Editing Liberal Party (UK) (section)

=== Liberal factions ===
{{Main|Liberal League (United Kingdom)|Liberal Imperialists}}
The Liberal Party lacked a unified ideological base in 1906.<ref>Ian Packer, "The great Liberal landslide: the 1906 General Election in perspective." ''Historian'' 89#1 (2006): 8–16.</ref> It contained numerous contradictory and hostile factions, such as imperialists and supporters of the Boers;<ref>John W. Auld, "The Liberal Pro-Boers." ''Journal of British Studies'' 14#2 (1975): 78–101.</ref> near-socialists and laissez-faire [[classical liberals]]; [[suffragette]]s and opponents of [[Women's suffrage in the United States|women's suffrage]];<ref>Martin Pugh, ''Votes for women in Britain 1867–1928'' (1994),</ref> [[Anti-war movement|antiwar elements]] and supporters of the [[Entente Cordiale|military alliance with France]].<ref>Nabil M. Kaylani, "Liberal Politics and British-Foreign-Office 1906-1912-Overview." ''International Review of History and Political Science'' 12.3 (1975): 17–48.</ref> [[Nonconformist (Protestantism)|Nonconformist]]s – [[Protestantism in the United Kingdom|Protestants]] outside the [[Anglican]] fold – were a powerful element, dedicated to opposing the [[established church]] in terms of education and taxation.<ref>G. I. T.  Machin, "Gladstone and Nonconformity in the 1860s: The Formation of an Alliance." ''Historical Journal'' 17, no. 2 (1974): 347–64. [https://www.jstor.org/stable/2638302 online].</ref> However, the non-conformists were losing support amid society at large and played a lesser role in party affairs after 1900.<ref>{{Cite journal |jstor = 1849549|title = English Nonconformity and the Decline of Liberalism|journal = The American Historical Review|volume = 63|issue = 2|pages = 352–363|last1 = Glaser|first1 = John F.|year = 1958|doi = 10.2307/1849549}}</ref> The party, furthermore, also included Irish Catholics, and secularists from the labour movement. Many Conservatives (including [[Winston Churchill]]) had recently protested against high tariff moves by the Conservatives by switching to the anti-tariff Liberal camp, but it was unclear how many old Conservative traits they brought along, especially on military and naval issues.<ref>{{cite book|author=F. McDonough|title=The Conservative Party and Anglo-German Relations, 1905–1914|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=mEOEDAAAQBAJ&pg=PA89|year=2007|page=89|publisher=Springer |isbn=9780230210912}}</ref>

The middle-class business, professional and intellectual communities were generally strongholds, although some old aristocratic families played important roles as well. The working-class element was moving rapidly toward the newly emerging Labour Party. One uniting element was widespread agreement on the use of politics and Parliament as a device to upgrade and improve society and to reform politics. All Liberals were outraged when Conservatives used their majority in the House of Lords to block reform legislation.<ref>R. C. K. Ensor, ''England 1870–1914'' (1936), pp. 384–420.</ref>   In the House of Lords, the Liberals had lost most of their members, who in the 1890s "became Conservative in all but name." The government could force the unwilling king to create new Liberal peers, and that threat did prove decisive in the battle for dominance of Commons over Lords in 1911.<ref>Kenneth Rose, ''King George V'' (1984) pp 113 for quote, 121; Ensor. p. 430.</ref>