Abstract
Economic historians have thought that government financial policy in early 20th century Britain was under the influeuace of the City of London. Both Marxists and non-Marxists (for example, the theory of 'gerxtlemanly capitalism') are agreed on this point. In this article, the author tries to disprove this consensus. The first section consists of an analysis of parliamentary debates on the financial policy of the Liberal government during the years from 1907 to 1914. From these debates, it is clear that those MPs who had close connections with the City of London were always in disagreement with the Liberal government over financial policy. In the second section. the attitude of financicers in the City of London toward the 1909 budget (the People's Budget) is considered As a result. the author demonstrates that most financiers in the City of Lomadon preferred the protectionist budget proposed by the Conservative Party to the Liberal free trade budget (i.e., the People's Budget). In conclusion, the author suggests that the financial policy of the Liberal government in the early 20th century was influenced not by the financiers of the City of London but by the manufacturing interests
