The Sheffield Reform Association, an offshoot of the Liberal Party in the city, invited Chamberlain to stand for election as an MP soon after the beginning of his tenure as Mayor of Birmingham. Chamberlain's first Parliamentary campaign (the 1874 general election) was a fierce one; opponents accused him of republicanism and atheism, and even threw dead cats at him on the speaking platform. Chamberlain came in third place, a poor result for a leading urban Radical. Chamberlain eventually rejected the possibility of standing in Sheffield again, and when George Dixon retired from his Birmingham seat in May 1876, Chamberlain was returned unopposed (17 June 1876) for the Birmingham constituency, after a period of anxiety following his nomination in which he denounced the Prime Minister, Benjamin Disraeli, accusing him of being 'a man who never told the truth except by accident.' After Chamberlain came under heavy attack for the insult he apologised publicly.