Lord Salisbury A Political Biography

David Steele vibrantly captures the life of The Marquess of Salisbury, whose remarkable character and ideas shaped both the history of the United Kingdom and the Tory party in the nineteenth century in this important biography.
As Prime Minister and Foreign Secretary, he was awarded with popular, and cross-party support for the majority of his policies both at home and abroad. A controversial figure throughout his career, Salisbury was firm in his resistance to Irish Home Rule, an aspect that Steele skillfully scrutinizes in brilliant detail. More than any other British statesman, Lord Salisbury was responsible for the successful international diplomacy that secured Britain's place among the great powers and in guiding the enormous territorial expansion of the British Empire during his time at the Foreign Office.
Critically acclaimed in hardcover, this is the first substantial reassessment of this influential leader since the early 1900s that sheds new light on the private and political aspects of Lord Salisbury's very public career.

This book presents a study of Lord Salisbury, British prime minister in the late nineteenth century and early twentieth century, whose political philosophy was reactionary and defeatist, and who is remembered for an irony that was wounding as well as diverting.

Maps: Africa; the Middle East; the Balkans -- Preface -- Biographical Note -- Introduction -- 1 Formative Influences -- Family and School -- Oxford and Tractarianism -- Colonial Impressions Ambition and Self-doubt -- 2 The Rising Politician -- Georgina Alderson -- Parliament and Party: War and Peace, 1854-65 -- Domestic Politics: The First Decade -- The Journalist’s Trade -- The City and its Lessons -- 3 The Second Reform Act -- The Front Rank of Politics -- The Liberal Reform Bill -- The Tory Cabinet and Household Suffrage -- The Passing of the Conservative Bill -- The Future of a Rebel -- 4 The Conscience of the Party -- The Master of Hatfield -- The House of Lords -- The Church and Her Enemies -- The Fears of a Modern Conservative -- 5 The Making of a Statesman -- The Return to Office -- The Future of the Church -- The India Office -- 6 The Eastern Question and the Foreign Office -- Diplomatic Realities -- The Return of the Eastern Question -- From the Constantinople Conference to the Russo-Turkish War -- The Genesis of a New Foreign Policy -- 7 A Leader in Waiting -- The Public and the Private Man -- Popular Politics -- Empire and the Economy -- A Changing Party and Parliamentary Reform -- Agrarianism and Nationalism in Ireland -- 8 The First Premiership and Ireland, 1885-6 -- The First Cabinet: Men and Policies -- The Foreign Office -- The Tories and Home Rule -- The General Election of 1885 and the Birth of Unionism -- 9 The New Conservatism in Practice -- The General Election of 1886 and Virtual Coalition -- The Pacification of Ireland -- The Defence of Religion -- The New Conservatism and the Old -- 10 European Security and Imperial Expansion -- The International Situation, 1886-92 -- The Diplomacy of Security -- Limiting the Competition of Empires -- 11 The Politics of Opposition 1892-5 -- The 1892 Election and the Integration of Unionism -- The Tendencies of Liberal Policy Abroad -- 1892-5: The Unifying Themes of Opposition and Victory -- 12 Unionist Democracy, 1895-1900 -- The 1895 Election and the First Unionist Government -- A Reforming Administration: Rhetoric and Substance -- Church and Education -- The Irish Future -- 13 The System under Strain: Diplomacy and War, 1895-1900 -- Britain, Germany and the Kruger Telegram -- From Constantinople to Fashoda and after -- America, China and India -- The Reconquest of the Sudan in Salisbury’s Policy -- Britain and the Boers -- 14 Anti-climax -- An Aura of Failure -- Leadership in War -- The Fear of Isolation -- Old Policies and New -- The Balance Sheet -- Manuscript Sources -- Notes -- Index.

E. David Steele