Parliament was dissolved, and in the ensuing 1886 general election, the Conservatives and Liberal Unionists agreed to an alliance. Chamberlain's position was more awkward than Hartington's, for the former was intensely mistrusted by, and unable to influence, the Conservatives, while he was despised by the Gladstonians for voting against Home Rule. Gladstone himself observed that "There is a difference between Hartington and Chamberlain, that the first behaves like and is a thorough gentleman. Of the other it is better not to speak." With the general election dominated by Home Rule, Chamberlain's campaign was both Radical and intensely patriotic. The Conservatives and Liberal Unionists took 393 seats in the House of Commons and a comfortable majority.