1880 United Kingdom general election
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Colours denote the winning party
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The
1880 United Kingdom general election
was a
general election
in the
United Kingdom
held from 31 March to 27 April 1880.
Its intense rhetoric was led by the
Midlothian campaign
of the Liberals, particularly the fierce oratory of
Liberal
leader
William Gladstone
.
He vehemently attacked the foreign policy of the government of
Benjamin Disraeli, Earl of Beaconsfield
, as utterly immoral.
Liberals secured one of their largest-ever majorities, leaving the
Conservatives
a distant second. As a result of the campaign, the Liberal Commons leader,
Lord Hartington
and that in the Lords,
Lord Granville
, stood back in favour of Gladstone, who thus became
Prime Minister
a second time. It was the last general election in which any party other than the Conservatives won a majority of the votes (rather than a
plurality
).
Issues
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The Conservative government was doomed by the poor condition of the British economy and the vulnerability of its foreign policy to moralistic attacks by the Liberals. William Gladstone, appealing to moralistic evangelicals, led the attack on the foreign policy of
Benjamin Disraeli
(now known as Lord Beaconsfield) as immoral.
Historian
Paul Smith
paraphrases the rhetorical tone which focused on attacking "Beaconsfieldism" (in Smith's words) as a:
Sinister system of policy, which not merely involved the country in immoral, vainglorious and expensive external adventures, inimical to peace and to the rights of small peoples, but aimed at nothing less than the subversion of parliamentary government in favour of some
simulacrum
of the oriental despotism its creator was alleged to admire.
Smith notes that there was indeed some substance to the allegations, but: "Most of this was partisan extravaganza, worthy of its target's own excursions against the
Whigs
."
Disraeli himself was now the
Earl of Beaconsfield
in the
House of Lords
, and custom did not allow peers to campaign; this denuded the Conservatives of other important figures such as the
Marquess of Salisbury
and
Lord Cranbrook
, and the party was unable to deal effectively with the rhetorical onslaught.
[6]
Although he had improved the organisation of the Conservative Party, Disraeli was firmly based in the rural gentry, and had little contact with or understanding of the urban middle class that was increasingly dominating his party.
Besides their trouble with foreign policy issues, it was even more important that the Conservatives were unable to effectively defend their economic record on the home front. The 1870s coincided with a
long-term global depression
caused by the collapse of the worldwide railway boom of the 1870s which previously had been so profitable to Britain. The stress was growing by the late 1870s; prices fell, profits fell, employment fell, and there was downward pressure on wage rates that caused much hardship among the industrial working class. The
free trade
system supported by both parties made Britain defenceless against the flood of cheap wheat from
North America
, which was exacerbated by the worst harvest of the century in Britain in 1879. The party in power got the blame, and Liberals repeatedly emphasised the growing budget deficit as a measure of bad stewardship. In the election itself, Disraeli's party lost heavily up and down the line, especially in Scotland and Ireland, and in the urban boroughs. His Conservative strength fell from 351 to 238, while the Liberals jumped from 250 to 353. Disraeli resigned on 21 April 1880.
Results
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UK General Election 1880
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|
Party
|
Candidates
|
Votes
|
Stood
|
Elected
|
Gained
|
Unseated
|
Net
|
% of total
|
%
|
No.
|
Net %
|
|
Liberal
|
499
|
352
|
+132
|
-22
|
+110
|
53.99
|
54.66
|
1,836,423
|
+2.7
|
|
Conservative
|
521
|
237
|
+20
|
-133
|
−113
|
36.35
|
42.46
|
1,426,351
|
−1.8
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|
Home Rule
|
81
|
63
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+6
|
-3
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+3
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9.66
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2.84
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95,535
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−0.9
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Independent
|
2
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0
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0
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0
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0
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0
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0.03
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1,107
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0
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Total votes cast: 3,359,416.
Voting summary
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Popular vote
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Liberal
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54.66%
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Conservative
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42.46%
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Home Rule
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2.84%
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Others
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0.03%
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Seats summary
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Parliamentary seats
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Liberal
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53.99%
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Conservative
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36.35%
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Home Rule
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9.66%
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Regional results
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Great Britain
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Largest party in each constituent country
Party
|
Seats
|
Seats change
|
Votes
|
%
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% change
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|
Liberal
|
334
|
104
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1,780,171
|
57.3
|
1.9
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Lib-Lab
|
3
|
1
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|
Conservative
|
214
|
105
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1,326,744
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42.7
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1.9
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Other
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0
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1,107
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0.04
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0.04
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Total
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551
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3,108,022
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100
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England
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Party
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Seats
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Seats change
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Votes
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%
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% change
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|
Liberal
|
251
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82
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1,519,576
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56.2
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2.4
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Lib-Lab
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3
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1
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Conservative
|
197
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83
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1,205,990
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43.7
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2.5
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Other
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0
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1,107
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0.1
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0.1
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Total
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451
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2,726,673
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100
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Scotland
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Party
|
Seats
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Seats change
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Votes
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%
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% change
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|
Liberal
|
52
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12
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195,517
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70.1
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1.7
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Conservative
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6
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12
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74,145
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29.9
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1.7
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Total
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58
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269,662
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100
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Wales
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Party
|
Seats
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Seats change
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Votes
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%
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% change
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|
Liberal
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29
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10
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50,403
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58.8
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2.1
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Conservative
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4
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10
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41,106
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41.2
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2.1
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Total
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33
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100,509
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100
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Ireland
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Universities
[
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]
Party
|
Seats
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Seats change
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Votes
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%
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% change
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Conservative
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7
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5,503
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49.2
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Liberal
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2
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5,675
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50.8
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Total
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9
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11,178
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100
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See also
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References
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]
Sources and further reading
[
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]
- Blake, Robert
(1967),
Disraeli
, EA London,
ISBN
978-1-84413-312-3
- Chilston, Viscount. "The 1880 Election: A Historical Landmark."
Parliamentary Affairs
14 (June 1961): 477-492.
- Craig, F. W. S.
(1989),
British Electoral Facts: 1832?1987
, Dartmouth: Gower,
ISBN
0900178302
- Fitzsimons, M. A. (1960), "Midlothian: the Triumph and Frustration of the British Liberal Party",
Review of Politics
,
22
(2): 187?201,
doi
:
10.1017/S0034670500008202
,
JSTOR
1405317
,
S2CID
144807807
- Lloyd, T.O. "The General Election of 1880
(Oxford UP, 1967)
- Matthew, H. C. G.
(1997),
Gladstone: 1809?1898
, Clarendon Press,
ISBN
0-19-820696-8
- Rallings, Colin
;
Thrasher, Michael
, eds. (2000),
British Electoral Facts 1832?1999
, Ashgate Publishing Ltd
- Roberts, Matthew. "Election Cartoons and Political Communication In Victorian England.'
Cultural & Social History
(2013) 10#3 pp 369?395, covers 1860 to 1890.
- Smith, Paul
(1996),
Disraeli: A Brief Life
, Cambridge UP,
ISBN
9780521381505
External links
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]