Row erupts as statue is unveiled of 'racist' PM Lloyd George

[Blackleaf]

Left-Wing intellectuals in Britain have got their knickers in a twist after a statue of David Lloyd George was unveiled in front of the Houses of Parliament today. Lloyd George, British Prime Minister between 1916 and 1922, was credited with ending World War I and was supposed to have said, according to Left-Wingers, that he endorsed the right "to bomb niggers." Under Lloyd George's leadership the British Empire was at its greatest-ever extent, and Britain (almost echoing today) attacked Iran, Egypt, Afghanistan and Iraq.

Row erupts as statue is unveiled of 'racist' PM Lloyd George

25th October 2007
Daily Mail

The Welshman David Lloyd George, British Prime Minister between 1916 and 1922

A new statue of former Prime Minister David Lloyd George which was at the centre of an extraordinary row last night has been unveiled by Prince Charles in front of the Houses of Parliament today.

The row hinges on allegations made by a number of leading left-wing writers that Lloyd George said that he endorsed the 'right to bomb niggers'.

But Nobel Prize winning playwright Harold Pinter and a string of other anti-war campaigners have condemned what they describe as the 'utterly disgraceful' commemoration of his legacy.

Prince Charles unveils the statue today that has caused outrage among a number of left-wing intellectuals



Pinter, the Left-wing journalist John Pilger and former UN humanitarian coordinator for Iraq Denis Halliday have called on Lloyd George not to be honoured with the statue because under his leadership Britain bombed Afghanistan, Iraq, Egypt and Iran.

The Prince told invited guests who included many descendants of the statesman:
"I feel it's wholly appropriate that David Lloyd George should be commemorated this way in Parliament Square.

"In the course of a decade, beginning approximately a century ago, he established himself as one of the greatest social reformers and war leaders of the 20th Century."

Charles and Camilla meet one of Lloyd George's descendants Sophia


Charles, who is a royal patron of the appeal trust that raised £350,000 to have the statue created, added: "Though he never forgot his Welsh roots it is as a national and international statesman that he will best be remembered."

In a letter to today's Daily Telegraph, they also complain at his use of a phrase which apparently approved of 'reserving the right to bomb niggers'.

The meaning of the phrase is disputed because, although it was attributed to Lloyd George, it was recorded in the 1934 diary of his second wife and former mistress Frances Stevenson.

Despite the use of the racist word, some believe it may have been an ironic disapproval of Ramsay Macdonald's government's stance in armament talks at the League of Nations in 1932. At the talks, Germany had called for an end to aerial bombardment during conflicts.

British Prime Minister Lloyd George is credited with ending the First World War

But Britain had argued that this military option should be retained.

The letter says that under his premiership, which began during the First World War in 1916 and ended in 1922, Britain used planes to bomb Afghanistan, Egypt, Iran and Iraq.

It adds: "Today these vicious policies continue unabated. Thus, British war planes dropped more bombs on Iraqi targets in July/August of this year than in the whole of the previous three years.

"Meanwhile, British troops in Afghanistan have called in hundreds of U.S. airstrikes in recent months, contributing to the rapidly mounting civilian death toll.

"One recent survey estimated that roughly 116,000 Iraqis had been killed by aerial bombardment since the start of the 2003 invasion. All of which makes today's celebration of George's legacy both highly topical and utterly disgraceful."

But supporters of Lloyd George said his contribution to Britain and influence over modern politics, including as forefather to the Welfare State, should be ranked alongside Winston Churchill and Margaret Thatcher.

Lloyd George's grandson, Viscount Tenby, defended his record.

He said: "More distinguished historians than them will have a different view about it, as I do.

"He is regarded as one of the most important and influential figures of the 20th century.

"He founded the Welfare State after all, I presume they would approve of that."

Former Foreign Secretary Sir Malcolm Rifkind described the protests by Pinter and Pilger as 'misguided and foolish'.

Harold Pinter launched a bitter attack on the historic legacy of Lloyd George


He added: "The single most important reason for remembering Lloyd George is that he took over the premiership in the middle of the First World War.

"He wasn't responsible for that war, but his leadership helped deliver the ending of that war that everyone desired. Like anybody else, he may have done some things which one disagrees with, but he is certainly one of the most impressive leaders in the early part of his leadership."

Acting Liberal Democrat Leader, Vince Cable said: "This is a longawaited tribute to a man who is generally regarded as the most radical social reformer to have led this country.

"Lloyd George created modern liberalism by marrying a belief in freedom with a sense of social justice. His pensions and national insurance scheme launched the Welfare State.

"He was Britain's war leader through the most difficult years of the First World War and led it through to its successful conclusion."

Liberal Democrat MP Lembit Opik, a member of the Lloyd George Society, said: "Lloyd George was one of the most influential-Prime Ministers of the 20th century. Obviously in a democracy people can express their views if they want to, but I must take a different view.

"He fundamentally did more good to the world than harm."

The figure, by sculptor Professor Glynn Williams, was paid for by the David Lloyd George Statue Appeal, a charitable trust, of which the Prince of Wales is royal patron.

READERS' COMMENTS

Who cares what Mr Pinter has to say? David Lloyd George was Prime Minister in terrible times. He put Britain first.

- Noah, London
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And of course Harold Pinter and the rest of his cronies have NEVER said or done anything that might be construed the wrong way in 70 years time?

- John, England
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David Lloyd George led Britain to victory over Imperial Germany and was one of the four or five greatest PMs of the twentieth century. He did far more for this country than this left wing rabble will ever do.

- Mark, England

dailymail.co.uk

 

[hermanntrude]

maybe he was racist. Most people were then. Many people still are.

 

[YoungJoonKim]

Agreed, I can't think of a nation that ACCEPTED Jews, openly.
I mean look at what Canada did, by refusing that St. Louis boat, full of REFUGEES.
It wasn't just Jews, it was also black
Black were very much segregated in much of United States and it still is.
Just watch NFL and how African-America speak of their towns\
Oh yes, in Canada too.

 

[karra]

Lloyd George Knew My Father​

Tune: Onward Christian Soldiers
Written By: Unknown​

Copyright Unknown ​

Lloyd George knew my father,
Father knew Lloyd George
Lloyd George knew my father,
Father knew Lloyd George
Lloyd George knew my father,​

Father knew Lloyd George​

Lloyd George knew my father,​

Father knew Lloyd George

Lloyd George knew my father,

Father knew Lloyd George
Lloyd George knew my father,
Father knew Lloyd George​

​

This haunting political anthem, whose lyrics are meant to be repeated interminably to the tune of Onward, Christian Soldiers, is a tribute to the blazing fame of Britain's World War I Prime Minister. To the public and the London press, he was "The Man Who Won the War," "The Welsh Wizard" and "The Prime Minister of Europe." In the hymn-singing valleys of his homeland, his prestige was greater than that of the Prince of Wales (whom he taught Welsh), and no one could aspire to electoral office without the blessing of David Lloyd George. Hence the song, devised as a political parody by a new generation of Labor militants to ridicule those riding his coattails.

Few Americans under their middle 50s can have any direct memory of Lloyd George in his heyday; curiosity about his character and career are minimal. Nevertheless, from the most unlikely source, Lloyd George has been accorded a highly engaging biography. Richard Lloyd George, Earl of Dwyfor, 72, has succeeded in a most difficult biographical enterprise —to write of a famous father without being a bore, a dupe of his fame or indulging in Oedipal iconoclasm. Part memoir, part history and part character study, the book is written with a_ wry acceptance of the comedy inherent in all consanguinity. Clearly, Richard Lloyd George was that rare wise child who knows his own father. F.D.R. and Churchill will be lucky indeed if they are as well served from within their families.​

A Pasha in Surrey. Yet the book makes clear that Lloyd George, besides being a great man, also lived up to the English legend—that the Welsh are lechers and Bible bashers, musicians and bards, and, from Henry Tudor to Aneurin Bevan, have had a capacity for stirring up trouble. Lloyd George was a humbug ("a Bible-thumping pagan," is his son's phrase), something very close to a crook (the question of a political fund, most of which may have stuck in his own pocket, was never cleared up), and a sedulous seducer on a scale "unprecedented" in the history of British statesmanship.​

When Lloyd George's career faded in the '20s, it was not just that history had passed him by in the mass move of the discontented vote from liberal radicalism to trade union socialism: Lloyd George was too busy being a pasha to be a pundit or a prophet. Fame, money, wit, his bounderish bounce and white-maned, apple-cheeked handsomeness proved catnip to women, and he maintained what his son calls a "modern seraglio" at Churt, his princely estate in Surrey. On one of his increasingly rare visits to the old man's home Richard answered the phone; the caller' wanted to speak to the mistress of the house. "Which one?" asked Richard.

Lloyd George was something of a genius, a fact he first discovered as a school boy reading Euclid all by himself at the top of a great oak tree. The foster son of a pious Welsh shoemaker, he made himself a lawyer by heroic work, married the daughter of a local bigwig, and with gall and a pair of leather lungs, got himself elected to Parliament. On his road to success he took with him the fortunes, or at least the hopes, of the British lower middle classes. He buried the old aristocratic Whig liberalism that had lasted from Pitt to Jefferson to Asquith. His is the story familiar from the Gracchi to that of any modern demagogue who claims to emancipate a class and succeeds in emancipating himself, and if the oppressed get a few fringe benefits along the triumphal path, they are lucky.​

In the case of Lloyd George, the fringe benefits were considerable; his pre-World War I National Insurance Bill was a keystone of the modern welfare state. He led the opposition to Britain's last modern war to which popular opposition was possible—and escaped with his life, disguised as a policeman, from a chauvinist mob in Manchester anxious to lynch the "pro-Boer." But he lived to lead Britain in the first great war of the masses, when not only the cause but also the leaders had to be popular.

Ironic Reproach. Neither Asquith nor Earl Grey could have handled a non-gentleman's war. Lloyd George could bet 100,000 lives on a shift in Cabinet strategy! For this sort of thing, a man needs toughness of mind and, perhaps, the cynicism that is the inevitable price of perjured idealism. Unquoted by his son is Lloyd George's masterpiece of political cynicism. Reproached for his part in the Versailles Treaty, Lloyd George made the memorable riposte: "I think I did as well as might be expected—seated as I was between Jesus Christ [Wilson] and Napoleon Bonaparte [Clemenceau]."

There is no bitterness in this biography, but there are some little ironies: "My father's menage was unusual by the standards of Western civilization," or "those who wish for happiness would be well advised not to choose a genius for a male parent." But it is clear that Richard richly enjoyed the experience of having Lloyd George for a father. He cannot be blamed if he took his father's pleasures rather sadly; he inclined to the Bible-reading rather than Bible-thumping strain in the family, and besides there was Mother to think of. On his last visit to Churt he asked his father whether he thought it right to make love to the wife of a cripple—Viscount Snowden, one of Father's ' parliamentary pals. Old Lloyd George started up to strike Richard with a stick but held back; father and son made their separate ways to the house and never met again. When Mother died, Lloyd George, at 80. married one of his rather dowdy ladies. None of the family attended the ceremony.​

Yup - no surprise the foilers are against this - good men are few and far between. . . .

 

[gopher]

Lloyd George openly admired Hitler:

http://www.llgc.org.uk/ardd/dlgeorge/dlg0068.htm

He was also notorious for suppressing Irish freedom. Perhaps that is why certain right wingers love him so much.

 

[karra]

Perhaps that is why certain right wingers love him so much.

Could well be - one can only consume so many Irish apples at one sitting. . . .

 

[gopher]

When growing up in New York and studying European history in school, not much was taught about Lloyd George. This may perhaps be because NYC has a great many Irish-Americans and is so sympathetic towards Irish Catholics who suffer under British rule. Frankly, this is the first time I have seen any account of him supposedly ending WWI. Up to this time, we were always taught it was the USA's intervention that won the war for the UK and the allies.

But, I supposed this is the way history is taught in the UK.