8 - Two malcontents

Summary

Adams, Kerr, Harmsworth and Joseph Davies, who have all figured prominently in earlier chapters, maintained for two years the conviction that the work of the Garden Suburb was worth doing. This opinion was not shared by Waldorf Astor and David Davies, who were disgruntled because their expectations for the Prime Minister's Secretariat were not fulfilled. Both men imagined that a post in Downing Street would give them entry into the highest circles of government, where the authority of the Prime Minister, whom they expected to supply with ideas, would crush obstacles to the march of righteousness. Davies hoped thus to spur the military authorities to greater efforts in new directions, and Astor to nationalise the liquor trade. It proved beyond the power of the whole War Cabinet, let alone David Davies, to deflect the military authorities from their course, and the liquor trade remained safely in private hands. The two secretaries decided almost simultaneously in June 1917 that the Garden Suburb was worth nothing if it was not a lever to accomplish tangible change, and made moves to resign. Davies, less tactful and more energetic, was immediately successful; Astor lingered unhappily in Downing Street for a further year. The contrast between what they wanted and what they found is illuminating. While others found satisfaction and purpose in improving the quality of decisions by keeping Lloyd George informed, and in shaping to some degree the body of ideas from which he derived his thinking on current and future policy, Astor and Davies demanded attention to their views on specific decisions.