The Liberals and Ireland

by Patricia Jalland

Published 1 September 1980
"The Liberals and Ireland" analyzes the Liberal Government's failure to resolve the Ulster problem, and argues for the vital role of the Irish question in the Liberal Party's decline. Drawing on more than 50 collections of private papers, Dr Jalland traces the Liberal Party's commitment to Home Rule, and the nature and significance of the Ulster Question from 1885. The changing roles of Asquith, Birell, Churchill and Lloyd George are analyzed in the context of the parliamentary debates and the secret negotiations of the party leaders. The mounting pressure from the Ulster campaign and the Government's miscalculation culminated in the fatal Carragh crisis of March 1914, which finally wrecked the Liberal Irish policy.