WHY DID IRISH NATIONALISTS WANT HOME RULE?

THE IRISH PARLIAMENTARY PARTY

The IPP were an incredibly successful political party in Ireland, winning 82 of Ireland's 103 parliamentary seats during the 1906 general election. They represented Catholic aspirations in Ireland, both for social reform and for increased self-government (Home Rule).

The party had been deeply divided at the end of the 19th century by the actions of its leader Charles Stewart Parnell, who had been having an affair with the wife of his election agent.  However, it was being brought together under the compromise candidate, John Redmond.   He was a good organiser and speake. However he was sometimes criticised for lacking assertiveness and often deferred decisions to his deputy leader John Dillon. This style of leadership may have made him seem weak, with the historian Nicholas Mansergh stating that "He lacked the personality, and the base in popular, national standing alike."

POLITICAL ALLIANCES
The IPP had an informal alliance with the Liberal party which started in 1885 following the general election. The IPP held the balance of power, with 86 seats compared to the Liberals' 335 and the Conservatives' 249. Gladstone's conversion to the cause of Home Rule meant that the two parties worked together towards their common goal, although relations were more strained than those between unionists and the Conservative party. This informal alliance led to the first two Home Rule Bills in 1886 and 1893, and, while neither were successful in delivering Home Rule for Ireland, they set a precedent within the Liberal Party which would deliver the Third Home Rule Bill in 1912.