Joseph Chamberlain

To Theresa May’s former Chief of Staff, Nick Timothy, Joseph Chamberlain is something of an intellectual and political hero. For historians of politics interested in ideas and principles, however, Chamberlain is not a firm favourite. Though seen as a political force of nature who ‘made the weather’ in British politics, the perception of his opportunism remains strong, and this perception contrasts sharply with that of fellow Liberals such as Gladstone and John Morley, as well as with intellectual Liberal Unionists such as A.V. Dicey, W.E.H. Lecky and Henry Sidgwick. Joseph Chamberlain: International Statesman, National Leader, Local Icon, the outcome of a 2014 conference on Chamberlain, offers varied reappraisals of, and contexts for, Chamberlain’s policies, beliefs and relationships—from his roots in Birmingham nonconformist politics to his South African legacy and the social context of Tariff Reform. The volume’s surviving editor, Ian Cawood, is the author of a notable recent book emphasising the distinctiveness of Liberal Unionism as a political entity. It seems timely, therefore, to revisit the Liberal Unionists’ most controversial leader

Economic history · Favourite · Icon · Kindness · Nonconformist · Opportunism · Optimal distinctiveness theory · Political economy · Political science · Politics · Sociology · History · Law · Political and Economic history of UK and US · Psychology · Scottish History and National Identity