Editing Arthur Balfour (section)

===Leadership roles===
[[File:Arthur James Balfour, 1st Earl of Balfour by Sir Lawrence Alma-Tadema.jpg|thumb|Balfour in 1891, by [[Lawrence Alma-Tadema]]]]
In 1886–1892 he became one of the most effective public speakers of the age. Impressive in matter rather than delivery, his speeches were logical and convincing, and delighted an ever-wider audience.{{sfn|Chisholm|1911|p=251}}
 
On the death of [[William Henry Smith (1825–1891)|W. H. Smith]] in 1891, Balfour became [[First Lord of the Treasury]]{{snd}}the last in British history not to have been concurrently prime minister as well{{snd}}and [[Leader of the House of Commons]]. After the fall of the government in 1892 he spent three years in opposition. When the Conservatives returned to power, in coalition with the Liberal Unionists, in 1895, Balfour again became Leader of the House and First Lord of the Treasury. His management of the abortive education proposals of 1896 showed a disinclination for the drudgery of parliamentary management, yet he saw the passage of a bill providing Ireland with improved local government under the [[Local Government (Ireland) Act 1898]] and joined in debates on foreign and domestic questions between 1895 and 1900.{{sfn|Chisholm|1911|p=251}}

During the illness of Lord Salisbury in 1898, and again in Salisbury's absence abroad, Balfour was in charge of the [[Foreign Office]], and he conducted negotiations with Russia on the question of railways in North China. As a member of the cabinet responsible for the [[Second Boer War|Transvaal negotiations]] in 1899, he bore his share of controversy and, when the [[Second Boer War]] began disastrously, he was first to realise the need to use the country's full military strength. His leadership of the House was marked by firmness in the suppression of obstruction, yet there was a slight revival of the criticisms of 1896.{{sfn|Chisholm|1911|p=251}}