Mr. Lloyd George spoke no fewer than four times in
support of Mr. Churchill on Tuesday. His chief speech, delivered at the Gaiety Theatre in the afternoon, was a brilliant piece of electioneering advocacy and excited great enthusiasm. He had never seen any reason for the rule which debarred Cabinet Ministers from taking part in by-elections, and he was very glad to break it on behalf of a colleague assailed by every monopoly and privilege which stood in the pathway of progress. He repudiated the insinuation that with a change of chief the Government were about to abandon their programme of social reform, and he failed to see why, in view of Mr. Churchill's record and the record of the Government, North-West Manchester should be asked to change its mind. He rejoiced that Free-trade was to be made the great issue of the election, as there was no county in England whose fortunes were more inextricably bound up with freedom of trade than Lancashire. Its throe great
industries were cotton, machinery, and shipping, and in all three it beat all comers with Free-trade.
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