However, Gladstone made the huge error of not involving his party in his consideration of Home Rule, and instead his son Herbert Gladstone leaked information of Gladstone’s intentions to the press in December 1885, in what was known as the ‘Hawarden Kite’. The exposure of Gladstone’s intentions of introducing Home Rule led to a decisive split in the party. The split resulted in new Radical Unionists led by Chamberlain, and Liberal Unionists led by the Whig Hartington, who united in their opposition of Home Rule. These breakaway Liberals became known as the Liberal Unionists and sided with the unionist Conservatives in protest of Home Rule.
Although most of the Liberal Party stood by Gladstone out of loyalty to the ‘Grand Old Man’ (not necessarily because they supported him over Ireland), the Liberal Unionists and Whigs were against Home Rule for three main reasons. Firstly, and most importantly to them, the Unionists believed that Irish self-government, permitted by Home Rule, would inevitably lead to complete separation from Britain. This was especially true as Ireland was not to be represented at Westminster under the Home Rule bill. It was greatly feared that if Ireland was to break away from Britain, it would lead to the break up of the entire United Kingdom, and parts of the Empire as other countries demanded forms of Home Rule and ultimately independence from Britain. Obviously, the unionists and Whigs were strongly opposed to this worst nightmare scenario. The second reason that the Unionists criticised Home Rule was because they did not realistically see it working, because of the Catholic-Protestant divide in Ireland. It was argued that Irish nationality and unity, which appeared to be the rock on which Gladstone rested his case, could not really be said to exist when all classes in Protestant Ulster were so strongly against Home Rule. The third reason why the Unionists opposed Home Rule was because they were sceptical whether members of the future Irish government could be trusted to protect the lives and property of all Irishmen evenly. This was because many of the MPs would be nationalists who had been associated with illegality in the past, especially towards Protestants.
Because of these three reasons, the Liberal Unionists and Whigs decided to either abstain or vote Conservative against the Home Rule Bill. The split was decisive therefore, as it left Gladstonian faithfuls on one side of the party and some Radicals and Whigs on the other side as Liberal Unionists. Some of those who supported Gladstone did so because of their loyalty and respect for him, others because they took his view that Home Rule was the only answer to the Liberal Party’s problems. On the other hand, Chamberlain and the unionists and the rather conservative Whigs were totally against Home Rule and favoured finding another way of answering the party’s problems which did not involve giving Ireland too much power. Chamberlain suggested a ‘Radical Programme’ which would win over farm workers by promising them land and livestock and would give the party a means of attacking Tory landowners. This programme would, however, anger the Whigs and upset some other Liberal supporters, so was rejected. Thus the Chamberlain unionists and Gladstonian Liberals had different ideas about how to fix the Liberal situation, and despised each other’s ideas. A split was therefore inevitable, especially by the unionist radicals under Chamberlain who had less power and say in the party.
