In 1895, a faction led by Lord Harrington (later the Duke of Devonshire) and Joseph Chamberlain broke away from the Liberal Party to form a coalition government with the Conservatives in opposition to Irish Home Rule. In the following year, this faction formed itself into the Liberal Unionist Party.
The coalition government was led by Lord Salisbury until 1902, and thence by Arthur Balfour. In December 1905, finding his majority greatly reduced, Balfour resigned. This led to the appointment of a minority Liberal government under Sir Henry Campbell–Bannerman. In the general election that followed in 1906, Campbell–Bannerman's Liberal Party won by a landslide and Balfour lost his seat, along with all but three members of his Cabinet.
Campbell–Bannerman was a firm believer in free trade, Irish Home Rule, and the improvement of social conditions. He has been referred to as "Britain's first, and only, radical Prime Minister". His government passed legislation to ensure that trade unions could not be liable for damages incurred during strike action, introduced free school meals for all children, and empowered local authorities to purchase agricultural land from private landlords.
Campbell–Bannerman became Father of the House of Commons in 1907 – the only person to be Prime Minister and Father of the House at the same time. But then his health began to deteriorate; he suffered a series of heart attacks, and in April 1908 he was to resign. He was replaced by his Chancellor, H. H. Asquith. Campbell–Bannerman continued to live at No. 10 Downing Street, until such time as he could make other arrangements. But his health began to decline even more quickly than before, and he died on 22 April 1908 – less than three weeks after his resignation. His last words were "This is not the end of me". He remains to date the only former Prime Minister to die in No. 10.
It was in 1912, during Asquith's ministry, that the Conservative and Liberal Unionist parties merged to form the Conservative and Unionist Party (usually known as the Conservative Party).
By 1915, with the Great War becoming entrenched, Asquith was weakened by his own indecision over strategy, conscription, and financing. He was forced to form a coalition with the Conservative and Labour parties, and in December 1916 he was replaced as Prime Minister by David Lloyd George. To date, Britain has not had a Liberal government at any time since; Asquith remains the last Prime Minister of a Liberal Government, and Lloyd George the last Liberal Prime Minister.
© Haydn Thompson 2019