History of The British Conservative Party - Early Twentieth Century

Early Twentieth Century

The election of 1906 ended in a landslide defeat for the Unionists and their numbers were reduced to only 157 MPs. The Unionists had been suffering as a result of the unpopular Boer War, (known as Joe's War, a particular link to Joseph Chamberlain) as well as the unpopular tariff reforms proposed by Chamberlain, which faced the growing popularity of free trade amongst the population. Chamberlain himself was told to keep his "hands off the peoples food!" Balfour lost his own seat (although he soon returned to Parliament in a by-election) and this left the pro-tariff reformers within the Unionists as a large majority. However, the stroke suffered by Joseph Chamberlain in July 1906 effectively removed him from political influence. The cause of Tariff reform would now be promoted by Chamberlain's son Austen Chamberlain.

The Unionists strongly opposed many of the proposed reforms of the new Liberal governments of Campbell-Bannerman and Asquith. In 1910, the Unionist-dominated House of Lords rejected the so-called "People's Budget", leading to a long conflict over the nature and constitutional place of the House of Lords. The Conservatives managed to make up much of their losses in both the January and December elections of 1910. This forced the Liberals to rely on Irish Nationalist votes to maintain their majority. Although the Liberals were able to force through the effective subjugation of the Lords with the Parliament Act 1911, their advocacy once again cost them support, so that by the time of the outbreak of World War I a Unionist victory in the next election looked possible.