The only Welshman to occupy 10 Downing Street, David Lloyd George, stood well above his contemporaries as the most dominant figure in British politics in the first quarter of the twentieth century. He was unconventional in behavior for he did not fit in any obvious category. One biographer described him as a “rogue elephant among British prime ministers” and there was undoubtedly a highly adventuresome, almost buccaneering quality about him. He seemed larger than life, with political abilities that entranced and dazzled as well as deep failings that aroused controversy and outrage. No one, it seems, can be entirely neutral on the subject of Lloyd George. He is, as sometimes happens, a historical character who polarizes opinion. Regardless of how he is viewed, he is undeniably one of the most interesting and colorful politicians of the last century. In comparing the two best-known war leaders of his era, Lord Beaverbrook remarked that “Churchill was perhaps the greater man but Lloyd George was more fun.”

The length, diversity and controversial nature of Lloyd George's political career explains why he continues to be the object of scrutiny and review. The number of biographies or monographs dealing with aspects of his political career are so numerous that they would easily fill a volume. Yet, curiously enough, his work between 1916 and 1918, although invariably praised by recent scholars, has generally received only superficial investigation.