Irish Home Rule

The division between liberal and conservative party politics in Britain significantly dictated the debate on Irish Home Rule. The Liberal party supported the establishment of Irish Home Rule, whereas the conservative party fought to maintain the union of Great Britain and Ireland. Liberals, especially under Gladstone’s leadership, strove to serve the needs of their Irish constituents by providing for them their long-sought autonomy. Conversely, the conservative party worked to maintain the union, by passing legislation that proved beneficial for Irish quality of life. However, although the party lines were drawn in this way generally, fragments within parties also served to further complicated the debate on Irish Home Rule. Aside from the main liberal and conservative parties, the unionists, especially the later Ulster unionists, influenced the debate on Irish Home Rule by standing firmly against Irish Home Rule in every way possible. The unionist party was thusly composed of imperialist conservatives and liberals who were against Irish Home Rule. Furthermore, party politics itself were influenced by a number of factors. Personal relationships forged within and between parties often led politicians to draft policy in favor of friends and in opposition to rivals. The individual dogma of important political figures also influenced the way each party formed its policy on the issue of Irish Home Rule.

Although not completely polar, the division between those who were for home rule and those who were against home rule generally fell along the party lines of liberal for the former and conservative for the latter. The most notable English liberal proponent of Irish Home Rule was the politician William Gladstone. In total Gladstone ma...

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...e unionist cause and by doing so gained the support of those who had left the liberal party because of its support for home rule. Conservative’s and other unionists non-conservatives felt that granting Ireland home rule would weaken Britain’s imperialist policy and lead to political decline. The two parties were affected. The principles of individuals within both parties further affected the nature of the debate as well. As an imperialist Disraeli had a vested interest in providing a pro-imperialist public image of his party. Gladstone, viewed as a anti-imperialist, was less concerned with keeping Ireland so tightly controlled. Hostility between the two men contributed to their opposite policies as well. Personal relationships cultivated between Gladstone and Irish politicians further served to drive the conservatives away from any policy that would enact home rule.