In order to weather that crisis, Katsura took a more clearly adversarial stand against the Russian Empire by concluding the Anglo-Japanese Alliance; he also succeeded in having Hirobumi ITO resigning his position as the president of the (Rikken) Seiyu party by kicking him up to chairman of the Privy Council.
桂はこの事態を乗り切るために外交では日英同盟を締結してロシア帝国との対決姿勢を強め、内政では伊藤博文を枢密院議長に祭り上げて政友会総裁を辞めさせることに成功した。