Today in history
The Conservatives won the general election, confirming Bonar Law's government after the coalition's collapse.
On 15 November 1922, the United Kingdom elected a Conservative majority, endorsing Andrew Bonar Law’s government after the collapse of David Lloyd George’s coalition.
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The coalition comes apart
The Conservatives had been the larger parliamentary partner in Liberal prime minister David Lloyd George’s coalition. By autumn 1922, many wanted their independence back. Economic difficulties, industrial unrest and the sale-of-honours scandal had weakened the government; Lloyd George’s handling of the Chanak crisis, raising the prospect of war with Turkey, further unsettled confidence.
On 19 October, Conservative MPs assembled at the Carlton Club in London’s Pall Mall and rejected continuing the coalition. Bonar Law’s intervention helped secure the break, and Lloyd George resigned that day. On 23 October, Bonar Law regained the Conservative leadership and accepted George V’s invitation to form a government. Calling an immediate election was a political choice, not a constitutional necessity.
A majority for quieter government
The November poll therefore endorsed a prime minister already in office; it did not install him. The Conservatives won 344 of the Commons’ 615 seats, securing an overall majority of 73. After the coalition’s contentious final months, Bonar Law offered post-war recovery and tranquillity rather than another bout of political drama.
Canadian-born and formerly an iron merchant, Bonar Law had first become Conservative leader in 1911. His premiership proved brief: ill health forced him to leave office in May 1923, and he died that October. The electoral victory was substantial; the time available to use it was not.
A new parliamentary balance
This was the Conservatives’ first election victory in their own right since 1900. Labour, with 142 seats, became the official opposition, overtaking the divided Liberal forces. The result helped establish the Conservative–Labour rivalry that would subsequently dominate British parliamentary politics.
The parliamentary map had also changed. Most of Ireland no longer returned Westminster MPs, reducing the Commons from 707 seats to 615; Northern Ireland continued to elect members. The Irish Free State was not formally proclaimed until 6 December 1922, after polling day.