ABSTRACT
The nature of the Liberal victory in 1880 smoothed William Gladstone's preference for a Cabinet stuffed full of titled Whigs. The Liberals did particularly well in the counties, boosting the complement of Liberal landowners. Almost seventy of the Liberal MPs returned to the Commons were the heirs, or other close relatives, of peers. Divisions within the Liberal party are discernible from the 1850s or even earlier. Although the Liberals were in opposition from 1886 to 1892, the party, shorn of Whig Unionists and many troublesome radicals, could boast greater coherence than before. Gladstone found the party easier to lead as he continued to pursue his prime objective: the speedy concession to Ireland of what she most desires. Some radical Unionists who had voted against Gladstone in 1886 returned to the Liberals in the late 1880s and early 1890s. With their return, and once Gladstone had retired, the now reduced Liberal party might concentrate on policies of positive social welfare.
