Evening star., 1922-01-22
POLITICAL TUMU[T
SWAY|NG ENGLAND
All Factions Stirred With
Election Far in
Future.
LIBERAL PARTY Is SPLIT
Lloyd George and Asquith to Hold
On to Leader
ship.
LIBERAL PARTY is SPLIT
BY EDWARD PRICE BELL.

BY EDWARD PRICE BELL.
By Cable to The star and Chicago Daily News,
Copyright, 1322
LONDON, January 21.-Great Brit
ain is, so to speak, whirling in a mael-
strom Of political commotion. Con-
servatives, coalition liberals, inde-
pendent liberals, laborites and COM
munists are shouting and gesticulat-
ing. All this without any prospect of
a general election for several weeks
or months Yet the situation is full
Of significance. 1t is. indeed, the most
interesting political situation Great
Britain has known since the Glad
stone home rule bill split the liberal
and produced the unionist party more
than thirty years ago.
Once more the liberal party Is be-
ing split. One. .section-the majority
section of it-follows Prime Minister
Lloyd George. 1t calls itself the
coalition liberal party of the moment,
but the liberal party of the future.
Ex-Prime Minister Asquith leads the
other section, called the independent
liberal party. and this section COM
mands the old liberal machine and its
war chest. These sections are in bit
ter conflict. Lloyd George and AS
Quith realize that they cannot agree.
Neither will yield the liberal leader
ship to the other.
Consequently the Lloyd George or
coalition liberals are meeting in Gen.
trail Hall, Westminster, and forming
a so-calied national liberal council,
! which will be an organization carry
ing the Lloyd George banner. This
gathering is composed of nearly 5000
delegates from all parts of the coun-
try. and its declaration of principles
opposition at present to party strife,
consistent opposition to class or in.
dustrial warfare, party cooperation,
public retrenchment, liberation of
industry and commerce from inter-
ference. no abandonment Of the cam
paign for better social and industrial
conditions for the people, persever-
ance in the fight against poverty, the
maintenance of statutory guarantees
against the ill effects of age. accident,
invalidity and unemployment; liberal
ity to ex-Service men and their de-
pendents-is we'll recognized as the
. ca rdinal articles of the faith of Lloyd
George.
Stage IL Crowded.
The stage of Great Britain, pending
political drama, is crowded and Lloyd
powerful figure on 1t. Neither the
conservatives nor the bulk of the lib
erals dare to throw over Whether
they like him or not-and many in
both parties do like him-both feel
that they would be lost without him.
Therefore the coalition will be main
tanned for the present with Lloyd
George at its head. The conservatives
greatest leaders, such as Chamberlain,
and liberalisn's most virile and mod
ern men. such as Churchill, support
Lloyd George whole-heartedly. This
puts any other possible coalition
leader out of the running.
What brings the conservatives and
the more forceful liberals into the
same camp, even temporarily? Two
things, fear of the labor and revolu-
tionary element at home and the con-
viction that only union of the great
British parties can deal properly with
the country's almost Overwhelming
obligations and problems abroad.
Conservatives and liberals alike fear
the laborite. They detest labor's Sec
tional or class program. Lloyd
George detests it. He is it's most out
spoken and persuasive enemy in this
country. Both conservatism and lib
eralism look upon Lloyd George as
the only living man who can save
them from those elements whom they
regard as bent upon the destruction
of Britain's historic, political and
social institutions.