English History 1886 - 1992

1884 - 1886 LIberal Party dominated the political scene, Conservatives won one election in 1874. 1886 - 1904 role of the two parties was reversed.

• Crisis of 1886 ended an process of realignment in British politics.
• Crisis of 1886 was product of a power struggle following the 1885 general election
• process of industrialisation made a crisis of Liberalism inevitable.

The Conservative party had four main strengths:

• the party reposistioned itself
• new electoral system favoured th e Conservative party
• a new party machine was built
• the Prime Minister (Salisbury) Salisbury sucessfully exploited circumstances.

So why did the Liberal Party win a landslide election in 1906:

• Boer War transformed the political climate in Britain - war encourage chamberlain to launch his tariff reform campaign anf the voters blamed the government for incompetance.
• 1902 education act - united the Liberal party and brought non-conformist voters back to it.
• Tariff Reform - speech chamberlain made in 1903 split the unionist alliance, damaging image of government in the voters eyes.
• Balfour as Prime Minister - made a series of miscalculations which alienated voters from the unionist alliance and strengthened the Liberal party.