In the centenary year of Gladstone’s death, this meeting looked at three crucial aspects of the life of the most famous Liberal Prime Minister. Conrad Russell, historian and Liberal Democrat front bencher in the Lords, looked at what the Liberal Democrats could learn from Gladstone. John Maloney, lecturer in economics at Exeter University, will look at Gladstone as Chancellor of the Exchequer, the founder of the modern Treasury; and Professor H. C. G. Matthew, editor of Gladstones diaries and biographer of Gladstone, Fellow of St Hugh’s College, Oxford, looked at Gladstone and Ireland, the abiding passion of his later years.