Why Did The Liberal Party At The Turn Of The Century

The Political climate went through considerable changes over the turn of the century, the 1870’s and 1880’s were the height of liberal strength, with Gladstone leading the party. The party lead with core messages promoting free trade, Home rule and the welfare state. The liberal party found ‘it was difficult in the 1890’s to strike a resounding positive note about liberal virtues’. (Clarke, P. 1971 p.3). This was to some extent due the loss of Gladstone and the personal inability of Roseberg, Harcourt or Campbell-Bannerman to reach the masses. The inadequacies of These political figures are only partly to blame, ‘liberalism itself also needed to be reformulated in a sense relevant to a new era’. (Clarke, P 1971 p4.) Part of this need to restructure was actually due to the incredible success of Gladstonian Liberalism, as it achieved the majority of the goals it set out in record time, ‘in short, with the political capital of Gladstonian liberalism fast becoming exhausted, there was need for a new liberalism which could more effectively engage the support of working-class voters’. (Clarke, P. 1971 p4) By the 1900 the Liberal hold on power was growing, in a bid to secure their grasp they formulated the Labour Representation Committee.