Lord Randolph Churchill

The Right Honourable The Lord Randolph Henry Spencer-Churchill (13 February 1849–24 January 1895) was a British statesman.

Office

In 1884 progressive Toryism won out. At the conference of the Central Union of Conservative Associations, Lord Randolph was nominated chairman, despite the opposition of the parliamentary leaders. A split was averted by Lord Randolph's voluntary resignation; but the episode had confirmed his title to a leading place in the Tory ranks. It was strengthened by the prominent part he played in the events immediately preceding the fall of the Liberal government in 1885; and when Hugh Childers's budget resolutions were defeated by the Conservatives, aided by about half the Parnellites, Lord Randolph Churchill's admirers were justified in proclaiming him to have been the "organizer of victory". His services were, at any rate, far too important to be refused recognition; and in Lord Salisbury's cabinet of 1885 he was made Secretary of State for India. As the price of entry he demanded that Sir Stafford Northcote be removed from the Commons, despite being the Conservative leader there. Salisbury was more than willing to concede this and Northcote went to the Lords as the Earl of Iddlesleigh.

Related Topics:
Central Union of Conservative Associations - 1885 - Hugh Childers's - Lord Salisbury's - Secretary of State for India

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In the autumn election of 1885 he contested Central Birmingham against John Bright, and though defeated here, was at the same time returned by a very large majority for South Paddington. In the contest which arose over Gladstone's Home Rule bill, Lord Randolph again bore a conspicuous part, and in the electioneering campaign his activity was only second to that of some of the Liberal Unionists, Lord Hartington, George Goschen and Joseph Chamberlain. He was now the recognized Conservative champion in the Lower Chamber, and when the second Salisbury administration was formed after the general election of 1886 he became Chancellor of the Exchequer and Leader of the House of Commons.

Related Topics:
1885 - John Bright - Home Rule - Liberal Unionists - Lord Hartington - George Goschen - Joseph Chamberlain - 1886 - Chancellor of the Exchequer - Leader of the House of Commons

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