page_title: John Spencer, 5th Earl Spencer
section_title: Political career, 1885–1905
hierarchical_section_title: John Spencer, 5th Earl Spencer / Political career, 1885–1905
caption_attribution_description: Earl Spencer (1835-1910), Lord-Lieutenant of Ireland (1869-1874 and 1882-1885)
context_page_description: John Poyntz Spencer, 5th Earl Spencer, KG, KP, PC, known as Viscount Althorp from 1845 to 1857, was a British Liberal Party politician under, and close friend of, British prime minister William Ewart Gladstone. He was twice Lord Lieutenant of Ireland.
context_section_description: By 1885, Gladstone's second government was in a very weak position, largely as a result of the death of Charles Gordon, and Spencer's efforts to renew the Irish Crimes Act and secure passage of a land purchase bill ran into opposition from the radicals in the Cabinet - Joseph Chamberlain and Sir Charles Dilke - who hoped to use the opportunity of the legislation to pass a greater measure of local self-government for Ireland. The issue remained up in the air when Gladstone's government fell in early June. During the interval between the fall of Gladstone's second government and the beginning of his third, in February 1886, Spencer became a convert to Irish Home Rule, unlike most of the other leading Whigs, who deserted to Liberal Unionism. Spencer would serve as Lord President in Gladstone's third government, and was instrumental in the formulation of Gladstone's home rule legislation. After the defeat of the bill, Spencer joined his chief in opposition. Spencer's position on home rule led to his social ostracism by other members of his class, including the Queen herself, and spent much of his period in opposition getting his personal finances in order. He also acted from 1888 as chairman of the Northamptonshire County Council, and continued to work with Gladstone and other liberal leaders in determining the shape of a home rule bill in the next liberal government.
  When the Liberals returned to power in August 1892, Spencer was appointed First Lord of the Admiralty. Gladstone's opposition to Spencer's policy, following the recommendations of the Sea Lords, of naval expansion, led to Gladstone's final resignation in March 1894. Gladstone himself nonetheless hoped that Spencer would be his successor, but the Queen did not seek his advice, and chose Lord Rosebery instead. Spencer continued to serve under Rosebery, and went out when the Liberal government fell in June 1895. In his later years, Spencer remained active in politics. Spencer was a key support for the Liberal leader in the Commons, Henry Campbell-Bannerman (who had previously been Spencer's Chief Secretary at the end of his second vice-regency) during the Boer War, holding to the Liberal leader's middle course between the active anti-war position of the Radicals and the pro-war position of Rosebery's Liberal Imperialists. Following Lord Kimberley's death in 1902, Spencer was elected Liberal leader in the House of Lords. Despite health problems, he was rumoured as late as February 1905 to be a potential candidate for Liberal prime minister should the Liberals soon return to power, as by then seemed likely as a result of the Unionist split over tariff reform. However, on 11 October of that year he suffered a major stroke which ended his political career, only two months shy of the Liberals' return to power.
caption: Lord Spencer, in the robes of a Knight of the Garter (KG).
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