ABSTRACT
The formation of Gladstone's third ministry set the scene for the final schism. After 1886 only five great Whig families still retained their allegiance to Gladstonian Liberalism. Although the 1892-5 Liberal government introduced significant advances in labour policy. It's involvement in the policing of industrial disputes also forced it into repressive confrontations with organised labour which in 1893 culminated in two miners being shot dead by troops at Featherstone during a six-month coal stoppage. Even middle class Nonconformists were integrated into the Unionist alliance particularly in the South East as advancing secularisation and the removal of religious grievances increased the potency of class affiliations in defence of property against Radicalism, socialism, labour militancy and 'Rome Rule'. Although Gladstone's policy split the Liberals down the centre, it was Salisbury who ensured that the Tories maximised the benefits of schism.
