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Civil service

9 December 1916: David Lloyd George introduces minuted Cabinet meetings and instigates the Cabinet Office

Sir Maurice Hankey is striding with a sense of purpose. He is wearing a bowler hat, smoking a pipe and carrying a walking stick.

A century ago today, David Lloyd George, the new Prime Minister, held the first meeting of his War Cabinet. In the process he introduced an innovatory practice, and instigated an important institution at the heart of British government. A hundred …