Lloyd George: The Goat in the Wilderness, 1922-1931

by John Campbell

Lloyd George fell from power in October 1922, never to hold office again. As a result he has tended to be written out of the politics of the 1920s. But John Campbell (in this, his first book, published in 1977) argues that Lloyd George remained the central figure on the political stage until 1931: his 'spectre haunted the Cabinet Room of his successors like Banquo's ghost.' He worked with Keynes and others to find a remedy for mass unemployment; but the two-party trap was closing on the Liberals, and a great career was doomed to end in frustration and disappointment.

'A vivid and sympathetic picture of the greatest British politician of the [twentieth] century. It throws a new light on the politics of the 1920s, and in particular on the internal politics of the Liberal Party.' David Marquand, TLS

'No praise could be too high for this book.' John Grigg, Spectator.

383 pages, Hardcover

First published January 1, 1977

About the author

John Campbell (born 1947) is a British political writer and biographer. He is a graduate of the University of Edinburgh. His works include biographies of Lloyd George, Roy Jenkins, F.E. Smith, Aneurin Bevan, Edward Heath, and Margaret Thatcher, the last consisting of two volumes, The Grocer's Daughter (2000) and The Iron Lady (2003). A one-volume abridgment prepared by David Freeman (a historian of Britain teaching at California State University, Fullerton) titled The Iron Lady: Margaret Thatcher, From Grocer's Daughter to Prime Minister, was published in 2009 and reissued in paperback in 2011. He was awarded the NCR Book Award for his biography of Heath. He is married with two children and lives in London.

Campbell was consultant to the 2009 production of "Margaret", a fictionalisation of Margaret Thatcher's fall from power, and the 2012 film "The Iron Lady'.