Lloyd George statue "a disgrace"

Congratulations to John Pilger and Harold Pinter for branding the new statue of former Liberal Prime Minister, David Lloyd George, "a disgrace."

Their letter to the Telegraph correctly cites his record of ordering British troops to bomb Afghanistan, Egypt, Iran and Iraq during the First World War, something Liberals today are eager to forget.

But more should be said of the role he played in Ireland. As Prime Minister from December 1916 to 1922 he led Britain's role in repressing those struggling for liberty in Ireland and was the Prime Minister who oversaw the country's partition.

Not only did he attempt to force conscripion on Ireland, but during the War of Independence, it was he who routinely locked up Ireland's elected MPs who refused to recognise British rule, and it was he who recruited and sent the Auxiliary Cadets and the Black and Tans who devastated people and their homes in a brutal effort to suppress the struggle for freedom.

And he should perhaps be best remembered by his statement to the Irish people in 1921 that they should accept partition or face "immediate and terrible war."

David Lloyd George - a liberal? Perhaps a liberal use of the term. An imperialist, and a particularly ruthless one at that, is more fitting.