The Newcastle Programme
Encyclopedia
The Newcastle Programme was a statement of policies passed by the representatives of the English and Welsh Liberal Associations
meeting at the annual conference of the National Liberal Federation
(NLF) in Newcastle upon Tyne
in 1891. The centrepiece of the Newcastle Programme was the primacy of Irish Home Rule, but associated with it were a raft of other reforms, in particular: land reform; reform of the Lords; shorter parliaments; district and parish councils; registration reform and abolition of plural voting
; local veto on drink sales; employers' liability for workers' accidents and Scottish and Welsh disestablishment.
The Newcastle Programme was therefore important for two reasons; first, it gave the Liberal party a Radical
agenda on which to fight the next general election and second, the detailed ‘shopping list’ of policies it adopted was innovatory in British politics, setting a precedent for modern political parties. Today ordinary members of all major political parties participate in policy development and the parties present the electorate with a programme or manifesto for government, agreed or endorsed in some way by their members.
. In 1885, he put forward The Radical Programme, unauthorised by the party leadership, as an election manifesto for using the constructive power of the state but Liberal leader William Ewart Gladstone
subverted Chamberlain’s efforts, co-opting the NLF for mainstream Liberalism. By adopting Home Rule for Ireland as his banner, Gladstone trumped The Radical Programme, driving Chamberlain out of the party to form the Liberal Unionists
. In the great schism of 1886 over Home Rule, the NLF deserted Chamberlain to remain loyal to Gladstone.
published letters, implicating Charles Stewart Parnell
, the Irish Home Rule party
leader, in the Phoenix Park murders
of a government minister and a civil servant, although a high profile government inquiry later discovered the letters to be forgeries. In 1890, the divorce of Katharine O'Shea, which identified Parnell as Mrs O’Shea’s lover, split the Irish party and scandalised nonconformist Liberals. The split in the Irish Home Rule
party in 1890 weakened the likelihood of a successful Home Rule Bill. At the 1891 meeting of the NLF in Newcastle upon Tyne
Gladstone reaffirmed the primacy of Home Rule, but associated it with reforms on the mainland by adopting various proposals of the NLF Council, in particular: land reform; reform of the Lords; shorter parliaments; district and parish councils; registration reform and abolition of plural voting
; local veto on drink sales; employers' liability for workers' accidents; Scottish and Welsh disestablishment. The Newcastle programme was to be the solution to these dilemmas, a manifesto for British government.
. However one historian has argued that the Radicals inside the Liberal Party lacked the leadership to ensure their programme was truly implemented. Michael Bentley suggests that while Gladstone and the Liberal leadership was obliged to listen to the opinion of such a significant section of the party, they were able to slide along without making form commitments and to pick and choose from the ‘rag-bag’ of policies that made up the Newcastle Programme, prioritising those they wanted and forgetting those they disliked. One of Gladstone’s biographers also supports this assessment. Roy Jenkins
asserts that Gladstone’s only real interest now lay in Irish Home Rule but he allowed John Morley and William Vernon Harcourt
to cobble together the Newcastle Programme which he describes as a ‘a capacious ragbag ...weak on theme’. According to Jenkins, Gladstone had neither the time not energy to oppose the NLF programme and decided to swallow it whole just to ensure the party remained wedded to Home Rule as its principal policy. Gladstone’s endorsement of the Newcastle Programme did have one important outcome. A few weeks later, on 25 November, Lord Hartington, the leader of the Liberal Unionist Party
, announced that there was no longer any hope of re-union with the Gladstonian Liberals
.
support, and the results were far from the sort of endorsement from the electorate that Gladstone hoped. The new government was unable to enact much of the Newcastle Programme, even those parts of which Gladstone did approve, because of implacable opposition from the Conservative
dominated House of Lords
. According to one historian of the Liberal Party, the Conservative leader Lord Salisbury justified their rejection of the Liberal measures, including crucially Home Rules, on the basis that the Liberal victory in 1892 had rested on the votes of 150 electors in eight constituencies collected by offering many different policy bribes. . Of the Newcastle Programme, the government’s principal achievements were Employers Liability, parish councils and William Vernon Harcourt
’s 1894 budget, which introduced graduated death duties. Gladstone resigned as prime minister
in 1894 and was replaced with Lord Rosebery who poured scorn on the Newcastle Programme as the ‘flyblown phylacteries of obsolete policies’. When the government's efforts to bring in temperance reform and Welsh disestablishment also failed, Rosebery’s disunited cabinet were almost anxious for an excuse to resign.
The Conservatives won the 1895 general election
ushering in ten years of Tory government. The Radical policy inheritance of the Newcastle Programme would have to wait for the reforming governments of Henry Campbell-Bannerman
and H H Asquith before being cashed in.
Liberal Party (UK)
The Liberal Party was one of the two major political parties of the United Kingdom during the 19th and early 20th centuries. It was a third party of negligible importance throughout the latter half of the 20th Century, before merging with the Social Democratic Party in 1988 to form the present day...
meeting at the annual conference of the National Liberal Federation
National Liberal Federation
The National Liberal Federation was the union of all English and Welsh Liberal Associations. It held an annual conference which was regarded as being representative of the opinion of the party’s rank and file and was broadly the equivalent of a present-day party conference.-Foundation:The...
(NLF) in Newcastle upon Tyne
Newcastle upon Tyne
Newcastle upon Tyne is a city and metropolitan borough of Tyne and Wear, in North East England. Historically a part of Northumberland, it is situated on the north bank of the River Tyne...
in 1891. The centrepiece of the Newcastle Programme was the primacy of Irish Home Rule, but associated with it were a raft of other reforms, in particular: land reform; reform of the Lords; shorter parliaments; district and parish councils; registration reform and abolition of plural voting
Plural voting
Plural voting is the practice whereby one person might be able to vote multiple times in an election. It is not to be confused with a plurality voting system which does not necessarily involve plural voting...
; local veto on drink sales; employers' liability for workers' accidents and Scottish and Welsh disestablishment.
The Newcastle Programme was therefore important for two reasons; first, it gave the Liberal party a Radical
Radicalism (historical)
The term Radical was used during the late 18th century for proponents of the Radical Movement. It later became a general pejorative term for those favoring or seeking political reforms which include dramatic changes to the social order...
agenda on which to fight the next general election and second, the detailed ‘shopping list’ of policies it adopted was innovatory in British politics, setting a precedent for modern political parties. Today ordinary members of all major political parties participate in policy development and the parties present the electorate with a programme or manifesto for government, agreed or endorsed in some way by their members.
Liberal campaigning
The Liberal Party’s leading pioneer of organised campaigning had been Joseph ChamberlainJoseph Chamberlain
Joseph Chamberlain was an influential British politician and statesman. Unlike most major politicians of the time, he was a self-made businessman and had not attended Oxford or Cambridge University....
. In 1885, he put forward The Radical Programme, unauthorised by the party leadership, as an election manifesto for using the constructive power of the state but Liberal leader William Ewart Gladstone
William Ewart Gladstone
William Ewart Gladstone FRS FSS was a British Liberal statesman. In a career lasting over sixty years, he served as Prime Minister four separate times , more than any other person. Gladstone was also Britain's oldest Prime Minister, 84 years old when he resigned for the last time...
subverted Chamberlain’s efforts, co-opting the NLF for mainstream Liberalism. By adopting Home Rule for Ireland as his banner, Gladstone trumped The Radical Programme, driving Chamberlain out of the party to form the Liberal Unionists
Liberal Unionist Party
The Liberal Unionist Party was a British political party that was formed in 1886 by a faction that broke away from the Liberal Party. Led by Lord Hartington and Joseph Chamberlain, the party formed a political alliance with the Conservative Party in opposition to Irish Home Rule...
. In the great schism of 1886 over Home Rule, the NLF deserted Chamberlain to remain loyal to Gladstone.
Home Rule
Between 1886 and 1891, Home Rule dominated Liberal policy debates but two events damaged their Irish allies. In 1887, The TimesThe Times
The Times is a British daily national newspaper, first published in London in 1785 under the title The Daily Universal Register . The Times and its sister paper The Sunday Times are published by Times Newspapers Limited, a subsidiary since 1981 of News International...
published letters, implicating Charles Stewart Parnell
Charles Stewart Parnell
Charles Stewart Parnell was an Irish landowner, nationalist political leader, land reform agitator, and the founder and leader of the Irish Parliamentary Party...
, the Irish Home Rule party
Home Rule League
The Home Rule League, sometimes called the Home Rule Party, was a political party which campaigned for home rule for the country of Ireland from 1873 to 1882, when it was replaced by the Irish Parliamentary Party.-Origins:...
leader, in the Phoenix Park murders
Phoenix Park Murders
The Phoenix Park Murders were the fatal stabbings on 6 May 1882 in the Phoenix Park in Dublin of Lord Frederick Cavendish and Thomas Henry Burke. Cavendish was the newly appointed Chief Secretary for Ireland, and Burke was the Permanent Undersecretary, the most senior Irish civil servant...
of a government minister and a civil servant, although a high profile government inquiry later discovered the letters to be forgeries. In 1890, the divorce of Katharine O'Shea, which identified Parnell as Mrs O’Shea’s lover, split the Irish party and scandalised nonconformist Liberals. The split in the Irish Home Rule
Home Rule League
The Home Rule League, sometimes called the Home Rule Party, was a political party which campaigned for home rule for the country of Ireland from 1873 to 1882, when it was replaced by the Irish Parliamentary Party.-Origins:...
party in 1890 weakened the likelihood of a successful Home Rule Bill. At the 1891 meeting of the NLF in Newcastle upon Tyne
Newcastle upon Tyne
Newcastle upon Tyne is a city and metropolitan borough of Tyne and Wear, in North East England. Historically a part of Northumberland, it is situated on the north bank of the River Tyne...
Gladstone reaffirmed the primacy of Home Rule, but associated it with reforms on the mainland by adopting various proposals of the NLF Council, in particular: land reform; reform of the Lords; shorter parliaments; district and parish councils; registration reform and abolition of plural voting
Plural voting
Plural voting is the practice whereby one person might be able to vote multiple times in an election. It is not to be confused with a plurality voting system which does not necessarily involve plural voting...
; local veto on drink sales; employers' liability for workers' accidents; Scottish and Welsh disestablishment. The Newcastle programme was to be the solution to these dilemmas, a manifesto for British government.
National Liberal Federation
Each year the National Liberal Federation met for debate in what may be seen as the forerunner of today’s political party conferences. The NLF developed a process by which it passed an omnibus resolution incorporating all the policies that had been agreed in debate. In the autumn of 1891, the Federation met in Newcastle upon Tyne. In addition to Home Rule, the policies, which were crowded onto the omnibus, may be divided into three main areas: rural, religious and electoral reform. On 2 October 1891, Gladstone spoke to the NLF and for the first time, a Liberal Party leader had lent support to a programme proposed by the party’s grass rootsGrass Roots
Grass Roots is an Australian television series produced by the Australian Broadcasting Corporation between 2000 and 2003.The series is set around the fictional Arcadia Waters Council near Sydney, and was primarily a satirical look at the machinations of local government...
. However one historian has argued that the Radicals inside the Liberal Party lacked the leadership to ensure their programme was truly implemented. Michael Bentley suggests that while Gladstone and the Liberal leadership was obliged to listen to the opinion of such a significant section of the party, they were able to slide along without making form commitments and to pick and choose from the ‘rag-bag’ of policies that made up the Newcastle Programme, prioritising those they wanted and forgetting those they disliked. One of Gladstone’s biographers also supports this assessment. Roy Jenkins
Roy Jenkins
Roy Harris Jenkins, Baron Jenkins of Hillhead OM, PC was a British politician.The son of a Welsh coal miner who later became a union official and Labour MP, Roy Jenkins served with distinction in World War II. Elected to Parliament as a Labour member in 1948, he served in several major posts in...
asserts that Gladstone’s only real interest now lay in Irish Home Rule but he allowed John Morley and William Vernon Harcourt
William Vernon Harcourt
William Vernon Harcourt may refer to:*William Vernon Harcourt , son of the archbishop,father of the politician, and founder of the British Association for the Advancement of Science...
to cobble together the Newcastle Programme which he describes as a ‘a capacious ragbag ...weak on theme’. According to Jenkins, Gladstone had neither the time not energy to oppose the NLF programme and decided to swallow it whole just to ensure the party remained wedded to Home Rule as its principal policy. Gladstone’s endorsement of the Newcastle Programme did have one important outcome. A few weeks later, on 25 November, Lord Hartington, the leader of the Liberal Unionist Party
Liberal Unionist Party
The Liberal Unionist Party was a British political party that was formed in 1886 by a faction that broke away from the Liberal Party. Led by Lord Hartington and Joseph Chamberlain, the party formed a political alliance with the Conservative Party in opposition to Irish Home Rule...
, announced that there was no longer any hope of re-union with the Gladstonian Liberals
Gladstonian Liberalism
Gladstonian Liberalism is a political doctrine named after the British Victorian Prime Minister and leader of the Liberal Party, William Ewart Gladstone. Gladstonian Liberalism consisted of limited government expenditure and low taxation whilst making sure government had balanced budgets...
.
The failure to implement the Newcastle Programme
The Liberal Party won the 1892 election, although its majority relied on Irish NationalistIrish Parliamentary Party
The Irish Parliamentary Party was formed in 1882 by Charles Stewart Parnell, the leader of the Nationalist Party, replacing the Home Rule League, as official parliamentary party for Irish nationalist Members of Parliament elected to the House of Commons at...
support, and the results were far from the sort of endorsement from the electorate that Gladstone hoped. The new government was unable to enact much of the Newcastle Programme, even those parts of which Gladstone did approve, because of implacable opposition from the Conservative
Conservative Party (UK)
The Conservative Party, formally the Conservative and Unionist Party, is a centre-right political party in the United Kingdom that adheres to the philosophies of conservatism and British unionism. It is the largest political party in the UK, and is currently the largest single party in the House...
dominated House of Lords
House of Lords
The House of Lords is the upper house of the Parliament of the United Kingdom. Like the House of Commons, it meets in the Palace of Westminster....
. According to one historian of the Liberal Party, the Conservative leader Lord Salisbury justified their rejection of the Liberal measures, including crucially Home Rules, on the basis that the Liberal victory in 1892 had rested on the votes of 150 electors in eight constituencies collected by offering many different policy bribes. . Of the Newcastle Programme, the government’s principal achievements were Employers Liability, parish councils and William Vernon Harcourt
William Vernon Harcourt
William Vernon Harcourt may refer to:*William Vernon Harcourt , son of the archbishop,father of the politician, and founder of the British Association for the Advancement of Science...
’s 1894 budget, which introduced graduated death duties. Gladstone resigned as prime minister
Prime minister
A prime minister is the most senior minister of cabinet in the executive branch of government in a parliamentary system. In many systems, the prime minister selects and may dismiss other members of the cabinet, and allocates posts to members within the government. In most systems, the prime...
in 1894 and was replaced with Lord Rosebery who poured scorn on the Newcastle Programme as the ‘flyblown phylacteries of obsolete policies’. When the government's efforts to bring in temperance reform and Welsh disestablishment also failed, Rosebery’s disunited cabinet were almost anxious for an excuse to resign.
The Conservatives won the 1895 general election
United Kingdom general election, 1895
The United Kingdom general election of 1895 was held from 13 July - 7 August 1895. It was won by the Conservatives led by Lord Salisbury who formed an alliance with the Liberal Unionist Party and had a large majority over the Liberals, led by Lord Rosebery...
ushering in ten years of Tory government. The Radical policy inheritance of the Newcastle Programme would have to wait for the reforming governments of Henry Campbell-Bannerman
Henry Campbell-Bannerman
Sir Henry Campbell-Bannerman GCB was a British Liberal Party politician who served as Prime Minister of the United Kingdom from 1905 to 1908 and Leader of the Liberal Party from 1899 to 1908. He also served as Secretary of State for War twice, in the Cabinets of Gladstone and Rosebery...
and H H Asquith before being cashed in.