BRITISH CONSERVATISM AND THE PRIMROSE LEAGUE ... - ideals

independently of ordinary Conservative Associations."20 Nevertheless,
Lady Sawyer's efforts were not restricted to her service as Ruling
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Councillor and editor of the Ladywood Primrose Magazine.
She played an
instrumental role in obtaining the necessary volumes to create a
political
library for the Ladywood Working Men's Conservative Club and
was a leading figure in the Ladies' Auxiliary Council of the Midland
Counties' Union. 21
Her efforts underscored the close ties which
existed between Conservative associations and the Primrose League.
A distinguishing feature of Conservative politics in Birmingham
exhibited in the Ladywood Ward was the emphasis placed on maintaining
ties with Liberal Unionists.
It was a policy dictated from Westminster
to the local constituencies in order to ensure a Unionist victory and
provide a deterrent to Home Rule.
On the whole, Birmingham Conservatives adhered to the party
line, although a measure of ambivalence remained at having to surrender
political autonomy to the Unionist cause.
Thus, in addressing a
meeting of the Ladywood Conservative Working Men's Club in 1887, Sir
James Sawyer strove to present, in a positive light, John Bright's
accomplishments as representative of the Central district.
Nevertheless, he looked forward to a time when traditional Toryism,
unhampered by the comprising tactics of the alliance, could once again
emerge.
20
Cited from a reprint of the Birmingham Daily Gazette
entitled "Midland Counties' Union of Conservative Associations," 3
December 1886, enclosed within the Ladywood Primrose Magazine.
21
Ladywood Primrose Magazine, March, 1887, p. 1; June, 1887,
p. 35; September, 1887, pp. 66-68; October, 1887, p. 80.