The Liberal Ascendancy 1830 1886

The diverse coalition of forces that came to be known as the Liberal Party dominated British politics in the period between 1830 and 1886. This book seeks to account for the remarkable success of the Liberals by analysing who they were, both in parliament and in the constituencies, and showing how they managed to interrelate. It is a striking feature of nineteenth-century political history that, at a time of continuous and profound economic and social change, there existed in Britain a broadly based coalition of the 'left-centre' which was arguably more effective, from a long-term point of view, than the Labour Party which superseded it in the 1920s. But at the same time, as this book emphasises, the dominance of the Liberals was seldom a simple matter, let alone a foregone conclusion. The complex story of the Liberal ascendancy requires the interweaving of high political strategy, the practical business of government, the electoral position of the party, and the development of Liberal ideology. It also involves assessments of the personalities of outstanding individuals such as Earl Grey, Lord John Russell, Lord Palmerston, and W. E. Gladstone. Finally, it is necessary to consider the extent to which the Liberal Party by the late-nineteenth century was in a state of crisis. The great Liberal schism of 1886, over the question of Home Rule for Ireland, is examined, and its consequences related to other evidence pointing to the erosion of sections of Liberal electoral support, and challenges to the hegemony of Liberal ideas.

The diverse coalition of forces that came to be known as the Liberal party dominated British politics in the period between 1830 and 1886. This book seeks to account for the remarkable success of the Liberals by analysing who they were, both in parliament and in the constituencies, and showing how they managed to inter-relate. But at the same time it is emphasised that the dominance of the Liberals was seldom a simple matter, let alone a foregone conclusion. The complex story of the Liberal ascendancy requires the interweaving of high political strategy, the practical business of government, the electoral position of the party, and the development of Liberal ideology. It also involves assessing the personalities of outstanding individuals such as Earl Grey, Lord John Russell, Lord Palmerston, and W.E. Gladstone.

This, the third volume to appear in the New Oxford History of England, covers the period from the repeal of the Corn Laws to the dramatic failure of Gladstone's first Home Rule Bill. In his magisterial study of the mid-Victorian generation, Theodore Hoppen identifies three defining themes. The first he calls `established industrialism' - the growing acceptance that factory life and manufacturing had come to stay. It was during these four decades that the balance of employment shifted irrevocably. For the first time in history, more people were employed in industry than worked on the land. The second concerns the `multiple national identities' of the constituent parts of the United Kingdom. Dr Hoppen's study of the histories of Ireland, Scotland, Wales, and the Empire reveals the existence of a variety of particular and overlapping national traditions flourishing alongside the increasingly influential structure of the unitary state. The third defining theme is that of `interlocking spheres' which the author uses to illuminate the formation of public culture in the period. This, he argues, was generated not by a series of influences operating independently from each other, but by a variety of intermeshed political, economic, scientific, literary and artistic developments. This original and authoritative book will define these pivotal forty years in British history for the next generation.

The Liberal Party emerged in mid-Victorian Britain from a combination of Whigs and Peelite Tories. The party of Gladstone, Asquith and Lloyd George, it was a dominant force in Britain, and the world, at the height of the power of the British Empire. Split by Gladstone's Home Rule Bills, it nevertheless returned to power in Edwardian England and held it until after the outbreak the First World War, with Lloyd George heading a National Government from 1916-22. Riddled by internal divisions and with its traditional ground increasingly occupied by the Labour Party, the party lost ground in Parliament, becoming little more than a rump for many years. With the foundation of the Social Democrats in 1981, and their subsequent merger with the Liberals as Liberal Democrats in 1988, a modern version of the party emerged, under Paddy Ashdown and now Charles Kennedy as a significant third force in British politics.

Here is the first book to cover the history of British Liberalism from its founding doctrines in the later eighteenth century to the final dissolution of the Liberal party into the Liberal Democrats in 1988. The Party dominated British politics for much of the later nineteenth-century, most notably under Gladstone, whose premierships spanned 1868-1894, and during the early twentieth, but after the resignation of Lloyd George in 1922 the Liberal Party never held office again. The decline of the Party remains a unique phenomenon in British politics and Alan Sykes illuminates its dramatic and peculiar circumstances in this comprehensive study.

"The Transformation of Urban Liberalism" re-evaluates the dramatic and turbulent political decade following the 'Third Reform Act', and questions whether the Liberal Party's political heartlands - the urban boroughs - really were in decline. In contrast to some recent studies, it does not see electoral reform, the Irish Home Rule crisis and the challenge of socialism as representing a fundamental threat to the integrity of the party. Instead this book illustrates, using parallel case studies, how the party gradually began to transform into a social democratic organisation through a re-evaluation of its role and policy direction. This process was not one directed from the centre - despite the important personalities of Gladstone and Rosebery - but rather one heavily influenced by 'grass roots politics'. Consequently, it suggests that late Victorian politics was more democratic and open than sometimes thought, with leading urban politicians forced to respond to the demands of party activists. Changes in the structure of urban rule produced new policy outcomes and brought new collectivist forms of New Liberalism onto the political agenda. Thus, it is argued that without the political transformations of the decade 1885-1895, the radical liberal governments of the Edwardian era would not have been possible.

Chris Cook lifts the lid on the 'third Party;' charting their fascinating journey over the last century, from the landslide victory of 1906 under Asquith, via their descent into divisions and decline in the interwar years, to in-depth analysis of the 2010 British Election and their return to Government in the Conservative-Lib Dem coalition.

The two centuries after 1800 witnessed a series of sweeping changes in the way in which Britain was governed, the duties of the state, and its role in the wider world. Powerful processes - from the development of democracy, the changing nature of the social contract, war, and economic dislocation - have challenged, and at times threatened to overwhelm, both governors and governed. Such shifts have also presented challenges to the historians who have researched and written about Britain's past politics. This Handbook shows the ways in which political historians have responded to these challenges, providing a snapshot of a field which has long been at the forefront of conceptual and methodological innovation within historical studies. It comprises thirty-three thematic essays by leading and emerging scholars in the field. Collectively, these essays assess and rethink the nature of modern British political history itself and suggest avenues and questions for future research. The Oxford Handbook of Modern British Political History thus provides a unique resource for those who wish to understand Britain's political past and a thought-provoking 'long view' for those interested in current political challenges.