Background
Since the 1870s a concerted campaign had been made by Irish Nationalist leaders at Westminster, in particular by Charles Stewart Parnell, to have Home Rule (regional self-government) introduced into Ireland. This demand however was opposed by the leaders of Irish Unionism, who feared being placed under a Catholic-Nationalist dominated Irish parliament in Dublin. For Unionists the ultimate safeguard to prevent home rule had been the existence of the power of the House of Lords to veto legislation. The Lords, with an inbuilt pro-Unionist Conservative Party majority, had exercised its veto in 1893 to block the Second Home Rule Bill.
As a result of a dramatic change in powers under the Parliament Act 1911, the Lords lost the ability to veto Bills. In 1912 the government of Herbert Asquith introduced the Third Home Rule Bill. Under the Parliament Act, the Lords could only block a Bill for three sessions. As a result the Bill finally completed its passage and received the Royal Assent in mid-1914.
The threat that the Bill would this time become law led to protests among Unionists. The leaders of the opposition Conservative Party opted to play the "Orange Card", with leader Andrew Bonar Law threatening to support for whatever actions Unionists took, whether legal or illegal, to prevent home rule. Lord Randolph Churchill told a rally "Ulster will fight and Ulster will be right".
Illegal gun-running occurred among both Unionists (at Larne) and Nationalists (Dublin port), and both sides had openly organised mass militia movements (the Ulster Volunteers and the Irish Volunteers respectively). Faced with what seemed to be imminent civil war, King George, a strong hibernophile since his days as a Naval officer based in Cork, intervened to stop what be believed was the slide to civil war and took the unprecedented step of inviting the leaders of both communities, along with the British government, to the Palace for a conference.
Read more about this topic: Buckingham Palace Conference
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