The Year 1915 Illustrated/The Coalition

HEN early in the year, suggestions were mooted for a non-party Cabinet, Mr. Asquith gave no encouragement to the idea. It was therefore with some amount of surprise that the country learned from the Prime Minister on May 10th that steps were in contemplation which would involve the reconstruction of the Government on a broader personal and political basis. During the following days Mr. Asquith was closely engaged with the business of the formation of the non-party Cabinet, and on May 25th he was able to publish the official list of members as approved by the King, as follows:

It was understood that Mr. John Redmond was offered a place in the Cabinet, but that he could not see his way to accept. The Cabinet's first step was to arrange for the speeding up of the manufacture of munitions. Mr. Lloyd George, as head of the new Government department, devoted himself with great public spirit to the work, and by the middle of August he was able to announce that great progress had been made in the matter of output, over five hundred firms having been brought into the service. * Since resigned and replaced by Sir F. E. Smith.