BRITISH CONSERVATISM AND THE PRIMROSE LEAGUE ... - ideals

106
Salisbury's willingness to go beyond the corridors of
Westminster in order to secure popular support was matched within the
parliamentary arena by his pragmatism and astute bargaining skills.
His mediation of the fractious disputes between Northcote and Churchill
in the Commons, his adept negotiations with Gladstone regarding the
1885 Redistribution Act, and his tolerance of divergent even dissenting
opinions when they did not pose a conflict with the larger claims of
party principles all underscored his mature executive and
administrative capabilities.
However, as Marsh and others have noted, there were severe
constraints on the ways in which the leader of the House of Lords could
exercise his authority in an age which increasingly delegated power to
the hands of the Commons and the mass electorate.45 Salisbury's
success in the face of these obstacles lay in his ability to maneuver
beyond the perceived and actual limitations of his powers to win the
eventual support of both Houses of Parliament and a broad cross section
of the electorate.
Despite the effective tactics pursued by Salisbury, his methods
ultimately would have proven less than satisfactory without Gladstone's
official endorsement of Home Rule in the opening months of 1886. The
Liberals' support of Irish local government enabled Salisbury to
capitalize on English fears of national decline, loss of empire, and
rising class tensions, to transcend the existing limits of Conservative
political support.
45 The Discipline of Popular Government, reads in fact as a
study of the relative limits of Salisbury's power. See pages 23, 25,
29-30, 34-35, 37, 44, 49, 53-54, 89, 94, 151-52, 173, 187, 254, 259.