Editing Joseph Chamberlain (section)

===President of the Board of Trade: 1880–85===
[[File:The Treasury Bench Vanity Fair 6 July 1880.jpg|thumb|left|upright=1.3|[[William Ewart Gladstone]], [[Lord Hartington]], and Chamberlain as depicted in ''[[Vanity Fair (British magazine)|Vanity Fair]]'', 6 July 1880]]
Despite having sat in Parliament for only four years, Chamberlain hoped for a Cabinet position, and told [[Sir William Harcourt]] that he was prepared to lead a revolt and field Radical candidates in borough elections. Although Gladstone did not hold the NLF in high regard, he was eager to reconcile Chamberlain and other Radicals to the mainly Whig cabinet, and he invited Chamberlain to become [[President of the Board of Trade]] on 27 April 1880.

After his success in municipal politics, Chamberlain was frustrated at his inability to introduce more creative legislation at the Board of Trade. Between 1880 and 1883, the government was preoccupied with Ireland, the [[South African Republic|Transvaal]], and [[Khedivate of Egypt|Egypt]]. Chamberlain introduced bills for the safer transportation of grain, for enabling municipal corporations to establish electricity supplies, and for ensuring a fairer system of payment for seamen. After 1883, Chamberlain was more productive and expanded the scope of his authority; he introduced bills establishing a Board of Trade Bankruptcy Department for inquiring into failed business deals and subjecting patents to Board of Trade supervision. Chamberlain also sought to end the practice of over-insuring [[Coffin ship (insurance)|coffin ships]], but despite endorsements by [[Tory Democracy|Tory Democrats]] [[Lord Randolph Churchill]] and [[John Eldon Gorst]], the government was unwilling to grant Chamberlain its full support and the Bill was withdrawn in July 1884.

====Ireland====
As President of the Board of Trade, Chamberlain took a special interest in Ireland. Chamberlain strongly opposed the [[Irish Home Rule movement]] on the belief that home rule would lead to the eventual break-up of the empire; he declared, "I cannot admit that five millions of Irishmen have any greater right to govern themselves without regard to the rest of the United Kingdom than the five million inhabitants of [[London|the metropolis]]". In an effort to quiet agitation in Ireland through appeasement, Chamberlain supported calls for a [[Irish Land League|Land Bill]] and opposed [[Chief Secretary for Ireland|Chief Secretary]] [[William Edward Forster]]'s tactics of lethal force and mass imprisonment. In April 1881, Gladstone's government introduced the Irish Land Act, but [[Charles Stewart Parnell]] encouraged tenants to withhold rents. As a result, Parnell and other leaders were imprisoned in [[Kilmainham Gaol]] on 13 October 1881.

Chamberlain supported the imprisonment and used it to bargain the informal [[Kilmainham Treaty]] in 1882. Under the informal agreement, the government released Parnell in return for his co-operation in implementing the Land Act. Forster resigned, but his successor, [[Lord Frederick Cavendish]], was [[Phoenix Park Murders|murdered]] by members of the [[Irish National Invincibles]] on 6 May 1882, leaving the treaty almost useless. Many, including Parnell, believed that Chamberlain would be offered the Chief Secretaryship, but Gladstone appointed Sir [[Sir George Trevelyan, 2nd Baronet|George Otto Trevelyan]] instead. Nevertheless, Chamberlain maintained an interest in Irish affairs and proposed to the Cabinet an Irish [[Central Board]] that would have legislative powers for land, education and communications, which was rejected by the Whigs in Cabinet on 9 May 1885.

====Electoral reform====
Early in the Gladstone ministry, Chamberlain unsuccessfully suggested the extension of the franchise; the Prime Minister deferred until 1884, when the Liberals proposed a [[Representation of the People Act 1884|Third Reform Bill]] which gave the vote to hundreds of thousands of rural labourers. Chamberlain and the Radicals campaigned to capture the new voters with public meetings, speeches and articles written in the ''Fortnightly Review''. The Third Reform Act of 1884 was followed by the [[Redistribution of Seats Act 1885]], negotiated by Gladstone and Conservative leader [[Lord Salisbury]].

[[File:The Cabinet Council Vanity Fair 27 November 1883.jpg|thumb|upright=1.3|The Gladstone cabinet as depicted in ''[[Vanity Fair (British magazine)|Vanity Fair]]'', 27 November 1883]]
During debate on the 1884 County Franchise Bill, Chamberlain famously declared that Salisbury was "himself the spokesman of a class — a class to which he himself belongs — [[Matthew 6:28|who toil not neither do they spin]]." In response, Salisbury branded Chamberlain a "Sicilian bandit" and [[Stafford Northcote]] called him "[[Jack Cade]]". When Chamberlain suggested that he would march on London with thousands of Birmingham constituents to protest against the [[House of Lords]]' powers, Salisbury remarked that "Mr. Chamberlain will return from his adventure with a broken head if nothing worse."

====1885 election====
In 1885, Chamberlain sought to "utterly destroy the Whigs, and have a Radical government before many years are out." To that end, Chamberlain and [[Sir Charles Dilke]] privately presented their resignations to Gladstone on 20 May, after the Cabinet had rejected Chamberlain's proposed Irish plan and his scheme for the creation of National Councils in England, Scotland, and Wales. The resignations were not made public, but the opportunity came for Chamberlain to present his Radicalism to the country after the [[List of successful votes of no confidence in British governments#Second defeat of the Gladstone ministry (1885)|Gladstone budget failed on 8 June]], triggering a [[1885 United Kingdom general election|new general election]] with a dramatically expanded, redistributed electorate.

In July 1885, Chamberlain wrote the preface to the ''Radical Programme'', the first campaign handbook in British political history. It endorsed [[land reform]], more direct taxation, free public education, the disestablishment of the [[Church of England]], universal male suffrage, and greater protection for trade unions. Chamberlain drew inspiration from his friend [[Frederick Maxse]]'s 1873 pamphlet ''The Causes of Social Revolt''.<ref>{{cite book|last1=Bowie|first1=Duncan|title=Our History: Roots of the British Socialist Movement|date=2014|publisher=Socialist History Society|location=London|isbn=978-0-9555138-9-3|page=21}}</ref> Chamberlain's proposal to separate free education for every child from the religious question was rejected by groups on all sides, including the NLF, Nonconformists, Catholics and more generally, taxpayers.<ref>Alan Simon, "Joseph Chamberlain and Free Education in the Election of 1885," ''History of Education'' (1973) 2#1 pp 56–78.</ref> The ''Programme'' earned the scorn of Whig Liberals and Conservatives alike.

Chamberlain began his election campaign at [[Kingston upon Hull|Hull]] on 5 August, in front of large posters declaring him to be "your coming Prime Minister." Until the campaign's end in October, he denounced opponents of the ''Programme'' and used the slogan "[[Three Acres and a Cow]]" to endorse the cause of the rural labourers, offering to make smallholdings available to them by using funds from local authorities. Chamberlain's campaign attracted large crowds and enthralled the young [[Ramsay MacDonald]] and [[David Lloyd George]], but disturbed leading Liberals like [[George Goschen, 1st Viscount Goschen|George Goschen]], who called it the "Unauthorised Programme". The Conservatives denounced Chamberlain as an anarchist, with some{{who|date=October 2022}} even comparing him to [[Dick Turpin]].

In October 1885, as the campaign came to a close, Chamberlain visited Gladstone at [[Hawarden Castle (18th century)|Hawarden Castle]] to reconcile their respective electoral programmes. The meeting, although good-natured, was largely unproductive, and Gladstone neglected to tell Chamberlain of his ongoing negotiations with Parnell over Irish Home Rule. Chamberlain was informed their existence by [[Henry Labouchere]], but, did not press the issue, unsure of the precise nature of Gladstone's offer.

The Liberals [[1885 United Kingdom general election|won a plurality in November 1885]] but fell just short of a majority against the Conservatives. The Irish Nationalists held the balance of power between the two parties.

====Liberal split====
On 17 December, [[Herbert Gladstone]] [[Hawarden Kite|revealed]] that his father, needing Nationalist support, was prepared to implement Home Rule. At first, Chamberlain was reluctant to anger his Radical followers by joining forces with the anti-Home Rule Whigs and Conservatives. While saying little about the topic publicly, Chamberlain privately damned Gladstone and Home Rule to colleagues, believing that maintaining the Conservatives in power for a further year would make the Irish question easier to settle.

Chamberlain declined Gladstone's offer of the office of [[First Lord of the Admiralty]]; Gladstone in turn rejected Chamberlain's request for the [[Colonial Office]] and eventually appointed him [[President of the Local Government Board]]. Their personal relationship worsened after a dispute over the amount to be paid to Collings, Chamberlain's [[Parliamentary Secretary]], although Chamberlain still hoped that he could alter or block Gladstone's Home Rule proposal in Cabinet and renew his scheme for National Councils, but the topic was never discussed.

On 13 March 1886, Gladstone's proposals for Ireland were revealed. Chamberlain argued that the details of the accompanying Land Purchase Bill should be made known in order for a fair judgment on Home Rule. When Gladstone stated his intention to give Ireland a separate Parliament with full powers to deal with Irish affairs, Chamberlain resolved to resign and wrote to inform Gladstone of his decision two days later. In the meantime, Chamberlain consulted with [[Arthur Balfour]] over the possibility of concerted action with the Conservatives and contemplated similar co-operation with the Whigs. His resignation was made public on 27 March 1886.