Start of polling in the 1886 general election
Devastated by the Home Rule split, the Liberals fared badly and Lord Salisbury’s Conservatives returned to power. The Liberals lost 127 seats, returning just 192 MPs, in contrast to the Conservative’s 393, an increase of 144. Lord Hartington led the Liberal Unionists, who broke away from the main Liberal Party because of Gladstone’s support for Irish Home Rule.