Constituency : Roxburghshire 1880-92, ( from 1886 Liberal Unionist ) City of Durham 1898-1906
Arthur took Roxburghshire from the Tories.
Arthur was a younger son of the Earl of Minto. At the age of four he had to have a leg amputated after a fall. He was educated at Edinburgh University and Cambridge. He became a journalist . He was a leading Whig.
Arthur opposed the Ground Game Bill. He supported the death penalty. In 1882 he published a book "The State and the Church".
Arthur tried to force Gladstone to commit to the union after the 1885 result and was wildly cheered by the Tories. He switched to the Liberal Unionists and held his seat in 1886. He was one of the more active MPs in building a new organisation. He was defeated in 1892. In 1895 he stood at Durham and lost to Matthew Fowler by 3 votes. He won the by-election following Fowler's death in 1898 by 65 votes. By this time he was editor of the Edinburgh Review.
Arthur was one of a small group of Conservatives and Liberal Unionists who were opposed to the Boer War.
Arthur was elected more comfortably in 1900 . He was briefly Financial Secretary to the Treasury in 1903 but he opposed Chamberlain's plans on tariff reform and stepped down. He subsequently criticised Balfour for not giving a clear indication of where he stood. Durham had a joint organisation for Conservatives and Liberal Unionists the Durham Constitutional Association. Arthur broke with them in 1905 when he continued to support Free Trade. He said in the House "I will not remain a member of any Party which makes a system of antiquated protectionism a principal part of their policy."He stood as a Free Trade candidate in 1906 with the Liberals agreeing to support him but he was beaten by the DCA's candidate .
He died in 1923 aged 76.
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