"Conservative success in the years before 1906 was due more too liberal weaknesses than conservative strengths"

Authors Avatar

“Conservative success in the years before 1906 was due more too liberal weaknesses than conservative strengths”

    It’s clear that there is a debate over whether the Tory success was because of their strengths or because of the weaknesses of the Liberal party. In this essay I am going to discuss the different views of this debate.

    In the 1880’s, the Conservative party changed itself from being identified with agricultural interests to being broader by gaining support from the middle classes.                                         They also appealed to the working classes. This would increase their votes as they now had support from a larger range of classes instead of solely aristocracy.

After the 1884-85 reform acts were passed, a new electoral system was put into place that favoured the Conservative party, which, in particular, enabled them to win seats in industrial towns. This was possibly due to the creation of single-member constituencies.

Join now!

    Another strength for the Conservative party was Lord Salisbury. From 1881 – 1885 he made attempts to widen the gap in the Liberal party and gain support from industrial areas through both strong and regular speeches. He also made an alliance with the Unionists to help create a united front between them. He managed to satisfy everyone by treading cautiously in his actions.

    In 1886 the Home Rule Bill was passed by Gladstone. This bill was backed by many Liberal MPs, but both the Conservative Whigs and a group of radical Liberals opposed the bill ...

This is a preview of the whole essay