1880 United Kingdom general election

none May 2014 May 2014 1880 United Kingdom general election United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland parliamentary no 1874 United Kingdom general election 1874 List of MPs elected in the United Kingdom general election, 1874 1885 United Kingdom general election 1885 3,359,416 All 652 seats in the House of Commons 327 1880 3 31 1880 4 27 yeshttp://www.parliament.uk/documents/commons/lib/research/briefings/snpc-04512.pdf Data parliament.uk List of MPs elected in the United Kingdom general election, 1880 Picture of Spencer Cavendish, 8th Duke of Devonshire.jpg 120 120 160 0 0 Marquess of Hartington January 1875 Liberal Party (UK) North East Lancashire 242 seats, 52.0% 352speaker 110 1,836,423 54.7% 2.7 pp Benjamin Disraeli, 1878 (cropped).jpg 120 120 160 0 0 The Earl of Beaconsfield 27 February 1868 Conservative Party (UK) House of Lords 350 seats, 44.3% 237 113 1,426,349 42.5% 1.8 pp Home Rule League William Shaw May 1879 Home Rule League County Cork 60 seats, 3.7% 63 3 95,528 2.8% 0.9 pp United Kingdom general election 1880.svg 380px Colours denote the winning party Prime Minister Prime Minister after the election Earl of Beaconsfield Conservative Party (UK) William Gladstone Liberal Party (UK) File:1880 UK GE Composition diagram.svg Composition of the House of Commons after the election The 1880 United Kingdom general election was held from 31 March to 27 April 1880. It saw the Liberal opposition triumph with 352 seats. Its intense rhetoric was led by the Midlothian campaign of the Liberals, particularly the fierce oratory of Liberal leader William Gladstone.Fitzsimons 1960 187–201 He vehemently attacked the foreign policy of the government of Benjamin Disraeli, Earl of Beaconsfield, as utterly immoral. The endeavours of the Disraeli government in Africa, India, Afghanistan and Europe, which were only partially successful and often accompanied by early, humiliating defeats, gave a good deal of fodder to Gladstone for his attacks. Further, Disraeli's favoured dealing with the Turks, who were responsible for horrendous atrocities against Balkan Christians also laid him open to religious attacks, especially in Gladstone's pamphlet "The Bulgarian Horrors and the Question of the East" (1876). Gladstone's campaign was a synthesis of the two approaches in a populist manner adapted towards liberalism. The Liberals secured one of their largest-ever majorities, leaving the Conservatives a distant second. As a result of the campaign, the Liberal Commons leader, Lord Hartington and that in the Lords, Lord Granville, stood back in favour of Gladstone, who thus became Prime Minister a second time. It was the last general election in which any party other than the Conservatives won a majority of the total votes (rather than a mere plurality), as well the only time (except for 1906) until 1945 in which any party other than the Conservatives won a majority. none 1868 1874 1880 1885 1886 Issues thumb|A painting by Alfred George Palmer of election night outside Exeter Guildhall in the collection of the Royal Albert Memorial Museum (333/1997). The Conservative government was doomed by the poor condition of the British economy and the vulnerability of its foreign policy to moralistic attacks by the Liberals. William Gladstone, appealing to moralistic evangelicals, led the attack on the foreign policy of Benjamin Disraeli (now known as Lord Beaconsfield) as immoral.Matthew 1997 293–312 Historian Paul Smith paraphrases the rhetorical tone which focused on attacking "Beaconsfieldism" (in Smith's words) as a:Sinister system of policy, which not merely involved the country in immoral, vainglorious and expensive external adventures, inimical to peace and to the rights of small peoples, but aimed at nothing less than the subversion of parliamentary government in favour of some simulacrum of the oriental despotism its creator was alleged to admire.Smith 1996 198–99 Smith notes that there was indeed some substance to the allegations, but: "Most of this was partisan extravaganza, worthy of its target's own excursions against the Whigs."Smith 1996 199 thumb|Crowds wait outside Leeds Town Hall to hear the result Disraeli himself was now the Earl of Beaconsfield in the House of Lords, and custom did not allow peers to campaign; this denuded the Conservatives of other important figures such as the Marquess of Salisbury and Lord Cranbrook, and the party was unable to deal effectively with the rhetorical onslaught.Roberts Andrew Salisbury: Victorian Titan 2000 Phoenix 0-75381-091-3 London 238 Although he had improved the organisation of the Conservative Party, Disraeli was firmly based in the rural gentry, and had little contact with or understanding of the urban middle class that was increasingly dominating his party. Besides their trouble with foreign policy issues, it was even more important that the Conservatives were unable to effectively defend their economic record on the home front. The 1870s coincided with a long-term global depression caused by the collapse of the worldwide railway boom of the 1870s which previously had been so profitable to Britain. The stress was growing by the late 1870s; prices fell, profits fell, employment fell, and there was downward pressure on wage rates that caused much hardship among the industrial working class. The free trade system supported by both parties made Britain defenceless against the flood of cheap wheat from North America, which was exacerbated by the worst harvest of the century in Britain in 1879. The party in power got the blame, and Liberals repeatedly emphasised the growing budget deficit as a measure of bad stewardship. In the election itself, Disraeli's party lost heavily up and down the line, especially in Scotland and Ireland, and in the urban boroughs. His Conservative strength fell from 351 to 238, while the Liberals jumped from 250 to 353. Disraeli resigned on 21 April 1880.Smith 1996 202–3 Blake 1967 707–13, 717 Results center|300px UK General Election 1880 Liberal Party (UK) 499 352speaker The seat and vote count figures for the Liberals given here include the Speaker of the House of Commons +132 -22 +110 1,836,423 54.66 53.99 +2.7 yes 5,217 Conservative Party (UK) 521 237 +20 -133 −113 1,426,351 42.46 36.35 −1.8 6,019 Home Rule League 81 63 +6 -3 +3 95,535 2.84 9.66 −0.9 1,516 Independent (politician) 2 0 0 0 0 1,107 0.03 0 0 N/A |} Total votes cast: 3,359,416. Voting summary Popular vote #ddd 600px 380px Liberal Liberal Party (UK) 54.66 Conservative Conservative Party (UK) 42.46 Home Rule Home Rule League 2.84 Others #777777 0.03 Seats summary Parliamentary seats #ddd 600px 380px Liberal Liberal Party (UK) 53.99 Conservative Conservative Party (UK) 36.35 Home Rule Home Rule League 9.66 Regional results Great Britain United Kingdom general election 1885 (by country).svg Largest party in each constituent country 250px right bottom triangle Party Seats Seats change Votes % % change Liberal Party (UK) 334 104 1,780,171 57.3 1.9 Liberal-Labour (UK) 3 1 Conservative Party (UK) 214 105 1,326,744 42.7 1.9 Other 0 1,107 0.04 0.04 Total 551 3,108,022 100 England Party Seats Seats change Votes % % change Liberal Party (UK) 251 82 1,519,576 56.2 2.4 Liberal-Labour (UK) 3 1 Conservative Party (UK) 197 83 1,205,990 43.7 2.5 Other 0 1,107 0.1 0.1 Total 451 2,726,673 100 Scotland 1880 United Kingdom general election in Scotland Party Seats Seats change Votes % % change Liberal Party (UK) 52 12 195,517 70.1 1.7 Conservative Party (UK) 6 12 74,145 29.9 1.7 Total 58 269,662 100 Wales Party Seats Seats change Votes % % change Liberal Party (UK) 29 10 50,403 58.8 2.1 Conservative Party (UK) 4 10 41,106 41.2 2.1 Total 33 100,509 100 Ireland 1880 United Kingdom general election in Ireland Party Seats Seats change Votes % % change Home Rule League 63 3 95,535 37.5 2.1 Irish Conservative Party 23 8 99,607 39.8 1.0 Liberal Party (UK) 15 5 56,252 22.7 4.3 Total 101 251,394 100 Universities Party Seats Seats change Votes % % change Conservative Party (UK) 7 5,503 49.2 Liberal Party (UK) 2 5,675 50.8 Total 9 11,178 100 See also List of MPs elected in the 1880 United Kingdom general election 1880 United Kingdom general election in Ireland 1880 United Kingdom general election in Scotland Notes References Sources and further reading Robert Blake Robert Blake, Baron Blake Disraeli 1967 EA London 978-1-84413-312-3 Chilston, Viscount. "The 1880 Election: A Historical Landmark." Parliamentary Affairs 14 (June 1961): 477–492. F. W. S. Craig F. W. S. Craig British Electoral Facts: 1832–1987 1989 Dartmouth Gower 0900178302 M. A. Fitzsimons Midlothian: the Triumph and Frustration of the British Liberal Party Review of Politics 1960 22 187–201 2 1405317 10.1017/S0034670500008202 144807807 Lloyd, T.O. The General Election of 1880 (Oxford UP, 1967) H. C. G. Matthew Colin Matthew Gladstone: 1809–1898 1997 Clarendon Press 0-19-820696-8 British Electoral Facts 1832–1999 Colin Rallings Colin Rallings Michael Thrasher Michael Thrasher Ashgate Publishing Ltd 2000 Roberts, Matthew. "Election Cartoons and Political Communication In Victorian England.' Cultural & Social History (2013) 10#3 pp 369–395, covers 1860 to 1890. Paul Smith Paul Smith (historian) Disraeli: A Brief Life https://books.google.com/books?id=B2yt0pm7FQsC&pg=PA199 1996 Cambridge UP 9780521381505 External links Spartacus: Political Parties and Election Results 1880 General election Category:March 1880 in the United Kingdom Category:April 1880 in the United Kingdom Category:Benjamin Disraeli Category:William Ewart Gladstone