During the summer Mr.Lloyd George's transaction in Marconi shares had been magnified by partisan rancour into a crime.

Much more serious was the split with Labour, which led to the loss of seat after seat at by-elections, when the allied forces which stood behind the Parliament Act attacked each other and let the Tories in.

The Women's Franchise agitation was also coming to its stormiest point.
Redmond's part was one of extraordinary difficulty.

The cause for which he stood was one affecting the interests of only a small minority of the total electorate concerned in the struggle which now spread over both islands.

The Irish problem belonged in reality to the Victorian era; those in the British electorate whom it could stir to enthusiasm were stirred by a memory, not by a new gospel.