The Newcastle Programme - National Liberal Federation

National Liberal Federation

Each year the National Liberal Federation met for debate in what may be seen as the forerunner of today's political party conferences. The NLF developed a process by which it passed an omnibus resolution incorporating all the policies that had been agreed in debate. In the autumn of 1891, the Federation met in Newcastle upon Tyne. In addition to Home Rule, the policies, which were crowded onto the omnibus, may be divided into three main areas: rural, religious and electoral reform. On 2 October 1891, Gladstone spoke to the NLF and for the first time, a Liberal Party leader had lent support to a programme proposed by the party's grass roots. However one historian has argued that the Radicals inside the Liberal Party lacked the leadership to ensure their programme was truly implemented. Michael Bentley suggests that while Gladstone and the Liberal leadership was obliged to listen to the opinion of such a significant section of the party, they were able to slide along without making form commitments and to pick and choose from the 'rag-bag' of policies that made up the Newcastle Programme, prioritising those they wanted and forgetting those they disliked. One of Gladstone's biographers also supports this assessment. Roy Jenkins asserts that Gladstone's only real interest now lay in Irish Home Rule but he allowed John Morley and William Vernon Harcourt to cobble together the Newcastle Programme which he describes as 'a capacious ragbag ...weak on theme'. According to Jenkins, Gladstone had neither the time not energy to oppose the NLF programme and decided to swallow it whole just to ensure the party remained wedded to Home Rule as its principal policy. Gladstone's endorsement of the Newcastle Programme did have one important outcome. A few weeks later, on 25 November, Lord Hartington, the leader of the Liberal Unionist Party, announced that there was no longer any hope of re-union with the Gladstonian Liberals.