On This Day
17 January 1935
Lloyd George calls for a British ‘New Deal’
On his 72nd birthday, in Bangor in his home constituency, Lloyd George delivers a speech which includes praise for President Roosevelt’s New Deal and calls for a British version with massive state financing of public works and a Lloyd George favourite, land settlement all directed by a small ‘war cabinet’. This was a step on from the coloured books which had informed Liberal policy at the 1929 general election. LG wanted an independent statutory Development Council composed of industrialists and economists to make recommendations on what schemes would best reduce unemployment. A major campaign followed but while the policies were popular, the country was not willing to again entrust political leadership to the Welsh Wizard.