In the midst of other labours, Jowett had been quietly exerting his influence so as to conciliate all shades of liberal opinion, and bring them to bear upon the abolition of the theological test, which was still required for the M.A. and other degrees, and for university and college offices. He spoke at an important meeting upon this question in London on 10 June 1864, which laid the ground for the Universities Tests Act 1871. Directly after, he had made as Master, Balliol College "a sort of heaven on earth" in 1870. The liberal reforms to college commenced radical scientific enquiries into the nature of man's existence questioning empirical data on the basis of findings the meaning of Christianity and its very existence. The shock waves reverberated through the liberal establishment into the founding of the Labour Party and the New Liberalism of the Great War.