He was unanimously elected as the candidate by the local conservative council on 5 January,[2] and accepted the nomination the following day, when he also resigned as Lord Mayor.

Dr. Aked of the Pembroke Baptist Chapel, an outspoken opponent of the recently ended Second Boer War was approached as an independent liberal candidate.

[3] They eventually chose as candidate the president of their local West Derby Division, Richard Durning Holt, at a meeting on 8 January.

[6] Rutherford commented the following day, defending the government's spending by referring to military and naval expenditure arising from the recently ended Second Boer War.

He gave strong support for the Education Act, and on the question of Irish Home Rule attacked the Liberal party position as promises they could not deliver.