Lloyd George, Curzon and the control of British foreign policy 1919-22

This article revises the accepted narrative about British foreign policy in the aftermath of the First World War, which portrays the Foreign Secretary and Foreign Office as subservient to a dynamic and interventionist Prime Minister in the formulation of foreign policy. It argues that the relationship between Prime Minister and Foreign Secretary, Lord Curzon of Kedleston, was far more complex than that suggested by the historical consensus, shaped, in part, by David Lloyd George's political opponents and Curzon's enemies. Comparisons are drawn between Curzon's influence over policy towards specific geographical areas, and between Curzon's experiences under Lloyd George and his eventual successors as Prime Minister, Andrew Bonar Law and Stanley Baldwin.