The Coalition Liberals met in conference at Westminster on Friday,
January 20th, and decided, on the motion of the Attorney-General, to form a National Liberal Council, to which Liberal (organizations would be affiliated and which would, it was hoped, supplant the old Liberal party machine still con- trolled by Mr. Asquith. Sir Gordon Hewart said that they strongly objected to the attempt of the older organization to drive them out of the Liberal Party. Further, it was necessary for the Coalition Liberals to be as well organized as their Unionist allies, who, he hinted, had more than their fair share of Coalition seats. " Friendship was based upon equality." Moreover, Liberals must be prepared for the ending of the Coalition. Sir Gordon Hewart said incidentally that by reform of the House of Lords they did not mean the restoration of its " un- limited veto," and that they " stood unrepentantly and uncom- promisingly for a policy of Free Trade."
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