He was actively involved in undermining attempts by Lloyd George to negotiate a deal between Irish Nationalists and Unionists in July 1916 over introducing the suspended Home Rule Act 1914, publicly clashing with his arch-rival Sir Edward Carson. He was accused of plotting to bring down Carson by jeopardising an agreement with the nationalist leader John Redmond, that any partition would only be temporary. When Long wanted to alter the clause to permanent, Redmond abandoned further negotiations. Carson, in a bitter riposte, said of Long "The worst of Walter Long is that he never knows what he wants, but is always intriguing to get it". Austen Chamberlain, in 1911, was similarly critical of Long, saying he was "at the centre of every coterie of grumblers." Long and the Unionists wanted General Maxwell to have authority over the police, but Asquith finally gave the Chief Secretaryship to a civilian, Henry Duke. With the fall of Asquith and the accession of the Lloyd George government in December 1916, Long had established himself as the cabinet's foremost authority on Irish policy. Chief Secretary Duke would have preferred to be Inspector-General; but Lloyd George, a natural home ruler, did not seem too happy with Long's brand of federated Unionism. Two allies of the Prime Minister, namely Carson and Lord Edward Cecil, supplied the most intransigent opposition to a united Ireland. It was Long's policy on 16 April 1918 to promote the Conscription bill that would provoke the crisis for Irishness. Duke opposed a policy of conscription without an offer of home rule, whereas Long wanted the former without the latter. The crisis gave rise to the German Plot, and Long's pressure to act on intelligence against Sinn Féiners caused him to issue a large number of arrest warrants. Long was promoted to the Colonial Office, serving until January 1919, when he became First Lord of the Admiralty, a position in which he served until his retirement to the Lords in 1921. From October 1919 on, he was, once again, largely concerned with Irish affairs, serving as the chair of the cabinet's Long Committee on Ireland. In this capacity, he was largely responsible for initiating the Partition of Ireland under the Government of Ireland Act 1920, which followed certain proposals of Lloyd George's failed 1917–18 Irish Convention, and created separate home rule governments for Southern Ireland and Northern Ireland, the former subsequently evolving as the