Talk:David Lloyd George

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This is the talk page for discussing improvements to the David Lloyd George page.


"reserves the right..."[edit]

I have removed the attributed quotation "Britain reserves the right to bomb niggers." It is almost certainly false, as the only reference I have been able to find to it in print, including several reputable biographies, is that of a New York based Anglophobic Marxist, who can hardly be considered to be a neutral source. 84.64.41.144 23:12, 10 August 2005 (UTC)[reply]

Apparently LG wrote it in 1932 in his diary in referrence to "the fact Britain had just succeeded in undermining an international disarmament conference which was attempting to put restrictions on the use of air power to attack civilians.". I got this from [1]. As you haven't been able to locate it in print then leave it out, but perhaps someone with access to Lloyd George's diaries can definitively verify or repudiate the quote (I don't think they were ever published though). As you have a number of LG biographies can you please add any other quotes you think would be suitable. AllanHainey 07:32, 11 August 2005 (UTC)[reply]
Will do. Watch this space. Matthew Platts 22:25, 11 August 2005 (UTC)[reply]
Oh, I should say that Noam Chomsky wasn't who I was referring to (aside from anything being MIT based)... Matthew Platts 10:35, 12 August 2005 (UTC)[reply]


Noam Chomsky quotes Lloyd George as "we insisted on reserving the right to bomb niggers" in the book "Year 501" (South End Press, January, 1993) and cites "European empires from conquest to collapse, 1815-1960" by V. G Kiernan, pg. 200 as the source. Hope this helps. 66.61.25.213

The quote is legitimate, if not word for word. It comes directly from the text of the diaries of Lloyd George's second wife Frances Stevenson, who quotes him almost directly, referring to his defense of the right to "bomb niggers!" (She even used an exclamation mark.)

The diaries were published in 1971 as "Lloyd George: A Diary by Frances Stevenson," edited by historian A.J.P. Taylor. It's on page 259 in the entry dated March 9, 1934.

So don't make up lies about the supposed fabrications of "Anglophobic Marxists"--the quote is absolutely true, regardless of anybody's politics. —This unsigned comment is by 207.237.42.32 (talkcontribs) 00:58, 11 September 2007.

It does appear in Stevenson but Lloyd George was not supporting it, but criticising (indeed ridiculing) Sir John Simon's (and the government's) attitude. DuncanHill (talk) 13:03, 25 January 2020 (UTC)[reply]

Unsourced[edit]

Published sources should be provided before moving these back into the article
  • We have not lost any war. As long as our Courts are delivering Justice to the people and they get egalitarian recruitment for employment. My government will make sure that people are not unemployed
    • Speech, Manchester (1919)

"This war, like the next war, is a war to end war"[edit]

I have removed the following, as it is clear from the source that the "quotation" was a satire or spoof of Lloyd George, not an actual quotation.

  • This war, like the next war, is a war to end war.
    • Statement, sometimes dated to have been made in 1916, as quoted in Reading, Writing and Remembering : A Literary Record (1932) by Edward Verrall Lucas, p. 296

DuncanHill (talk) 12:54, 25 January 2020 (UTC)[reply]

"There is nothing more dangerous than to leap a chasm in two jumps"[edit]

Some sterling work by another at the EngWiki RefDesks has turned up the original Lloyd George expression - as found by Quote Investigator "There is no greater mistake than to try to leap an abyss in two jumps".[1] DuncanHill (talk) 21:32, 31 March 2020 (UTC)[reply]

Category:Academics from the United Kingdom[edit]

I do not understand why Category:Academics from the United Kingdom has been applied - Lloyd George was not an academic, he was a solicitor and a politician. DuncanHill (talk) 23:41, 1 April 2020 (UTC)[reply]

He was the rector of the University of Edinburgh.--Vilho-Veli (talk) 23:48, 1 April 2020 (UTC)[reply]
  1. Lloyd George, David (1933). "XXIV: Disintegration of the Liberal Party". War Memoirs. 2 (1st ed.). London: Ivor Nicholson & Watson. p. 740.