until they agree to draw up laws which secure justice for all, to obey those laws themselves, and until the nations of the earth are willing to be united into a World State". In December 1916, he was appointed David Lloyd George's private secretary and was active in the Paris Peace Conference. As the private secretary, Kerr continued with his plans for the peace. In a letter to Esme Howard, the British ambassador to Sweden, on 2 April 1918, Kerr stated the projected League of Nations should work towards world-wide disarmament and for a system of "public law" against "a world order based on the sword". As the right-hand man to Lloyd George, Kerr became well known in his own right. Lloyd George hated reading memos, and delegated the task to Kerr, who had then discussed whatever information he thought pertinent with the prime minister. Kerr came to be Lloyd George's "gatekeeper", deciding what information was passed on to the prime minister and who was allowed to see him, making him into a man of much power. Kerr was widely disliked within the British civil service as he was considered to be arrogant and sanctimonious. Kerr's religious beliefs led him to take the line that he was always acting from the highest moral principles, a belief that he was not shy in proclaiming, which gave him the reputation within the government circles as a prig. Lord Curzon referred to Kerr as the "second Foreign Office", Henry Wilson called Kerr a "poisonous" influence on Lloyd George while Maurice Hankey described Kerr as Lloyd George's "watch dog". The historians' Michael Dockrill and John Turner wrote: "It is difficult to determine precisely the impact of Kerr's advice on the course of British policy. But from the testimony of contemporaries, from Lloyd George's replies to Kerr's letters, and from the way that Kerr's recommendations found their way into policy documents and decisions, there can be no doubt that the prime minister listened carefully to Kerr's suggestions". Kerr played a prominent role in escalating the reparations demands on Germany. Initially, it was agreed that reparations would only go for direct war damages, which would have ensured the majority of reparations would go to France as most of northern France had turned into a wasteland. In an attempt to secure more reparations for Britain, Kerr supported Lloyd George's demands that German reparations also go to paying