new liberalism

• When the ‘Old Liberal’ Prime Minister, Campbell Bannerman, died in 1908 a new, enlightened generation of ‘New Liberals’ such as Lloyd George and Winston Churchill were appointed to leadership roles within the Party.
• Churchill and Lloyd George believed that Britain should move away from the ‘laissez-faire’ approach to social welfare
• New Liberals believed they had a responsibility to improve things for the people of Britain. They argued that the social problems faced by the poor were out of their control and that there were circumstances in which it was right for the state to intervene to improve people's lives.
• ANALYSIS (FOR)

  Lloyd George (amongst others) genuinely felt that society should be fairer and that Britain would be more prosperous and strong if this

  happened.
• ANALYSIS (AGAINST)

  Not all Liberals agreed with New Liberalism. Many old Liberal MPs had been elected long before 1906 and had not supported taking action

  to improve working-class lives until the rise of Labour forced them to do so.