David Lloyd George

David Lloyd George [David Lloyd George]

(1863–1945) a British ↑Liberal politician of Welsh parents, who was ↑Prime Minister of Britain from 1916 to 1922. As ↑Chancellor of the Exchequer (1908–15) he introduced ↑pensions (1908) and ↑National Insurance (1911), two important elements of the modern ↑welfare state. He became Prime Minister during ↑World War I, but after the war Conservative opposition to his policy of independence for Ireland forced him to ↑resign. He remained in Parliament for the rest of his life, but neither he nor the Liberal Party ever returned to power. He was made an ↑earl shortly before his death in 1945.