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their affairs, which had been wrested from them decades earlier. Their opponents believed that no change was needed. The Government’s proposals to give back control had failed to secure Parliamentary Class of their own approval more than once. Extensive talks had taken place between the political parties, Summer 1914 and summer 2019 share one both informally and around the conference table, but no agreement had been reached. characteristic above all. They are the only two The Government’s freedom of manoeuvre occasions on which our political system has been was severely limited since it depended on the votes of MPs from across the Irish Sea. reduced to total deadlock, writes Lord Lexden The Opposition insisted that a general election must be held before anything was finally decided. The Government he Prime Minister struck a was adamant that a solution must be note of deep gloom, declaring found in the current Parliament. that “the idea of a compromise In the Commons insults flew. The was regarded with growing upper house was no less restive. Much disfavour and suspicion”. The the same speeches were made over and TGovernment had pledged to end a severe, over again. Throughout the UK, divisions long-standing sense of grievance by enabling intensified. Those on opposing sides those affected by it to take back control of ceased to meet socially. An alarming

Former Liberal Party Prime Minister H. H. Asquith

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number of people in the north of Ireland me that the conference will take place in made clear that they were prepared to my house, where I shall gladly welcome go to any lengths to get their way. its members.” Who could imagine today’s This was Britain in July 1914, on the constitutional monarch doing such thing? eve of the First World War. Its resemblance Could this conference, which was to Britain in May 2019 is obvious. Events chaired by the Speaker, find a way of just over a hundred years ago provide reconciling a devolved parliament in the closest parallel with those today Dublin with the insistence of Ulster’s that modern political history affords. Unionists, backed by the Tories, that they There have, of course, been other must be kept outside it? The partition of very serious crises. Severe violence flared Ireland was agreed in principle, but not up in parts of the country as politicians the extent of the area that would remain argued over the first Reform Bill in 1831- under Westminster’s direct rule. 2. The Tory party broke in two as a result Civil war loomed across the Irish Sea of Robert Peel’s courageous decision to where a paramilitary Ulster Unionist establish free trade in agricultural products volunteer force, some 100,000 strong, in 1846. Forty years later Gladstone broke “There are some was matched by a growing force of Irish the Liberals over Irish Home Rule. Nationalist volunteers. Bonar Law had These events feature prominently in striking contrasts, earlier given a firm pledge: “I can imagine everyone’s lists of great political misfortunes. no length of resistance to which Ulster will But the crises of 1914 and 2019 are in a as well as marked go, which I shall not be ready to support.” class of their own. Both were the product The Cabinet met to review the situation of rancorous disputes that had dominated similarities, after the breakdown of the conference parliamentary life for several years. at Buckingham Palace. An even graver Brexit has poisoned politics since 2016. between these crisis was now to release them from what Irish Home Rule, brought back into the had seemed perpetual political deadlock. forefront of parliamentary politics by two episodes of Churchill wrote later: “The discussion Asquith in 1912, continued with ever- had reached its inconclusive end, and the increasing bitterness the feuding between the unequalled strife” Cabinet was about to separate when the political parties that went back to the crisis quiet grave tones of Sir Edward Grey’s voice over the role of the House of Lords, which were heard reading a document which had had begun with Lloyd George’s People’s step if deadlock is to be broken. In 1914, just been brought to him from the Foreign Budget in 1909. Mutual recrimination no one called for Asquith’s resignation, Office. It was the Austrian note to Serbia. had become a long-established habit. though he was criticised for putting off The parishes of Fermanagh and Tyrone July 1914 and May 2019 share one important decisions (“wait and see” faded into the mists and squalls of Ireland.” characteristic above all. They are the were his watchwords). The Tory leader, A border was finally drawn in Ireland only two occasions on which our political Andrew Bonar Law, enjoyed the complete a few years later after Tories and Liberals system has been reduced to total deadlock. confidence of Tories, denouncing the had come together in Lloyd George’s No one in July 1914 could find a way out Government with a fervour that would coalition government. It represented of it. Nor can anyone in May 2019. have won the ERG’s admiration. the destruction of the hopes of Liberals There are some striking contrasts, as well In 1914, there was no question of the like Asquith who had written: “nothing as marked similarities, between these two monarch keeping out of politics. King must be done to erect a permanent or episodes of unequalled strife. During the George V was in close touch with all insuperable bar to Irish unity.” first, it was the Tory-dominated Lords, not sides as tension mounted. At one point Northern Ireland was brought into the Commons, that kept throwing out the he told Asquith that he might not give existence. It would become the central government’s measure to enable Ireland to his assent to the Home Rule legislation feature of political deadlock in 2019 when take back control of its affairs. But the lower while the deadlock persisted. Asquith Mrs May foolishly agreed to the EU’s house witnessed some of the worst scenes of replied: “Such a thing had not been terms for an Irish backstop, for which disorder in its history: Asquith was howled done since the reign of Queen Anne and many Tories will never forgive her. down, and sittings had to be suspended on a would inevitably prove disastrous to the number of occasions by a Speaker, who never monarchy. His Majesty could, however, forfeited the respect of any part of the House if he chose dismiss his ministers.” during times of extraordinary difficulty. Instead of doing that, the king Alistair Lexden is a Conservative Today, it is widely believed, especially summoned all the political leaders to a peer and historian. His among Tories, that the departure of the conference at Buckingham Palace on 21 publications include Ulster: The prime minister is the indispensable first July 1914. “It is”, he wrote, “a pleasure to Origins of the Problem.

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