ABSTRACT
Gladstone was, and remained, the most popular politician in the country when he resigned in June 1885 following his government’s narrow defeat on increased beer and spirits duties in the budget, brought about by Liberal abstentions in the face of a Tory-Irish combination. The cabinet were, however, so deeply divided by disagreements, particularly over Ireland, and by the tension between Hartington and Chamberlain, personifying, respectively, the Whig and radical wings of Liberalism, that resignation came as a relief to some of its members. “An odd situation”, Derby had written in May, “…no Parliamentary opposition to fear, the party outside [Westminster] united…the election prospects…favourable: yet we have been… and are, on the verge of disintegration.” He doubted whether his old party was in a condition to succeed their rivals. Salisbury, “not much trusted”, would have for his leading colleague in the Commons, Churchill, whom Derby summed up as “with all his remarkable cleverness…thoroughly untrustworthy…and probably more or less mad”. Salisbury’s appreciation of the situation hardly differed. He was extremely reluctant to form a minority administration at the mercy of a large Liberal majority, and unable to dissolve until the new and expanded electoral registers were ready in the autumn. There was the added and serious disadvantage of being responsible for Irish policy, instead of waiting to see how it evolved in the hands of Liberal ministers. Hicks Beach, a leading figure in the Tory government that was nevertheless formed, said, years later, that only the Queen’s tears had induced Salisbury to change his mind about taking office. Her detestation of Gladstone, and nervous fears of a Liberal drift towards greater radicalism, made her desperate to see the Liberals depart.1 The more ambitious and partisan Tories were eager to return to government: and a leader could not ignore their mood.2
