Editing William Ewart Gladstone (section)

==Third premiership (1886)==
{{Main|Third premiership of William Ewart Gladstone|Third Gladstone ministry}}
[[File:Gladstone being kicked in the air by angry men Wellcome V0050369.jpg|thumb|A political cartoon depicting Gladstone "kicked out of office" in 1886]]
The [[Hawarden Kite]] was a December 1885 press release by Gladstone's son and aide [[Herbert Gladstone, 1st Viscount Gladstone|Herbert Gladstone]] announcing that he had become convinced that Ireland needed a separate parliament.<ref>Jenkins, pp. 523–532.</ref><ref>{{cite journal |first=M. R. D. |last=Foot |title=The Hawarden Kite |journal=Journal of Liberal Democrat History |volume=20 |date=Autumn 1998 |pages=26–32 |url=https://liberalhistory.org.uk/journal-articles/the-hawarden-kite/ |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200613054711/https://liberalhistory.org.uk/journal-articles/the-hawarden-kite/ |archive-date=13 June 2020}}</ref> The bombshell announcement resulted in the fall of Lord Salisbury's Conservative government. Irish Nationalists, led by [[Charles Stewart Parnell|Charles Parnell]]'s [[Irish Parliamentary Party]], held the balance of power in Parliament. Gladstone's conversion to Home Rule convinced them to switch away from the Conservatives and support the Liberals using the 86 seats in Parliament they controlled. The main purpose of this administration was to deliver Ireland a reform that would give it a devolved assembly, similar to those which would eventually be put in place in Scotland and Wales in 1999. In 1886 Gladstone's party allied with Irish Nationalists to defeat [[Robert Gascoyne-Cecil, 3rd Marquess of Salisbury|Lord Salisbury]]'s government. Gladstone regained his position as prime minister and combined the office with that of [[Lord Privy Seal]]. During this administration, he first introduced his [[Home Rule Bill]] for Ireland. The issue split the Liberal Party (a breakaway group went on to create the [[Liberal Unionist]] party) and the bill was thrown out on the second reading, ending his government after only a few months and inaugurating another headed by Lord Salisbury.

Gladstone, says his biographer, "totally rejected the widespread English view that the Irish had no taste for justice, common sense, moderation or national prosperity and looked only to perpetual strife and dissension".<ref>{{cite book |first=Roy |last=Jenkins |title=Gladstone: A Biography |date=1997 |page=553}}</ref> The problem for Gladstone was that his rural English supporters would not support Home Rule for Ireland. A large faction of Liberals, led by [[Joseph Chamberlain]], formed a Unionist faction that supported the Conservative party. Whenever the Liberals were out of power, Home Rule proposals languished.