BRITISH CONSERVATISM AND THE PRIMROSE LEAGUE ... - ideals

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The Radical management of the Liberal machine in Birmingham
proved extremely effective between 1868 and 1885 dominating, not only
the choice of parliamentary candidates, but also the election of
representatives to the Town Council and the local School Boards. The
methods introduced by Chamberlain and Schnadhorst were also applied to
two other organizations which sought to extend these practices
throughout the country: the National Education League, begun in 1869,
and the National Liberal Federation (NLF), established in 1877.
The NLF was attributed by many with having been a significant
factor in bringing the Liberals to victory in 1880.
Over the next five
years, the organization took hold in the local constituencies. The
Conservative response to the tactics of the NLF and its parent party
was the Primrose League, which served as an auxiliary army of rank and
file supporters of the Conservative party and engaged in promoting its
principles.
subject, demonstrating the continuous links between the pyramidal
structure of power of the Liberal party and the similarly constructed
NLF. Despite the apparent integration of the NLF into official Liberal
circles after Chamberlain's departure in 1886, Griffiths stresses the
influence of the organization within the party, in noted contrast to
the more minimalist position generally taken by scholars and
demonstrated in A.B. Cook's and John Vincent's The Governing Passion:
Cabinet Government and Party Politics in Britain 1885-1886 (Brighton:
Harvester Press, 1974), pp. 20-22.
Other works on the subject include, R. Spence Watson, The
National Liberal Federation 1877-1906 (London: T.F. Unwin, 1907); Barry
McGill, "Francis Schnadhorst and Liberal Party Organization," Journal
of Modern History vol.34 (March-December, 1962), pp. 19-39; and Asa
Briggs, The History of Birmingham, vol. 2 (Oxford: Oxford University
Press, 1952), 164-99. It should be noted that even during the height
of NLF activity between 1884 and 1885, receipts accounted for only a
relatively modest £5,173 compared with the Primrose figure of £10,133
two years later. "Statement of Receipts and Expenditure," National
Liberal Federation, Eighth Annual Report, 1 October 1885, B.L.
P.P.3558.inb., p. 28. The Primrose League Gazette, 21 April 1888, p.4.