Government’s Answer to de Valera
The first Cabinet meeting to be held beyond Downing Street or Chequers was on September 7th 1921. It was held at Inverness Town Hall as the future of British-Irish relations hung in the balance.
Crowds gather outside for the arrival of the Cabinet – Winston Churchill and Prime Minister David Lloyd George. Lloyd George was on holiday at Gairloch in Wester Ross when Éamon de Valera called the emergency meeting, announced an ‘irrevocable rejection’ of the UK Government’s peace offer. He implied that Sinn Féin would not accept anything other than full independence.
