WI: Lloyd George and Keynes were Killed in 1916?

Exactly what it says on the tin. In OTL the HMS Hampshire was an armoured cruiser en route to Russia in 1916 when it was sunk by a German submarine. Several important officials were killed by the sinking , including the Minister of War, Lord Kitchener.
Suppose Asquith had decided to send some men from the Treasury to inspect Russia's financial situation- David Lloyd George and John Maynard Keynes. They board the Hampshire and die when it sinks.

Now, I'm no expert on the period but I think this would lead to some pretty big butterflies. Without Lloyd George, either Asquith will stay in office or someone else will take over from him, which will have some pretty major effects on British politics and consequently, on the British war effort. And without Keynes, economics will have lost on of it's titans.
So how do people think the world would have developed in the absence of Lloyd George and Keynes?
 
I think someone would have come up with the basic idea of Keynesian economics, under a different name. The New Deal was already about three years old by the time Keynes published The General Theory.
 
From what i've read Lloyd George was supposed to have accompanied Kitchener but the events of the Easter Uprising forced him to cancel.
 

Coulsdon Eagle

Monthly Donor
Lloyd George was essential to the overthrow of Asquith, given that the Liberal & Unionists were roughly level pegging in the House of Commons, while Labour and the Irish Nationalists held the balance of power. Extremely unlikely that either of these two would support a purely Unionist coup against Asquith. Lloyd George could carry enough Liberals with him to give the new Coalition the majority in Parliament.

With LG dead there is no-one with the authority to replace Asquith from within the Liberal Party. Churchill would definitely think he was the man of the hour but there would be no way the Unionists would trust a ratter. Possibly Bonar Law could threaten to push for reform of the War Cabinet as OTL but if Asquith accepted it would be on his terms, which would include his being a member. There could be a lot more poison in the air in the Commons, while the British government would meander on as it did in 1915-16, with a resultant drop in overall British effectiveness in prosecution of the war.
 

Thomas1195

Banned
Ah, it is likely that Edwin Montagu would have succeeded him as Minister of Munitions. This would be more of a relief for Asquith, since Montagu was still on his side at that time (I believe at worst he would include another Liberal instead of Carson in the War Committee).
 

Thomas1195

Banned
The death of Lloyd George would be one of the greatest luck for the German. Before Lloyd George became PM, German war industries were superior to their British equivalents, and outproduced Britain in virtually every types of non-naval armaments.

IOTL, when Lloyd George became PM, he micro-managed the war production, and thus greatly improved efficiency and by late 1917 and 1918, Britain was able outproduced Germany in various categories. Besides, it was Lloyd George who pushed for the introduction of convoy system. Now, with the death of OTL "The man who won the war", the German's chance for victory would greatly increase, as they would continue to outproduce Britain. Without the introduction of convoy, Britain would be starved.

Unless someone can argue that the existence of Lloyd George was a net drag on British war effort (I totally believe that nobody can), the death of DLG would be a huge loss for Britain.
 
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