Crisis? What crisis?

‘I need scarcely mention that the ministers and religious bodies of all denominations were against us … Perhaps, after all, the strongest force against me in the fight was that … it was decided that the Irish vote should go Liberal.’ The frustration expressed in these words by a disgruntled candidate reflected a common experience among Independent Labour Party (ILP) parliamentary candidates during the thirty years following the 1886 Home Rule crisis. Yet most historians have argued that the Gladstonian campaign to secure Irish self-government failed to move working-class electors. Indeed, Gladstone's adoption of this cause is generally regarded as one of his worst mistakes, brought about by his wish to retain the party leadership and resist the rising tide of social reform – which Joseph Chamberlain and other ‘advanced Liberals’ felt to be absolutely necessary if the party was to retain its popular following.