United Kingdom general election, 1886

1–27 July 1886

All 670 seats in the House of Commons 336 seats needed for a majority

	First party	Second party	Third party

Leader	Lord Salisbury	William Ewart Gladstone	Charles Stewart Parnell
Party	Conservative and Liberal Unionist	Liberal	Irish Parliamentary
Leader since	April 1881	April 1880	17 October 1882
Leader's seat	Marquess of Salisbury	Midlothian	Cork City
Last election	247 seats, 43.5%	319 seats, 47.4%	86 seats, 6.9%
Seats won	394	191	85
Seat change	147	128	1
Popular vote	1,520,886	1,353,581	97,905
Percentage	51.1%	45.5%	3.3%
Swing	7.6	1.9	3.6%

PM before election

William Ewart Gladstone
Liberal

Subsequent PM

Lord Salisbury
Conservative

1880 election • MPs
1885 election • MPs
1886 election • MPs
1892 election • MPs
1895 election • MPs

The 1886 United Kingdom general election took place from 1–27 July 1886. It resulted in a major reversal of the results of the 1885 election as the Conservatives, led by Lord Salisbury in an electoral pact with the breakaway Unionist wing of the Liberals led by Lord Hartington (later the Duke of Devonshire) and Joseph Chamberlain. The new Liberal Unionist party gave the Conservatives their parliamentary majority but did not join them in a formal coalition.

William Ewart Gladstone's Liberals, who supported Irish Home Rule, and their sometimes allies, the Irish Parliamentary Party led by Charles Stewart Parnell, placed a distant second. This ended the period of Liberal dominance – they had held power for 18 of the 27 years since 1859 and won five of the six elections held during that time, but would only be in power for three of the next 19 years.

1 Results
- 1.1 Vote summary
- 1.2 Seats summary
2 See also
3 References

Results

UK General Election 1886
		Candidates						Votes
Party		Standing	Elected	Gained	Unseated	Net	% of total	%	No.	Net %
	Conservative	402	317					37.1	1,103,779
	Liberal Unionist	161	77					14.0	417,107
	Conservative and Liberal Unionist	563	394			+ 147		51.1	1,520,886
	Liberal	449	191			- 128		45.5	1,353,581
	Irish Parliamentary	100	85	1	1	0		3.3	97,905
	Independent Liberal	1	0	0	0	0		0.1	1,247
	Ind. Liberal Unionist	2	0	0	0	0		0.0	544

Vote summary

Popular vote

Conservative and Liberal Unionist			51.14%
Liberal			45.51%
Irish Parliamentary			3.29%
Independent			0.06%

Seats summary

Parliamentary seats

Conservative and Liberal Unionist			58.66%
Liberal			28.66%
Irish Parliamentary			12.69%

References

F. W. S. Craig, British Electoral Facts: 1832-1987
Spartacus: Political Parties and Election Results
United Kingdom election results - summary results 1885-1979

Elections and referendums in the United Kingdom

General elections	1801 co-option 1802 1806 1807 1812 1818 1820 1826 1830 1831 1832 1835 1837 1841 1847 1852 1857 1859 1865 1868 1874 1880 1885 1886 1892 1895 1900 1906 1910 (Jan) 1910 (Dec) 1918 1922 1923 1924 1929 1931 1935 1945 1950 1951 1955 1959 1964 1966 1970 1974 (Feb) 1974 (Oct) 1979 1983 1987 1992 1997 2001 2005 2010 2015

Local elections	1949 1973 1974 1975 1976 1977 1978 1979 1980 1981 1982 1983 1984 1985 1986 1987 1988 1989 1990 1991 1992 1993 1994 1995 1996 1997 1998 1999 2000 2001 2002 2003 2004 2005 2006 2007 2008 2009 2010 2011 2012 2013 2014 2015

European elections	1979 1984 1989 1994 1999 2004 2009 2014

Referendums	1975 2011

Elections and referendums in

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United Kingdom general election, 1886