Reading the 1893 Irish Home Rule debates, when Gladstone - half blind, deaf, 83 years old - carried his Bill single-handed through the Commons, speaking more than 80 times (often at 1 or 2am) & delivering some of the greatest speeches of the C19th. And all I can think of is...
Like Christopher Lee, Arthur Balfour knew he was hopelessly outmatched. Image
Unfortunately, Lord Salisbury controlled the Upper House, and threw out the bill by one of the largest majorities in the history of the Lords: 419 votes to 41. Image
Wonder if they'll let me have gifs in the book? At the current rate of progress, I'm also going to need nine movies. Image

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More from @redhistorian

24 Jun
Fighting breaks out in the House of Commons in 1893. The newly-elected Labour MP, Keir Hardie, describes the scene for the papers.

"As for Mr Gladstone, he was pallid to the lips. To him it must have been as the desecration of the Ark of the Covenant to Moses of old."
Conservative MP Ernest Beckett: "‘I seized one of them [the Irish Members], at which three others threw themselves upon me and by sheer weight of numbers bore me to the floor … A general mêlée began, members striking out wildly at each other". Hardie takes up the tale...
The Unionist Edward Carson thought a Radical had started it, and blamed Gladstone. Conservatives accused the PM of failing to step in and stop the fighting. (Spoiler: he was 83 years old).
Read 6 tweets
24 Jun
No. The purpose of education is to give people the skills to live a fulfilling life.

Human beings are not just workers. We are citizens, neighbours, parents and friends - those who cannot work and those who can - and our lives are enriched by far more than our salaries.
Curiously, Conservatives used to criticise "socialists" for viewing humanity simply as workers. Keith Joseph, Thatcher's mentor, thought that the "economics first approach has aggravated unhappiness & social conflict". Angus Maude wrote this in a 1969 manifesto for Conservatism: Image
Even Margaret Thatcher thought that "man needs more than material things". The aim of government, she declared, was "to build a flourishing society – not an economic system".
Read 4 tweets
22 Jun
One hundred years ago today, King George V opened the first session of the new Northern Ireland Parliament. "For all who love Ireland, as I do with all my heart, this is a profoundly moving occasion in Irish history." bbc.co.uk/news/uk-northe…
Speaking at the close of the Irish War of Independence, George hoped that the Northern Ireland Parliament might become a beacon of reconciliation to the Empire. "I appeal to all Irishmen to stretch out the hand of forbearance and conciliation, to forgive and to forget".
The King hoped that the opening of the Northern Irish Parliament "may prove to be the first step towards an end of strife amongst her people, whatever their race or creed" - and that one day he might return to open a similar Parliament in the South.
Read 4 tweets
19 Jun
The Lord Chancellor, Robert Buckland, warned this week that "the rule of law" must not "be misused to weaponise the courts against political decision-making". This is an excellent response by @GeorgePeretzQC (read the replies by @DinahRoseQC, too). Some thoughts of my own follow.
Buckland frames the govt's reform agenda as part of a programme to “restore trust” in the constitution. That’s a noble goal, but in practice it means that one party is rewriting the rules of Britain’s democracy against the opposition of every other. That cannot be safe or healthy
As usual, criticism of the courts is framed as a defence of Parliament. It's an admirable sentiment, but if the executive is "the servant of Parlt", why was it shut down in 2019? Why is it not allowed to vote on cuts to the aid budget? Why was it sidelined in the Covid crisis?
Read 10 tweets
18 Jun
In the days before opinion polls, by-elections were the only tool parties had for testing public opinion in the middle of a Parliament. It's no wonder they were so often astonished by what happened at General Elections!
By-elections used to happen more often. Between 1832 & 1914 there were more than 2,600 by-elections - about thirty a year. In the 1852-57 Parliament, 1 in 3 constituencies had a by-election. So the balance of parties in the Commons could shift radically between general elections
Arguably, that made Parlt more sensitive to changes across the electoral cycle. The Conservative & Unionist Party saw its majority fall by c.60 seats over the 1900-05 Parlt, through defections & by-elections. A party elected with a landslide in 1900 could no longer govern by 1905
Read 4 tweets
16 Jun
Chart of the day from @EdConwaySky. A reminder that UK trade with Australia & NZ was falling vertiginously in the 20 years *before* the UK joined the EEC. European integration was more a *response* to the decline of imperial trade patterns than their cause news.sky.com/story/why-the-…
The belief that Britain could rebuild its economy on the basis of Commonwealth trade was partly why it didn't join the EEC at the start. But that hope had withered long before Britain applied for entry, as Commonwealth markets diversified, sterling weakened &Eur economies revived
By 1975, Commonwealth govts were keener on using the UK as an entry point to the EEC market than on restoring old preferences. Australia's Gough Whitlam urged GB not to "lapse into the position of Spain", with "a mighty empire in the past & a peripheral influence for the future".
Read 4 tweets

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