H. H. Asquith

Asquith presided over perhaps the most talented peacetime cabinet in British history: Lloyd George at the Treasury, Churchill at the Board of Trade and Admiralty, Grey at the Foreign Office, Haldane at the War Office. He let them run, and the result was the People's Budget, old age pensions, national insurance and the Parliament Act of 1911. His chairmanship suited peace and failed in war: Lloyd George's manoeuvring with Conservative leaders replaced him in December 1916 and split the Liberal Party permanently.