On This Day

25 February 1903

Herbert Gladstone, Chief Whip of the Liberal Party, receives a letter from his political secretary Jesse Herbert, stressing the importance of an agreement over election strategy between the Liberals and the Labour Representation Committee. ‘If there is good fellowship between us and the Labour Representation Committee, the aspect of the future for both will be very bright.’ Herbert argued that the party would be able to save funds to target more winnable seats. Gladstone consented to such an agreement, and he and James Ramsay MacDonald, Secretary of the LRC signed a pact with the Liberals agreeing not to contest around 50 constituencies. In the 1906 election 29 Labour MPs were elected, 24 of them unopposed by the Liberals.