Bonar Law - Leader of The Conservative Party

Leader of The Conservative Party

On the coronation of George V on 22 June 1911, Bonar Law was made a Privy Counsellor on the recommendation of the new Prime Minister and Arthur Balfour. Within the Conservative Party, Privy Counsellorship was evidence of party seniority and importance. Balfour had been becoming increasingly unpopular as Leader of the Conservative Party since the 1906 general election; tariff reformers saw his leadership as the reason for their electoral losses, and the "free fooders" had been alienated by Balfour's attempts to tame the zeal of the tariff reform faction. Balfour refused all suggestions of party reorganisation until a meeting of senior Conservatives led by Lord Salisbury after the December 1910 electoral defeat issued an ultimatum demanding a review of party structure.

The defeat on the House of Lords issue turned a wing of the Conservative Party led by Henry Page Croft and his Reveille Movement, against Balfour. Leo Maxse began a Balfour Must Go campaign in his paper the National Review, and by July 1911 Balfour was contemplating resignation. Law himself had no problem with Balfour's leadership, and along with Edward Carson attempted to regain support for him. By November 1911 it was accepted that Balfour was likely to resign, with the main competitors being Law, Carson, Walter Long and Austen Chamberlain. When the elections began Long and Chamberlain were the frontrunners, Chamberlain commanding the support of many tariff reformers and Long the leader of the Ulster Unionists. Carson immediately announced that he would not stand, and Law eventually announced that he would run for Leader, the day before Balfour resigned on 7 November.

At the beginning of the election Law held the support of no more than 40 of the 270 Members of parliament; the remaining 130 were divided between Long and Chamberlain. Although Long believed he had the most MPs, his support was largely backbenchers and most of the whips and frontbenchers preferred Chamberlain. With Long and Chamberlain almost equal they called a meeting on 9 November to discuss the possibility of a deadlock. Chamberlain suggested that he would withdraw if this became a strong possibility, assuming Long did the same. Long, now scared that his weak health would not allow him to survive the stress of party leadership, agreed. Both did so on 10 November, and on 13 November 232 MPs assembled at the Carlton Club, where Law was nominated to be leader by Long and Chamberlain. With the unanimous support of the MPs, Law became Leader of the Conservative Party despite never having sat in Cabinet.

As Leader, Law first "rejuvenated the party machine", selecting newer, younger and more popular whips and secretaries, elevating F.E. Smith and Robert Cecil to the Shadow Cabinet and using his business acumen to reorganise the party, resulting in better relations with the press and local branches, along with the raising of a £671,000 "war chest" for the next general election that was almost double that available at the previous one. On 12 February 1912 he finally unified the two branches of the party (Conservatives and Unionists) into the awkwardly named National Unionist Association of Conservative and Liberal-Unionist Organisations. From then on all were referred to as "Unionists" until the ratification of the Anglo-Irish Treaty in 1922, after which they became Conservatives again.

In Parliament, Law introduced the so-called "new style" of speaking, with harsh, accusatory rhetoric, that dominates British politics to this day. This was as a counter to Arthur Balfour, known for his "masterly witticisms", because the party felt they needed a warrior-like figure. Law did not particularly enjoy his tougher manner, and at the State Opening of Parliament in February 1912 apologised directly to Asquith for his coming speech, saying "I am afraid I shall have to show myself very vicious, Mr Asquith, this session. I hope you will understand". Law's "warrior king" figure helped unify the divided Conservatives into a single body, with him as the leader.