BRITISH CONSERVATISM AND THE PRIMROSE LEAGUE ... - ideals

It seems significant that at the time of Boer war Salisbury's
focus should continue to be based on events of almost twenty years
173
earlier.
However, these themes had served him admirably in what came
to be the longest premiership of any modern day political figure.84
While Chamberlain's tactics in waging the South African war might have
been with the hopeful
prospect of future political victories in mind,
negotiating for an imperial
union, tariff reform, the straddling of
military might with measures of social reform,85 Salisbury's vision
lay in the past.
Nevertheless, it is his perspective which proved most
enduring.
The Primrose League, like its leader, harkened back to events
of the eighties, rather than anticipating the issues which would
confront Britain and the Conservative party in the twentieth century.
Its central
focus remained rooted in the memory of General Gordon's
death in 1885 and the threat of a separate Ireland, events which were
seen as undermining Britain's status as a world power. General
Kitchener's decisive victory in the Sudan in 1898 and his triumphant
march into Khartoum were generally celebrated as marking the
84 By the end of March of 1901, Salisbury had held the office
of Prime Minister longer than any other political figure of the post­
1832 Reform era. His record remains unchallenged to this day. The
Times, 20 March 1901, p. 4.
85 Richard Jay, Robert Kubicek, A.N. Porter, and Richard
Rempel provide a useful starting point for an analysis of Chamberlain's
motives. Richard Jay, Joseph Chamberlain (Oxford: Oxford University
Press, 1981). Robert V. Kubicek, The Administration of Imperialism:
Joseph Chamberlain at the Colonial Office (Durham: Duke University
Press, 1969). A.N. Porter, The Origins of the South African War:
Joseph Chamberlain and the Diplomacy of Imperialism, 1895-99
(Manchester: Manchester University Press, 1980). Richard A. Rempel,
Unionists Divided (Hamden: Archon Books, 1972).