proposing an immediate election with a formal endorsement—for which Asquith coined the name "Coupon", with overtones of wartime food rationing—for Coalition candidates. News of his plans soon reached Asquith, causing considerable concern. On 6 November he wrote to Hilda Henderson, "I suppose that tomorrow we shall be told the final decision about this accursed election." A Liberal delegation met Lloyd George in the week of 6 November to propose Liberal reunification but was swiftly rebuffed.


title: H. H. Asquith

text: Asquith joined in the celebrations of the Armistice, speaking in the Commons, attending the service of thanksgiving at St Margaret's, Westminster and afterwards lunching with King George. Asquith had a friendly meeting with Lloyd George a few days after the Armistice (the exact date is unclear), which Lloyd George began by saying "I understand you don't wish to join the government." Asquith was instead keen to go to the Peace Conference, where he considered his expertise at finance and international law would have been an asset. As he refused to accept public subordination, Lloyd George, despite lobbying from the King and Churchill, refused to invite him.


title: H. H. Asquith

text: Asquith led the Liberal Party into the election, but with a singular lack of enthusiasm, writing on 25 November: "I doubt whether there is much interest. The whole thing is a wicked fraud." The Liberal leaders expected to lose the 1918 election badly, as they had lost the "Khaki Election" in 1900, but did not foresee the sheer scale of the defeat. Asquith hoped for 100 Liberal MPs to be returned. He began by attacking the Conservatives, but was eventually driven to attack the "blank cheque" which the government was demanding.


title: H. H. Asquith

text: Asquith was one of five people given a free pass by the Coalition but the East Fife Unionist Association defied national instructions and put up a candidate, Alexander Sprot, against him. Sprot was refused a Coalition "coupon". Asquith assumed his own seat would be safe and spent only two and half days there, speaking only to closed meetings; in one speech there on 11 December he conceded that he did not want to "displace" the current government. He scoffed at press rumours that he was being barracked by a gang of discharged soldiers. Postwar reconstruction, the desire for harsh peace terms, and Asquith's desire to attend the peace talks, were campaign issues, with posters asking: "Asquith nearly lost you the War. Are you going to let him spoil the Peace?" James Scott, his chairman at East Fife, wrote of "a swarm of women going from door to door indulging in a slander for which they had not a shadow of proof. This was used for such a purpose as to influence the female vote very much against you."


title: H. H. Asquith

text: At the poll on 14 December, Lloyd George's coalition won a landslide, with Asquith and every other former Liberal Cabinet minister losing his seat. Margot later recorded having telephoned Liberal headquarters for the results: "Give me the East Fife figures: Asquith 6994—Sprott ["sic"] 8996." She said she had exclaimed "Asquith beat? … Thank God!" Augustine Birrell also wrote to him "You are surely better off out of it for the time, than watching Ll.G. lead apes to Hell". But for Asquith personally, "the blow was crippling, a personal humiliation which destroyed his hope of exercising any influence on the peace settlement."


title: H. H. Asquith

text: Asquith remained leader of the Liberal Party, despite McKenna vainly urging him, almost immediately after the election, to offer his resignation to the National Liberal Federation and help with building an alliance with Labour. At first Asquith was extremely unpopular, and there is no evidence that he was invited to address any Liberal Association anywhere in the country for the first six months of 1919. He continued to be calumnied in the press and Parliament over the supposed presence of Germans in Downing Street during the war.


title: H. H. Asquith

text: Although accounts differ as to the exact numbers, around 29 uncouponed Liberals had been elected, only three with any junior ministerial experience, not all of them opponents of the coalition. There was widespread discontent at Asquith's leadership, and Sir T. A. Bramsdon, who said that he had been elected at Portsmouth only by promising "not" to support Asquith, protested openly at his remaining leader from outside the Commons. At first Lloyd George extended the government whip to "all" Liberal MPs. On 3 February 23 non-coalition Liberals formed themselves into a "Free Liberal" group (soon known as the "Wee Frees" after a Scottish religious sect of that name); they accepted Asquith's appointment of Sir Donald Maclean as chairman in his absence but insisted that G.R. Thorne, whom Asquith had appointed Chief Whip, hold that job jointly with J.M. Hogge, of whom Asquith and Maclean had a low opinion. After a brief attempt to set up a joint committee with the Coalition Liberal MPs to explore reunion, the "Wee Frees" resigned the government whip on 4 April, although some Liberal MPs still remained of uncertain allegiance. The Liberals won by-elections in March and April 1919, but thereafter Labour performed better than the Liberals in by-elections.


title: H. H. Asquith

text: In April 1919 Asquith gave a weak speech to Liberal candidates, his first public speech since the election. In Newcastle (15 May) he gave a slightly stronger speech, encouraged by his audience to "Hit Out!" Asquith was also disappointed by the "terms and spirit" of the Treaty of Versailles in May, but did not oppose it very strongly in public. On 31 July 1919, after a lunch in honour of former Supreme Allied Commander Ferdinand Foch, Asquith wrote "he talked a lot of nonsense about Germany sinking never to rise again."


title: H. H. Asquith

text: In August 1919 Asquith was asked to preside over a Royal Commission into the Universities of Oxford and Cambridge, although the report when it came was, in line with Asquith's own academic views, somewhat conservative. The commission began hearings in January 1920; many dons would have preferred Haldane as chair. Asquith's public rehabilitation continued with the receipt in late 1919 of the 1914 Star, the British War Medal and the Victory Medal, honours which the War Office, under Churchill, had originally intended only to be awarded to Lloyd George, until the King insisted Asquith receive them also.


title: H. H. Asquith

text: Maclean and others urged Asquith to stand in the Spen Valley by-election in December 1919, but it is unclear whether he ever considered the idea. This was just as well, as it had become clear that Labour were going to fight the seat hard and they defeated Sir John Simon when Lloyd George insisted on splitting the Liberal vote by running a Coalition Liberal candidate.


title: H. H. Asquith

text: By the autumn of 1919 J.M. Hogge was openly critical of Asquith's leadership, and by January 1920 it was rumoured that he had given Asquith an ultimatum that unless he returned to Parliament in a by-election the Independent Liberal MPs would repudiate him as their leader (had he lost a by-election, his position would have been untenable anyway, as he well knew).


title: H. H. Asquith

text: In January 1920, an opportunity arose at Paisley, in Scotland like his previous seat, after the death of the Liberal MP. The Liberals had held the seat by only 106 votes in 1918. Asquith's adoption was not a foregone conclusion: the local Association was split between pro- and anti-coalition factions, and he was selected by a vote of 20:17 by the executive and then 92:75 of the wider members. He was formally adopted on 21 January 1920 and soon united the local Liberal Association behind him. Asquith was lukewarm at the thought of returning to Scotland, and regarded his gamble with trepidation, although he grew more confident as the campaign progressed. Travelling with Margot, his daughter Violet and a small staff, Asquith directed most of his campaign not against Labour, who were already in second place, but against the Coalition, calling for a less harsh line on German reparations and the Irish War of Independence. Some "thought fit to compare [the campaign] with Gladstone's Midlothian campaign, although Asquith himself was more circumspect.


title: H. H. Asquith

text: The result was stupendous, with Asquith defeating his Labour opponent by a majority of over 2000 votes, with the Coalition candidate a very poor third. Violet was ecstatic: "every star in the political skies favoured Father when we left Paisley, he became there what he has never before been in his life, the 'popular' candidate, the darling of the crowd." The poll was up by 8,000 from 1918. Asquith's surprise victory was helped by the support of the press baron Lord Rothermere.


title: H. H. Asquith

text: He was seen off by tumultuous crowds at Glasgow, and greeted by further crowds at Euston the next morning, and along the road on his first return to Parliament. However, he received only a chilly greeting inside the Chamber, and no personal congratulations from Coalition politicians, except from Lord Cave, who was later to defeat him for the Chancellorship of Oxford University in 1925.


title: H. H. Asquith

text: Paisley was a false dawn, for the Liberals and for Asquith personally. Jenkins wrote that "The post-war Liberal day never achieved more than a grey and short-lived light. By 1924, it was dusk again. By 1926, for Asquith, it was political night." Maurice Cowling characterised Asquith at this time as "a dignified wreck, neither effective in the House of Commons nor attractive as a public reputation, (who) drank too much and (who) had lost touch with the movement of events and the spirit of the time."


title: H. H. Asquith

text: Money, or its lack, also became an increasing concern. Margot's extravagance was legendary and Asquith was no longer earning either the legal fees or the prime ministerial salary they had enjoyed in earlier years. Additionally, there were on-going difficulties with Margot's inheritance. In 1920, as an economy measure, 20 Cavendish Square was sold to Viscountess Cowdray and Asquith and Margot moved to 44, Bedford Square.


title: H. H. Asquith

text: Criticism of Asquith's weak leadership continued. Lloyd George's mistress Frances Stevenson wrote (18 March) that he was "finished … no fight left in him"; the press baron Lord Rothermere, who had supported him at Paisley, wrote on 1 April of his "obvious incapacity for the position he is expected to fill". In fact Asquith spoke in the House of Commons far more frequently than he had ever previously done when not a minister. He also spoke frequently around the country, in June 1921 topping the Liberal Chief Whip's list of the most active speakers. The issue was the quality of his contributions. Asquith still maintained friendly relations with Lloyd George, although Margot made no secret of her enmity for him.


title: H. H. Asquith

text: Until the Paisley by-election Asquith had accepted that the next government must be some kind of Liberal-Labour coalition, but Labour had distanced themselves because of his policies on the mines, the Russo-Polish War, education, the prewar secret treaties and the suppression of the Easter Rebellion. The success of Anti-Waste League candidates at by-elections made leading Liberals feel that there was a strong anti-Coalition vote which might be tapped by a wider-based and more credible opposition. By late June 1921 Asquith's leadership was still under strong attack from within the Wee Free group, although Frances Stevenson's claim in her diary that most of them now wanted Lloyd George as their leader is not corroborated by the report in "The Times". Lord Robert Cecil, a moderate and pro-League of Nations Conservative, had been having talks with Edward Grey about a possible coalition, and Asquith and leading Liberals Crewe, Runciman and Maclean had a meeting with them on 5 July 1921, and two subsequent ones. Cecil wanted a genuine coalition rather than a "de facto" Liberal government, with Grey rather than Asquith as Prime Minister, but the Liberals did not, and little came of the plans.


title: H. H. Asquith

text: Asquith did fiercely oppose "the hellish policy of reprisals" in Ireland, impressing the young Oswald Mosley. J.M. Hogge even urged Sir Donald Maclean (31 August) to "knock Asquith into the middle of next week" and seize back the chairmanship of the Liberal MPs. Late in 1921 the National Liberal Federation adopted an industrial programme without Asquith's agreement. On 24 October 1921 Asquith commented "if one tries to strike a bold true note half one's friends shiver and cower, and implore one not to get in front of the band".


title: H. H. Asquith

text: In January 1922 C.P. Scott of the "Manchester Guardian" told Asquith that he supported a centre-left grouping, but only if moderate Labour was included—in reality Labour leaders were unable to deliver the support of their local members for such a realignment. Asquith achieved more success with a major speech at Westminster Central Hall in January 1922, in reply to a speech by Lloyd George a few days earlier. Asquith had with some difficulty been persuaded to make the maximum possible reference to his renewed alliance with Grey, but Haldane had refused to join the platform. Five days later Churchill replied with a pro-Coalition speech in which he accused Asquith and other Liberals of having "stood carefully aside" during the war, causing deep offence.


title: H. H. Asquith

text: By the summer of 1922 Asquith's interest in politics was at a very low ebb. He was observed to be "very heavily loaded" and was helped up the stairs by Lloyd George at a party of Sir Philip Sassoon's on 16 July 1922, whilst his reputation was further damaged by his portrayal in Aldous Huxley's novel "Crome Yellow" and by the publication of the first volume of Margot's memoirs, which sold well in the UK and the USA, but were thought an undignified way for a former Prime Minister to make money. On 13 September 1922 Sir Donald Maclean told Harold Laski that Asquith was devoted to bridge and small talk and did not do enough real work. Asquith was increasingly attracted by the thought of making money from writing, with Churchill doing very well from his "The World Crisis" and Lloyd George rumoured to be being paid handsomely for his memoirs (which in the event did not appear until the mid-1930s). Asquith's books "The Genesis of the War" finally appeared in September 1923 and "Studies and Sketches" in 1924. His second son Herbert recorded, "A large part of my father's later years was occupied with authorship and it was during this period that he wrote most of his longer books."


title: H. H. Asquith

text: Asquith played no part in Lloyd George's fall from power in October 1922, which happened because the rank-and-file majority of his Conservative coalition partners, led by Stanley Baldwin and Lloyd George's former colleague Law, deserted him. Law formed a purely Conservative government, and the following month, at the 1922 general election, Asquith ceased to be Leader of the Opposition as more Labour MPs were elected than the two Liberal factions combined. 138 Labour members outnumbered the combined Liberal number of 117, with 60 Asquith supporters and 57 "National Liberals" (adherents to Lloyd George). Asquith had thought Paisley would be safe but was only narrowly returned with a 316 majority (50.5 per cent of the votes cast in a two-candidate battle with Labour), despite a rise in the Liberal vote. He put this down to the 5,000 unemployed at Paisley after the slump of 1920–1921. He wrote that he "gloated" over the senior Coalition Liberals—Churchill, Hamar Greenwood, Freddie Guest and Edwin Montagu—who lost their seats.


title: H. H. Asquith

text: In March 1923 a petition for reunion among Liberal backbenchers received 73 signatures, backed by the Lloyd Georgeite "Daily Chronicle" and the Asquithian "Liberal Magazine". But reunion was opposed by senior Asquithian Liberals like Sir John Simon, Viscount Gladstone and Charles Masterman, and as late as 30 June by journalists such as H. W. Massingham and Gardiner of "The Nation". Viscount Gladstone felt that "it was generally recognised that Asquith was no longer effective as an active leader" but that Lloyd George must not succeed him. By July Asquith was superficially friendly to Lloyd George and consulted him, but he did not include him in the Shadow Cabinet. Asquith wanted Lloyd George to make the first move but although the latter put out feelers to senior Asquith supporters he insisted that he was "neither a suppliant nor a penitent". M.S.R. Kinnear writes that Asquith felt that with Lloyd George's faction declining in strength he had everything to gain by waiting, while too quick an approach would antagonise the Labour leaders who hated Lloyd George and whose support he might need for a future Lib-Lab coalition. Kinnear also argues that Asquith's "gloating" over the defeat of Coalition Liberals in 1922 is evidence that "the most important factor influencing Asquith against quick reunion was his personal dislike of Lloyd George and his desire for vengeance."


title: H. H. Asquith

text: The political situation was transformed when Baldwin, now Prime Minister, came out in favour of Protection at Plymouth on 22 October 1923. Coming out for Free Trade himself, Lloyd George was obliged, at least formally, to submit to Asquith's leadership. Parliament was dissolved. Asquith and Lloyd George reached agreement on 13 November, followed by a Free Trade manifesto, followed by a more general one. Lloyd George, accompanied by his daughter Megan, came to Paisley to speak in Asquith's support on 24 November.


title: H. H. Asquith

text: He spoke at Nottingham and Manchester, but did not privately expect more than 200 Liberals to be elected—although he hoped to overtake Labour and become Leader of the Opposition once again—and hoped for Baldwin to win by a tiny majority.


title: H. H. Asquith

text: The poll at Paisley was split by an independent extreme socialist and a Conservative. Asquith won with 33.4 per cent of the vote. Nationally, the outcome of the election in December 1923 was a hung Parliament (258 Conservatives, 191 Labour, 158 Liberals); the Liberals had gained seats but were still in third place. A quarter of the seats were held by majority less than 1,000. In general, Asquith Liberals did better than Lloyd George Liberals, which Gladstone and Maclean saw as a reason to prevent close co-operation between the factions.


title: H. H. Asquith

text: There was no question of the Liberals supporting a continuation of the Conservative government, not least as it was feared that an alliance of the two "bourgeois" parties would antagonise Labour. Asquith commented that "If a Labour Government is ever to be tried in this country, as it will be sooner or later, it could hardly be tried under safer conditions". Asquith's decision to support a minority Labour Government was seconded by Lloyd George and approved by a party meeting on 18 December.


title: H. H. Asquith

text: Baldwin's view was similar, as he rejected Sir Robert Horne's scheme for a Conservative-Liberal pact. Roy Douglas called the decision to put in Ramsay MacDonald "the most disastrous single action ever performed by a Liberal towards his party." Other historians such as Trevor Wilson and Koss reject this view, arguing that Asquith had little choice.


title: H. H. Asquith

text: Asquith was never in doubt as to the correctness of his approach, although a deluge of correspondence urged him to save the country from Socialism. He wrote on 28 December "I have been intreated during these weeks, cajoled, wheedled, almost caressed, tortured, threatened, brow-beaten and all but blackmailed to step in as the saviour of society."


title: H. H. Asquith

text: The Liberals thus supported Britain's first ever (minority) Labour Government under Ramsay MacDonald. The Liberal Party voted for the Labour amendment to the Address, causing Baldwin to resign (Asquith believed that Baldwin could have ignored the vote and carried on attempting to govern without a majority). He thought the new Labour Government "a beggarly array" although he remarked that the Foreign Office staff were glad to see the back of "the Archduke Curzon". Asquith believed that MacDonald would soon be discredited both in the eyes of the country and of his own more extreme supporters, and the Liberal revival would continue.


title: H. H. Asquith

text: Asquith's decision only hastened his party's destruction, the Conservative Austen Chamberlain writing to his colleague Sir Samuel Hoare, "We have got (unexpectedly and by our own blunders and Asquith's greater folly) a second chance. Have we got the wit to take it?"


title: H. H. Asquith

text: Relations with Labour soon became very tense, with Liberal MPs increasingly angered at having to support a Labour Government which treated them with such open hostility. Many Liberals were also angered at MacDonald's pursuit of a trade agreement with the USSR, although Asquith rather less so. The intervention of a Labour candidate at a by-election in Oxford in June handed the seat to the Conservatives.


title: H. H. Asquith

text: As Asquith brought MacDonald in so, later in the same year, he had significant responsibility for forcing him out over the Campbell Case and the Russian Treaty. The Conservatives proposed a vote of censure against the Government for withdrawing their prosecution for sedition against the "Daily Worker", and Asquith moved an amendment calling for a select committee (the same tactic he had employed over the Marconi scandal and the Maurice Debate). Asquith's contribution to the debate showed an increasingly rare return to Parliamentary form. "Almost every one of his delightful sentences filled the Chamber with laughter."


title: H. H. Asquith

text: Asquith's motion was passed by 364–198. As in the Maurice Debate, his sense of political tactics was, in Jenkins' view, overcome by his sense of Parliamentary propriety. He could not bring himself to withdraw the amendment, but could not support the government either.


title: H. H. Asquith

text: Instead of resigning MacDonald requested, and was granted, a General Election. The 1924 election was intended by MacDonald to cripple the Liberals, and it did. Lloyd George refused to hand over money from his fund until he had more say over the Liberal whips office, Liberal Party Headquarters at Arlington Street and an election there was a chance of winning.


title: H. H. Asquith

text: Meetings at Paisley were tumultuous and Asquith was barracked by hecklers singing "The Red Flag". Asquith was widely expected to lose his seat and did so by 2,228. He received 46.5 per cent of the vote in his final parliamentary election, a straight fight against Labour. Violet wrote, "Father was absolutely controlled. He just said to me, 'I'm out by 2,000'."


title: H. H. Asquith

text: It was a political, as well as a personal, disaster. Baldwin won a landslide victory, with over "400 Conservatives returned and only 40 Liberals", far behind Labour which entrenched its position as the "chief party of Opposition." Labour's vote actually increased somewhat (partly as a result of their fielding more candidates than before). The Liberal vote collapsed, much of it coalescing to the Conservatives as a result of the scare around the forged Zinoviev Letter.


title: H. H. Asquith

text: The Liberal grandees, who hated Lloyd George, did not press Asquith to retire. Sir Robert Hudson and Maclean called on him (31 October) and insisted he firmly keep the chair at the next meeting and nominate the new Chief Whip himself.


title: H. H. Asquith

text: The 1924 election was Asquith's last Parliamentary campaign, and there was no realistic chance of a return to the Commons. He told Charles Masterman "I'd sooner go to hell than to Wales," the only part of the country where Liberal support remained strong. The King offered him a peerage (4 November 1924). Asquith felt he was not rich enough to accept, and would have preferred to die a commoner like Pitt or Gladstone. He accepted in January 1925 after a holiday in Egypt with his son Arthur. He deliberately chose the title "Earl of Oxford", saying it had a splendid history as the title chosen by Robert Harley, a Tory statesman of Queen Anne's reign. He was thought by some to have delusions of grandeur, Lady Salisbury writing to him that the title was "like a suburban villa calling itself Versailles." Asquith found the controversy amusing but the College of Heralds insisted that he add "and Asquith" to the final title, after protests from Harley's family. In practice he was known as "Lord Oxford". He never enjoyed the House of Lords, and thought the quality of debates there poor.


title: H. H. Asquith

text: In 1924 the Liberal party had only been able to put up 343 candidates due to lack of money. At one point the Liberal Shadow Cabinet suggested obtaining the opinion of a Chancery Lawyer as to whether the Liberal Party was entitled under trust law to Lloyd George's money, which he had obtained from the sale of honours. On 29 January 1925, at a two-day London convention, Asquith launched a Million Fund Appeal in an unsuccessful attempt to raise Liberal Party funds independent of Lloyd George.


title: H. H. Asquith

text: One more disappointment remained. In 1925 he stood for the Chancellorship of Oxford University, vacant on the death of Lord Curzon. He was eminently suited and was described by Lord Birkenhead, one of his many Conservative supporters, as "the greatest living Oxonian."


title: H. H. Asquith

text: Asquith suspected he might lose because of country clergy's hostility to Welsh Disestablishment, blaming "Zadok the Priest and Abiathar the Priest—with their half-literate followers in the rural parsonages". The election was also seen as a settling of party scores and a mockery of his title. He lost to the Conservative candidate, Lord Cave, by 987 votes to 441 on 20 March. He claimed to be "more disappointed than surprised", but his friend Desmond MacCarthy wrote that it affected him "more than any disappointment, save one, in his life after he ceased to be Prime Minister."


title: H. H. Asquith

text: In May 1925 Asquith accepted the Order of the Garter from Baldwin, who was known to be a personal admirer of his.


title: H. H. Asquith

text: Difficulties continued with Lloyd George, who had been chairman of the Liberal MPs since 1924, over the party leadership and over party funds. In the autumn of 1925 Hobhouse, Runciman and the industrialist Sir Alfred Mond protested to Asquith at Lloyd George organising his own campaign for reform of land ownership. Asquith was "not enthusiastic" but Lloyd George ignored him and arranged for Asquith to be sent reports and calculations ("Lord Oxford likes sums" he wrote). At a meeting on 25 November 1925 Grey, Maclean, Simon, Gladstone and Runciman urged Asquith to have a showdown with Lloyd George over money. Asquith wanted to think it over, and at the December 1925 Federation executive he left the meeting before the topic came up. To the horror of his followers Asquith reached an agreement in principle with Lloyd George over land reform on 2 December, then together they presented plans to the National Liberal Federation on 26 February 1926. But, wrote Maclean, "in private Asquith's language about Lloyd George was lurid."


title: H. H. Asquith

text: In January 1926 Mond withdrew his financial support from the Liberal Party. The loss of wealthy donors and the failure of the Million Fund Appeal further weakened Asquith's position, and there is some evidence that his frequent requests for money irritated donors like Sir Robert Perks who had given a good deal to the Party over the years, and that outside his inner circle of devotees he was bad at keeping on good terms with potential donors.


title: H. H. Asquith

text: This was followed by a near final breach with Lloyd George over the General Strike. The Liberal Shadow Cabinet unequivocally backed Baldwin's handling of the strike on 3 May. Asquith viewed the strike as "criminal folly" and condemned it in the House of Lords, whilst in the Commons Sir John Simon declared it to be illegal. But whereas Asquith and Grey both contributed to the "British Gazette", Churchill's pro-government newssheet, Lloyd George, who had not previously expressed a contrary opinion at Shadow Cabinet, wrote an article for the American press more sympathetic to the strikers, and did not attend the Shadow Cabinet on 10 May, sending his apologies on "policy grounds". Asquith at first assumed him to be trying to ingratiate himself with the churches and Labour, but then (20 May) sent him a public letter rebuking him for not attending the meeting to discuss his opinions with colleagues in private.


title: H. H. Asquith

text: In private, both sides were incandescent; one of Asquith's colleagues describing him as "far more indignant at L.G. than I have ever seen", whilst Lloyd George expressed his private feelings in a letter to Frances Stevenson on 24 May "(Asquith) is a silly old man drunk with hidden conceit. When he listens to those poor creatures he has a weakness for gathering around him he generally makes a fool of himself. They are really 'beat'. Dirty dogs—and bitches."


title: H. H. Asquith

text: Lloyd George's letter of 10 May had not been published, making it appear that Asquith had fired the first shot, and Lloyd George sent a moderate public reply, on 25 May. Asquith then wrote another public letter (1 June) stating that he regarded Lloyd George's behaviour as tantamount to resignation, the same as if a Cabinet Minister had refused to abide by the principle of collective responsibility. Twelve leading Liberals (including Grey, Lord Buckmaster, Simon, Maclean and Runciman) wrote in Asquith's support to "The Times" (1 June). However, Lloyd George had more support amongst the wider party than amongst the grandees. The executive of the National Liberal Federation, despite backing Asquith by 16:8, had already urged a reconciliation in late May, and the London Liberal Candidates' Association (3 June) and the Liberal MPs (8 June) did the same. Asquith had planned to launch a fightback at the National Liberal Federation in Weston-Super-Mare, due on 17 June, but on the eve of the conference he suffered a stroke (12 June) which put him out of action for three months.


title: H. H. Asquith

text: Margot is said to have later claimed that her husband regretted the breach and had acted after several rich donors had threatened to quit. Asquith finally resigned the Liberal leadership on 15 October 1926.


title: H. H. Asquith

text: Asquith filled his retirement with reading, writing, a little golf, travelling and meeting with friends. Since 1918 he had developed an interest in modern painting and sculpture.


title: H. H. Asquith

text: His health remained reasonable, almost to the end, though financial concerns increasingly beset him. A perhaps surprising contributor to an endowment fund established to support Asquith in 1927 was Lord Beaverbrook (the former Max Aitken), who contributed £1,000. Violet was highly embarrassed by her step-mother's attempts to enlist the aid of Aitken, Lord Reading and others of her husband's friends and acquaintances. "It is monstrous that other people (should) be made to foot Margot's bridge bills. How she has dragged his name through the mud!"


title: H. H. Asquith

text: Asquith suffered a second stroke in January 1927, disabling his left leg for a while and leaving him a wheelchair-user for the spring and early summer of 1927. Asquith's last visit was to see the widowed Venetia Montagu in Norfolk. On his return to The Wharf, in autumn 1927, he was unable to get out of his car and "he was never again able to go upstairs to his own room." He suffered a third stroke at the end of 1927. His last months were difficult, and he became increasingly confused, his daughter Violet writing, "To watch Father's glorious mind breaking up and sinking—like a great ship—is a pain beyond all my imagining."


title: H. H. Asquith

text: Asquith died, aged 75, at The Wharf on the morning of 15 February 1928. "He was buried, at his own wish, with great simplicity," in the churchyard of All Saints' at Sutton Courtenay, his gravestone recording his name, title, and the dates of his birth and death. A blue plaque records his long residence at 20 Cavendish Square and a memorial tablet was subsequently erected in Westminster Abbey. Viscount Grey, with Haldane Asquith's oldest political friends, wrote, "I have felt (his) death very much: it is true that his work was done but we were very close together for so many years. I saw the beginning of his Parliamentary life; and to witness the close is the end of a long chapter of my own."


title: H. H. Asquith

text: Asquith's will was proven on 9 June 1928, with his estate amounting to £9345 9s. 2d. (roughly equivalent to £ in ).


title: H. H. Asquith

text: Asquith had five children by his first wife, Helen, and two surviving children (three others died at birth or in infancy) by his second wife, Margot.


title: H. H. Asquith

text: His eldest son, Raymond, after an academic career that outstripped his father's was killed at the Somme in 1916. His second son Herbert (1881–1947) became a writer and poet and married Cynthia Charteris. His later life was marred by alcoholism. His third son Arthur (1883–1939), became a soldier and businessman. His only daughter by his first wife, Violet, later Violet Bonham Carter (1887–1969), became a well-regarded writer and a life peeress as Baroness Asquith of Yarnbury. She married Asquith's Personal Private Secretary Maurice Bonham Carter in 1915. His fourth son Cyril (1890–1954) was born on the day Asquith became a QC and later became a Law Lord.


title: H. H. Asquith

text: His two children by Margot were Elizabeth, later Princess Antoine Bibesco (1897–1945), a writer, who also struggled with alcohol and Anthony Asquith (1902–1968), known as "Puffin", a film-maker, whose life was also severely affected by alcoholism.


title: H. H. Asquith

text: Among his living descendants are his great-granddaughter, the actress Helena Bonham Carter (born 1966), and two great-grandsons, Dominic Asquith, a former British High Commissioner to India, and Raymond Asquith, 3rd Earl of Oxford and Asquith, who inherited Asquith's earldom. Another leading British actress, Anna Chancellor (born 1965), is Asquith's great-great-granddaughter on her mother's side.


title: H. H. Asquith

text: According to Matthew, "Asquith's decision for war with Germany was the most important taken by a British prime minister in the twentieth century, and was more important than any prime ministerial decision of the nineteenth century. It not only dictated the involvement of the United Kingdom in war but affected much of the pattern of imperial, foreign, and economic history for the rest of the century." Matthew deemed the decision Asquith's, in that without prime ministerial support, it was not likely Britain would have entered the war. Given the deep divisions in the Liberal Party, Pearce and Goodlad said "it was a measure of [Asquith's] skill that he took Britain into the war with only two relatively minor Cabinet ministers … choosing to resign".


title: H. H. Asquith

text: Asquith's reputation will always be heavily influenced by his downfall at the height of the First World War. In 1970, Basil Liddell Hart summed up opinion as to the reasons for his fall: "Lloyd George [came to] power as the spokesman for a widespread demand for a more vigorous as well as a more efficient prosecution of the war." Asquith's collegiate approach; his tendency to "wait and see"; his stance as the chairman of the cabinet, rather than leader of a government—"content to preside without directing"; his "contempt for the press, regard[ing] journalists as ignorant, spiteful and unpatriotic"; and his weakness for alcohol—"I had occasion to speak to the P.M. twice yesterday and on both occasions I was nearly gassed by the alcoholic fumes he discharged"; all contributed to a prevailing sense that Asquith was unable to rise to "the necessities of total warfare." Grigg concludes, "In certain vital respects, he was not qualified to run the war. A great head of government in peacetime, by the end of 1916 he was in a general state of decline, his obvious defects as a war leader [exposed]." Cassar, reflecting on Asquith's work to bring a united country to war, and his efforts in the year thereafter, goes towards a reassessment: "His achievements are sufficiently impressive to earn him a place as one of the outstanding figures of the Great War" His contemporary opponent, Lord Birkenhead paid tribute to his bringing Britain united into the War, "A statesman who rendered great service to his country at a time when no other living Englishman could have done what he did." The Coalition Whip, William Bridgeman, provided an alternative Conservative view, comparing Lloyd George to Asquith at the time of the latter's fall: "[H]owever unpopular or mistrusted [Lloyd George] was in the House, he carried much more weight in the Country than Asquith, who was almost everywhere looked on as a lazy and dilatory man." Sheffield and Bourne provide a recent historical reassessment: "Asquith's governments arguably took all the key decisions of the War: the decision to intervene, to send the BEF; to raise a mass volunteer army; to start and end the Gallipoli Campaign; the creation of a Coalition government; the mobilisation of industry; the introduction of conscription." The weight of opinion continues to agree with Asquith's own candid assessment, in a letter written in the midst of war in July 1916: "I am [as usual] encompassed by a cloud of worries, anxieties, problems and the rest. 'The time is out of joint' and sometimes I am tempted to say with Hamlet 'O cursed spite, that ever I was born to set it right.' Perhaps I wasn't."


title: H. H. Asquith

text: Asquith's fall also saw the end of the "Liberal Party as one of the great parties of state." According to Koss, Asquith's memory, "has lingered over the successive crises that continued to afflict his party. Each glimmer of a Liberal revival has enhanced his historical stature, if only as the victim or agent of the Liberal decline." After 1922, the Liberals did not hold office again, except as junior partners in coalition governments in 1931–1932, in 1940–1945, and (as today's Liberal Democrats) in 2010–2015. Leonard considers that responsibility for this must also be carried, in part, by Asquith, "this gifted, fastidious, proud yet ultimately indecisive man must bear his share of the blame."


title: H. H. Asquith

text: Koss concludes that, in a "long, eventful and complex career, [that] does not admit easily of a summing up, Asquith's failings were no less manifest than his achievements." Michael and Eleanor Brock maintain that "his peacetime record of legislative achievement should not be overshadowed by his wartime inadequacy." Of those achievements, his colleague Lord Buckmaster wrote, "The dull senses and heavy lidded eyes of the public prevent them from seeing now all that you have accomplished, but history will record it and the accomplishment is vast." Among his greatest domestic accomplishments, reform of the House of Lords is at the zenith. Yet Asquith's premiership was also marked by many difficulties, leading McKenna to write in his memoirs, "friends began to wonder whether the highest statesmanship consisted of overcoming one crisis by creating another". Hazlehurst, writing in 1970, felt there was still much to be gleaned from a critical review of Asquith's peacetime premiership, "certainly, the record of a prime minister under whom the nation goes to the brink of civil war [over Ireland] must be subjected to the severest scrutiny."


title: H. H. Asquith

text: Perhaps Asquith's greatest personal attainment was his parliamentary dominance. From his earliest days in the House, "he spoke with the authority of a leader and not as a backbencher." As Campbell-Bannerman's "sledgehammer", his "debating power was unequalled." Lord Curzon extolled his skill in parliamentary dialectic: "Whenever I have heard him on a first-rate occasion, there rises in my mind the image of some great military parade. The words, the arguments, the points, follow each other with the steady tramp of regiments across the field; each unit is in its place, the whole marching in rhythmical order; the sunshine glints on the bayonets and ever, and anon, is heard the roll of the drums."


title: H. H. Asquith

text: Jenkins considered Asquith as foremost amongst the great social reforming premiers of the twentieth century. His Government's social and political reforms were unprecedented and far-sighted, "paving the way for the welfare state legislation of the Attlee government in 1945–1951 as well as Blair's constitutional reforms after 1997." According to Roy Hattersley, a changed Britain entered the war in 1914, "the political, social and cultural revolution had already happened. Modern Britain was born in the opening years of the twentieth century." Asquith also worked strenuously to secure a settlement of the Irish question and, although unsuccessful, his work contributed to the 1922 settlement. Lastly, as a "great head of a Cabinet", Asquith directed and developed the talents of an extraordinary array of parliamentarians, for an extraordinarily long period. Hazlehurst contends that this "ability to keep so gifted and divergently-inclined a group in harness (was) one of his major achievements." Overall, the Brocks argue that "on the basis of his achievements 1908 to 1914 he must rank among the greatest British statesmen of any era." His oldest political and personal friend, Haldane, wrote to Asquith on the latter's final resignation: "My Dear A., a time has come in both of our lives when the bulk of work has been done. That work does not pass away. It is not by overt signs that its enduring character is to be judged. It is by the changes made in the spirit of things into which the work has entered."


title: Julie Hagerty

text: Julie Beth Hagerty (born June 15, 1955) is an American actress. She starred as Elaine in the films "Airplane!" (1980) and "" (1982). Her other film roles include "A Midsummer Night's Sex Comedy" (1982), "Lost in America" (1985), "What About Bob?" (1991), "A Master Builder" (2014), "Instant Family" (2018), and "Marriage Story" (2019).


title: Julie Hagerty

text: Hagerty was born in Cincinnati, Ohio, the daughter of Harriet Yuellig (née Bishop), a model and singer, and Jerald William "Jerry" Hagerty, Jr., a musician. Her brother Michael Hagerty (1952 - 1991) was also an actor. Her parents later divorced. Hagerty attended Indian Hill High School. She was signed as a model for Ford Models at 15, and spent summers modeling in New York City. She moved there in 1972 and worked at her brother's theater group; she also studied with actor William Hickey.


title: Julie Hagerty

text: Hagerty made her off-Broadway debut in 1979, starring in "Mutual Benefit Life" at her brother's theater, The Production Company. In 1983 she appeared Off-Broadway at the Vandam Theatre in Shel Silverstein's 'Wild Life' directed by Art Wolff. It was an ensemble theatre piece co-starring Christopher Murney, W.H. Macy, Henderson Forsythe, Conard Fowkes, Jody Gelb, Howard Lee Sherman and Raynor Scheine. She continued appearing on stage, including starring in a Broadway version of "The House of Blue Leaves". Her first film role was in "All That Jazz", but her small part was cut out of the finished film. She was subsequently cast opposite Robert Hays in the parody film, "Airplane!". It was released in June 1980 and became the third-highest grossing comedy in box office history at that time, behind "Smokey and the Bandit" (1977) and "National Lampoon's Animal House" (1978). "Airplane!" established Hagerty as a noted comedic actress.


title: Julie Hagerty

text: Hagerty spent the 1980s starring in a number of theatrical films, ranging from the well-reviewed Albert Brooks film "Lost In America" and Woody Allen's "A Midsummer Night's Sex Comedy" to the badly received "Beyond Therapy". Her roles often involved a naive or spaced-out character who seems to be unaware of whatever chaos was surrounding her, as exemplified in "Airplane!" and "Airplane II: The Sequel". Throughout the 1990s and 2000s, Hagerty mostly appeared in made-for-television movies or supporting roles in Hollywood films, including the '90s comedies "What About Bob?" and "Noises Off", as well as a part in the 2005 film "Just Friends" and 2006's "She's the Man".


title: Julie Hagerty

text: In 1991, she starred alongside Fran Drescher and Twiggy in "Princesses", a sitcom that aired for five weeks on CBS. Hagerty had walked off set after four episodes amid poor ratings and negative reviews. She was cast in the 1994 "Designing Women" spin-off "Women of the House", but was committed to another project when filming began, so Valerie Mahaffey substituted for her in several episodes. She eventually joined the cast, filmed two episodes, and resigned, handing the role back to Mahaffey, who bowed out after one final appearance. In 1998, Hagerty starred in the short-lived UPN sitcom "Reunited". Then in 1999, she played Charlotte Sterling in "Everybody Loves Raymond".


title: Julie Hagerty

text: In 2000, she narrated the audiobook version of "The Trolls," a children's novel by Polly Horvath. In 2002, she appeared in the Broadway revival of "Mornings at Seven". In 2003, she began a recurring role as a babysitter named Polly on "Malcolm in the Middle". She appeared as Hazel Bergeron in "2081", the film adaptation of Kurt Vonnegut's short story "Harrison Bergeron". Starting in 2011, she took over as the voice of Carol, Lois's sister, on "Family Guy". In 2013, she starred in "A Master Builder" and appeared in a series of Old Navy commercials as a winking flight attendant. In 2015, she made another cameo appearance as a flight attendant in "". She had a recurring role as a pet parapsychologist on the series "Trial & Error" in 2017 and appeared in the film "Instant Family" in 2018. In 2019 she starred in the Showtime series "Black Monday", the Disney film "Noelle," and the Netflix film "Marriage Story".


title: Julie Hagerty

text: In 2021, she was cast in the Netflix action-comedy film "The Out-Laws" directed by Tyler Spindel and in the romantic comedy "Somebody I Used to Know". In 2022, she was cast as Mrs. Parker, the mother of Ralphie in a sequel to the 1983 film "A Christmas Story" titled "A Christmas Story Christmas", replacing Melinda Dillon, who originated the role in the original film but had retired from acting in 2007.


title: RuPaul's Drag Race All Stars (season 4)

text: The fourth season of "RuPaul's Drag Race All Stars" was announced by VH1 on August 22, 2018. Prior to the official announcement, RuPaul confirmed in an episode of his podcast "What's the Tee?", that filming for the fourth season was underway. Season 3 winner Trixie Mattel, with special guests Katya Zamolodchikova and Detox, hosted a special, "Trixie's Playhouse", to announce the cast for the fourth season. It was scheduled to air on November 8, 2018, but was postponed to the following day due to the Thousand Oaks shooting. The season began airing on December 14, 2018, and ran for ten episodes.


title: RuPaul's Drag Race All Stars (season 4)

text: The prizes for the winner of the competition are a one-year supply of Anastasia Beverly Hills Cosmetics and a cash prize of $100,000.


title: RuPaul's Drag Race All Stars (season 4)

text: The winners of the fourth season of "RuPaul's Drag Race All Stars" were Monét X Change and Trinity the Tuck.


The Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe (OSCE) is the world's largest regional security-oriented intergovernmental organization with observer status at the United Nations. Its mandate includes issues such as arms control, promotion of human rights, freedom of the press, and free and fair elections. It employs around 3,460 people, mostly in its field operations but also in its secretariat in Vienna, Austria, and its institutions.


title: Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe

text: It has its origins in the mid-1975 Conference on Security and Co-operation in Europe (CSCE) held in Helsinki, Finland. The OSCE is concerned with early warning, conflict prevention, crisis management, and post-conflict rehabilitation. Most of its 57 participating countries are in Europe, but there are a few members present in Asia and North America. The participating states cover much of the land area of the Northern Hemisphere. It was created during the Cold War era as a forum for discussion between the Western Bloc and Eastern Bloc.


text: The Organization has its roots in the 1973 Conference on Security and Co-operation in Europe (CSCE). Talks had been mooted about a European security grouping since the 1950s but the Cold War prevented any substantial progress until the talks at Dipoli in Espoo began in November 1972. These talks were held at the suggestion of the Soviet Union which wished to use the talks to maintain its control over the communist states in Eastern Europe, and President of Finland Urho Kekkonen hosted them in order to bolster his policy of neutrality. Western Europe, however, saw these talks as a way to reduce the tension in the region, furthering economic cooperation and obtaining humanitarian improvements for the populations of the communist bloc.


text: The recommendations of the talks, in the form of "The Blue Book", gave the practical foundations for a three-stage conference called the "Helsinki process". The CSCE opened in Helsinki on 3 July 1973 with 35 states sending representatives. Stage I only took five days to agree to follow the Blue Book. Stage II was the main working phase and was conducted in Geneva from 18 September 1973 until 21 July 1975.


text: The result of Stage II was the Helsinki Final Act. This was signed by the 35 participating states during Stage III, which took place in Finlandia Hall between 30 July – 1 August 1975. It was opened by the Holy See's diplomat Cardinal Agostino Casaroli, who was the chairman of the conference.


text: The concepts of improving relations and implementing the act were developed over a series of follow-up meetings, with major gatherings in Belgrade (4 October 19778 March 1978), Madrid (11 November 19809 September 1983) and Vienna (4 November 198619 January 1989).


text: The fall of the Soviet Union required a change of role for the CSCE. The Charter of Paris for a New Europe, signed on 21 November 1990, marked the beginning of this change. The process was capped by the renaming of the CSCE as the OSCE on 1 January 1995, in accordance with the results of a conference held in Budapest in 1994. The OSCE now had a formal secretariat, a Senior Council, a Parliamentary Assembly, a Conflict Prevention Centre, and an Office for Free Elections, which later became the Office for Democratic Institutions and Human Rights.


text: In December 1996, the "Lisbon Declaration on a Common and Comprehensive Security Model for Europe for the Twenty-First Century" affirmed the universal and indivisible nature of security on the European continent.


text: The OSCE Kosovo Verification Mission was established by the Permanent Council in October 1998 and shuttered in June 1999 amidst the recalcitrance of the Milosevic regime.


text: In Istanbul on 19 November 1999, the OSCE ended a two-day summit by calling for a political settlement in Chechnya and adopting a Charter for European Security.


text: The OSCE's refusal to police events surrounding the 2008 Kosovo declaration of independence still rankles in Russia.


text: Through its Office for Democratic Institutions and Human Rights (ODIHR), the OSCE observes and assesses elections in its member states, in order to support fair and transparent democratic processes, in keeping with the mutual standards to which the organization is committed; between 1994 and 2004 the OSCE sent teams of observers to monitor more than 150 elections, typically focusing on elections in emerging democracies. In 2004, at the invitation of the United States Government, the ODIHR deployed an assessment mission, made up of participants from six OSCE member states, which observed that year's US presidential election and produced a report. It was the first time that a US presidential election was the subject of OSCE monitoring, although the organization had previously monitored state-level American elections in Florida and California, in 2002 and 2003.


text: Following an unprecedented period of activity in the 1990s and in the first decade of the 21st century, the OSCE faced accusations from the CIS states (primarily Russia) of being a tool for the Western states to advance their own interests. For instance, the events in Ukraine in 2004 (the "Orange Revolution") led to allegations by Russia of OSCE involvement on behalf of the pro-Western Viktor Yushchenko (President of Ukraine from 2005 to 2010). At the 2007 Munich Conference on Security Policy, Vladimir Putin stated:They [unnamed Western States] are trying to transform the OSCE into a vulgar instrument designed to promote the foreign policy interests of one or a group of countries. And this task is also being accomplished by the OSCE's bureaucratic apparatus, which is absolutely not connected with the state founders in any way. Decision-making procedures and the involvement of so-called non-governmental organizations are tailored for this task. These organizations are formally independent but they are purposefully financed and therefore under control.


text: Following the 2008 U.S. presidential election, Russian parliamentarian Leonid Slutsky accused the OSCE's ODIHR of having double standards. The point was made that while numerous violations of the voting process were registered, its criticism came only from within the United States (media, human rights organizations, McCain's election staff), while the OSCE - known for its criticism of elections on the post-Soviet space - remained silent.


text: The OSCE Mission to Georgia was established in November 1992 with its headquarters in the capital Tbilisi. The Mission's mandate expired on 31 December 2008. Between these dates it was powerless to control the outbreak of the August 2008 Russo-Georgian war.


text: Before the U.S. presidential elections of November 2012, the OSCE announced its intention to send electoral observers to Texas and to other U.S. states. This prompted the Attorney General of Texas Greg Abbott to send letters to U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton and to the OSCE, threatening to arrest OSCE officials if they should enter electoral premises in Texas and break Texas law. In reply, the U.S. Department of State stated that OSCE observers enjoyed immunities. In the event, no incidents between OSCE and Texas authorities were recorded during the elections.


text: In April 2017, Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan criticized the OSCE for reporting that opposition "No" campaigners in the Turkish constitutional referendum had faced bans, police interventions and arrests. Erdoğan said: "Now the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe says if the result is 'yes', that means there are a lot of problems. Who are you? First of all, you should know your place. This is not your duty."


text: Russian Foreign Ministry Spokeswoman Maria Zakharova criticised the OSCE for being indifferent to the 2022 Kazakh unrest. At the same time, she also noted how closely the OSCE follows events in some other countries. She said the OSCE was not helping journalists who have been attacked in Kazakhstan when she mentioned the attack on the office of the Kazakh branch of the Mir TV and radio company in Almaty, which involved some 500 perpetrators. Sergey Lavrov in an interview condemned the null OSCE reactions to the events in Kazakhstan as terrible and shameful.


text: On 21 March 2014, the OSCE deployed its Special Monitoring Mission to Ukraine at the request of Ukraine's government. The mission has received mixed reviews. While some observers have applauded its function as the "eyes and ears of the international community", others have accused the mission of bias towards either Russia or Ukraine.


text: On 27 April 2014, the Girkin group that had taken control in the city of Sloviansk took eight members of the OSCE Special Monitoring Mission (OSCE SMM) as hostages. The group appointed Vyacheslav Ponomarev as mayor of the city.


text: During the war in Donbas, an OSCE observer allowed Russian separatists to travel in a vehicle with the organization's markings; this prompted allegations that the OSCE was biased in the war and not interested in carrying out its duties of mediating a ceasefire. The organization issued a statement regretting the incident.


text: Moreover, the OSCE Observer Mission at Russian Checkpoints Gukovo and Donetsk (which is organizationally separate from the Special Monitoring Mission) also received criticism alleging that only two checkpoints on the Russian–Ukrainian border are currently being monitored, which Daniel Baer, the US ambassador to the OSCE at the time, described as "seriously inadequate".


text: On the other hand, Ukraine has faced criticism following a BBC report showing an alleged violation of the Minsk Agreement when Ukraine stationed tanks in a residential neighbourhood of Avdeevka. The mission has also been criticized for taking months to deploy drones to help monitor borders as well as withdrawing them after only several weeks of use due to Russian electronic attacks. Drones have been reintroduced to observe the conflict in 2018.


text: In 2014, an advisor to the Ukrainian Ministry of Defence wrongly claimed that approximately 80% of the OSCE observers located near Mariupol were Russian citizens and that many had ties to Russian security agencies such as the FSB and the GRU. In reality, one observer out of 17 in Mariupol was a Russian citizen. In total, the mission reports the number of Russian citizens in its ranks as 39 out of 720, or 5,4%. The organization has also been accused of allegedly revealing the locations of Ukrainian troops to Russian forces during the conflict.


text: On 1 December 2014, the mission was in the area to "facilitate a local ceasefire and monitor the repair works on a power station", that it "heard an exchange of artillery fire between unspecified parties", and that "artillery rounds were impacting at approximately 1km to the east of the SMM's position; therefore the SMM left due to security concerns". Furthermore, the report states that the "SMM team in the JCCC was in constant contact with the SMM team in Staromikhailivka". No mention of a wounded observer is made.


text: On 27 October 2015, a suspended OSCE monitor confirmed he had been a former employee of Russia's Main Intelligence Directorate. The suspended SMM stated that he had no trouble receiving the position and neither the OSCE nor Ukraine's Security Service thoroughly checked his background. Following the report the OSCE issued a comment stating the monitor had been fired due to violations of the organization's code of conduct.


text: On 6 April 2016, photos of OSCE monitors attending the wedding of a Russian separatist emerged. The wedding had taken place in June 2015. The OSCE expressed regret over the incident, issuing a statement saying "The unprofessional behaviour displayed by the monitors in the picture is an individual incident that should not be abused to cast a shadow on the reputation of other mission members." The OSCE reported that the monitors were no longer with the OSCE special monitoring mission.


text: In April 2017, an OSCE vehicle struck a mine, which killed one SMM member and injured two. Two armoured vehicles were on patrol near Luhansk when one struck the mine. The dead man was an American paramedic, while the injured included a woman from Germany and a man from the Czech Republic.


text: On 18 July 2018, the German broadcaster ARD reported that Russian intelligence services had received inside information about the activities of the OSCE Special Monitoring Mission to Ukraine from a staff member of the OSCE. The insider information consisted of observers' preferences in alcohol and women, their financial situation, and their contacts in Ukraine. The OSCE issued a statement expressing concern over the alleged security breach.


text: Russia has accused members of the Mission of working for the Ukrainian SBU and of spying on the pro-Russian separatists. Furthermore, Russia has accused the mission of bias after it reported troop movements from separatist forces, accusing the mission of ignoring similar moves from Ukraine. Russia's foreign minister also has claimed that the mission failed to pay sufficient attention to human and minority rights within the Government-controlled areas of Ukraine. Furthermore, he criticised that the mission did not clearly attribute ceasefire violations to either side.


text: The 2022 Russian invasion of Ukraine began on February 24. The OSCE mandate in Ukraine expired on March 31, 2022, due to objections by Russia. On April 24, 2022, the OSCE protested the detention of four staff members in Donetsk and Luhansk, without specifying who had detained them. On 20 September, two Ukrainian OSCE staffers were sentenced to 13 years of prison by a court in the Luhansk People's Republic for "alleged high treason and espionage for the United States."


text: In March 2022, 45 participating States promoted, with the support of Ukraine, the activation of the Moscow Mechanism for the establishment of an independent expert mission on violations and abuses committed in the war of the Russian Federation, supported by Belarus, against Ukraine. The report of the Mission of Experts was presented to the OSCE Permanent Council on 13 April 2022 and documented clear patterns of violations of international humanitarian law by the Russian Armed Forces in Ukraine.


text: On 2 June 2022, the same 45 participating States invoked again the Moscow Mechanism to establish a new mission of experts to consider, follow up and build upon the findings of the Moscow Mechanism report published in April 2022. The subsequent report, presented on 14 July 2022 to the OSCE Permanent Council, confirmed the outcomes of the previous mission and identified blatant violations of international humanitarian law, mainly attributable to the Russian armed forces, as well as widespread violations of human rights, especially in the territories under effective control of the Russian Federation.


text: The Russian delegation was not invited to the 29th OSCE Ministerial Council in December 2022 where the delegates considered the ramifications and regional security challenges created by Russia’s continued war against Ukraine. There were calls to assess the reparations that Russia should be accountable for. Russia started the war, and it must pay for it.


text: In 2004, the OSCE Parliamentary Assembly sent election observers to the U.S. presidential elections. The OSCE Parliamentary Assembly's president at the time was Democratic Congressman Alcee Hastings. Hastings had previously been impeached for corruption by the U.S. Congress. The OSCE faced criticism of partisanship and double standards due to Hastings's past and the fact that the OSCE's mandate was to promote democracy and the values of civil society.


text: In 2010, the Parliamentary Assembly of the Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe was criticized from within by the Latvian delegation for lacking transparency and democracy. Spencer Oliver (b. 1938) secretary general of the OSCE Parliamentary Assembly, who held the post from the organization's inception in 1992 until 2015, faced a challenge from the Latvian Artis Pabriks. According to the rules of the OSCE Parliamentary Assembly, the incumbent general secretary can only be replaced with a full consensus minus one. Pabriks called the rules "quite shocking from the perspective of an organization that's monitoring elections".


text: A unique aspect of the OSCE is the non-binding status of its constitutive charter. Rather than being a formal treaty ratified by national legislatures, the Helsinki Final Act represents a political commitment by the heads of government of all signatories to build security and cooperation in Europe on the basis of its provisions. This allows the OSCE to remain a flexible "process" for the evolution of improved cooperation, which avoids disputes and/or sanctions over implementation.


text: By agreeing to these commitments, signatories for the first time accepted that treatment of citizens "within" their borders was also a matter of legitimate international concern. This open process of the OSCE is often given credit for helping build democracy in the Soviet Union and Eastern Europe, thus leading to the end of the Cold War. Unlike most international intergovernmental organizations, however, the OSCE does not have international legal personality on account of the lack of legal effect of its charter. As a result, its headquarters' host, Austria, had to confer legal personality on the organization in order to be able to sign a legal agreement regarding its presence in Vienna.


text: Political direction to the organization is given by heads of state or government during summits. Summits are not regular or scheduled but held as needed. The last summit took place in Astana (Kazakhstan), on 1 and 2 December 2010. The high-level decision-making body of the organization is the OSCE Ministerial Council, which meets at the end of every year. At the ambassadorial level, the OSCE Permanent Council convenes weekly in Vienna and serves as the regular negotiating and decision-making body. The chairperson of the Permanent Council is the ambassador to the Organization of the participating State which holds the chairmanship.


text: In addition to the Ministerial Council and Permanent Council, the Forum for Security Co-operation is also an OSCE decision-making body. It deals predominantly with matters of military co-operation, such as modalities for inspections according to the Vienna Document of 1999.


text: The OSCE's Secretariat is located in Vienna, Austria. The organization also has offices in Copenhagen, Geneva, The Hague, Prague and Warsaw.


text: , the OSCE employed 3,568 staff, including 609 in its secretariat and institutions and 2,959 in its 17 field operations.


text: The Parliamentary Assembly of the Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe is made up of 323 parliamentarians from 57 member states. The Parliamentary Assembly performs its functions mainly via the Standing Committee, the Bureau, and 3 General Committees (Committee on Political Affairs and Security, Committee on Economic Affairs, Science, Technology and Environment, and Committee on Democracy, Human Rights and Humanitarian Questions).


text: The Parliamentary Assembly passes resolutions on matters such as political and security affairs, economic and environmental issues, and democracy and human rights. Representing the collective voice of OSCE parliamentarians, these resolutions and recommendations are meant to ensure that all participating states live up to their OSCE commitments. The Parliamentary Assembly also engages in parliamentary diplomacy, and has an extensive election observation program.


text: The oldest OSCE institution is the Office for Democratic Institutions and Human Rights (ODIHR), established in 1991 following a decision made at the 1990 Summit of Paris. It is based in Warsaw, Poland, and is active throughout the OSCE area in the fields of election observation, democratic development, human rights, tolerance and non-discrimination, rule of law, and Roma and Sinti issues. The ODIHR has observed over 300 elections and referendums since 1995, sending more than 50,000 observers. It has operated outside its own area twice, sending a team that offered technical support to the 9 October 2004 presidential elections in Afghanistan, an OSCE Partner for Co-operation, and an election support team to assist with parliamentary and provincial council elections on 18 September 2005. ODIHR is headed by Matteo Mecacci, Italy.


text: The Office of the OSCE Representative on Freedom of the Media, established in December 1997, acts as a watchdog to provide early warning on violations of freedom of expression in OSCE participating States. The representative also assists participating States by advocating and promoting full compliance with OSCE norms, principles and commitments regarding freedom of expression and free media. As of 2020, the current representative is Teresa Ribeiro, Portugal.


text: The High Commissioner on National Minorities was created on 8 July 1992 by the Helsinki Summit Meeting of the Conference on Security and Cooperation in Europe. It is charged with identifying and seeking early resolution of ethnic tension that might endanger peace, stability or friendly relations between participating states. As of 2020, the current representative is Kairat Abdrakhmanov (Kazakhstan).


text: Each year the OSCE holds an OSCE Asian Conference with partner nations (currently Australia, Thailand, South Korea, Japan and Afghanistan).


text: The OSCE and the Government of the Kyrgyz Republic established the OSCE Academy in 2002. The aim of the OSCE Academy is "to promote regional cooperation, conflict prevention and good governance in Central Asia through offering post-graduate education, professional training and intellectual exchange."


text: Almost all field operations of OSCE have been conducted in countries of former Yugoslavia and the former Soviet Union.


text: The OSCE chairmanship is assumed at yearly intervals by one participating state, which then plays the central role in managing the organization's work and in its external representation. The foreign minister of the country possessing the chair holds the OSCE's most senior position as Chairperson-in-Office (CiO).


text: The CiO is assisted by the previous and incoming chairpersons-in-office; the three of them together constitute the OSCE Troika. The CiO nominates Personal Representatives – experts in fields of priority for the CiO. The origin of the institution lies with the Charter of Paris for a New Europe (1990), and the Helsinki Document (1992) formally institutionalized this function.


text: Chairmanship of the OSCE is held by a member state on a calendar-year basis, with the minister for foreign affairs of that state performing the function of Chairperson-in-Office. The table below shows the holders since 1991.


text: While the Chairperson-in-Office is the OSCE's most senior official, on a day-to-day basis the Secretary General is the OSCE's chief administrative officer and can, when requested by the Chairmanship, serve as a representative of the Chairperson-in-Office. Since the establishment of the office in 1992, Secretary Generals have been:


text: The OSCE considers itself a regional organization in the sense of Chapter VIII of the United Nations Charter and is an observer in the United Nations General Assembly. The Chairperson-in-Office gives routine briefings to the United Nations Security Council.


text: The OSCE takes a comprehensive approach to the politico-military dimension of security, which includes a number of commitments by participating States and mechanisms for conflict prevention and resolution. The organization also seeks to enhance military security by promoting greater openness, transparency and co-operation.


text: The end of the Cold War resulted in a huge amount of surplus weapons becoming available in what is known as the international grey market for weapons. The OSCE helps to stop the—often illegal—spread of such weapons and offers assistance with their destruction. The OSCE hosts the annual exchange of information under the Conventional Forces in Europe treaty. The OSCE has also implemented two additional exchanges of information, the Vienna Document and the Global Exchange of Military Information. The Open Skies Consultative Commission, the implementing body for the Treaty on Open Skies, meets monthly at its Vienna headquarters.


text: The actions taken by the OSCE in border monitoring range from conflict prevention to post-conflict management, capacity building and institutional support.


text: With its expertise in conflict prevention, crisis management and early warning, the OSCE contributes to worldwide efforts in combating terrorism.


text: The OSCE works to prevent conflicts from arising and to facilitate lasting comprehensive political settlements for existing conflicts. It also helps with the process of rehabilitation in post-conflict areas.


text: The OSCE's Forum for Security Co-operation provides a framework for political dialogue on military reform, while practical activities are conducted by field operations, as well as the Conflict Prevention Centre.


text: OSCE police operations are an integral part of the organization's efforts in conflict prevention and post-conflict rehabilitation.


text: The OSCE was a rather small organization until selection by the international community to provide electoral organization to post war Bosnia and Herzegovina in early 1996. Ambassador Frowick was the first OSCE representative to initiate national election in September 1996, human rights issues and rule of law specifically designed to provide a foundation for judicial organization within Bosnia and Herzegovina.


text: The OSCE had regional offices and field offices, to include the office in Brcko in northeastern Bosnia and Herzegovina which remained in limbo until the Brcko Arbitration Agreement could be decided, finalized and implemented.


text: The OSCE essentially took the place of the United Nations in Bosnia and Herzegovina in part because the Bosnian leadership felt deep contempt for the UN efforts to stop the war which began in 1991 and ended in 1995. During the time the United Nations were attempting a political solution, thousands of UN troops were posted in and around Bosnia and Herzegovina with special emphasis on Sarajevo. From 1991 to 1995, over 200,000 Bosnians were killed and over one million displaced and another million as refugees.


text: The OSCE continues to have a presence and a number of initiatives to bring a sustained peace to the region.


text: Activities in the economic and environmental dimension include the monitoring of developments related to economic and environmental security in OSCE participating States, with the aim of alerting them to any threat of conflict; assisting States in the creation of economic and environmental policies, legislation and institutions to promote security in the OSCE region.


text: Among the economic activities of the OSCE feature activities related to migration management, transport and energy security. Most activities are implemented in co-operation with partner organizations.


text: The OSCE has developed a range of activities in the environmental sphere aimed at addressing ecologic threats to security in its participating States. Among the activities feature projects in the area of hazardous waste, water management and access to information under the Aarhus Convention.


text: The commitments made by OSCE participating States in the human dimension aim to ensure full respect for human rights and fundamental freedoms; to abide by the rule of law; to promote the principles of democracy by building, strengthening and protecting democratic institutions; and to promote tolerance throughout the OSCE region.


text: Since 2003, the OSCE has had an established mechanism for combating trafficking in human beings, as defined by Article 3 of the Palermo Protocol, which is aimed at raising public awareness of the problem and building the political will within participating states to tackle it effectively.


text: The OSCE actions against trafficking in human beings are coordinated by the Office of the Special Representative and Co-ordinator for Combating Trafficking in Human Beings. Maria Grazia Giammarinaro, a judge in the Criminal Court of Rome, took Office as the Special Representative in March 2010. From 2006 to 2009, this Office was held by Eva Biaudet, a former Finnish Minister of Health and Social Services. Biaudet currently serves as Finnish Ombudsman for Minorities. Her predecessor was former Austrian Minister Helga Konrad, who served as the first OSCE Special Representative for Combating Trafficking in Human Beings.


text: The activities around Combating Trafficking in Human Beings in the OSCE Region of the Office of the Special Representative include:


text: The OSCE claims to promote democracy and assist the participating states in building democratic institutions.


text: Education programmes are an integral part of the organization's efforts in conflict prevention and post-conflict rehabilitation.


text: As part of its democratization activities, the OSCE carries out election assistance projects in the run-up to, during, and following elections. However, the effectiveness of such assistance is arguable—Kazakhstan, for example, despite being the former chair of the OSCE, is considered by many to be one of the least democratic countries in the world. Moreover, the recent democratic advances made in other Central Asian republics, notably Kyrgyzstan, have led to rumours of Soviet-style disruption of the Kyrgyz democratic process by, in particular, Kazakhstan and Russia. This may be in large part due to fears over the long-term stability of these countries' own quasi-dictatorships.


text: The equality of men and women is an integral part of sustainable democracy. The OSCE aims to provide equal opportunities for men and women and to integrate gender equality in policies and practices.


text: The OSCE's human rights activities focus on such priorities as freedom of movement and religion, preventing torture and trafficking in persons.


text: OSCE could grant consultive status to NGOs and INGOs in the form of "Researcher-in-residence programme" (run by the Prague Office of the OSCE Secretariat): accredited representatives of national and international NGOs are granted access to all records and to numerous topical compilations related to OSCE field activities.


text: The OSCE observes relevant media developments in its participating states with a view to addressing and providing early warning on violations of freedom of expression.


text: Ethnic conflict is one of the main sources of large-scale violence in Europe today. The OSCE's approach is to identify and to seek early resolution of ethnic tensions, and to set standards for the rights of persons belonging to minority groups and High Commissioner on National Minorities has been established.


text: The Democracy Defender Award honors a person or group for contributions to the promotion of democracy and the defense of human rights "in the spirit of Helsinki Final Act and other OSCE principles and commitments." The award was established in 2016 on the initiative of Ambassadors of 8 countries, and supported by the delegations of the 18 countries of the OSCE (22 countries in 2017).


title: Buakaw Banchamek

text: Sombat Banchamek (, born May 8, 1982) a.k.a. Buakaw Banchamek (, Buakaw meaning "white lotus") is a martial artist from Thailand of ethnic Kuy descent, who formerly fought out of Por. Pramuk Gym, in Bangkok, Thailand, under the ring name Buakaw Por. Pramuk (). He competes in the sports of Muay Thai, kickboxing


title: Buakaw Banchamek

text: He is a former two-time Omnoi Stadium champion, Lumpinee Stadium Toyota Marathon champion, former #1-ranked fighter in Lumpinee Stadium, Thailand Featherweight champion, two-time K-1 World MAX champion and 2011 & 2012 Thai Fight tournament champion.


title: Buakaw Banchamek

text: Buakaw also briefly played professional football as a forward in the Regional League Division 2 for RBAC F.C.


title: Buakaw Banchamek

text: Additionally, he has also embarked on an acting career, starring in 2010's and 2017's Thong Dee Fun Khao after University graduate.


title: Buakaw Banchamek

text: Born as Sombat Banchamek () in Surin, Thailand, Buakaw started his fighting career at the age of eight in his home province of Surin in the northeastern Thailand. He moved to Chachoengsao when he was 15 and trained with the Por. Pramuk Gym. His first fight name was "Damtamin Kiat-anan".


title: Buakaw Banchamek

text: Buakaw has collected several belts to his name fighting in Bangkok. The Omnoi Stadium featherweight title was his first belt. After that, he would go on to take the featherweight champion of Thailand title. Buakaw then proceeded to win another Omnoi Stadium title belt, this time in the lightweight division. In December 2002, Buakaw won the Toyota Marathon 140 lb. tournament at Lumpinee Boxing Stadium, beating the highly regarded Satoshi Kobayashi of Japan in the finals.


title: Buakaw Banchamek

text: In July 2004, Buakaw became the K-1 MAX World champion beating John Wayne Parr, Takayuki Kohiruimaki and previous champion Masato in the finals. In 2005, he nearly repeated his run for tournament champion but lost the extra round in a controversial decision to Dutch shoot-boxer Andy Souwer in the finals. In the 2006 K-1 MAX World Grand Prix, Buakaw again faced Andy Souwer in the finals but this time defeated Souwer by TKO with a flurry of punches; thereby winning his second K-1 World MAX title and becoming the first man to win such title twice.


title: Buakaw Banchamek

text: Buakaw lost to Masato by unanimous decision at the K-1 World MAX 2007 quarterfinals. Despite Buakaw being able to land vicious leg kicks throughout the match, Masato scored a knockdown in the first round and continued to land numerous punch combinations throughout the fight which earned him a unanimous decision victory.


title: Buakaw Banchamek

text: In 2010, Buakaw co-starred in the martial arts movie "" based on the life of Yamada Nagamasa, a Japanese adventurer who gained considerable influence in Thailand at the beginning of the 17th century and became the governor of the Nakhon Si Thammarat province in southern Thailand.


title: Buakaw Banchamek

text: Although Buakaw was a semi-finalist of the K-1 World MAX 2009 Final Buakaw did not compete in the K-1 World MAX 2010 in Seoul World Championship Tournament Final 16 because he was displeased with the K-1 official's biased decision. Instead he entered the "Shoot Boxing World Tournament 2010" along with the former three time tournament champion Andy Souwer. However Toby Imada defeated Souwer in the semi finals to face Buakaw in the final. Buakaw defeated Imada via TKO in the second round to become the new 2010 Shoot Boxing S-Cup World champion.


title: Buakaw Banchamek

text: In 2011, Buakaw had seven fights; four of which ended by way of stoppage. In the semi-finals of the 2011 Thai Fight 70 kg Tournament, he won by KO in the 3rd round via elbow against Mickael Piscitello. On December 18, 2011, he fought Frank Giorgi for the 2011 Thai Fight 70 kg Tournament Title and won by unanimous decision.