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 and ended up leaving the party. They formed their own party, the Liberal Unionists, which backed up the Conservatives. However, there was a split between them and that meant their attempt to bring down the Government (by voting against the bill) failed. Over the next few years the split grew as the Liberal Unionists moved closer to the Conservative party.
The Primrose league was set up in the 1880’s, its aim to promote Conservative values. They held important functions such as fetes and tea parties. They were also popular as they encouraged the participation of women in politics. The party claimed to have members from both rural and urban societies and the popularity of the party gradually grew. By 1891 they had exceeded 1 million members, although the numbers of members and their popularity fluctuated along with the popularity of the Conservative party.
The results of the 1886 election were due to both the growing popularity of the conservative party and the split in the Liberal Unionist party, which had caused financial problems for them. They then found it hard to employ candidates as they had no money to pay wages meaning the candidates would have to be wealthy. In the 1886 election, the Conservative’s took 116 seats from the Liberal Unionists.
But it was not only the split that caused weaknesses in the Liberal party. In 1894, Gladstone resigned as the party’s leader which caused problems of authority and in holding the party together. The Earl of Rosebury was appointed as the new leader; although many did not agree he was right as he was from the Whig side of the party. Over the next few years the leader of the party changed, moving from Rosebury to William Harcourt and finally Henry Campbell Bannerman in 1898. The changes in the party caused further weakness and they became less popular as their leadership was unstable.
I believe that both Conservative strengths and Liberal weaknesses played a large part in the success of the Conservative party before 1906. The problems the Liberal party had with leadership didn’t make them look stable and reliable to potential voters and, in turn, lost them support. This only increased support for the Conservatives. I think the Conservatives may have had the upper hand in their success as they worked hard on their campaigns and changed themselves to appeal to wider range of people. Generally I think that the Conservatives gained a lot of success of their own accord but their successes were amplified by the Liberals weaknesses.
Jess Wills