of diplomacy and expressed his opposition to the Boer War with some vehemence. This went down badly with readers, many of whom had family or friends risking and losing their lives for that cause. As sales were lost, he was asked to resign by Frank Lloyd, son of Edward Lloyd and managing director of the company that owned the paper. Politically, Massingham was at the radical end of the Liberal Party. He had edited the radical evening paper, The Star, in 1890–91. He went on to become editor of the Nation, where he transferred its allegiance to the Labour Party during the war. He resigned in 1923 when John Maynard Keynes, a Liberal, took it over. In 1899, the Chronicles former foreign editor, William Fisher, became editor, handing over to Robert Donald in 1904. Donald had worked as news editor for the Chronicle but had taken time off journalism to experience an unrelated occupation – promoting a hotel. From 1906 he also edited Lloyd's Weekly News, the Sunday newspaper owned by the Lloyd family. He was thoughtful and principled, with a firm belief in objective reporting and editorial independence. Under his direction, the paper was broadly supportive of the radical wing of the Liberal Party under David Lloyd George. It was never anti-war, but it was critical of political interference in military strategy. Buy-out Donald had got to know Lloyd George well, although he never hesitated to point out failings if justified. After he became prime minister at the end of 1916, Lloyd George valued the Chronicle'''s impartial and objective coverage and found it the most acceptable of the non-Conservative papers. He misled himself into thinking that Donald was an uncritical supporter, drawing confirmation from Donald's willingness to advise him on the official propaganda effort in 1917 and then to accept an official position – "director of propaganda in neutral countries". In fact, the relationship between Donald and Lloyd George, always arm's-length in Donald's eyes, had been fatally soured by dealings in 1917 that were unknown to the public. Lloyd George had tried to buy the Chronicle through his political allies. Frank Lloyd, as owner, named his price. Although a realistic valuation, £900,000 was too high for the initial backer, the Liberal peer Lord Leverhulme. Lord Beaverbrook, a Conservative press baron who had promised to support Lloyd George for five years, then became involved as a potential backer. Since selling