The National League was a

political party A political party is an organization that coordinates candidates to compete in a particular country's elections. It is common for the members of a party to hold similar ideas about politics, and parties may promote specific ideological or p ...

Ireland Ireland ( ; ga, Éire ; Ulster Scots dialect, Ulster-Scots: ) is an island in the Atlantic Ocean, North Atlantic Ocean, in Northwestern Europe, north-western Europe. It is separated from Great Britain to its east by the North Channel (Grea ...

. It was founded in 1926 by William Redmond and Thomas O'Donnell in support of the

Anglo-Irish Treaty The 1921 Anglo-Irish Treaty ( ga , An Conradh Angla-Éireannach), commonly known in Ireland as The Treaty and officially the Articles of Agreement for a Treaty Between Great Britain and Ireland, was an agreement between the government of the ...

, a close relationship with the

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, continued membership of the

British Commonwealth The Commonwealth of Nations, simply referred to as the Commonwealth, is a political association of 56 member states, the vast majority of which are former territories of the British Empire. The chief institutions of the organisation are the Co ...

and conservative fiscal policy. Its broadly

Anglophile An Anglophile is a person who admires or loves England, its people, its culture, its language, and/or its various accents. Etymology The word is derived from the Latin word ''Anglii'' and Ancient Greek word φίλος ''philos'', meaning "frien ...

stance brought it the support of many Unionists. Supporters of the former

Irish Parliamentary Party The Irish Parliamentary Party (IPP; commonly called the Irish Party or the Home Rule Party) was formed in 1874 by Isaac Butt, the leader of the Nationalist Party, replacing the Home Rule League, as official parliamentary party for Irish nation ...

were also a natural target group, given that the party's leader was the son of

John Redmond John Edward Redmond (1 September 1856 – 6 March 1918) was an Irish nationalist politician, barrister, and MP in the House of Commons of the United Kingdom. He was best known as leader of the moderate Irish Parliamentary Party (IPP) from ...

, who had himself been leader of the nationalist party. A third group to which it sought to appeal, according to Manning (1972), comprised middle-class economic sectoral interests whose members were alienated by the policies of the

Cumann na nGaedheal Cumann na nGaedheal (; "Society of the Gaels") was a political party in the Irish Free State, which formed the government from 1923 to 1932. In 1933 it merged with smaller groups to form the Fine Gael party. Origins In 1922 the pro-Treaty ...

government, such as licensed vintners. These groups would not benefit from the more statist economic approach of the

Fianna Fáil Fianna Fáil (, ; meaning 'Soldiers of Destiny' or 'Warriors of Fál'), officially Fianna Fáil – The Republican Party ( ga, audio=ga-Fianna Fáil.ogg, Fianna Fáil – An Páirtí Poblachtánach), is a conservative and Christia ...

Labour Labour or labor may refer to: * Childbirth, the delivery of a baby * Labour (human activity), or work ** Manual labour, physical work ** Wage labour, a socioeconomic relationship between a worker and an employer ** Organized labour and the labour ...

parties. However, all these efforts were largely ineffectual. The contemporary political scientist Warner Moss described the League as "a party of malcontents representing nothing fundamental in Irish political divisions."Manning (1972) In the June 1927 general election, the National League won eight seats in Dáil Éireann and entered opposition. In August it supported Fianna Fáil's

motion of no confidence A motion of no confidence, also variously called a vote of no confidence, no-confidence motion, motion of confidence, or vote of confidence, is a statement or vote about whether a person in a position of responsibility like in government or m ...

in the Cumann na nGaedheal government, in an attempt to form an alternative government under Labour leader Thomas Johnson, with the National League as the junior partner and Fianna Fáil supporting the resulting minority government. However, two League TDs opposed this tactic—

Vincent Rice Vincent Rice (21 April 1875 – 27 May 1959) was an Irish politician and lawyer. A native of County Monaghan, he was educated at St Mary's College, Dundalk and attended University College Dublin. He entered King's Inns in 1900, and became a b ...

, who defected to Cumann na nGaedheal, and John Jinks, who was absent from the vote. As such the motion failed, and the National League was portrayed as politically opportunist in its attempt at an alliance with two very different parties; National League supporters would have been far more likely to favour a continued Cumann na nGaedheal government than to allow the quasi-revolutionary Fianna Fáil to influence government policy. The political discord associated with the Cumann na nGaedheal minority government prompted the September 1927 general election. Only two National League TDs, Redmond and James Coburn, were elected. The financial strain of two general elections in four months took its toll on the small parties, and the National League declared bankruptcy in 1928. It was disbanded in 1931.

General election results

References

;Sources * Barberis, Peter, John McHugh and Mike Tyldesley, 2005. Encyclopedia of British and Irish Political Organisations. London: Continuum International Publishing Group. , * Manning, Maurice, 1972. Irish Political Parties: An Introduction. Dublin: Gill and Macmillan.

General election results

References

See also