The Hughligans were a faction of the

British British may refer to: Peoples, culture, and language * British people, nationals or natives of the United Kingdom, British Overseas Territories and Crown Dependencies. * British national identity, the characteristics of British people and culture ...

Conservative Party in the early 20th century. The name is a pun on the word hooligan and "Hugh", as in Lord Hugh Cecil (later Lord Quickswood), one of the faction's leaders. The Hughligans were a group of backbench Conservative MPs who were dissatisfied with the leadership of

Arthur Balfour Arthur James Balfour, 1st Earl of Balfour (; 25 July 184819 March 1930) was a British statesman and Conservative Party (UK), Conservative politician who served as the Prime Minister of the United Kingdom from 1902 to 1905. As Foreign Secretary ...

. Cecil was a younger son of Balfour's predecessor as Conservative Leader, the

Marquess of Salisbury Marquess of Salisbury is a title in the Peerage of Great Britain, held by a branch of the Cecil family. It was created in 1789 for the 7th Earl of Salisbury. Most of the holders of the title have been prominent in British political life over t ...

. Besides Cecil, other members were F.E. Smith, Earl Percy, Arthur Stanley, Ian Malcolm and

Lord George Hamilton Lord George Francis Hamilton (17 December 1845 – 22 September 1927) was a British Conservative Party politician of the late 19th and early 20th centuries who served as First Lord of the Admiralty and Secretary of State for India. Background ...

Winston Churchill Sir Winston Leonard Spencer Churchill (30 November 1874 – 24 January 1965) was a British statesman, military officer, and writer who was Prime Minister of the United Kingdom from 1940 to 1945 (Winston Churchill in the Second World War, ...

was also associated with the group before his departure from the Conservative Party in 1904. In

Randolph Churchill Major (rank), Major Randolph Frederick Edward Spencer Churchill (28 May 1911 – 6 June 1968) was an English journalist, writer and politician. The only son of future List of British Prime Ministers, British Prime Minister Winston Churchill a ...

's biography of his father Winston, he commented: "''Later they were on occasion to be outrageous in their Parliamentary manners and the critics dubbed them the Hughligans, or Hooligans.''"Churchill website accessed May 2009
After the fall of the Conservative government in 1905, the surviving Hughligans became bitter opponents of Balfour, whom they considered insufficiently militant in opposition to the Liberal government of

H. H. Asquith Herbert Henry Asquith, 1st Earl of Oxford and Asquith (12 September 1852 – 15 February 1928) was a British statesman and Liberal Party (UK), Liberal politician who was Prime Minister of the United Kingdom from 1908 to 1916. He was the last ...

. The Hughligans are best known for an incident in July 1911, during the conflict over reform of the

House of Lords The House of Lords is the upper house of the Parliament of the United Kingdom. Like the lower house, the House of Commons of the United Kingdom, House of Commons, it meets in the Palace of Westminster in London, England. One of the oldest ext ...

, when Cecil and Smith led an organised disruption of the

House of Commons The House of Commons is the name for the elected lower house of the Bicameralism, bicameral parliaments of the United Kingdom and Canada. In both of these countries, the Commons holds much more legislative power than the nominally upper house of ...

, preventing Asquith from speaking for half an hour while he stood in silence at the dispatch box. The incident deeply embarrassed Balfour, and hastened his retirement as party leader, which was Cecil's intention.

Notes

{{UK Conservative Party 20th century in the United Kingdom Conservative Party (UK) factions Eponymous political ideologies History of the Conservative Party (UK) Arthur Balfour Winston Churchill