1895 United Kingdom general election

The 1895 United Kingdom general election was held from 13 July to 7 August 1895. The Conservative Party, in alliance with the Liberal Unionist Party, won a parliamentary majority of 153. William Gladstone had retired as prime minister in the previous year, and Queen Victoria, disregarding Gladstone's advice to name Lord Spencer as his successor, had appointed the Earl of Rosebery as the new prime minister. Rosebery's government found itself largely in a state of paralysis due to a power struggle between him and William Harcourt, the Liberal Party leader in the Commons. The situation came to a head on 21 June, when Parliament voted to dismiss Secretary of State for War Henry Campbell-Bannerman; Rosebery, realising that the government would likely not survive a motion of no confidence were one to be brought, promptly resigned as prime minister. Conservative leader Lord Salisbury was subsequently re-appointed for a third spell as prime minister, and promptly called a new election. The Liberal Party, in contrast, went down to what at the time was its worst result since the party's foundation, winning just 177 seats. The Irish Parliamentary Party was split at this time; most of its MPs (the "Anti-Parnellites") followed John Dillon, while a rump (the "Parnellites") followed John Redmond. The Independent Labour Party, having only previously existed as a loose grouping of left-wing politicians, formally organized into a party led by Keir Hardie in 1893 and contested its first election. It earned relatively little attention at this election, winning slightly less than one per cent of the popular vote and no seats, but would enjoy greater success five years later, when it ran under the banner of the Labour Representation Committee. This was the last United Kingdom general election in which neither the incumbent prime minister nor leader of the main opposition party sat in the House of Commons, with Rosebery and Salisbury both sitting in the House of Lords, and William Harcourt and Arthur Balfour respectively acting as the Commons leaders for the Liberals and Conservatives. == Results == === Voting summary === === Seats summary === == See also == 1895 United Kingdom general election in Ireland 1895 United Kingdom general election in Scotland 1895 United Kingdom general election in Wales List of United Kingdom Parliament constituencies (1885–1918) by region List of MPs elected in the 1895 United Kingdom general election Parliamentary franchise in the United Kingdom 1885–1918 == Notes == == References == Craig, F. W. S. (1989), British Electoral Facts: 1832–1987, Dartmouth: Gower, ISBN 0900178302 Craig, F. W. S. (1974), British Parliamentary Election Results 1885–1918, Macmillan Readman, Paul A. (1999), "The 1895 general election and political change in late Victorian Britain", Historical Journal, 42 (2): 467–493, doi:10.1017/S0018246X98008322, JSTOR 3020996, S2CID 154822555 Roberts, Andrew (1999), Salisbury: Victorian Titan, pp. 596–604 == External links == Spartacus: Political Parties and Election Results United Kingdom election results—summary results 1885–1979 Archived 30 January 2012 at the Wayback Machine