Walter Long, who had held the office of Chief Secretary in the last year of the Unionist Administration, and who had been elected for South Dublin in 1906, became leader of the Irish Unionists--with whom those representing Ulster constituencies were included.

But in the elections of January 1910 Mr.Long was returned for a London seat, and it therefore became necessary for Irish Unionists to select another leader.
By this time the Home Rule question had, as the people of Ulster perceived, become once more a matter of vital urgency, although, as explained in the preceding chapter, the electors of Great Britain were too engrossed by other matters to give it a thought, and the Liberal Ministers were doing everything in their power to keep it in the background.

The Ulster Members of the House of Commons realised, therefore, the grave importance of finding a leader of the calibre necessary for dealing on equal terms with such orators and Parliamentarians as Mr.Asquith and Mr.John Redmond.

They did not deceive themselves into thinking that such a leader was to be found among their own number.

They could produce several capable speakers, and men of judgment and good sense; but something more was needed for the critical times they saw ahead.