If Mr. Gordon Hewart found the land policy unpopular, the
defence of the Insurance Act was an equally dishearten- ing task. He therefore settled down to champion Free Trade against Tariff Reform. This, as it happened, was an unreal issue, as Sir John Randles, knowing well the attachment of Manchester people to Free Trade, did not press his Tariff Reform beliefs. After the election Sir John Randles said to a representative of the Times :- " I have fought the election on the two issues raised by Sir George Kemp, the retiring member—Home Rule and Welsh Disestablishment and Disendowment—but I have also put before the electors the consequences of Mr. Lloyd George's finance to a commercial community such as Manchester and the effect of the Insurance Act upon both employers and workers. At the same time, I have not disguised the fact that I am a Tariff Reformer. My opponent has endeavoured to make the fiscal question the main issue, but my position has been that, although Tariff Reform is a matter of great importance, the present issue was the policy of the Liberal Government. If the result of the election is quoted as a victory for Tariff Reform, the Liberals will have themselves to blame. Nevertheless, I believe that many of the Free Trade Unionists, even if they knew that Tariff Reform would be brought into force immediately by the Unionist Party, would still have voted against the Government's policy, so great is their detestation of it."
