Constituency : Burton 1886-1900
The 1886 election resulted in the Liberal Unionists holding the balance of power. Hartington refused Salisbury's suggestion that he become premier of a Unionist administration; instead the party would allow the latter to form a minority administration while they stayed on the opposition benches apart from George Goschen who agreed to replace Randolph Churchill as Chancellor of the Exchequer in December 1886 . Indeed Hartington and Chamberlain sat on the front bench alongside Gladstone. This was a great irritation to him particularly as it compounded the impression that they were just waiting for him to retire but it probably contributed to the steady trickle of LU MPs back to him, not enough to threaten the government but unsettling for the new party. Chamberlain kept a separate organisation, the National Radical Union in Birmingham and in 1887 initiated a Round Table Conference to talk about reunion but the Home Rule issue proved intractable. Instead the Unionists moved to the right while Gladstone took control of the party organisation at the cost of accepting a more radical raft of policies , the so-called Newcastle Programme of 1891.
Sydney came in at Burton in August 1886 when Michael Bass was elevated to the peerage as Baron Burton.
Like his predecessor Sydney was a brewer. He was also an Improvement Commissioner and a borough councillor. He was Mayor of Burton from 1880 to 1881.
Sydney opposed the Bill bringing in the Local Veto.
Sydney was unopposed in 1892 and 1895.
He died in 1903 aged 78. His sons were all noted cricketers for Derbyshire.
No comments:
Post a Comment