The Coalition Coupon was a letter sent to
parliament
In modern politics, and history, a parliament is a legislative body of government. Generally, a modern parliament has three functions: representing the electorate, making laws, and overseeing the government via hearings and inquiries. ...
ary candidates at the
1918 United Kingdom general election
The 1918 United Kingdom general election was called immediately after the Armistice with Germany which ended the First World War, and was held on Saturday, 14 December 1918. The governing coalition, under Prime Minister David Lloyd George, se ...
, endorsing them as official representatives of the
Coalition Government. The 1918 election took place in the heady atmosphere of victory in the
First World War
World War I (28 July 1914 11 November 1918), often abbreviated as WWI, was one of the deadliest global conflicts in history. Belligerents included much of Europe, the Russian Empire, the United States, and the Ottoman Empire, with fig ...
and the desire for revenge against Germany and its allies. Receiving the coupon was interpreted by the electorate as a sign of patriotism that helped candidates gain election, while those who did not receive it had a more difficult time as they were sometimes seen as anti-war or pacifist. The letters were all dated 20 November 1918 and were signed by Prime Minister
David Lloyd George
David Lloyd George, 1st Earl Lloyd-George of Dwyfor, (17 January 1863 – 26 March 1945) was Prime Minister of the United Kingdom from 1916 to 1922. He was a Liberal Party politician from Wales, known for leading the United Kingdom during ...
for the Coalition
Liberals and
Bonar Law, the leader of the
Conservative Party. As a result, the 1918 general election has become known as "the coupon election".
The name "coupon" was coined by
Liberal leader
H. H. Asquith, disparagingly using the jargon of rationing with which people were familiar in the context of wartime shortages.
Text of the letter
The letters all contained the same simple text:
Some coalition candidates included the wording of the letter in their
election address
An election address is the material sent out by a candidate during a political campaign. Election Addresses are normally only sent out during the election period itself. Other political leaflets are usually known by different names.
In UK parli ...
es.
Recipients
Following confidential negotiations between Lloyd George's coalition
Chief Whip
The Chief Whip is a political leader whose task is to enforce the whipping system, which aims to ensure that legislators who are members of a political party attend and vote on legislation as the party leadership prescribes.
United Kingdom
...
,
Freddie Guest
Frederick Edward "Freddie" Guest, (14 June 1875 – 28 April 1937) was a British politician best known for being Chief Whip of Prime Minister David Lloyd George's Coalition Liberal Party, 1917–1921. He was also Secretary of State for Air be ...
, and
George Younger, Chairman of the Conservative Party, over the summer of 1918, it was agreed that 150 Liberals were to be offered the support of the prime minister and the leader of the Conservative Party at the next general election.
According to the figures recorded in Trevor Wilson's book, ''The Downfall of the Liberal Party'', 159 Liberal candidates received the coupon. A few of these were
Independent Liberals, supporters of Asquith. Of those Liberals receiving the coupon 136 were elected, whereas only 29 who did not receive the coupon were returned to Parliament.
In addition to the Liberal and Conservative candidates who received the coupon, some letters were also sent to
Labour supporters of the Coalition (although most were repudiated by the official Labour Party) and some to members of the patriotic, working class party the
National Democratic Party.
Impact on Liberal candidates
As
Margaret Cole’s memoir of the time makes clear, many competent and patriotic candidates who did not receive the coupon, including sitting Liberal and Labour MPs, found themselves categorised as somehow anti-war or pacifist as a result.
Percy Harris, who had been MP for
Harborough since 1916 recorded that once the coupon had been allocated to his Conservative opponent it was interpreted as a personal reflection upon him by his constituents who assumed he must have done something wrong for the Liberal Prime Minister to be seen offering his open support to a rival.
Most historians have since agreed that the coupon essentially sealed the fate of those Liberals who were not fortunate enough to receive the Coalition's backing. Those Liberals that Lloyd George chose to abandon were left defenceless against Coalition candidates, who had a full claim on the spirit of national unity and patriotism that characterised Britain's war weary mood following the end of hostilities.
The election result was catastrophic for these Asquithian
Independent Liberals, who were decimated in the Coupon election. Only 28 were returned, and even Asquith lost the seat he had held in
East Fife since the
1886 general election.
[''The Times, House of Commons 1919''; Politico’s Publishing, 2004 p10]
References
{{Conservative Party (UK)
Coalition governments
1918 in the United Kingdom
1918 in British politics
Liberal Party (UK)
History of the Conservative Party (UK)
Political terms in the United Kingdom
1918 United Kingdom general election