Irish Parliamentary Party - Home Rule Delayed

Home Rule Delayed

Now at his height Parnell pressed Gladstone to resolve the Irish Question with Home Rule, but the Liberals were divided. Parnell then sided with the Conservatives, bringing down Gladstone’s government. Both parties now courted Parnell. In the 1885 general election Parnell’s IPP Home Rulers had 86 seats, the 335 seats for the Liberals robbing him of his bargaining position with the Conservatives who only achieved 249 seats. Gladstone by now converted to granting Home Rule, on introducing the first Home Rule Bill 1886 and after a long and fierce debate, made a remarkable Home Rule Speech, beseeching parliament to pass the bill which was however defeated by 341 to 311 votes.The Bill caused serious riots in Belfast during the summer and autumn of 1886 in which many were killed.

Since 1882 Parnell’s successful drive for Home Rule created great anxiety amongst Protestants and Unionists north and south alike, fearing Catholic intolerance from a nationalist parliament in Dublin under their control. It resulted in the revival of the Orange Order to resist Home Rule and the forming of an Irish Unionist Party. With the Conservatives playing the "Ulster card" and sections of the Liberal faction voting against the bill, Gladstone hinted that eventually a separate solution for Ulster might need to be sought. His observation echoed far into the next century. With the defeat of his bill he dissolved parliament and called an election for July 1886, the result swinging in the other direction, Conservatives and Liberal Unionists between them winning a clear majority.

The Irish Party retained 85 seats and, in the years up to 1889, centred itself around the formidable figure of Parnell who continued to pursue Home Rule, striving to reassure English voters that it would be of no threat to them. During this period the National League was out of contact with him and primarily concerned with its own vested interests, keeping up local agitation to further the not fully resolved land question, and bringing Liberal voters to slowly increase their support for Home Rule.