Dick Leonard > Quotes

“The Liberals were in a minority, but were strongly backed by the Irish Nationalists, even though they were themselves divided between pro- and anti-Parnellite factions. Gladstone’s last government included three subsequent Liberal prime ministers – Rosebery, Henry Campbell-Bannerman and H.H. Asquith, but his closest associate was John Morley, the Irish Chief Secretary, who was later to write his biography in three extensive volumes.”
― Dick Leonard, The Great Rivalry: Gladstone and Disraeli

“Disraeli had no wish to go as far as this, and instead proposed a conference of the great powers of Europe (Austria–Hungary, Britain, France, Germany, Italy and Russia) to persuade the Turks to reform their administration.”
― Dick Leonard, The Great Rivalry: Gladstone and Disraeli

“He transformed the office of Chancellor of the Exchequer, was the first politician to campaign actively throughout the whole country, and was the virtual creator of the modern Liberal Party. He then badly split it, by driving out most of the former Whigs, while compensating by building up a great bond of trust among working-class voters.”
― Dick Leonard, The Great Rivalry: Gladstone and Disraeli

“Perhaps, above all, Gladstone should be seen as an archetypal figure of the Victorian age, though he was never appreciated by its figurehead, whose interests he had tried so devotedly and so unrewardingly to serve.”
― Dick Leonard, The Great Rivalry: Gladstone and Disraeli

“Gladstone is remembered for putting the nation’s finances in good order, for establishing the chancellorship of the exchequer as the second post in the government, for his love of liberty and close sympathy for the peoples of subject nations (including the Irish), for his advocacy of international arbitration, and his preference for pursuing a peaceful, non-expansionist foreign policy. He became a hero to many people both inside and outside the Liberal Party, and proved an inspiration to generations of Liberal, and later Labour, politicians. Inevitably, however, with the passage of years his memory has faded, and there are nowadays perhaps only a few veterans of the Liberal Democratic Party who feel any personal affinity with him.”
― Dick Leonard, The Great Rivalry: Gladstone and Disraeli

“In fairness to Disraeli, it should be noted that he was much more of an opposition politician than his rival.”
― Dick Leonard, The Great Rivalry: Gladstone and Disraeli