Editing Randall Davidson (section)

===Domestic affairs, 1909–1911===
In 1909 [[David Lloyd George]] as [[Chancellor of the Exchequer]] found [[People's Budget|his radical budget]] blocked by the Conservative majority in the House of Lords; a few bishops voted for or against the government's bill, but Davidson, like most of the 26 [[Lords Spiritual]], abstained.{{refn|The votes or abstentions of the Lords Spiritual had no practical effect on the outcome: the Lords rejected the government's bill by 350 votes to 75.<ref>Bell (Volume I), p. 597</ref>|group=n}} Partisans, both conservative and radical, criticised Davidson for his abstention, but he felt that being identified with one side or the other in party politics would bring the church into disrepute.<ref>Bell (Volume I), p. 600</ref>

[[File:Parliament-Act-1911-Division-in-House-of-Lords (retouched).png|thumb|upright=2|alt=Scene inside parliamentary debating chamber with peers and bishops walking into the voting lobbies. Two bishops are joining the peers opposing the current legislation; the others are voting with the government|1911 vote on the [[Parliament Act 1911|Parliament Bill]] in the [[House of Lords]]: all but two of the bishops follow Davidson into the pro-government voting lobby (top l.){{refn|The two bishops (rear centre-right) walking towards the opposition lobby are [[Watkin Williams (bishop)|Watkin Williams]], [[Bishop of Bangor]], and [[Huyshe Yeatman-Biggs]], [[Bishop of Worcester]].<ref>"The Passing of the Veto Bill without a Creation of New Peers: The Separation of the Contents and the Not-Contents",  ''[[The Illustrated London News]]'', 19 August 1911, pp. 292–93</ref>|group=n}}]]

The Prime Minister, [[H. H. Asquith]], secured the King's reluctant agreement to create as many new peerages for government supporters as was necessary to secure a majority in the Lords. At the end of April 1911 Davidson convened a private meeting at Lambeth Palace to try to resolve the constitutional impasse; the other three attending were Balfour, [[Francis Knollys, 1st Viscount Knollys|Lord Knollys]] and [[Reginald Brett, 2nd Viscount Esher|Lord Esher]] – respectively, [[Leader of the Opposition (United Kingdom)|Leader of the Opposition]], the King's private secretary, and an influential politician and courtier. Balfour said that if invited by the King, he would consider forming a minority Conservative government, so that the question of creating new Liberal peers would not arise; he subsequently decided that he would not be justified in doing so.<ref name=r123>Rose, p. 123</ref> A week after this meeting Edward VII died, and was succeeded by [[George V]].<ref name=r123/>

The Lords continued to resist the will of the Commons, even after [[December 1910 United Kingdom general election|a general election]] fought on the issue. Asquith proposed the [[Parliament Act 1911|1911 Parliament Bill]], to enshrine the supremacy of the Commons in British law, and King George followed his father in agreeing to create hundreds of Liberal peers, should it become necessary to ensure the bill was passed. Davidson, having unsuccessfully striven to bring the party leaders to compromise, voted for the bill. The votes of the Lords Spiritual were crucial in its passage through the Lords, where the majority was only 17.<ref name=t11>"House of Lords", ''The Times'', 11 August 1911, p. 5</ref> The two archbishops and eleven bishops voted with the government; two bishops voted against.<ref name=t11/> There were strident protests that the bishops were harming the church by taking sides, but Davidson had come to regard this as a matter on which the church must take a stand. He believed that were the bill not passed, the creation of what he called "a swamping majority" of peers would make Parliament and Britain a worldwide laughing-stock, and would have grave constitutional implications for church and state.<ref name=l1911/>{{refn|Among Davidson's concerns was the question of legislation affecting the church, particularly with regard to [[Welsh disestablishment]], which Liberals generally supported.<ref name=l1911>Davidson, Randall. Letter to ''The Times'', 24 August 1911, p. 4; and Quinault, p. 41</ref>|group=n}} His speech in the Lords was credited with tipping the balance.<ref>Bell (Volume I), pp. 629–631</ref>

On 22 June 1911, Davidson presided at the [[coronation of George V and Mary|coronation of the new sovereign]]. The service largely followed the form he had arranged for the 1902 service, except for a revised coronation oath, less offensive to the King's Roman Catholic subjects,{{refn|The existing text, dating from the 17th century, referred to some teachings of the Roman Catholic Church, particularly [[transubstantiation]], as "superstitious and idolatrous". Davidson successfully proposed omitting this section of the oath.<ref>Bell (Volume I), pp. 613 and 617</ref>|group=n}} and Davidson's crowning of both King George and [[Mary of Teck|Queen Mary]]. In contrast, in the 1902 coronation, [[Queen Alexandra]] had been crowned by the Archbishop of York.<ref name=to/><ref>Bell (Volume I), p. 637</ref> When the King left Britain for the [[Visit of King George V to India|Delhi Durbar]] later in the year, Davidson was one of the four [[Counsellors of State]] appointed to transact royal business in the monarch's absence.{{refn|The others were [[Prince Arthur of Connaught]], the [[Lord Chancellor]] ([[Lord Loreburn]]) and the [[Lord President of the Council]] ([[John Morley|Lord Morley]]). They held office from November 1911 to the end of January 1912, when the King returned from India.<ref>Bell (Volume I), pp. 637–638</ref>|group=n}}