Jabez Balfour as Liberal candidate in Croydon at the general election but lost to the Conservatives. He also stood unsuccessfully for the Liberals at Walworth in 1886. In 1880 he was appointed chairman of the Northampton Street Tramways. Together with City financiers Leopold Salomons and Sir John Pender, Balfour founded the investment underwriting firm the "Trustees, Executors and Securities Insurance Corporation, Limited" in December 1887. In 1892, he was at the centre of a scandal over the failure of a series of companies which he set up and controlled, starting with the London and General Bank and culminating in the Liberator Building
Liberal Party of Newfoundland and Labrador 2003, the Liberals had spent fourteen years in power under four different leaders. Public disaffection had mounted resulting in their electoral defeat by Danny Williams and the Tories. Grimes stayed on as Liberal leader until his retirement on May 30, 2005, when he was replaced, initially on an interim basis, by Gerry Reid. Lawyer Jim Bennett was acclaimed party leader on February 6, 2006, after no other candidate came forward for the post. Bennett's leadership started causing rifts within the Liberal caucus after controversial policies statements and his reported abrasive leadership style. In April of that year Bennett was criticized