The Evolution and Definition of New Liberalism

Defining New Liberalism can be quite tricky. Some historians have preferred to privilege some aspects to comply with their vision of what it should be, rather than understanding the context and the classical Liberalist ideology they may have wanted to part with. The Home Rule Bill issue that resulted in Gladstone’s resignation was catastrophic for the party which lost a leader along with its unity of thinking. In this uncertainty a new current of thoughts had to emerge for the Liberal party not to sink into oblivion. It was to be a modern party, better-fitting to the new century and the social questions it had raised. Many theories have been made on how to define this alleged New Liberalism, trying to oppose one another. But to have an

There was a feeling that ‘the legislation was imposed on the population’ , the social reforms were also trying to contradict this idea to show that it was Britain as a whole that should benefit from their governing and precisely not only the upper classes. These arguments all show a desire for New Liberalism to break away from their negative image in order to keep their voters, and so, come back to power, after the Conservatives had profited from the split in the Liberal party. But the reforms of the 1900s were not simply a cunning move, but also the result of a change in

The biggest change was the methods they used: taxation was clearly not a classical liberal move, however their aim remained unchanged. They were accused of collectivism, however their defence was that individualism was still their motto in the sense that by improving the community’s well-being everyone would profit from it. They saw taxation as a matter of co-operation between the classes. Collectivism and individualism did not necessarily contradict each other in their minds. On this subject, Hobhouse said ‘an individual right cannot conflict with the common good nor could any right exist apart from the common good’ , because he ‘finds his own good in the common good’10. The notion of common good, away from class boundaries, was important in Hobhouse’s vision of New Liberalism because it was a way to attain self-realisation as well, despite Gladstonian liberals’ disapproval. He believed fair taxation would benefit everyone, yet disagreed with the Conservatives’ favoured indirect taxation. So also they seemed to borrow principles from the Labour and the Conservative parties, Liberals were actually opposing these principles and setting