Roy Hattersley, writer, broadcaster and former deputy leader of the Labour Party *now fully booked*
Lloyd George and the politics of coalition
Date/Time: 15th February 2011, 17:30 - 18:30
To listen to a recording of this lecture:
There are coalitions of necessity and coalitions of expediency. Lloyd George’s example and experience provides a salutary lesson for politicians who combine forces either to save the nation or their own careers,
Roy Hattersley was a Labour Member of Parliament for thirty three years, a member of Harold Wilson's government, Jim Callaghan's cabinet and deputy leader of the party from 1987 to 1992. He is the author of twenty two books ( including The Edwardians, Britain Between the Wars and Choose Freedom, the future for democratic socialism) and four biographies - Nelson, John Wesley, William Booth and (most recently) LLoyd George. Roy Hattersley has been a columnist for the Guardian, Spectator, Punch and the Daily Mail. He has been a Visiting Fellow at Nuffield College, Oxford and the Institute of Politics at Harvard. In 1998 he was elected a Fellow of the Royal Society of Literature.
In Britain, there are two sorts of formal coalitions - coalitions of necessity and coalitions of convenience. Whether they are created to overcome a national emergency - 1915, 1916 and 1940 - or cynically to create a parliamentary majority for parties which could not govern alone, they break the rules of manifesto and mandate on which are present form of democracy is built. However the case for political realignment is strong. In particular, the logic of creating a progressive alliance - the hope of radicals before the First World War - is overwhelming. To give it legitimacy, the British voting system has to be changed so that the electorate expect a coalition before polling day.
