The victory, by an unofficial Conservative candidate, against the wishes of the Liberal-Conservative coalition government leadership, over his Labour and Liberal opponents proved decisive in ending the Lloyd George led coalition government.

It also heralded the demise of the Liberal Party and the rise of the Conservatives as a party of government that dominated much of the twentieth century.

Using archival research material and re-examining the previous histories of the Newport byelection, in combination with new material, Professor Deacon from the Department of History and Classics believes that there is much to be learnt from this historic event, and that it still has relevance for the political parties of today.

The period between 1916 and 1945 was dominated by a series of coalition governments, the first of which was a Liberal-Conservative government, which ended suddenly in 1922.

Whilst the Lloyd George coalition worked effectively at the top it became very unpopular with both the public, and more importantly, the coalition partners’ own grassroots.  In October1922, the resistance to the coalition in the grassroots broke into open rebellion at Newport and ensured the coalition’s rapid end.

Professor Deacon said, “The events that occurred in the Newport byelection are still relevant today. After the Newport byelection neither Lloyd George or the leader of the Conservatives, Austin Chamberlain, would ever lead their party in government again.

“These events show us how coalition partners can fall out and how leaders can lose touch with their own party’s grassroots. It also has lessons on how ‘certain’ victory can fall from your party’s grasp. Many of the issues from then are still relevant now on this important anniversary.”