Unionist government, 1895–1905 Unionist government, 1895–1905 A coalition of the Conservative and Liberal Unionist parties took power in the United Kingdom following the 1895 general election. Conservative leader Lord Salisbury was appointed Prime Minister and his nephew, Arthur Balfour, became Leader of the House of Commons, but various major posts went to the Liberal Unionists, most notably the leader of the House of Lords, the Liberal Unionist Duke of Devonshire, who was made Lord President, and his colleague in the Commons, Joseph Chamberlain, who became Colonial Secretary. It was this government which would conduct the Second Boer War from 1899 to 1902, which
William Pleydell-Bouverie, 5th Earl of Radnor Lord Folkestone was returned to parliament for South Wiltshire in 1874. When the Conservatives came to power in 1885 under Lord Salisbury, Folkestone was sworn of the Privy Council and appointed Treasurer of the Household. The South Wiltshire constituency was abolished in 1885 and at the general election of that year, Folkestone was instead returned for Enfield. He remained as Treasurer of the Household until the Liberals under Gladstone came to office in February 1886. Salisbury returned as prime minister already in August 1885, and Folkestone once again became Treasurer of the Household. In 1889 he succeeded his father in