Editing Liberal Unionist Party (section)

===Break with the Liberals===
[[File:Gladstone debate on Irish Home Rule 8th April 1886 ILN.jpg|300px|left|thumb|[[William Ewart Gladstone|Gladstone]] introduces the [[Government of Ireland Bill 1886|Home Rule Bill]] in the [[House of Commons of the United Kingdom|House of Commons]] (1886).]]
The [[1886 United Kingdom general election|1886 election]] left the Conservatives as the largest party in the House of Commons, but without an overall majority. The leading Liberal Unionists were invited to join the Conservative [[Robert Gascoyne-Cecil, 3rd Marquess of Salisbury|Lord Salisbury]]'s government. Salisbury said he was even willing to let Hartington become Prime Minister of a coalition ministry but the latter declined. In part, Hartington was worried this would split the Liberal Unionists and lose them votes from pro-Unionist Liberal supporters. The Liberal Unionists, despite providing the necessary margin for Salisbury's majority, continued to sit on the opposition benches throughout the life of the parliament, and Hartington and Chamberlain uneasily shared the opposition Front Bench with their former colleagues [[William Ewart Gladstone|Gladstone]] and [[William Vernon Harcourt (politician)|Harcourt]].<ref name="Cawood"/>

In December 1886, when [[Lord Randolph Churchill]] suddenly resigned as [[Chancellor of the Exchequer]], Salisbury offered the position to [[George_Goschen, 1st Viscount_Goschen|George Goschen]], by far the most conservative of the leading Liberal Unionists. After consulting Hartington, Goschen agreed to join the Conservative government and remained Chancellor for the next six years.