ABSTRACT
Previously trade union leaders had looked to the Liberal party, but by the 1890s some felt that this strategy had failed. At the national level, the Liberal party was principally concerned with other issues, and both the 1886 and 1892-1895 Liberal ministries were barren from the labor viewpoint. At the local level, Liberal constituency associations proved reluctant to adopt working-class candidates. The reason lay only partially in the need to find the money to support them; Liberal activists, often from the middle class, did not want to see their own issues pushed to the background by a candidate claiming priority for the interests of labor. The Liberals were also hostile to "independent labour" candidatures which, by dividing the radical vote, could only benefit the Conservative party.
