David Steele is Senior Lecturer in Modern History at the University of Leeds. This book is intended for academic libraries (modern British political history, politics).

A complex and mysterious figure; a character history; Parliament, journalism and the city, 1854-66; the conscience of the party, 1868-74; an education in realities, 1874-8; the Eastern question and the foreign office, 1876-80; the new conservatism in practice, 1886-92; influence and security among the great powers, 1885-92; the politics of opposition, 1892-5; Unionist democracy, 1895-1902; the demands of diplomacy and war, 1895-1902; a radical prime minister.