For the Canadian party see Liberal-Unionist This article is part of or related to the Liberalism series Categories: Politics stubs | Liberal related stubs | UK political parties | Historical liberal parties ...

The Liberal Unionists were a British political party that split away from the Liberals in 1886, and had effectively merged with the Conservatives by the turn of the century. The formal merger was completed in 1912. Their principal leaders were Lord Hartington (later the Duke of Devonshire) and Joseph Chamberlain. This article is about the historic Liberal Party. ... Year 1886 (MDCCCLXXXVI) was a common year starting on Friday (link will display the full calendar) of the Gregorian calendar (or a common year starting on Sunday of the 12-day slower Julian calendar). ... The Conservative Party (officially the Conservative and Unionist Party) is the second largest political party in the United Kingdom in terms of sitting Members of Parliament (MPs), the largest in terms of public membership, and is the second oldest extant political party in the world. ... 1912 (MCMXII) was a leap year starting on Monday in the Gregorian calendar (or a leap year starting on Tuesday in the 13-day-slower Julian calendar). ... Spencer Compton Cavendish, 8th Duke of Devonshire (29 June 1833 - 19 October 1908) was a British politician, previously known (1858-1891) as Marquess of Hartington. ... The Rt. ...

The reason for the split in the Liberals was the conversion of William Ewart Gladstone to the cause of Irish Home Rule. The 1885 General Election had left Charles Stewart Parnell's Irish Nationalists holding the balance of power, and had convinced Gladstone that the Irish wanted and deserved Home Rule. Some Liberals believed that Gladstone's Home Rule bill would lead to de facto independence for Ireland, and the dissolution of the United Kingdom, which they could not countenance. Seeing themselves as defenders of the Union of Britain and Ireland, they called themselves Liberal Unionists. 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). ... Devolution or Home rule is the pooling of powers from central government to government at regional or local level. ... The 1885 UK general election was from the 24th November - 18th December 1885. ... Charles Stewart Parnell, the uncrowned King of Ireland Charles Stewart Parnell[1] (27 June 1846 – 6 October 1891) was an Irish political leader and one of the most important figures in 19th century Ireland and the United Kingdom; William Ewart Gladstone described him as the most remarkable person he had... The Nationalist Party, an Irish political party, existed under various forms from 1874 to 1978. ... The First Home Rule Bill (official name: Irish Government Bill, 1886) was the first major attempt made by a British parliament to enact a law creating home rule for part of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland. ...

Most of the Liberal Unionists were drawn from the Whig faction of the party, including Hartington, Lord Lansdowne, and George Goschen, and had been expected to split from the party anyway, for reasons connected with economic and social policy. The surprise was that a small group of Radicals led by Chamberlain joined the breakaway. The National Liberal Federation supported Gladstone, so the rebels formed their own organisations: the Committee for the Preservation of the Union, the National Radical Union, and later the Liberal Unionist Association. The Whigs (with the Tories) are often described as one of two political parties in England and later the United Kingdom from the late 17th to the mid 19th centuries. ... The Most Honourable Henry Charles Keith Petty-FitzMaurice, 5th Marquess of Lansdowne, KG, GCSI, GCMG, GCIE (14 January 1845 – 3 June 1927) was a British politician and Irish peer who served successively as Governor General of Canada, Viceroy of India, Secretary of State for War, and Secretary of State for... George Joachim Goschen, 1st Viscount Goschen (10 August 1831 - 7 February 1907) was a British statesman and businessman ironically best remembered for being forgotten by Lord Randolph Churchill. ... The Radicals were a parliamentary political grouping in the United Kingdom in the early to mid 19th century, who drew on earlier ideas of radicalism and helped to transform the Whigs into the Liberal Party. ...

The 1886 election left the Conservative Party as the largest party in the House of Commons, but without an overall majority. The leading Liberal Unionists were invited to join the Conservative Lord Salisbury's government. Salisbury said he was even willing to let Hartington become Prime Minister of a coalition ministry but the latter declined. In part, Hartington was worried this would split the Liberal Unionists and lose them votes from pro-Unionist Liberal supporters. However, a few months later Goschen received an invitation to become the new Chancellor of the Exchequer in the place of Lord Randolph Churchill when the latter suddenly resigned in December 1886. After consulting Hartington, Goschen agreed to join the Conservative government and remained Chancellor for the next six years. The 1886 UK general election took place from July 1-27, 1886. ... Robert Arthur Talbot Gascoyne-Cecil, 3rd Marquess of Salisbury (February 3, 1830–August 22, 1903). ... The Chancellor of the Exchequer is the title held by the British Cabinet minister responsible for all economic and financial matters. ... Randolph Frederick Edward Spencer Churchill (May 28, 1911-June 6, 1968) was the son of British Prime Minister Winston Churchill and his wife Clementine. ...

Whilst the Whiggish wing of the Liberal Unionists were talking to the Conservatives, the party's Radical Unionist wing sat down for a series of meetings with their former Liberal colleagues. Lead by Joseph Chamberlain and Sir George Otto Trevelyan the 'Round Table Conference' was a perhaps half hearted attempt to see if reunion of the Liberal party was possible. Despite some progress (and Chamberlain's statement that they were united on 99 out of 100 issues regarding the future of Liberalism), the issue of Home Rule for Ireland could not be reconciled. Neither Hartington or Gladstone took direct part in these meetings - and there seemed to be no other Liberal statesman who would be able to reunite the party. Within a few months the talks were over, though some Radical Unionists including Trevelyan later rejoined the Liberal Party. Sir George Otto Trevelyan, 2nd Baronet (20 July 1838 - 17 August 1928) was a British statesman and author and the only son of Sir Charles Trevelyan. ...

The failed talks of 1887 forced the Liberal Unionist party to continue to develop its links with the Conservatives. In Parliament, they supported the Salisbury administration - though for political presentation reasons, they sat on the opposite side of House of Commons with the Liberal Party . Relations between former political colleagues hardened with the return of Gladstone as Prime Minister following the 1892 General Election. Forming a minority government with Irish Nationalist support, the Liberals introduced the second Home Rule bill. Leading the opposition against the bill were the Duke of Devonshire (as Hartington had become in 1891 following the death of his father) and Joseph Chamberlain. The Home Rule bill was defeated this time in the House of Lords and Gladstone resigned not long after. The House of Commons is the lower house of the Parliament of the United Kingdom. ... The 1892 UK general election was held from 4th - 26th July 1892. ... In August 1892, William Gladstone was re-elected as Prime Minister and he depended on Irish Parliamentary Party MPs to form a majority. ...

By now all chance of a reunion between the two Liberal parties had disappeared, and it was no great surprise when leading Liberal Unionists joined Salisbury's administration in 1895. The resulting government was generally referred to as "Unionist", and the distinction between Conservatives and Liberal Unionists began to dissolve - indeed some like Goschen formally joining the Conservatives without bothering any more with the Liberal Unionist label. However, despite these ever-closer bonds, the Liberal Unionists continued to maintain a separate identity. The party's strength in the House of Commons fell from 78 seats in 1886 to 47 in 1892 but recovered to 71 and then 68 in the General Elections of 1895 and 1900. They managed to stay strong in the West of England, Birmingham (the centre of Joseph Chamberlain's power base) and Scotland. The UK general election of 1895 was held from 13th July - 7th August 1895. ... The UK general election of 1900 was from 25th September - 24th October 1900. ...

The Liberal Unionists retained their cohesion until 1903 when they were split in a division between Devonshire and Chamberlain over the issue of free trade. After Chamberlain took up the issue of Tariff Reform in May 1903, Devonshire and other supporters of free trade left the Liberal Unionist Association in 1904 in protest. Chamberlain took over the leadership, but a number of Liberal Unionists including MPs defected back to the Liberal Party . Free trade is an economic concept referring to the selling of products between countries without tariffs or other trade barriers. ... Protectionism is the economic policy of restraining trade between nations, through methods such as high tariffs on imported goods, restrictive quotas, a variety of restrictive government regulations designed to discourage imports, and anti-dumping laws in an attempt to protect domestic industries in a particular nation from foreign take-over... 1904 (MCMIV) was a leap year starting on a Friday (see link for calendar). ...

In the 1906 General Election the Liberal Unionists shared the same fate as their Conservative allies in a big reduction in their parliamentary strength. They now numbered only 23 (or 25 according to other calculations) MPs in the House of Commons, but now the Unionists were more divided between those who supported tariffs and those who kept faith with free trade. A few months later Chamberlain was crippled by a stroke, although he remained the official leader of the Liberal Unionists. His son Austen Chamberlain acted as his deputy for both the Tariff Reform League and the Liberal Unionists, and the party was able to increase its parliamentary caucus in the two 1910 General Elections to 31 and then 35 MPs. In 1912, however, the Liberal Unionist Association merged with the Conservatives to form the Conservative and Unionist Party (the modern Conservative Party). The UK general election of 1906 was from 12th January – 8th February 1906. ... The Rt. ... There were two general elections held in the United Kingdom in 1910: United Kingdom general election, January 1910 was held from 15 January – 10 February 1910. ... The Conservative Party (officially the Conservative and Unionist Party) is the second largest political party in the United Kingdom in terms of sitting Members of Parliament (MPs), the largest in terms of public membership, and is the second oldest extant political party in the world. ...

Although by then the political distinction between the two parties had long ceased to have any real meaning, it was a factor in Austen Chamberlain's failure to become the Unionist leader in the House of Commons in 1911. When Arthur Balfour resigned, Austen Chamberlain and Walter Hume Long both declared themselves as candidates for the leadership of the Unionist Party in the House of Commons. However, as Austen Chamberlain was still officially at least a Liberal Unionist, his candidature was opposed by many Conservatives because they already had the Liberal Unionist Lord Lansdowne leading them in the House of Lords. In the end Andrew Bonar Law was elected unopposed by Unionist M.P.s instead - and Chamberlain would have to wait ten years for his chance to lead the Unionists. Year 1911 (MCMXI) was a common year starting on Sunday (link will display the full calendar) of the Gregorian calendar (or a common year starting on Saturday of the 13-day-slower Julian calendar). ... Arthur James Balfour, Prime Minister of the United Kingdom, 1st Earl Balfour, KG, OM, PC (25 July 1848 - 19 March 1930) was a British Conservative politician and statesman, and the Prime Minister from 1902 to 1905. ... Walter Hume Long, 1st Viscount Long (1854-1924) was a British Conservative politician of the late 19th and early 20th century. ... Andrew Bonar Law (16 September 1858 – 30 October 1923) was a Conservative Party British statesman and Prime Minister. ...

See also

• Category:UK Liberal Unionist politicians
• Liberalism
• Contributions to liberal theory
• Liberalism worldwide
• List of liberal parties
• Liberal democracy
• Liberalism in the United Kingdom
• Scottish Unionist Party (1912-1965)