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Lord Salisbury
- Robert Cecil, Lord Salisbury, was leader of the Conservative Party and PM, 1885-6, 1886-92, 1895-1900 and 1900-2.
- An aristocrat and the last PM to govern from the House of Lords.
- Particularly interested in foreign affairs and often combined the post of Foreign Secretary with that of PM.
- Shrewd enough to understand the need for the Conservative Party to adapt to social change, but despite some useful rural and local government reforms, he neglected urban social reforms.
William Ewart Gladstone
- Gladstone was a giant figure in the Liberal Party and PM four times between 1868 and 1894.
- Famous orator and a moral crusader who saw himself and his party as key to progress and reform – but his career ended in failure because of the divisive issue of Home Rule for Ireland.
- All Gladstone’s attempts to pass a Home Rule bill failed; and the Liberal Party was hopelessly split in 1886.
- After Gladstone’s death, the Liberals began to move away from Gladstonian ideas towards the ‘New Liberalism’.
Keir Hardie
- Considered the ‘father’ of the modern Labour Party.
- A self-educated Scottish miner and trade unionist. Originally a Liberal, he aimed to bring socialists and trade unionists together in a separate Labour movement.
- First elected Labour MP; founded the Independent Labour Party in 1893 and played a central role in the formation of the LRC in 1900.
- Became the first leader of the Labour Party in 1906, not living long enough to see Labour in government.
Henry Campbell-Bannerman
- Leader of the Liberal Party from 1898 to 1908 and Liberal Prime Minister from 1905 to 1908.
- Managed to reunite the Liberal Party and shrewdly called a general election early in 1906, winning with a huge majority. Illness forced him to retire in 1908.
Joseph Chamberlain
- The man who split two parties.
- A leading figure on the radical wing of the Liberal Party until he broke away in 1886 because he opposed home rule for Ireland.
- He then became a leading figure in the Liberal Unionists allied with the Conservative Party until he resigned from Balfour’s government to campaign for protective tariffs and imperial preference.
A. J. Balfour
- Arthur J. Balfour was the nephew of Lord Salisbury.
- Acted as leader of the Commons during his uncle’s premiership and succeeded him as Conservative PM in 1902.
- A solitary, intellectual figure and a poor speaker. His miscalculations contributed to the great Conservative election defeat of 1906 and he led his party unsuccessfully through the two general elections of 1910.
- He resigned as leader in 1911 after a ‘Balfour must go’ campaign from his own backbencher, though remained in politics until 1929.
H. H. Asquith
- Succeeded Campbell-Bannerman as Liberal PM in 1908.
- Presided over the great Liberal social and political reforms between 1908 and 1914 and dealt quite effectively with a variety of new challenges.
- However, during the Great War it was felt that he was not pushing through vigorously enough the changes Britain needed to make. As a result, he was replaced as PM by David Lloyd George early in 1916.
- He never forgave Lloyd George and the vendetta between the two men helped split and weaken the Liberal Party from 1916 until Asquith’s death in 1928.
David Lloyd George
- Became a local solicitor and a young Liberal MP for his constituency in North Wales in 1890.
- First became prominent for his opposition to the Boer War. Labelled a ‘pro-Boer’ he was lucky to escape alive when a 30,000-strong mob stormed Birmingham Town Hall where he was giving a speech.
- His quick mind, skills as a public speaker and ability to get things done led to his appointment as President of the Board of Trade in the Liberal government of 1906 and then Chancellor of the Exchequer in 1908.
