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.