Lloyd George observed in his War Memoirs that trying to keep labor unrest within manageable limits was probably the most delicate and perilous task the British government faced on the home front during the Great War. The need to organize the nation's industrial resources for modern warfare transformed the state's relations with labor. It meant that the government was required to pay more attention to workshop conditions, seek to control wages, invite the advice of key trade unions such as the Trade Union Congress (TUC) and take a more active role in settling labor disputes. Prowar Labour Party leaders were brought into the government in the expectation that they could induce trade unions to forgo strike action.

As the conflict dragged on with no end in sight, war production became nearly as important as the fighting itself. This meant that the labor force had to be augmented and deployed effectively. At the commencement of the war the government had two options. First, to impose general conscription, both combatant and industrial, with every man of suitable age and health called up for national service and assigned to whatever task the government deemed appropriate. Soldier and civilian would stand on substantially the same footing with the latter regarded as a temporary exempted combatant and subject to the same discipline and obligation as the former. In this way, the government would exert control over the worker's movements and bind him to the job if it so wished.