Gladstonian Liberalism is a political doctrine named after the British Victorian Prime Minister and leader of the Liberal Party, William Ewart Gladstone. Queen Victoria (shown here on the morning of her Accession to the Throne, 20 June 1837) gave her name to the historic era The Victorian era of Great Britain is considered the height of the British industrial revolution and the apex of the British Empire. ... The Prime Minister of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland is the head of government and so exercises many of the executive functions nominally vested in the Sovereign, who is head of state. ... The Liberal Party was one of the two major British political parties from the early 19th century until the 1920s, and a third party of varying strength and importance up to 1988, when it merged with the Social Democratic Party (the SDP) to form a new party which would become... William Ewart Gladstone (29 December 1809–19 May 1898) was a British Liberal Party statesman and Prime Minister (1868–1874, 1880–1885, 1886 and 1892–1894). ...

Gladstonian Liberalism consisted of limited government expenditure and low taxation whilst making sure government had balanced budgets. Gladstonian Liberalism also emphasised free trade, little government intervention in the economy and equality of opportunity through institutional reform. Free trade is an economic concept referring to the selling of products between countries without tariffs or other trade barriers. ... Equal opportunity is a descriptive term for an approach intended to give equal access to an environment or benefits, such as education, employment, health care, or social welfare to all, often with emphasis on members of various social groups which might have at some time suffered from discrimination. ...

Gladstonian financial rectitude had an impact on British politics and Ernest Bevin remarked upon becoming Minister of Labour in 1940: "They say that Gladstone was at the Treasury from 1860 to 1930". The first Labour Chancellor of the Exchequer, Philip Snowden, had Gladstonian Liberal economic views. This was demonstrated in his first Budget in 1924; government expenditure was curtailed, taxes were lowered and duties on tea, coffee, cocoa and sugar were reduced. A.J.P. Taylor has written that this budget "would have delighted the heart of Gladstone."^[1] Ernest Bevin (9 March 1881 - 14 April 1951), British labour leader, politician, and statesman, was born in a small village in Somerset, England. ... The new eastern entrance to HM Treasury HM Treasury (Her/His Majestys Treasury) is the United Kingdom government department responsible for and putting into effect the UK Governments financial and economic policy. ... The Labour Party has, since the early twentieth century, been the principal left wing political party in the United Kingdom (see British politics). ... The Rt. ... Philip Snowden, 1st Viscount Snowden (July 18, 1864 - May 15, 1937) was a British politician, and the first Labour Chancellor of the Exchequer. ... A government budget is a legal document that is often passed by the legislature, and approved by the chief executive. ... In economics, a duty is a kind of tax, often associated with customs, a payment due to the revenue of a state, levied by force of law. ... For others named John Taylor, see John Taylor. ...

Notes

1. ^ A. J. P. Taylor, English History, 1914-1945 (OUP, 1990), p. 212.