In the 1892 general election, the Conservative Party, led by the Marquess of Salisbury, won the most seats but not an overall majority. As a result, William Gladstone's Liberal Party formed a minority government that relied upon Irish Nationalist support. On 3 March 1894, Gladstone resigned over the rejection of his Home Rule Bill and the Earl of Rosebery succeeded him.

William Ewart Gladstone was the Liberal prime minister of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland on four separate occasions between 1868 and 1894. He was noted for his moralistic leadership and his emphasis on world peace, economical budgets, political reform and efforts to resolve the Irish question. Gladstone saw himself as a national leader driven by a political and almost religious mission, which he tried to validate through elections and dramatic appeals to the public conscience. His approach sometimes divided the Liberal Party, which he dominated for three decades. Finally Gladstone split his party on the issue of Irish Home Rule, which he saw as mandated by the true public interest regardless of the political cost.