Talk:David Lloyd George

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"reserves the right..."

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)

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)

Will do. Watch this space. Matthew Platts 22:25, 11 August 2005 (UTC)

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)

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 (talk • contribs) 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)

Unsourced

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"

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)

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

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". DuncanHill (talk) 21:32, 31 March 2020 (UTC)

Category:Academics from the United Kingdom

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)

He was the rector of the University of Edinburgh.--Vilho-Veli (talk) 23:48, 1 April 2020 (UTC)

Trail of slime

This quote appears everywhere:

• The right honourable and learned gentleman has twice crossed the floor of this House, each time leaving behind a trail of slime.

It's said to have been said by Lloyd George in 1931, in reference to Sir John Simon, and it sounds very much like a set of words that would only have been uttered in the House of Commons. But my extensive search of the Commons Hansard has produced no results. Can we pin this down? -- JackofOz (talk) 23:35, 17 August 2024 (UTC)

@JackofOz: The phrase you are looking for is "the slime of hypocrisy". I think July 1931, will have a proper search for it later. DuncanHill (talk) 11:20, 3 September 2024 (UTC)

Found it! 3rd July 1931, debate on the Finance Bill. See here. DuncanHill (talk) 11:45, 3 September 2024 (UTC)

Great, thanks. So, the version that's quoted everywhere is clearly a corruption of what he actually said, viz. "They, I at any rate, did not leave behind the slime of hypocrisy in passing from one side to another."

Pity, because the corrupt version is so much more piquant than the original. Ah, well. -- JackofOz (talk) 12:45, 3 September 2024 (UTC)