United Kingdom general election, 1922

If the victory in the Great War had promoted Lloyd George to the rank of national hero, the British failure to halt the advance of the red tide on the Continent, combined with the Irish disaster, demoted him to the rank of national failure. In 1918, Conservative leader Bonar Law had declared that Lloyd George "can be dictator for life if he wishes." The 1918 election had returned his coalition government to power with an overwhelming majority of seats (although with only a slight majority of the popular vote).
Not long after the election, though, violent incidents began to break out between the Irish Republican Army (IRA) and the Royal Irish Constabulary (RIC). The German elections had returned worrying results in favour of the communists, and an Allied military intervention in northern Russia ended in failure. The beginning of the German Civil War sent the British and French governments into a panic, and while France intervened in the Rhineland, British forces continued their intervention in the Baltic and supported Denmark in their efforts to occupy Schleswig.
The Treaty of Aachen of November 1920 was a humiliation: the Allies had been unable to halt the westward spread of communism. But the British conflict in Ireland continued, seemingly with no end in sight. In September 1921, the IRA decided to "bring the war to England", and bombing campaigns began on English soil. The military was deployed in major English and Scottish cities, especially those with sizeable Irish minorities.
The bloody conclusion to the war in Ireland in January 1922, conducted without the backing of parliament, led to the people and the king losing faith in the government. King George dissolved Parliament and new elections were called for February. Lloyd George and his cabinet having been entirely discredited by this turn of events, Asquith's Liberals and Labour made great gains and were able to form a government.
== Results ==
↓
257 	155 	147 	41	13
Conservative	Labour	Liberal	CL	O
 The election produced a hung parliament, with the Conservatives holding a plurality of seats. Labour held the second-highest number of seats, and with the official Liberals' support they could have formed a government. However, the Red Scare resulting from the revolutions in Europe led the king to favour a more balanced approach: Asquith would become Prime Minister, with Labour making up a slim majority of the Cabinet in a coalition.
The position of Chancellor of the Exchequer was hotly-contested between the two parties and the conflict almost ended the coalition before it began, but it ultimately fell into Liberal hands. The other two Great Offices of State fell into Labour hands: Labour leader Ramsay MacDonald became Foreign Secretary, and Arthur Henderson became Home Secretary.
Category:General elections in the United Kingdom