BRITISH CONSERVATISM AND THE PRIMROSE LEAGUE ... - ideals

Although this was precisely the role that the League came to
play in the subsequent years, there is little evidence to suggest that
this declaration reflected the wholehearted intentions of the founders.
Rather, it appeared to reflect a desire to deflect and minimize
criticism which party leaders might direct against the organization,
Churchill's letter to Salisbury, written the same day as
Wolff's to Northcote, was briefer and by implication less conciliatory.
The success of the enterprise appears now to be assured
and as it is meant to, and may, prove very useful to
the party I thought it right to acquaint you with the
rules which fairly explain the objects arrived at.32
In fact the League's success was by no means insured and its
27
real
intentions only implied: a popular base of support for Randolph
through the espousal of the claims of Tory Democracy and, by extension,
imposing a challenge to established party interests and leadership.
Northcote, continually harassed by Fourth party and National
Union maneuvers, was deeply suspicious of the League and its
intentions.
Salisbury, possessing an inside source of information
through his nephew Balfour, was less demonstrably concerned, expressing
support for its professed goals to Churchill while privately envincing
his skepticism about its future.33
Nevertheless, he maintained a
watchful, discerning eye toward any actions that might pose a threat to
his position.
32 Churchill to Salisbury, 22 December 1883; Salisbury Papers,
Churchill/12-3.
33 R.R. James, Lord Randolph Churchill (London: Weidenfeld and
Nicolson, 1959), p. 127 citing Churchill and Northcote. Salisbury to
Northcote, 23 December 1883; Iddesleigh Papers, B.L. Add. MS. 50020.